Category: Classics and day races
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Michal Kwiatkowski again surprised to beat Peter Sagan – even though he does it all the time
Peter Sagan is such a colossal figure in cycling that it’s odd to thing he doesn’t necessarily have more of a claim to greatness than Michal Kwiatkowski. Sagan does wheelies and snarfs Gold Bears like some sort of Haribo-vacuum. Michal Kwiatkowski is a Polish guy with sticky-out ears. But performance-wise, what’s in it? Sagan is…
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Michal Kwiatkowski’s back!
As in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. Michal Kwiatkowski hasn’t had a spectacularly successful time at Team Sky thus far. In 2014, at what was then Omega Pharma-Quick Step, he won Strade Bianche and became world champion and finished on the podium in La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege – all big races.…
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What does Peter Sagan eat after a bike race?
Haribo. Haribo Gold Bears, specifically. One fistful, smushed into the mouth via the palms of both hands. Here’s some footage, because I know that you’re yearning for footage. The greatest Haribo advert ever created :: pic.twitter.com/RpWzHZa4uA — Gage+DeSoto (@gagedesoto) February 26, 2017 I wrote more about this earth-shattering pro cycling development for my day job,…
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The Omloop ushers in a brave old world
Rub the sleep from your eyes, wash the surprisingly large amount of winter filth off your bike – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad has taken place and the cycling season is now unequivocally underway. So how have things changed? They haven’t. Olympic road race champion Greg Van Avermaet won the Omloop, just as he did last year.…
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Autumn round-up: from Belgium to Qatar
I’ve rather permitted the season to peter out and for that I apologise. Last time I wrote about actual racing, Steve Cummings had won the Tour of Britain. What’s happened since then? Eneco Tour I rather like the Eneco Tour, but didn’t really get chance to follow it too closely this year. It’s rough and…
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Bold old time triallists take Olympic gold
Sorry about the lack of reportage on the women’s Olympic road race. I was barbecueing and then couldn’t bluff my way through an article for the simple reason that I know nothing about the winner. Anna van der Breggen is Dutch and she won La Fleche Wallonne earlier in the year, which is part of…
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Greg Van Avermaet’s only the Olympic champion
At the start of this year, you’d have had Greg Van Avermaet down as a nailed-on certainty for an Olympic silver medal. Or maybe fourth, actually – that’s the Olympic version of just missing out. But things change. Van Avermaet won the Omloop. He won a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico and then got to play air…
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Bauke Mollema gets some sort of consolation at Clasica de San Sebastian
That post-Tour de France review of mine never really happened, did it? My week of sloth means I sort of feel obliged to report on the latest WorldTour (no space) race, the Clasica de San Sebastian, which took place yesterday. A race being part of the WorldTour (no space) is not necessarily a guarantee of…
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Wout Poels gets Team Sky its Monument – will probably celebrate with pneumonia
That’s Monument with an upper-case M. A Team Sky monument would be some sort of sleek branded laboratory which was all glass, chrome and empty spaces. A Team Sky Monument is the 2016 Liege-Bastogne-Liege, which for all its Grand Tour sucess is the team’s first absolutely top level one-day race win. I’ve mentioned this before,…
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Enrico Gasporotto – don’t worry about remembering the name
Enrico Gasparotto is a rider who shows up during the Ardennes Classics and at pretty much no other time. He won Amstel Gold in 2012 and has just won it again with an attack on the final climb. For that 2012 win, he edged out Jelle Vanendert who falls into the same category. It’s almost…