Author: Alex
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The latest on Greg Van Avermaet and his trident
After winning Tirreno-Adriatico, Greg Van Avermaet also did what looked like a guitar-playing mime with The Sea Master Trophy. If that is indeed what that was meant to be then Greg Van Avermaet has almost certainly never played a guitar. Alternatively, it could just be that he’s really bad at celebrating with trophies having always…
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Born winner Greg Van Avermaet wins Tirreno-Adriatico
That Greg Van Avermaet, eh? He just can’t stop winning. Born winner. Always said so. Sticking with his new ploy of pitting himself against the even bigger bridesmaid that is Peter Sagan, Van Avermaet pipped the Slovakian to Tirreno-Adriatico by a single second. On his way to the win, he also took stage six. Not…
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Geraint Thomas lasts the week at Paris-Nice
Without wishing to dumb down too much, cycling is to a great extent about tiredness. Tiredness is what makes a three-week Grand Tour different from three one-week races with gaps in between. Geraint Thomas won Paris-Nice by the colossal margin of four seconds. He was 11 seconds faster than second-placed Alberto Contador in the prologue…
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Snow stopped play at Paris-Nice – Race to the Sun still some way from its destination
I had hoped to give you some sort of Paris-Nice state-of-play update after today’s stage. I wanted to set the scene for the second half of the race by highlighting which protagonists were still in the hunt for the overall win. Unfortunately, it’s all rather more open than it should be after they abandoned what…
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British Olympic track cycling preview in the form of a World Championships review
They just held the UCI Track World Championships. Some Britons did well. Some didn’t. Here’s a look at how the nation fared in a handful of the Olympic events to serve as some kind of Rio preview. Laura Trott Not strictly speaking an event. More of a person. However, Trott is quite important. Not only…
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Lizzie Armitstead wants to win all of the things – including Strade Bianche
Do women actually have an Omloop, you might ask? Of course they do. Lizzie Armitstead won it last week in what was her first competitive outing of the season. This wasn’t entirely surprising. Armitstead is already British and World Champion. She’s a fabulous rider and the only downside to her dominance is that I have…
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Geraint Thomas awkwardly dismounts the fence ahead of Paris-Nice
Paris-Nice starts on Sunday. Technically, other WorldTour races have already been and gone, so I’ll be diplomatic and call it the first major European stage race of the season. Last year, Paris-Nice had a bit of a limp start list. It’s actually not wildly different this year in terms of names, but if the consonants…
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Greg Van Avermaet has found a way to win bike races
We’ve been here before. Greg Van Avermaet has found a way to win bike races. By ensuring that his main rival at the finish is Peter Sagan, he raises the distinct possibility that he might be out-bridesmaided. I actually missed Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in the end because I was busy writing about cycling. Apparently, the…
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Bring forth the Omloop!
And bring forth the Spring Classics, the first significant chapter in the racing season. Last year Ian Stannard won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the traditional opener. He won it the year before too, but this year he’s skiving. However, Team Sky remains the place to look for Britons. In the absence of Stannard and Geraint Thomas,…
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Kittel v Cavendish – head-to-head record
Almost as if he wanted me to expand on my half-baked ramble from earlier in the week, Marcel Kittel again beat Mark Cavendish in a sprint finish at the Tour of Dubai. The win also means he won the race as a whole, which tells you pretty much all you need to know about how…