Author: Alex
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Ian Stannard has the power
What? Are you saying that victory in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad doesn’t justify a He-Man reference? Well, maybe you’re right. Or maybe you’re wrong. British riders in the cobbled classics For all that Britain is suddenly a Grand Tour powerhouse, the nation hasn’t had anything like the same success in one-day classics. This is somewhat surprising…
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The cobbles, climbs and cobbled climbs of Belgium
Crack open an oud bruin, smear some samurai sauce on your frites and brace yourself for Belgium. It’s time for cobbles, short climbs and short cobbled climbs as we build towards the Ronde van Vlaanderen (the Tour of Flanders) on the 6th of April. Okay, that race is still some way off, but the reconnaisance…
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Chris Froome can still cycle uphill at great speed
Not the greatest revelation ever. Up there with ‘oranges are still orange’ and ‘online marketing is a pointless, zero-sum game practised by cold, dead-eyed charlatans who talk the talk to a far greater degree than they walk the walk’. But if you write a cycling website, you take what you can at this point in…
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Why Peter Sagan isn’t a sprinter
Peter Sagan won the green jersey in last year’s Tour de France and he always contests the sprints, yet people don’t tend to talk about him as being a sprinter. Why is this? Stage four of the Tour of Oman answered that question. What happened? During four ascents of the same hill, the peloton was…
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What’s going on in the Tour of Oman?
In my last article, I slightly talked up the Tour of Oman, but have since written nowt about it. I should probably bring you up to lead-out speed on what’s been going on. Stage one Greipel wins. Take that, pedals! Stage two Alexander Kristoff won. Stage three Greipel wins. Take that, pedals! In summary It’s…
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Steve Cummings wins a stage race
Britain is still very Wiggins/Cavendish-centric when it comes to cycling. There’s been semi-adoption of Chris Froome, who races as a Brit and Geraint Thomas is quite well known. However, if you haven’t won a Tour de France or Olympic gold, most people would sooner spit in your face than hold a door open for you.…
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Middle Eastern foreshadowing
Never let it be said that I am detached from my readers. I know what the readership is crying out for and that’s a half-arsed update about the Dubai Tour and stage one of the Tour of Qatar. The Dubai Tour This is the kind of race that’s decided by a prologue. Taylor Phinney’s 15-second…
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Some of the key stages of the 2014 Tour de France
I’ve tried to work out which stages of this year’s Tour are likely to shape the general classification narrative. I say ‘narrative’ because while a later mountain stage might have a greater impact on the race as a whole, a few seconds snatched early on seem a lot more significant. Maybe it’s just the way…
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The Yorkshire Tour de France climbs – a stage two preview
Stage two: York to Sheffield, 198km – Sunday, July 6 (stage profile) Britain. Proper Britain. This isn’t some half-arsed parade into the centre of London, but proper, harrowing, British cycling. Stage two of the 2014 Tour de France starts in Yorkshire and passes through the Peak District. It’s also long. Don’t be deceived by the…
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Simon Gerrans refuses to wait just one second
Two stages for the price of one in this update, because, you know, it was Saturday yesterday and I simply couldn’t be bothered. I hadn’t actually intended to go ‘stage by stage’ for the Tour Down Under, but a little early season excitement seemed to lead me down that path. Until yesterday. Stage five If…