Author: Alex
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Egan Bernal’s back | a recap of Stages 1-10 of the 2021 Giro d’Italia
A whistle-stop tour of the 2021 Giro d’Italia contenders Egan Bernal’s back. As in ‘returned’. But also as in ‘his spine’ because we’ll need to talk about his scoliosis a bit too. Before that, let’s have a quick jaunt through the stages that have meaningfully affected the overall standings as we arrive at what I’m…
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A whistle-stop tour of the 2021 Giro d’Italia contenders
Let’s take a look at the main contenders for this year’s Giro d’Italia. Let’s do it quickly, as if we’re a character in a film riffling through a filing cabinet in someone’s office when we know that someone is on their way back. The first and most important thing to note is that last year’s…
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Unfamiliar faces v familiar faces | a 2021 spring classics recap
The big springtime one-day races represent the divide between people who really follow cycling and people who very much like it and will definitely watch it when it’s on ITV4 but probably won’t actively seek it out. Whichever group you fall into, here’s a recap. Milan-Sanremo Milan-Sanremo came to a head as it always does,…
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Van der Poel’s power, van Aert’s adaptability, Pogacar’s form and Roglic’s matter-of-factness – scene-setting in early spring
The season is now definitely underway and we’ve been given a couple of sighters for the bigger events to come. Let’s take a look at who you need to be keeping an eye on this year. This early part of spring provides a bit of a warm-up for everyone. We’ve had our first big one-day…
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When does the 2021 pro cycling season *really* begin?
The professional road racing season is theoretically international these days which meant the 2021 World Tour officially got underway in the UAE in February, following the cancellation of the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Australia earlier in the year. But everyone knows that isn’t the real start of…
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Primoz Roglic has done something no-one else has done in a while | A recap of stages 13-18 of the 2020 Vuelta a Espana
Pressed for time? Here’s a very quick summary: Primoz Roglic won the first stage of the Vuelta a Espana, lost the lead for a short period in the middle, but then won overall. How did this happen? Well here’s the recap of stages 1-12… And now here’s what happened in the final week… The time…
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Richard Carapaz, Primoz Roglic and… Hugh Carthy? | A recap of stages 1-12 of the 2020 Vuelta a Espana
Let me tell you a story about two Grand Tour winners and a lad from Preston who sometimes stays up too late because he wants to watch the darts. There’ll be a slight whistle-stop quality to much of this recap because I’ve got two weeks of racing to get through. I’ll slow down when we…
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A Tao KO in the final round | A recap of stages 10-21 of the 2020 Giro d’Italia
In my recap of the first week of this Giro d’Italia, I wrote that British interest ended after Stage 1. That turned out to be a bold and not very great prediction because turned out Tao Geoghegan Hart won the thing. Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3… The Giro recommenced after the first rest day in…
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Julian Alaphilippe wins, loses, crashes out | An Autumn classics recap
The Giro d’Italia is still limping on. (Although it’s Covid-19 testing again today, so that sentence might not see out the afternoon.) Let’s take a break from Grand Tours this week though and instead turn our attention to the one-day racing that’s been taking place in recent weeks. This October batch of classics kicked off…
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Back breaks, British breaks and bathos | A recap of stages 1-9 of the 2020 Giro d’Italia
The 2020 Giro d’Italia began with a much weaker field than usual, but two of Britain’s finest riders – Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates – all set for a serious tilt at victory. It doesn’t pay to get your hopes up about these things. The British challenge The opening time trial represented a magnificent start…