Tour de France on TV

Author: Alex

  • A cursory dissection of Alberto Contador’s Tirreno-Adriatico win

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    Alberto Contador held his lead to the end of Tirreno-Adriatico. He lost three seconds to Nairo Quintana in the final time trial, but being as he was already a couple of minutes ahead, this was of no real significance. The result did however surprise many pundits who are for some reason convinced that Quintana can’t…

  • Alberto Contador’s weight

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    Most bike races are decided on the hills or in the mountains and the speed you can cycle uphill is dictated by the power you can produce relative to your weight. This means there are two main things a racer will look to control. They want more watts, but fewer kilograms, which means more training…

  • Fat Betancur and fit Contador

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    Have you ever had two books on the go? A friend of mine was once reading two books from the same series at the same time – one at work and one at home. He’d started the seventh book in the series and quite liked it, so he then started the first one. I feel…

  • Cavendish v Kittel v Greipel v Sagan

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    There was a high profile Tour de France preview yesterday with the four main contenders for this year’s green jersey going head-to-head-to-head-to-head in a Tirreno-Adriatico sprint finish. Who would emerge victorious? Er, well it was Matteo Pelucchi actually. Greipel managed third; Sagan ran out of steam a bit and finished fifth; Cavendish never really got…

  • Brits lead the spring stage races

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    Put the kettle on and warm the pot! Brits are leading both Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. Tirreno-Adriatico Stage one was a team time trial. As has previously been noted on this website, Tony Martin could ride as an individual in the team event and still be competitive. Sure enough, his team, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, won. Omega…

  • Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico herald spring

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    Is spring here? You can go by the calendar or you can judge by other signifiers. The trees are in blossom, it’s almost time to change the clocks to British Summer Time, green bin collections are about to recommence and major European stage racing is back. Tirreno-Adriatico starts today, but it’s Paris-Nice which really seems…

  • Alejandro Valverde is always worth beating

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    Alejandro Valverde hasn’t won any really big races since he returned from his doping ban at the start of 2012. Instead, standing on a lower step of the podium, he serves as a badge of quality for whoever’s above him. He always rides well, in all sorts of different races, but he doesn’t win. In…

  • Try and learn Michal Kwiatkowski’s name

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    It’s not an easy one, but he’s a rider of growing importance so you might as well make the effort. I know, no-one likes effort, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. At least it’s only hearing sounds in your mind’s ear and not actual physical effort, like having to go to the cash machine or something like…

  • Cycling up the Swiss Hill cobbled climb near Alderley Edge

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    In the spirit of research, I cycled up Swiss Hill today to get an idea of what it must be like to tackle the cobbled Flemish bergs seen in the Tour of Flanders and many of the other Belgian classics. It absolutely wasn’t that I couldn’t follow the route I’d been planning on doing, found…

  • Belgians fail to take second place in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

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    Kuurne Brussels-Kuurne, first to eighth, by nationality: Belgian Dutch Belgian Belgian Belgian Belgian Belgian Belgian The number one Belgian was Tom Boonen, who might actually be a strong contender for that title in a broader sense. How it panned out The second cobbled classic was meant to finish with a bunch sprint. All the previews…