Author: Alex
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Why the Tour of Dubai isn’t perhaps the most exciting race of the season
It’s pretty obvious. I mean look at it. Marcel Kittel won stage one, putting an end to a long run of not winning races and an almost equally long run of not finishing races. He beat Mark Cavendish into second place, giving us an early slice of an insanely easy-to-bake narrative pie. As an added…
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John Degenkolb’s finger and what it means for the spring classics
Nine of John Degenkolb’s fingers are fine. The tenth one pretty much came off and has only just been stuck back on. According to the man of science who wielded the glue, it’ll be three months before its owner is back racing. That means Degenkolb will miss the whole spring classics campaign. Being as he…
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Tour Down Under 2016 recap
‘Who’s in form?’ we asked, a touch rhetorically, ahead of this year’s Tour Down Under. We concluded that the most likely answer was ‘a bunch of Australians’. It wasn’t the most specific race prediction, but we think you’ll agree it was pretty accurate. Caleb Ewan, an Aussie, won stage one. Jay McCarthy, an Aussie, won…
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Tour Down Under 2016 – is anyone in any kind of form whatsoever?
For most of us, our main task at this time of year is overriding the thermostat so that the heating comes on a bit earlier. However, for professional road cyclists, the season begins with the Tour Down Under. Personally, I struggle to stay out on the bike for more than an hour or so at…
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Cycling transfers for 2016 – and do you care?
For the last few days, one of the feeds on my homepage seems to have been stuck presenting the headline ‘Cancellara chooses not to use disc brakes in 2016′. Perhaps the world is trying to remind me that not everyone who enjoys cycling shares my interests. For me, the sport’s about the psychology, the physiology…
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The eight best moments of the 2015 cycling season
Loads of entertaining cycling took place in 2015. Here’s some of the stuff that I can actually remember. Having a chat with Jens Voigt Well it was a highlight for me. Ian Stannard disrespects the numbers It was three v one at the end of the Omloop. Etixx-Quick Step’s three were soundly beaten. I still…
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Winners of the classics and Grand Tours in 2015
The framework for this site is this list of the bike races which actually matter. The list is my own and an attempt to impose some sort of structure on a sprawling, hard-to-understand calendar. It omits many major stage races, but includes all the Grand Tours, all the Monuments and a select few high profile…
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Jens Voigt likes it hard, sticky, nasty and uncomfortable
It’s not every day you get to meet a genuine cult hero (which is of course the best kind of hero). I interviewed Jens Voigt last week. The headline above was one revelation that somehow didn’t make it into the piece I did for road.cc. Here’s the context. He was telling me about the type…
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Vincenzo Nibali has a Monument
Not a statue, not a commemorative building of some description, but a win in the Tour of Lombardy (Il Lombardia), one of cycling’s five Monuments. It’s a big deal. When people measure a cyclist’s worth, they often look to the diversity of wins. It’s one of the reasons why Eddy Merckx is out on his…
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Peter Sagan did NOT come second
He’s only the world champion. If ever a season had a satisfying narrative, it was this year. In 2013, Peter Sagan notched four second places in the Tour de France. In 2014, he got another four. This year, he lost to Andre Greipel (twice), Zdenek Stybar, Ruben Plaza and even Greg Van Avermaet, of all…