Author: Alex
-
How many wins before a rider’s not considered second-best?
Greipel wins! Take that pedals! At one point Andre Greipel was the second-best sprinter at HTC-Columbia after Mark Cavendish. Then, for a long time, he was the second-best sprinter in the world after Mark Cavendish. More recently, he’s slipped a notch and has only been the second-best German sprinter after Marcel Kittel. But suddenly, in…
-
Give Tony Martin an inch and he’ll cycle away from you very quickly indeed
Tony Martin, on his own, can almost beat the entire peloton over a distance of 175km. When he decided to have a go with 3.3km to go on stage four, the front group didn’t stand a chance. They’d maybe have stood half a chance if they’d chased him down instantly, but Geraint Thomas was on…
-
Who’s the fastest climber in the peloton?
If the long mountain passes later in the race will test climbing efficiency and the sustainable uphill speeds of the top riders, the Mur de Huy asks a rather simpler question. ‘How quickly can you cycle uphill?’ it says. ‘Go on. Give it everything. Let’s see how fast you can go.’ Chris Froome did indeed…
-
Andre Greipel rides like the wind – which on this stage meant in brutal, destructive fashion
Greipel wins! Take that pedals! At the finish, Mark Cavendish’s Etixx-Quick Step team made a bollocks of it. Starting his effort early, Cavendish seemed to be sprinting for an age with a great line of riders just chilling out behind him, biding their time. Other than Greipel, Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara also went past…
-
Rohan Dennis almost five per cent of the way to being a Grand Tour contender
The rider called Rohan (Dennis) won the opening time trial at this year’s Tour and so earned himself a yellow item of clothing for at least a day. At an average speed of 55.4kph it was the fastest individual time trial ever, pipping Chris Boardman’s 1994 prologue effort. A hot day and a relatively short…
-
Yellow jersey contenders in 2015
This year, the Tour de France delivers what it’s supposed to. All the various riders who have been off doing their own thing for the last couple of years all come together to face one another. Even better, there’s no one outstanding contender. Rather, there are four riders each of whom would normally expect to…
-
Which are the key stages in the 2015 Tour de France?
I normally pick out a few key stages – and you’ll see plenty of other websites and newspapers doing the same thing – but this year I’m not bothering. It’s not laziness (it is partly laziness). It’s acknowledgement of the fact that every stage is crucial. Last year, riders crashed on the most innocuous stages…
-
Green jersey contenders in 2015
The green jersey is awarded to the winner of the points competition. It’s been slightly tweaked this year to reward those who win sprint finishes in particular. It was widely believed that this would play into the hands of Marcel Kittel, who appears to have become the top sprinter over the last couple of years.…
-
Iljo Keisse delivers one last surprise
With hindsight, it was spectacularly stupid of me to assume there would be a sprint finish. The 2015 Giro has had no time for predictability. As it turned out, two track riders, Iljo Keisse and Luke ‘Durbo the Turbo’ Durbridge held off the peloton. Even on a flat stage, the breakaway has had its say…
-
Steep gravel and dehydration – together they are Alberto Contador’s kryptonite
The final stage is a flat stage, so Alberto Contador will win the 2015 Giro d’Italia. He had a bloody good go at losing it on stage 20, but he’d built up such an advantage, it simply wasn’t possible. What happened? The day was all about the Colle delle Finestre, an 18km climb that was…