Indholdsfortegnelse for May 11, 2017 i Cycling Weekly

The opening days of a Grand Tour can be a nervy affair. The overused saying is that you can’t win the race in the opening week, but you can lose it. BMC’s Rohan Dennis — riding for Tejay van Garderen but with an eye on the GC — was the first big name to suffer a major time loss. Thankfully for British fans, Geraint Thomas came through the opening weekend on the holiday island of Sardinia unscathed. On the two marathon opening stages it looked like the peloton were still on holiday as they rolled along, but these slow stages can be disastrous as riders often stop concentrating, which is when accidents happen. Sky will be happy both Thomas and Mikel Landa made it safely through. With as much as…

The Grande Partenza of the Giro d’Italia was overshadowed after two riders from Italian Continental team Bardiani-CSF were ejected from the race before it had even got under way in Sardinia. Italian duo Nicola Ruffoni and Stefano Pirazzi both tested positive in out-ofcompetition tests for Growth Hormone Releasing Peptides (GHRPs) on April 25 and 26, with the results released just 12 hours before the start of their home Grand Tour. The riders were removed from the race start list, with the entire team facing possible expulsion this week if the riders’ B-samples return the same results. Under UCI rules, if two riders return positive tests within a 12-month period the team will be suspended from racing. Team managers Bruno and Roberto Reverberi issued a statement to say they were “astounded”…

“On the climbs they’re riding at what they consider an easy pace but for me it’s pretty hard. It has its benefits but it’s brutal” I’m out in Tenerife for the next two weeks with Sky on a training camp, the last focused camp before the Tour de France. A lot of people ask why we go to Tenerife, why we choose that over other places. Well, it’s for a variety of reasons. First and foremost the weather is on your side, which gives uninterrupted training. Then we stay right on top of a volcano, which can be anywhere between 1,800 to 1,900 metres above sea level. Staying at altitude has benefits, plus the roads are so quiet, it’s nigh-on impossible to do a ride with less than 3,000 metres…

Cotters smashes ‘25’ record!” screamed the cover of Cycling on October 9, 1971. The previous Saturday Derek Cottington had taken 13 seconds off Alf Engers’s 1969 record of 51.00. At 21 years old Cottington was a sensational young talent. He was already national champion at 25 and 50 miles. He had won the season-long Campagnolo Trophy two years running. Cottington had not only taken Engers’s record and his jersey but he also had the rock star looks and attitude to entirely usurp ‘King’ Alf, who was that year yet again battling a ban for infringing amateur regulations. But the Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) announced in February 1972 that because the starting order of the last 20 riders that day on the K16/25 course on the A38 in Staffordshire did…

Do: adapt your gear ratios depending on the terrain or event. If heading to a mountainous region, it pays to fit a compact chainset. Don’t: underestimate chainline efficiency. It may be advice you’ve heard many times before, but there is a reason for that — it works, both for the longevity of your components and for energy transfer. Do: train at different gear ratios on different types of rides to see what works best for you. Changing conditions may require a change of pedalling tactics, e.g. depending whether you’re in or out of the saddle. Your gears determine your cadence and in turn how efficiently your power is turned into forward motion. Selecting the wrong gear doesn't merely mean you go slower; it can also lead to overuse injuries, as…

Cycling has become the envy of most other sports in Britain, there's no denying it. One of our own has won the biggest race, the Tour de France, four times in the last five years; every member of our track team in Rio won a medal; our big sportives are so popular they warrant ballot entry; and we buy more bikes than cars. But let's not get arrogant — there is still much we can learn from other sports, and in doing so, we might just get even better. Some sports already understand the benefits of intelligence sharing and cross-pollination — rugby is a case in point. Top clubs in both league and union have recently brought in athletes from triathlon, wrestling and Taekwondo to develop more aggression on the…

hough each cyclist’s competitive journey is different, most stick to a discipline once they have tasted success. Not so Josh Ibbett, who despite having made progress in mtb and road racing, craved a more formidable kind of challenge. Ibbett, who in 2015 won the Transcontinental Race (TCR) on his second attempt, traces his path to ultraendurance back to off-road racing. “I spent a lot of time racing mtb when I was a junior, then progressed to 24-hour racing and stage racing,” he says. “I placed third at the 24-hour mtb national champs in 2010, broke the South Downs Double record in 2011, and finished 21st overall at the CapeEpic in 2012.” Bored with 24-hour racing and finding stage races too expensive, Ibbett looked further afield for his next challenge: “Eventually…

1 Grosmont to Egton After crossing the River Esk, leaving Grosmont, you’re greeted by a road sign warning of a 25 per cent gradient. Just over one mile long, it’s very steep at both the bottom and again just before reaching Egton. 2 Crag Bank Turning on to Crag Bank the road descends before a sharp, steep ramp up onto the heatherclad moorland. A cattle grid marks the end of the steepest point but the road continues to undulate for another mile. 3 Heygate Bank A sharp left turn out of Rosedale Abbey takes you up this climb just short of a mile long. The quaint stone cottages at the start mask something much more fearsome — its 10 per cent average! NAIL IT 4 Limber Hill, Glaisdale Persisting for…

Somewhat ironically for a race celebrating its past, the stars of the opening days of the historic 100th Giro d’Italia were a couple of riders who had not appeared in any of the previous 99. In fact, both Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Fernando Gaviria (Quick Step Floors) were making their Grand Tour debuts, which could hardly have gone better for either of them, with both winning a stage and consequently enjoying a day in the pink jersey. It’s fair to say that Pöstlberger’s success was a lot less expected than Gaviria’s. Even Pöstlberger himself didn’t seem to believe what he had done as he crossed the finish line on stage one alone ahead of the race, with his hands on his head and a look of shock on his face.…

Women’s Tour of California (May 11-14) In the third edition of the women’s race, its first winner, Trixi Worrack (Canyon-SRAM) is hoping to prevent Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) from defending her 2016 title. Two mountainous opening days will ignite the GC, before expected sprints in the final two stages. Lincoln GP (May 14) The most iconic domestic race on the calendar, the repeated steep cobbled ascent of Michaelgate is typically the race decider. Riding for Madison-Genesis last year, Tom Stewart (now of One Pro) is defending his men’s title; Alice Barnes (Drops) is aiming for a second successive win. Tour of California (May 14-20) Its inaugural edition as a WorldTour event — and the first American race at that level — the seven-stage Tour of California has stages for every type…

“This one is close to my heart. It’s the 100th edition and I am riding for a serious contender, Nairo Quintana. Also, I’m the only Italian in the team” I’m proud to race this 100th Giro d’Italia because I have participated in just six editions in my career. This one is close to my heart. It’s the 100th edition and I am riding for a serious contender, Nairo Quintana. Also, I’m the only Italian in the Movistar team. The Giro is part of Italy’s history, just like works of art or monuments like Rome’s Colosseum. The Giro stands alongside them and links all Italians. Italy has only been unified for 150 years and the republic is even younger than the Giro. That gives you an idea on the race’s importance…

Round 2: Stoke-on-Trent Thursday May 11, 6pm-9:15pm What’s the course like? An anti-clockwise 1.4km loop of the city centre with three 90° bends midway through each lap. Last June, Chris Lawless (then of JLT-Condor) won a 13-man sprint. Who could win? With Lawless (now of Axeon Hagens Berman) not racing, there’ll be a new winner. Jon Mould, a perennial Tour Series winner, has won here before, as has Russ Downing. Women’s Matrix Fitness GP Covering the same course as the men, the women race for 45 minutes. Claire Rose (Podium Ambition) took victory last year. Round 3: Northwich Friday May 12, 5:30pm-8:45pm What’s the course like? A flat but tight, technical circuit that crosses the River Weaver twice. There are six dead-turns. The first time Northwich has hosted the race.…

A North Yorkshire road safety group has sparked controversy with signs advising groups of cyclists to ride in single file. The signs, which 95 Alive — a road safety group containing North Yorkshire County Council, police and the Highways Agency — put up at certain points across the region, say: “Single file, the safest style”. But they sparked some annoyance from local riders and campaigners, who pointed out that the Highway Code allows cyclists to ride two abreast and that doing so often makes groups quicker for cars to overtake. However, Fiona Ancell, team leader for road safety at North Yorkshire County Council, said the signs had been put up at points where police data had shown there were often clashes between cyclists and drivers and where riding two abreast…

“Yes, it’s up in the loft somewhere so I’ll dig it out,” said Derek Cottington when we contacted him to set up the interview and photoshoot. Sure enough, there was the Holdsworth “in Faema colours,” Cottington points out — since all the contemporary photos of him riding it are in black and white – in the corner of the sitting room minus wheels with a length of raffia string keeping the chain tensioned. “I got it from Holdsworth’s on the Lower Richmond Road — I suppose it would have been Roy Thame who built it. “I used a 57 [tooth] chainring, 13-17 block,” says Cottington. “I couldn’t use the 13 — it felt too big. Probably I didn’t train optimally for the big gears. I could have used them better…

The Cervélo S3 Disc is, the Canadian firm claims, better than the rim-brake version in pretty much every way. Most importantly, the loss of the rim-brake calipers has resulted in a claimed saving of two watts over the standard model. Frame Although disc brakes are themselves less aerodynamic then their rim counterparts, Cervélo claims the S3 Disc is marginally more aerodynamic than the non-disc version. Fitting discs has allowed Cervélo to make the S3 more aerodynamic in other areas, resulting in a net reduction in drag of a claimed two watts. Cervélo also says its new bike is stiffer than the old model. The head tube and bottom bracket are eight per cent and nine per cent stiffer respectively, while the frame is also 40g lighter than the rim-brake version.…

Over/under After a 10min warm-up, start with a minute below 75rpm in a low gear, then 1min above 110rpm. Alternate for 10min. It is one thing riding at a high cadence consistently, but in a race it is more useful to be able to switch between different cadences. Hilltop kicker Many people get caught out at the top of a climb during the lift in pace. Fleeman gets riders to ride up a climb for around 3.5min, seated and in a high gear, cadence around 70-80rpm, and then over the top of the climb change down a couple of gears and really kick on for 30 seconds to raise the cadence to over 100rpm.…

Improve your physical conditioning Holding a position for hours and hours on the bike means that some muscles get incredibly tight, and others can become prone to overuse injuries. Physical conditioning is fundamental in sports like running, martial arts and ballet; as cyclists, we could learn a lot from watching how these athletes prepare each muscle group to better their training and performances and stay injury-free. Consider reverse periodisation If you already have a high level of fitness, instead of spending all winter doing long, slow rides, keep doing shorter, faster sessions, focusing on speed and power. Later, as the race season beckons, up your distances. Do more intervals Runners tend to do sessions with more intervals, and often with shorter recoveries, than is favoured in cycling. If you’re feeling…

Josh Ibbett pays tribute: “Mike was a pioneer in the development of bikepacking and unsupported racing. He took his own passion for long-distance riding and applied that same fierce determination to his own event [the Transcontinental Race]. “Mike and the TCR have been the inspiration for many people, and it’s fair to say he changed many lives as a result. He was as tough as they come on a bike, but gentle and kind off it. He will be missed.” Interviewed for this article in February, Mike Hall spoke about the special demands of ultra-distance cycling: “Unlike a typical club cyclist who emulates the pros, the ultra-cyclist has to pace himself over many hours in the saddle, training to cope mentally and to stay motivated in solitude. “More mental skills…

We’ve got some great countryside to ride in here”, says Graham Robson as we spin through the Yorkshire Wolds. A member based in the Netherlands, Graham regularly returns to Hull to catch up with his dad, 89-year old Ray. There are no surviving members from the Hull Thursday formation of 1908, but Ray comes the closest, having joined in 1946. He recalls taking part in time trials using his fixed wheel bike: “We used to ride to Bawtry on a Saturday morning with our race wheels attached to the fork, do the time trial on Sunday morning, have a few beers and ride back to Hull for another time trial on Sunday evening.” Nowadays he rides at a leisurely pace, but shows few signs of stopping. The Geriatrics On a…

Saturday, May 6 Wanty-Groupe Gobert’s Marco Minnaard won the four-stage Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour. Successive top-10s in the first three stages earned him the leader’s jersey which he kept hold of on the final day. His Dutch compatriot Pascal Eenkhoorn (BMC Development) was second on GC. Saturday, May 6 Two young British riders placed in the top 10 of the Ronde van Overijssel race in the Netherlands. Jacob Scott (An Post-Chain Reaction), 21, was sixth, and 22-year-old Harry Tanfield (Bike Channel-Canyon) 10th. The race was won by Dane Nicolai Brøchner (Riwal Platform). Sunday, May 7 Marianne Vos (WM3 Energie) took the first win of her season at the Trofee Maarten Wynants. The three-time world champion was the fastest in the bunch sprint in the Belgian race. Brit Emily Nelson was eighth.…

doctorhutch_cycling@timeinc.com One of the undeniable pleasures of being a selfemployed home-worker is that you can go for a ride more or less whenever you like. But there is even greater pleasure to be taken from being the sort of workshy oxygen-stealer who goes cycling in his employer’s time. Thus it was one morning last week, when I went for a ride with my friend Bernard. “I drove to work,” he told me. “But then I rode home, so my car’s still in the car park, and they’ll assume I’m still in the building.” He went on to explain that he had, over the course of his employment, toned down his manager’s expectations to the point where his productivity is now no different whether he’s at work or not. “The only…

It was a case of ‘so far so good’ for Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas as the Giro d’Italia left Sardinia and headed towards Sicily and the mainland. Thomas’ who is Sky’s co-leader with Mikel Landa, began the race attentive from the gun. In his typical ‘get stuck in’ fashion, the Welshmen followed the sprinters’ wheels on stage two to take eighth place and on Sunday just missed Quick Step’s attack in the crosswinds after finding himself out of position coming through a roundabout. Other GC riders did lose time over the relatively relaxed opening stages in Sardinia: Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) lost 23 seconds, Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) 34 seconds and Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) over five minutes. “So far so good, even if it’s totally different than the Tour de France,”…

Andy Leigh, 22 Tarteletto-Isorex, Veerle, Belgium Back in Belgium? I get a lot of opportunities with the team, we go to big races and that’s why I come back. We race with WorldTour teams like Quick Step Floors and Lotto-Soudal. Do you get many chances for yourself? At this level, I need to be winning races and getting results for myself. In the bigger races the plan is get in the breakaways, but in smaller races, and if I’m not in the right move, I get asked to work on the front for a team-mate and I enjoy that, too. What are the big races like? At my first training camp last year, I asked what it’s like to race with Tom Boonen. They said it’s good at first but…

STAR LETTER Letter of the week wins a Lazer O2 helmet worth £69.99 Recovering with CW Having broken my hand just before Christmas and unable to ride for nearly two months, I wish I’d been able to read Hannah Reynolds’s excellent feature on recovering from injury (CW April 20) at the time. I found it a really difficult process. All the hard work building a level of fitness is lost so quickly. Like Hannah, I found that replacing riding with walking was a great help, as was watching my diet, particularly over the Christmas holiday. Keen to keep my fingers moving as much as possible, I perhaps would do too much, then worry I had caused further damage. Oh, and then feeling guilty at burdening the overstretched NHS — more…

What? You can add punctures to the list that includes death and taxes, so you need to make sure you can get going again with minimum fuss. Ideally, a mini-pump will fit in a jersey pocket, or come with its own frame fittings that use the bottle cage braze-ons. Different manufacturers have their own ways of achieving an airtight seal. Some mini-pumps use an adaptor that pushes onto the valve whereas others work more like a traditional pump using a hose that screws on. Some now include a CO2 canister that is operated through the pump itself. Some also have an integrated pressure gauge. A mini-pump should be capable of inflating a tyre to 100psi. In practice a get-you-home pressure of around 60 is more realistic given its short stroke.…

BackBaller Many riders swear by selfmassage after long rides. Unlike traditional foam rollers, the BackBaller uses two rollers designed to target multiple large muscle groups at once. Available in green or pink, the rollers can also be individually removed to target smaller muscles. They are notably softer than others on the market — ideal for those with tender muscles. www.backballer.com £55 Maurten sports drinks A carb drink with a key difference? Maurten claims this drink converts to hydrogel in the stomach, encapsulating the carbs, which are then carried to (and absorbed by) the intestine. This means, in theory, more carbs can be consumed. Indeed, the Drink Mix 320 contains 79g carbs per serving — almost double the usual energy drink concentration. If all these carbs can be absorbed, it could…

JLT-Condor’s football-inspired defensive riding strategy It may be hard to see the relevance of football to cycling, but JLT-Condor have taken one of its signature strategies from the beautiful game. Team manager John Herety is a football fan and has encouraged the strategy of man-marking — keeping close tabs on a member of the opposing team. In cycling, there are far more variables, of course — more jerseys to chase and more teams to watch — but the principle is the same. At the beginning of each stage, the team highlight the biggest threats in the GC and assign matches to mark each key competitor, that is, to keep an eye on them, and chase down if necessary. JLT-Condor’s Claire Beaumont explains: “Traditionally teams try to stay at the front,…

40 MILES 1 Londesborough Hill to Nunburnholme Hill Regularly included in high-profile races, we rode Nunburnholme Hill from Market Weighton, the push up Londesborough leaving a technical drop down Nunburnholme Hill. 2 Warter This beautiful village inspired artist David Hockney to create the huge 15ft by 40ft painting, Bigger Trees Near Warter. It also adds a stunning aesthetic to the Tour de Yorkshire. 3 Beverley Westwood Pasture The common pasture outside Beverley marks the end of the club run, and the cafe stop. There are stunning views of Beverley racecourse and the Minster. Favourite cafes Cafe Velo, Beverley, is a popular stop-off for riders and has been visited by the Downing brothers and Bradley Wiggins, all friends of owner and ex-racer Gary Payne, who rode for the Paragon Racing Team…

Former 100-mile national champion Charles Taylor secured the latest of a string of victories for Team Bottrill when he led a one-two in the Brian Clayton Memorial 50-mile event, promoted by Dukinfield CC. He took the win by just 11 seconds from team-mate Joshua Williams, as both riders stormed around the pothole-filled A535 circuit in Cheshire clocking an average speed of more than 28 miles per hour. It was the second time in as many years that the 35-year-old, from Egginton near Derby, has won the popular event on the undulating course, clocking a time of 1:45.58 to finish top of a full field of 120 entrants plus reserves. “I was a lot slower than last year as there was a bit of wind and it was very cold for…

Gardens are very good for washing bikes, at least if you’re the sort of bike cleaner who is fussy about how much black gunk ends up on the living room carpet. Gardens can also be useful for summer turbotraining, at least if you’re the sort of cyclist who is demented enough to ride a turbo-trainer when it’s not actually raining. Otherwise, since very few of us have one large enough to go for a ride in, gardens are more or less useless. Most cyclists regard themselves as successful gardeners if they manage to keep the weeds down to a height that still allows them to see enough out of their window to judge accurately what the weather is doing. Some chain lubes will do a reasonable job of killing vegetation…