In the absence of any big World Tour races and out of competition news like Egan Bernal’s crash and rehab, the promotion and relegation battle among teams has been a big story of the start of the season. Perhaps you haven’t been watching races with a spreadsheet to hand, but watching Cofidis win this and Intermarché-Wanty win that has been to think of all the points they’re racking up.
Ordinarily getting a wildcard invitation for the Tour de France should be something to celebrate for the B&B Hotels team but the news this week points to a real problem for the team. Their invitation to the Tour is debatable today, and their problem is that with time there will be less argument as Uno-X overhaul them.
A quick look at the Critérium du Dauphiné’s route for this year, click to read more if you want.. but in writing-up this piece as a means to explore the route in more detail not much stands out for the 2022 edition so you can save the bandwidth for another day.
There’s a big time trial to shape the GC and then some familiar Alpine haunts for final weekend.
The Art of Cycling by James Hibbard
Part road-trip, part philosophical exploration and part autobiography this book is difficult to categorise, but greater than the sum of these parts.
The author has decided to get back on the bike to do a long multi-day ride down the Californian coast with two ex-cycling friends. This is the premise to write about the trip, to explore the culture of cycling, to think about a past career as an athlete and analyse all of this, and society at large, with philosophy.
A road made famous as a training destination, this is a giant climb with variety on its flanks and surprise at the top.
With EF Pro Cycling fashionably late, all the World Tour team kits are out. Got any favourites? Of course and what would the internet be without rankings of team clothing? Instead let’s reflect on identity and branding because what’s striking is how ordinary so many jerseys still are, plain kit with logos slapped on.
Ten riders to watch for the season. There are a couple of tips for riders to get breakout results but others are cited for varying reasons, from the way they shape the sport to the way their team is counting on them.
Tim Merlier wins his first Giro stage and weeks later he’d take a Tour stage as well. As well as satisfaction, media coverage and big lines on his palmarès, these wins brought him the sum of 220 UCI points… but in winning the Koksijde Classic and Elfstedenronde he got 325 points.
With 2022 shaping up to be a season where points matter for some, here are all the points tables for the season ahead on one handy page.
The Qhubeka-Nexthash team is gone but the demise left a lot of questions, particularly what happened with Nexthash, the title sponsor unveiled with a five year deal… which didn’t last five months.
At first glance the image above looks like a graphic from the Groupama-FDJ team. Well it is… but from their Continental development rather than the main World Tour squad. They’re one of six WorldTeams to have a formal UCI development team and more are likely to set them up.
This week’s “neo-pros to watch” post was already long so there wasn’t time to look at the phenomenon of junior riders turning pro only to spend a couple of years on light programs in the pro ranks instead of racking up wins and learning race craft in the U23 ranks. There’s now a pathway that represents the best of both worlds thanks to the advent of Continental development teams.