Author: Alex
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Who will win the green jersey? The points competition contender for the 2017 Tour de France
Peter Sagan. That’s about it really, isn’t it? He’s won the points competition (here’s what that is) in each of the last five years and it’s hard to see anyone beating him. However, working on the premise that you never know when a broken collarbone might strike, here are a few other names to watch…
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Richie Porte is stronger than everybody individually (but not everybody combined) | The 2017 Criterium du Dauphine wrap
It was a classic edition of the eight-stage race I like to call The Dolphin – but as ever, the main point of interest is what events told us about the form of the main contenders for the Tour de France, which starts in three weeks. The strongest rider An oddly worded subheading in that…
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Dumoulin v Quintana, time trialist v climber | The Giro d’Italia final week wrap
The idea with these round-ups is that I focus only on those stages that affected the general classification. This policy hasn’t proven especially time-saving on this occasion, as the numerate among you will realise upon reading the following subheadings. The race was so eventful, in fact, that this summary has ticked up towards being brewworthy…
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Has Tom Dumoulin monstered Nairo Quintana enough? | The Giro d’Italia rest day wrap
It’s been an eventful week. But what have those events been? Well I’ll tell you. Let’s take a look at the crucial recent moments in the battle to win this year’s Giro d’Italia. When I last updated you in my previous rest day wrap, Nairo Quintana had taken the lead, but Tom Dumoulin seemed poised…
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A Giro d’Italia rest day wrap – Quintana into the lead, Thomas stopped by the fuzz
I’ve had a baby. Well, you know, I contributed to the creation of a baby (Niamh) who this week exited her mother. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s still a pretty big deal though and a perfectly valid reason why I haven’t been keeping you up to speed with the Giro d’Italia. I’m going to try…
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Fernando Gaviria makes the most of his team-mates’ gas-opening
Fernando Gaviria won stage three’s inevitable sprint finish – albeit he didn’t have many people to beat thanks to the WONDER OF CROSSWINDS. You may half-remember the Colombian as the guy who didn’t quite get a medal in the omnium in the 2016 Olympics. Gaviria is very much in the ‘up and coming’ category when…
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Andre Greipel doesn’t even feel the need to hit peak pedal-mash
Greipel wins! Take that, pedals. The man they call The Gorilla (but who I call The Basking Shark on account of his gigantic mouth) didn’t even seem to need to hit full pedal-mashing fury to take stage two. He dedicated the victory to his mum. It was the seventh Giro d’Italia stage win of the…
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Lukas Postlberger inaugurates Quest’s free-to-air highlights show
Reading this sentence back, I’m seeing the name Lukas Postlberger for about the fifth time in my life. It’s safe to say that the winner of the first stage of the Giro d’Italia was something of an outsider. This is the first Grand Tour the 25-year-old Austrian has ever ridden. After one stage, he has…
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Riders to watch at the 2017 Giro d’Italia
The Giro d’Italia starts this week. Who are the contenders? In no particular order (largely because I wanted to separate the two pictures)… Nairo Quintana Going by who tends to get closest to Chris Froome on one of his good days, Quintana’s the class of the field. He’s racing both the Giro and the Tour…
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Freeview Giro d’Italia highlights will be available on Quest
Good news everyone, while ITV4 aren’t showing the Giro d’Italia, you can still watch highlights without spending an arm and a leg on access to some cable TV channel or other. Freeview channel Quest will be broadcasting a one-hour highlights package each night at 10pm. Hit ‘series record’ now! Unlike the Tour de France coverage…