Indholdsfortegnelse for March 17, 2022 i Cycling Weekly

Proving he is much more than a social media cyclist, Cameron Jeffers won the prestigious Eddie Soens Memorial at Aintree Racecourse on Saturday. The 25-year-old from near Wigan is not known as a pure sprinter, but showed a fast turn of speed in a bunch finish in Merseyside. “I made a name for myself through my YouTube channel,” said the Ribble Weldtite rider who has around 126,000 followers online. “Every now and again I do get a dig that I’m only on a professional team because of my profile. If you’ve got two similar cyclists in terms of their physical ability a lot of the time a team is going to pick the person who has a bigger social profile. “At the end of the day cycling is a business…

BOB VARNEY Preparation always pays off We are well into the season and happy with the gains made on and off the bike. Our December camp seems an age ago now but was vital in providing the solid foundation for our winter’s workload. February camp couldn’t have gone better as we fine-tuned our preparations with several technical sessions. We have put these sessions to immediate effect in the early races with a plethora of good results. Our campaign kicked off at the Opening Weekend where we enjoyed a top 20 finish with Jesse Vandenbaulke at Het Nieuwsblad closely followed by 13th for Maike van der Duin at Het Hageland. A strong performance at GP Samyn with three riders in the final saw Lizzie Holden bring the break back in the…

E3 SAXO BANK CLASSIC Men’s: Friday 25 March | 205.1km 11:15 - 16:06 Eurosport GCN Women’s: Saturday 30 April | TBC | TBC | TBC Sharing many of the same climbs and producing the same winner four times in the last 10 years, the E3 Saxo Bank Classic is best thought of as a crucial, often prognostic precursor to the Tour of Flanders. The main difference is that the former is closer to 200km than 250km, which perhaps makes the E3 a more tactical affair – hence why Quick Step have been so successful here recently, with Kasper Asgreen’s win last year making it three in a row for the team. This year, a separate women’s event will be held for the first time, over a month after the men’s.…

AMSTEL GOLD RACE SUN 10 APRIL MEN 254KM | WOMEN 129KM | START: 9:20 | FINISH 15:47 FLECHE WALLONNE WED 20 APRIL MEN 202KM | WOMEN 133KM | START: TBC | FINISH: TBC LIEGE-BASTOGNE-LIEGE SUN 24 APRIL MEN 254KM | WOMEN 142KM | START: TBC | FINISH: TBC While the Northern Cobbled Classics seem to bag all the glory, probably due to their pavé-inspired reputation for being the most brutal races on the calendar, the Ardennes get to play the poor relation. This really ought not to be the case, seeing as they close out the Spring Classics, and are among the longest and hardest races on the calendar. ‘Ardennes Week’ consists of the monstrously long and hilly (think Grand Tour mountain stage) Amstel Gold and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with the less…

Gravel bikes as a category have been splitting into two distinct strands. The bikepacking-focused, multi-day adventuring sort contrasts with those lighter, faster, snappier models which have the gravel race scene in their sights. Wilier, an Italian bike manufacturer with a heritage spanning over 100 years, has chosen here to focus very much on the latter. The Rave SLR gravel bike is lighter than many a carbon road bike and cuts a similar profile to that of Wilier’s Filante SLR aero bike. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s look at the details. Frame While the contorting tube profiles and plethora of mounting bolts are something we’ve become quite accustomed to on so many gravel bikes, the Rave SLR bucks this trend with its clean, compact and very sleek aesthetic.…

Jonas Vingegaard seemingly spoke for the entire pro peloton when he remarked that he “didn’t even think about following” Tadej Pogačar as he launched a blistering attack to seal Slovenia’s dominance of the early season stage races at the weekend. The Jumbo-Visma rider, who finished Tirreno-Adriatico in second place nearly two minutes down on his UAE rival, expressed the bewilderment all Pogačar’s rivals must feel seeing him clip off the front of the leading group of favourites with ease on the race’s queen stage. Vingegaard told CW sister publication Cyclingnews.com the Tour de France champion was simply “in a league of his own”. The only crumb of comfort for those hoping to usurp Pogačar’s place at the head of cycling’s table was that he’d later remark that he was merely…

The Classics are the first big rendezvous of the year; the point at which the rolling formguide that is the early season stage racing circus has been focusing on since early February. Weekends through late March and April are when one-day specialists, Grand Tour winners, rouleurs and opportunists come to make a name for themselves on the fabled roads of Italy, France, and, of course, Belgium. The men’s and women’s one-day races that now run through to 24 April offer something for everyone, bring the crowds out in their hundreds of thousands (something that has been sorely missing for the last two years) and write another chapter in the sport’s history. Like everyone, we look ahead to the Spring Classics excited about the pending duels, new faces and the performances…

THE SOLOISTS Some riders just love to do it alone and there are four greats in the current pro peloton who have found success in Monuments that way. If anyone can be relied on to win a big Spring Classic alone this year it’s Annemiek van Vleuten. She is in imperious form, taking a long solo stage victory in Valenciana before winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. She’s been around a long time, knows how to plan her season and is renowned for holding her form. We’re most likely to see one of her long-range successes at Flanders and the Ardennes, though Paris-Roubaix is probably a ride too far after breaking her pelvis there last year. European road and world time trial champion Ellen van Dijk is another rider with a win…

SUNDAY 3 APRIL WOMEN - 159KM | OUDENAARDE - OUDENAARDE | START: 12:25 FINISH: 16:44 MEN - 272KM | ANTWERP - OUDENAARDE | START: 9:00 FINISH: 15:47 Bike racing in Flanders is always guaranteed to draw a crowd, but if the reception for the first post-lockdown World Championships in September last year was anything to go by, this spring’s Ronde van Vlaanderen could be set for the wildest reception yet. The home crowd knows what they’ll be getting: cobbles, punishing inclines, drama and maybe, if it rains, some mud too. The formula has served the event well for 105 editions of the men’s race, no need to change it now. The riders know too. “The fans that are always alongside the race circuit make it like a party,” says Lisa…

This is the bike and set-up Dan Bigham used when he smashed the British individual pursuit record by four seconds and went on to take the gold medal at the Track National Championships. Bigham was a blur to most people – including his rivals – as he circled the track at 60kph, but with a fast shutter speed, the bike starts to look familiar. “It’s the same bike I used to break the British Hour record,” Bigham says. “I changed the rear cog and that’s about it.” Judging by both performances, the Argon 18 Electron Pro certainly wasn’t broke, didn’t need fixing and was clearly as aero optimised as it needed to be for both the longer and shorter distances. The change Bigham did make was to swap the gear…

I’d been moving around rooms: I tried the loft, the garage, then in 2015 when we had some work done on the house there was an opportunity to build this office in the garden. Well, it started out as an office… It’s a custom-made wooden building, fully insulated, with cat-five cable internet. I soon realised it got very hot in the summer and cold in the winter, so I installed an air-conditioning/heating unit. Aside from temperature, it needed to be an engaging place that would make me want to keep doing the training – that’s why I added the aesthetic lighting [coloured WiFi-operated LifX LED strips]. Now when I say “Hey Google, turn on the pain cave” the lights change and I’m ready to go! I’d been using a computer…

Pre-race favourite Eddy Merckx leads Freddy Maertens, Willy De Geest and, biding his time at the back in the Peugeot kit, eventual winner Eric Leman into the finish town at Meerbeke. In the far left of the shot, an official leans in with a chalkboard to give a time check as the riders cross the finish line for a final lap. Despite Merckx’s ‘favourite’ status, it was Leman who was the defending champion, and his win here would make it a hat-trick for the Belgian. The 1973 race was also the first time the Meerbeke finish was used, and inaugurated what would become an iconic finale – the Muur van Geraardsbergen followed by the Bosberg – and one which endured until 2012, when the race switched to the current Oudenaarde…

Cycling is mourning the death of former national road champion and Tour de France finisher Colin Lewis, who died earlier this month after battling cancer. He was 79. Born in Caerphilly, Wales in 1942, Lewis relocated to Devon at a young age. After a successful racing career he remained heavily involved in grass-roots cycling in various roles until only a few years ago. Lewis always extolled the merits of the West Country, saying that it was hard not to become strong on the bike when training in such hilly terrain. Beginning his racing career with Mid-Devon CC, Lewis’s ability was quickly apparent, and he was winning races from the very start of admission to the senior ranks. In 1963, still an amateur, Lewis rode the Milk Race, taking consistently high…

This would be good for the sport as it would expose cycling to the masses a bit more and give people some insight into what the athletes go through. I recently watched the entire Netflix series on Formula 1. Previously I had very little knowledge of it and would only watch a few minutes of a race. After watching the Netflix Drive to Survive series I now have more insight into who all these people are. I’m now anxiously awaiting the start of the F1 season. Brian Philips I love this idea. I wish they’d do three others though. 1) the Classics, 2) cyclocross, 3) crits. Crits and cross are far more interesting and exciting. Evan Silcox Don’t tell anyone, but there really isn’t much going on behind the scenes…

THE BIG FOUR This time last year it wasn’t easy to see past the considerable frame of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) for the Classics. Even Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) wasn’t always able to boast ‘joint favourite’ status next to the Dutchman. But his crash in the Tokyo Olympic mountain bike race left him with major back issues from which he continues to recover. He is yet to race in 2022 – missing Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche while Milan-San Remo looks unlikely – so his form for Flanders and Roubaix is impossible to gauge. “He’ll have no problem on the Flemish cobbles” Less of a conundrum is van Aert. The Jumbo-Visma rider won nine of the 10 cyclo-cross races he rode this season before cutting it short to…

SATURDAY 19 MARCH 293KM | MILAN - SAN REMO | START: 9:10 FINISH: 16:09 La Primavera is the prog-rock epic of the cycling calendar. At 293km long, its charm is the gradual build over six hours before a frantic finale, often featuring wild solos, in the final 40 minutes. To make this possible, the first 150km are relatively benign. At the 142km mark, the race crests the Passo del Tuchino, which is the first moment of note. By this time a break will have gone and it’s a matter of keeping its gap sensible. Following that, the race descends to the coast and traverses a flat 80km as the tension slowly builds. Then the race hits the three Capi (Mele, Cervo and Berta in order) which start the process of…

ROAD RACING SUNDAY, 13 MARCH Jock Wadley Memorial (Colchester, Essex): E, 1, 2, 3: 1. Yanto Barker (Le Col); 2. A. Richardson (unattached); 3. T. Portsmouth (Charlotteville CC); 4. O. Bang-Andreasen (Le Col); 5. S. Asker (Richardsons-Trek); 6. J. Peacock (Spirit BSS); 7. M. Lord (Hart Performance Coaching); 8. J. Jenkins (Richardsons-Trek); 9. J. Freeman (Meudon Pedal Heaven); 10. M. Clements (Kuwait Pro Cycling Team). Evesham Vale Road Race (Inkberrow, Worcestershire): E, 1, 2, 3: 1. Seb Garry (Nopinz Motip Race Team) 2:18.17; 2. O. Roberts (Wales Racing Academy); 3. C. Biddle (Embark-Bikestrong); 4. J. Harrison (Manx Viking Wheelers) all same time; 5. W. Roberts (Wales Racing Academy) +0.04; 6. C. McLaren (Nopinz Motip Race Team) +0.10; 7. S. Beckett (Wales Racing Academy) +0.41; 8. F. Barber (Spirit BSS); 9.…

For many non-team-leading riders, getting in the day’s breakaway is a key target. There are several good reasons to be in a break. It gives you a degree of visibility – your family and friends can finally be reassured that you really are a pro bike racer, not a fantasist with a complete collection of kit from some random Belgian Pro-Continental team. It’s nice and peaceful in the break – you have all the space and time in the world. You can get food easily from the car, rather than having to try to snatch it at the feed zone. You’ll be doing your team a favour behind. And it’s not totally impossible you might win. To get into the break, it’s important to look nicely unthreatening to the big-hitters.…

RR A records were often set later in the year as westerly winds got stronger in the autumn and temperatures held up. This week saw two riders take on the 151-mile Cardiff-London route. BBAR Phil Griffiths and ‘trikeman’ David Duffield both rode on the same day with a favourable wind, although Griffiths started into a light headwind. “There were mutterings about the infamous Griffiths luck holding once again as he gambled on it swinging round. And it did,” Cycling wrote. According to the reporter, Simon Martin, he was also lucky with traffic lights and was expertly shepherded through West London on his way to the finish at Marble Arch. Griffiths, who spent almost the whole ride in his 56-tooth chainring – only occasionally using the inside 51-tooth ring – took…