Why I didn’t write about Bob Jungels winning Liege-Bastogne-Liege
This is not a race report. You can’t report on a race that took place over a week ago. This is more of an explanation tied up with a bit of record-keeping for when I…
Paris-Roubaix Peter Sagan or Amstel Gold Peter Sagan? Which Peter Sagan did the better sprint?
Peter Sagan is the central figure in pretty much every race he rides, so let’s just write about Peter Sagan today. Sagan has appeared in two one-day classics in the last fortnight – Paris-Roubaix (which…
All hail Niki Terpstra, the most Belgian man ever to have failed to be from Belgium
Niki Terpstra’s top result in a Grand Tour is 94th in the 2014 Tour de France. He also finished 95th in the 2010 Vuelta a Espana. Here are all of Niki Terpstra’s other Grand Tour…
Vincenzo Nibali is slowly winning all of the things
Milan-Sanremo really is one of the finest races of the year. At 291km, it is very long, which is a very important quality as it means people can deploy the word ‘epic’ which is a…
Tiesj Benoot was the most Belgian Belgian at Strade Bianche
Strade Bianche is named after the white roads it uses. Presumably it should have been called Strade Bruno or Strade Merda or something this year. I have no idea. I don’t speak Italian. This is…
Michael Valgren is incredibly blond
The absolute state of Michael Valgren’s barnet. Just look at it. The colour’s so far beyond comprehension I genuinely can’t work out whether a feathered side parting is brave or a cop-out. Valgren won Omloop…
Vincenzo Nibali stays the right side of the barriers
Vincenzo Nibali won the final Monument of the season on a day defined by descending. The Sicilian is pretty good downhill but also had to be strong enough uphill to be right at the front…
Peter Sagan isn’t from the Netherlands
Last week’s Road World Championships ended up decidedly Dutch, bar the one rider who dominated all the headlines. A-loving Chantal Blaak won the women’s road race, Annemiek Van Vleuten won the women’s trial and Tom…
Alejandro Valverde is no panda
When Dan Martin won Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2013, he was chased up the final drag by a panda. It was a memorable backdrop to a race-winning, perhaps even career-defining, attack. Look at him (Dan Martin) go!…
Alejandro Valverde, La Fleche Wallonne, the Mur de Huy, etc, etc
Last year, I wrote: “La Fleche Wallonne pretty much always amounts to a hill climb after a 200km warm-up. Alejandro Valverde is still the fastest hill climber, just as he was last year and the…
