Author: Alex
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Geraint Thomas is strong enough for everything except the wind
In my previous ‘what’s next?’ I neglected to mention E3 Harelbeke which took place on Friday. It’s the same class of race as Gent-Wevelgem and makes the list. It was just lazy calendar reading on my part. Sorry about that. E3 Harelbeke The race named after a motorway that has since been renamed and that…
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John Degenkolb claims ownership of a Monument
As the old saying goes, ‘complete-lack-of-timeliness is next to Godliness’. As such, Wednesday night seems a perfect time to report on Sunday’s Milan-San Remo. What happened? I sometimes get dragged into writing a sort of pseudo-race report and I always regret it. Far better to concentrate on the bold headline information: John Degenkolb’s moustache won.…
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Down France and across Italy in under a thousand words
Let’s have a quick round-up of all the major racing since Ian Stannard took the Omloop for the second time (not a euphemism). That basically means Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico as I’ll tick Strade Bianche off in this opening section by matter-of-factly telling you that Zdenek Stybar won. Zdenek’s been promising this sort of thing for…
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Ian Stannard and Omloop retention
I will freely admit to being terrible at headlines. Quite often I just write something down off the top of my head and if it sounds slightly weird, I go with it. That is precisely what has happened today. I named Ian Stannard one of my riders to watch in 2015 in large part because…
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Ding from Contador and dong from Froome
Which sounds a bit disgusting. Let’s gloss over that. Ding dong battles are rare in cycling. Ding ding battles are more common because if you’re fitter and faster than someone one day, that rarely changes overnight. Chris Froome and Alberto Contador seem to be prone to them however with the latest taking place last week…
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A different kind of desert spring
I’m not entirely sure how one goes about peeling one’s eyes. I guess the eyelid is the thing that needs peeling, in which case the phrase “don’t unnecessarily close your eyes” seems more apt. I’ve been avoiding unnecessary closure of my eyes during the early season races in a bid to spot signs of spring.…
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Why time bonuses in the 2015 Tour de France really will matter
Or as Sean Kelly will always insist on calling them – bonifications. In the first week of the 2015 Tour, the first three riders across the line will earn 10, 6 and 4 seconds. Does this matter? Well, yes, it does. Or at least it does if you think that merely wearing the yellow jersey…
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What will the changes to the 2015 Tour de France points competition mean?
I promised you a look at the changes to the Tour de France points competition. As promises go, it’s perhaps one you wouldn’t mind seeing broken. It’s maybe not in ‘I promise to break your kneecaps’ territory, but it would surely run ‘I promise to make something healthy for tea – maybe I’ll use up…
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Four or five riders to watch in 2015
I was going to pick five riders to watch, but while four came to me quite quickly, the fifth proved more elusive. A draft version of this article has been hanging around for about three months now, so I finally decided that four was my number. The perfect fifth selection will doubtless materialise in my…
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Chris Froome reveals that the sun will rise in the morning
I should probably react to the long-since-broken news that Chris Froome will be riding the Tour de France in 2015. Maybe if it wasn’t so blindingly obvious that was going to happen, I might actually have something to say. Froome had previously floated the possibility that he might ride the Vuelta and the Giro and…