Yellow jersey contenders in 2015
This year, the Tour de France delivers what it’s supposed to. All the various riders who have been off doing their own thing for the last couple of years all come together to face one…
How did Vincenzo Nibali win the 2014 Tour de France?
Last year, I looked at where Chris Froome gained time on his rivals in a bid to explain how he came to win the Tour. That’s not really so necessary this year because the result…
Marcel Kittel’s back off holiday
Because that’s where he’s been, right? On the eighth of July, he’d won three out of four stages and then, on the 27th of July, he won a fourth. In between those times, he disappeared….
A French majority on the Tour de France podium
Chances are, if you’re into cycling, you’re not anti-French. I think most of us would consider having French riders finishing second and third in the Tour to be ‘a good thing’. Okay, you’d probably prefer…
Alejandro Valverde falls off the podium
He’s been tottering around these last few days, but on stage 18, Alejandro Valverde finally slipped. Now he’s lying in the dirt, clawing at the air and screeching the word ‘podium’ like Gollum. There was…
Rafal Majka emerges from the chaos
The chaos of a break and then another break from the break and then a further break from the main bunch. So many groups, all moving at different speeds. So many potential ramifications that it’s…
Rafal Majka having second thoughts about the Tour de France
Rafal Majka finished sixth in this year’s Giro. The Pole is 24, which is quite young for a Grand Tour contender because it literally takes years to build the endurance needed to properly tolerate three…
Richie Porte always has at least one bad day
After Chris Froome abandoned, the situation was presented by Sky as being an opportunity for Richie Porte to show what he can do. What Porte can do is have at least one really bad day…
Vincenzo Nibali cares not for gravity
If Richie Porte is ‘flying’ then Vincenzo Nibali’s in orbit, effortlessly circling the earth. Just as it did in 2012, La Planche des Belles Filles brought clarity to proceedings. Searing, searing clarity. What happened? One…
Tony Martin gets his revenge on the peloton
Here are three facts about Tony Martin. He would have finished sixth in the world team trial last year, competing on his own He once told Lance Armstrong to get fucked He raced the entire…
