We’re set for a strange edition of the Olympic Games. Unlike other sports confined to empty arenas the men’s road race is this Saturday will showcase plenty of the best of rural Japan with a mountain course featuring Mount Fuji.
Familiar names from the Tour de France like Tadej Pogačar, Wout van Aert and Richard Carapaz take on others take on Remco Evenepoel, João Almeida, the Yates brothers and more.
Here’s a look at Mikuni pass in Japan. It’s not famous but it should be the decisive climb of the 2020 Olympic road race, if only for the men, so here are some notes in this climb outside Tokyo which offers double-digit gradients and if that doesn’t take your breath away then the views of Mount Fuji will… as long as the weather’s fine.
This is repost from February 2019 in order to take a closer look at hardest climb of men’s Olympic road race
Grand Bornand, big win. The Laval time trial was important, the Col de Romme was decisive. Stage 8 was hectic from the start with riders trying to go clear and at one point Tadej Pogačar joined in an early breakaway, a move that said plenty about the chaotic racing. The UAE team tried to control the race until halfway up the Col de Romme when Davide Formolo, grimacing in agony, could pull no longer. Out of team mates, Pogačar decided to get rid of his rivals. One attack and nobody except Richard Carapaz could or would follow, one more attack and Carapaz was dropped. Pogačar took more than three minutes on his rivals at the finish in Le Grand Bornand to take the yellow jersey with five minutes on most of his GC rivals. The next day Pogačar countered an attack by Carapaz and took another 30 seconds. This was the moment the race was won.
No time for post-Tour blues, the Olympics are coming. Need to know what day and what time all the cycling events in the Olympics are on? Want to have this on your phone or diary? You’ve come to the right place…
That final sprint and a big moment for Mark Cavendish who’s up against all the remaining sprinters, and the rest of the field who might fancy their chances too.
A time trial or a wine trial? Today sees a stage win up for grab among the TT specialists, a prestigious win and a pre-Tokyo test too while the top-10 can move too, and all amid some of France’s finest vineyards.
A flat day should mean a sprint stage but with few sprinters left in the race and the remaining ones worried they’ll get smoked by Mark Cavendish today could see a breakaway stick.
The accounts for the Ineos Grenadiers team have been published, the chance to look at the budget for a World Tour team. Having rounded up the accounts of several other World Tour teams there’s also a quick but incomplete comparison.
The final mountains stage of the Tour and a 129km “sprint” over the Tourmalet to Luz Ardiden.
A dash across the plains before a three difficult climbs and two hectic descents for a stage battle, the mountains competition and maybe some movement in the top-10 on GC. It’s also le quatorze juillet, Bastille Day in English, but a damp one.