Author: Alex
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Introducing the contenders for the 2015 Vuelta a Espana
BMC won the opening team time trial of the 2015 Vuelta and that’s pretty much all I have to say about that. The times don’t even count for the overall. The organisers responded to riders’ concerns about the sandy sections of the route by ruling that only the stage win was up for grabs and…
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Stage 11 of the 2015 Vuelta looks really rather hard
I don’t usually do stage previews of anything other than Tour (and I don’t do many of those), but stage 11 of this year’s Vuelta stands out as being among the most intense ever seen in a Grand Tour. It’s not long. Quite the opposite, in fact. At just 138km, it’s pretty dinky, even by…
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Best of the 2015 Tour de France
Everyone loves a best of. Best moment – the passing manoeuvre French TV coverage is lingering on two Frenchmen at the head of the race. The two young climbers who have laid waste to the break on the steep final climb of the Côte de la Croix Neuve watch each other closely. They have to…
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Andre Greipel makes a 3D box for his claim to be top sprinter at the 2015 Tour de France
Greipel wins! Take that, pedals! Back when I worked in an office alongside other humans, I’d often note down something I needed to do using pen and paper – like cro magnon man used to do. A day later, when I hadn’t done it and the job was now quite urgent, I’d underline the words…
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Chris Froome more than a little relieved that there wasn’t more road
The final climb of the 2015 Tour de France was really quite something. A French cyclist, Thibaut Pinot, in the lead; Chris Froome, in the yellow jersey, a few minutes back; and in between, Nairo Quintana, effectively bearing down on both of them. The Colombian was far and away the fastest-moving – but did he…
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Nairo Quintana in the third week
After Chris Froome hurried his way to what appeared an impregnable lead after stage 10, I wrote that Grand Tours aren’t just about who’s fastest, they’re also about how tired you get and I pointed to how Nairo Quintana had been stronger than Froome by the end of the 2013 Tour. So it has proven…
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Bearded win for Simon Geschke and goodbye to the most famous Tejay since Hooker
Simon Geschke’s a good strong support rider and I was slightly surprised to learn that this was only his third professional win. A man with a beard as lustrous as his surely deserves more success. As is so often the case by this point in the race, Geschke got in the day’s break, attacked on…
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Sky to prove everyone right by releasing Chris Froome power data
The rest day will be no such thing for Chris Froome. The column inch shortfall resulting from a lack of racing has in recent times been filled with reasoned debate/rabid frothing about the performances of whoever happens to be the race leader. Team Sky’s good performances have attracted much vitriol among those who don’t believe…
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Peter Sagan finishes second to… Ruben Plaza?
No, me neither. Ruben Plaza won a stage of the Vuelta a Espana a decade ago and he’s been Spanish national champion a couple of times, but I’d have had him down for break fodder; one of those faceless riders who makes up the numbers and ultimately gets dropped. He didn’t though. He waved goodbye…