The hotly-contested Tour of Beijing is over. Benat Intxausti won. There was a hilltop finish on stage four and the results of that pretty much equate to the final general classification. Dan Martin came second. Sky’s David Lopez came third. There wasn’t much in it.
The defending champion, Tony Martin, came sixth. He reckons he’s going to start targeting more week-long stage races to explore whether he could one day become a Grand Tour contender. He has the cardiovascular system for it, but as an out-and-out time trialist he’s currently too heavy. Depending how things go in 2014, we might see him sacrificing a bit of muscle to make climbing easier.
Looking ahead
The cycling season really is over now. It’s time for training. This site will do something similar, laying the groundwork so that you can hopefully enjoy the 2014 season even more than you enjoyed the 2013 season.
In the off season, intensity reduces. Cyclists steer clear of lung-busting intervals and I’ll be steering clear of posting daily. What I’ll do instead is base training, building a foundation for the more intense efforts later in the year.
The Tour de France route will be unveiled this time next week. I’ll mull it over and then try and pick out some highlights. I believe there are going to be cobbles. And speaking of cobbles, I’d like to get people to pay more attention to the Spring Classics, so I’ll try and do some stuff to give you more of an idea what those races are all about.
By the way, if you haven’t already signed up for the email that goes out from this site, now’s a good time to do that. It means you don’t have to check for new updates – they come to you. Tell your mate who’s kind of into cycling as well. Get them to sign up ready for the new season.
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