Month: January 2014
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Some of the key stages of the 2014 Tour de France
I’ve tried to work out which stages of this year’s Tour are likely to shape the general classification narrative. I say ‘narrative’ because while a later mountain stage might have a greater impact on the race as a whole, a few seconds snatched early on seem a lot more significant. Maybe it’s just the way…
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The Yorkshire Tour de France climbs – a stage two preview
Stage two: York to Sheffield, 198km – Sunday, July 6 (stage profile) Britain. Proper Britain. This isn’t some half-arsed parade into the centre of London, but proper, harrowing, British cycling. Stage two of the 2014 Tour de France starts in Yorkshire and passes through the Peak District. It’s also long. Don’t be deceived by the…
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Simon Gerrans refuses to wait just one second
Two stages for the price of one in this update, because, you know, it was Saturday yesterday and I simply couldn’t be bothered. I hadn’t actually intended to go ‘stage by stage’ for the Tour Down Under, but a little early season excitement seemed to lead me down that path. Until yesterday. Stage five If…
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The big sprint head-to-head that wasn’t
Greipel wins. Take that, pedals! Andre Greipel won stage four of the Tour Down Under after 95km, even though it was a 148.5km stage. This is when the race hit the Reservoir Road climb in Myponga. He made it to the top in the main group. Marcel Kittel didn’t. It wasn’t so much the climb…
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The corrupted logic of the breakaway rider
Jens Voigt got in the break on stage three of the Tour Down Under. “I picked today’s stage to break away because nobody else did, but I knew that it was close to impossible to go for the stage win.” But he did it anyway. That’s a key aspect of the near-universal appeal of the…
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Diego Ulissi might be worth watching this season
Stage two didn’t thin out as I’d expected – 97 riders finished in the front group. In the grand scheme of things, they were racing for bonus seconds really. Simon Gerrans got a handful for finishing second. Diego Ulissi, however, jumped into second place overall after taking the win. Who’s Diego Ulissi? He doesn’t have…
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Simon Gerrans wins a wearied sprint to take the lead in the Tour Down Under
Simon Gerrans leads the Tour Down Under after stage one. I said he was a contender and he’ll be looking to hold the ochre jersey right the way to the finish now. That’s right – ochre. More races should consult the Dulux charts before settling on a leader’s jersey. The Tour of Britain should go…
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Grand Tour contenders – who’s racing what in 2014
It’s a common misconception among casual followers of cycling that all the best riders compete in the Tour de France. This is, patently, bollocks. If the route doesn’t suit them, many riders will instead centre their efforts on the Giro or the Vuelta – often both (albeit with greater emphasis on the Italian race, which…
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Tour Down Under – what’s that all about then?
Sunday sees the first UCI World Tour race of the season, the Tour Down Under. You could consider it the Tour of Australia, except that it doesn’t really venture far from Adelaide. That’s fair though. Le Tour d’Australie would be pretty bloody time consuming, what with it being 5,000-and-odd kilometres from Perth to Cairns by…
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My highlights of the 2013 pro cycling season
The 2014 season starts on Sunday with the Tour Down Under, so here’s a somewhat overdue list of my highlights from 2013. It absolutely isn’t that I saved this as a draft months ago and kind of thought that I’d published it, but hadn’t. In no particular order… Adam Hansen’s Giro stage win I’m a…