Author: Alex
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Alberto Contador has the legs – even if one of them’s a bit skeggy and slightly knackered
I can only presume that having prepared for the Vuelta by riding around with a fractured leg and a huge infected wound, racing Chris Froome up a mountain suddenly seems like a pain-free doddle for Alberto Contador. In the pantheon of Grand Tour suffering, it’s not quite up there with Tyler Hamilton grinding his teeth…
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Dylan Van Baarle nicks the race lead in the Tour of Britain
I’m not going to write about stage seven winner Julien Vermote because he did that stupid heart-shaped hand gesture when he crossed the line and it irritates me. Plus there was quite a lot going on with the general classification. Alex Dowsett started the day in the yellow jersey but couldn’t stay with the leaders…
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Adam Hansen is still going strong… somehow
Last year, Adam Hansen won a stage of the Giro and I took the opportunity to draw attention to an even more staggering feat – he was riding his fifth Grand Tour in a row. You may be wondering whether he’s since maintained that sequence and the answer is yes. He hasn’t missed any of…
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At first Alex Dowsett didn’t succeed
But he knows the saying. After a double puncture did for his chances of taking the overall lead earlier in the race, Dowsett tried again and this time things went rather better. Dowsett is unarguably the finest haemophiliac cyclist Essex has ever produced, but other than a Giro d’Italia time trial, a trio of triumphs…
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Fabio Aru is a grooved rider
Fabio Aru won his second stage of this year’s Vuelta and was followed over the line by exactly the same four riders as last time – albeit in a different order. But if Aru’s emergence this season is one story, it’s that of a minor character. Today’s main protagonist was Chris Froome. Doggystyle Froomedog has…
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Matthias Brandle makes good use of his head start in the Tour of Britain
The stages of this year’s Tour of Britain seem to have settled on a bit of a format. The break goes away – same as it does in any race – and then the day ends with a handful of riders effectively being given a bit of a head start on the day’s final climb.…
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John Degenkolb stays at the right end of the spaghetti
John Degenkolb says his favourite type of training session is the rest day, or failing that the leisurely coffee ride. I doubt all the riders having the previous day off was what allowed him to win stage 17, but who knows? A little of what you fancy and all that. It was a tense approach…
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Michal Kwiatkowski comes from somewhere
I was going to entitle this ‘Michal Kwiatkowski comes from nowhere’ but then I realised that was completely inaccurate. He came from somewhere to win stage four of the Tour of Britain, I just don’t know exactly how he managed it. The TV coverage was utterly focused on the two leaders for the final kilometre…
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Edoardo Zardini leads the Tour of Britain
‘Who?’ you may be thinking. And yes, it is a bit like that, but you may have been thinking much the same thing when Simon Yates won a stage last year. Good young riders often make themselves known in these slightly smaller races. Zardini got away on the Tumble and if my tip, Nicolas Roche,…
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Alberto Contador lands a seemingly decisive punch
Stage 16 of this year’s Vuelta a Espana will forever be remembered for the feeble pattycake slapfest that took place between Gianluca Brambilla and Ivan Rovny, who were riding in the break. I still don’t know what they were arguing about – Brambilla may have grown sick of Rovny not taking turns on the front…