Indholdsfortegnelse for April 26, 2018 i Cycling Weekly

Two brave riders are attempting the Land’s End to John o’ Groats record this spring. The 44-hour record has been viewed as near unbreakable since it was set 17 years ago by Gethin Butler. Few records stand for that long; fewer still go virtually unchallenged. You can read about their attempts in our fitness section this week. Both riders have an impressive track record, but then so too does Butler. Gethin grew up on a bike, often riding with his father and national champion Keith, who himself grew up on a bike riding with this father, and Olympian, Stan. The family have been part of my cycling club, the Norwood Paragon since, well, since forever as far as I can tell. The first ride I did with Gethin was in…

I’m on the Isle of Skye. I type this cruising around it in the passenger’s side of my best friend’s ride, hollering at no one. I’m on my holidays and en route to a bakery. It’s raining and I’m quite glad. We have plans to stay inside this afternoon with cake, coffee and (this is an overshare into a lifestyle that really doesn’t scream “I’m in my 20s!”) an art project. We’re exploring the Quiraing later, but a few hours of cosy and cake are scheduled first. Yesterday wasn’t as lazy a day. We accidentally ended up out on the bikes for five hours because, as much as I can read a map to figure out how to get somewhere, I can’t tell you how far away it is or…

Bob Jungels capped off Quick Step Floors’s incredible spring campaign with victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the season’s fourth Monument. In a move reminiscent of Luxembourgish compatriot Andy Schleck’s 2009 win, Jungels attacked on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, riding the final 19.5km alone to take the first victory of his season. While Jungels has suffered with early-season illness, Quick Step have been the team of the year so far. Since Elia Viviani’s stage win at January’s Tour Down Under, the Belgian outfit have bagged a further 26 wins, including another Monument, the Tour of Flanders. Their dominance has left other teams wondering what the secret is, but for Jungels it is simple. “It is more than a team, it is more like a family,” he said in Sunday’s post-race press conference.…

With the rain lashing against my hotel window, riding the punishing stage four of this year’s Tour de Yorkshire isn’t exactly appealing. I start to wonder if my subconscious has made me forget my helmet on purpose — the perfect excuse for staying indoors. Either way, no such reprieve is given as Connor Swift has a spare helmet in the back of his van — he hadn’t been sure which colour would suit him best when leaving the house. His indecision has ‘saved’ me. Completing the Madison-Genesis trio that will help me recce part of the brutal stage four route alongside Swift are Richard Handley and Matthew Holmes, both of whom have secured top-10 finishes in the Tour de Yorkshire. With 3,400m of climbing over 189.5 kilometres, it is probably…

Stage one is probably the one we are looking to get up there in. Doncaster is quite local to the HQ of the team. Without saying ‘we are going to do this or that’, with it being a new team we obviously just want to be aggressive in the race and try for breakaways and see what we can do in the finals. Everyone usually says that on day one of the race the first breakaway to try goes away but everyone knows the Tour de Yorkshire gets harder and harder as the days go on now so I think there will more than a few people trying to get in that breakaway. It’s just a case of finding the right one and hoping that it sticks. The first stage…

Scarborough has been a permanent fixture in the Tour de Yorkshire, hosting a stage finish in every edition to date, and has been pivotal to the overall result in previous years. But first of all the peloton must leave Richmond before the first punchy climb of the Côte de Sutton Bank 70 kilometres into the route. With crosswinds off the North Sea potentially coming into play, the climb up the Côte de Slipho 50 kilometres from the finish could well provide the springboard for attacks. As the peloton reaches the seaside town for the first time it continues south before turning back inland at Filey before a run in to the finish around Scarborough Castle back on the seafront.…

ANNA VAN DER BREGGEN BREGGEN BOELS-DOLMANS AGE 28 With defending champion Deignan not participating this year due to her pregnancy, the burden of expectation will fall on the shoulders of the formidable van der Breggen. The Dutchwoman is an incredible all-round cyclist with an impressive palmarès that includes multiple stage-race wins and gold and silver medals at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, but it is in the hills that she comes into her own; a dominant Ardennes triple in 2017 highlights that. She will look forward to the uphill finish on stage two with the Côte de Cow and Calf. HANNAH BARNES CANYON-SRAM AGE 24 The 2016 British champion has continued her progression this season and is slowly battling her way into the top tier of women’s racing. Finishing fifth…

Orbea was the first manufacturer to design a pro-level frame with tubes that exceeded the 3:1 aspect ratio maximum after the UCI scrapped the rule in September 2016. The resulting Orca Aero was ridden by Nacer Bouhanni of Cofidis last year. This year, it is one of the bikes of the French Vital Concept Pro Continental team. Orbea product manager Joseba Arizaga told us that wind tunnel tests found exceeding the 3:1 limit was of benefit in the chainstays and the fork blades, which could be made deeper and flatter, but other UCI rules and the need to retain the frame’s rigidity and keep its weight down meant that the main frame tubes remained constrained, using Kamm-tail profiles rather than full teardrops. Even so, the frame’s aero features make it…

“OTE kindly supply all my nutrition stuff. I aim to have a bottle of carbohydrate every hour, a gel quarter past each hour, then a bar or piece of solid food every quarter to the hour. As for the proper food, I’ve got bits of fruit, flapjack and savoury snacks my baker friend has made — stuff like wasabi and chilli, because every time I finish a ‘24’ I crave salty and savoury things. Last time I finished a ‘24’, I thought, ‘I could do with some crisps, peanuts and beer!’”…

Greg van Avermaet has been at the top of world cycling for some time. Having once carried a reputation as a nearly-man, recent seasons have seen him grow consistent and flourish, ending 2017 as the world’s top-ranked rider. Having finished 2016 with Olympic gold, last year the BMC rider dominated the northern Classics, bagging five wins between Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and his first Monument victory at Paris-Roubaix six weeks later. This week of training (and racing) took place in the middle of this season’s Classics, with the 32-year-old Belgian so far failing to replicate his 2017 success. What is the best piece of training advice you have been given? Rest — and make sure you have enough of it. What is the worst bit of training advice you have been…

Though some may argue to the club’s open 25 should take precedence, the Good Friday Open 10 is undoubtedly Great Yarmouth’s top event. One of the Eastern Counties’ first races each year, it is extremely popular; this year it attracted a field of 128, and was won by Sam Proctor in a time of 21.08, with Francesca Hall stopping the clock in the women’s event at 23.48. Run on the super-fast B10/43 between Bungay and Harleston, just inland from Yarmouth, the out and back route is flat with little to slow competitors down. This year’s event was run in poor conditions, though the course record was set last year at 19.10.…

ROAD RACING TIME TRIALS LAST WEEK April 20-22, Vuelta a Castilla y León Rubén Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy) won the Vuelta a Castilla y León in Spain, the 38-year-old’s solo victory by 46 seconds on the third and final stage giving him an overall lead of 35 seconds from Movistar’s Carlos Barbero, who won stage one. Plaza’s team-mate Mihkel Raim won stage two. April 20-22, EpZ Omloop van Borsele Britain’s Pfeiffer Georgi recorded a further five eye-catching results last week, this time at the EPZ Omloop van Borsele. The 17-year-old rode to third, fifth and sixth across the three stages, finishing second overall in the general and points classifications. April 21, Junior E3 Harelbeke Three Britons finished in the top six of the junior E3 Harelbeke, won by Dutchman Axel…

Regrettably, there are occasions where you will have no choice but to try to impress a non-cyclist with your cycling prowess. Prospective mates, parents-in-law, brothers, sisters — that sort of shyster. Don’t tell them how fast you can go. They have no idea how fast you’re supposed to go. Unless you’ve topped 70mph down a mountain, don’t even try. Ditto your Strava KoM collection. By the time you’ve explained Strava, the concept of a KoM and the lengths you have to go to to beat a stranger who was probably on a moped anyway, you might as well just have said, “I’m a loser. Let’s talk about you.” Instead, go for distance. Most noncyclists will be impressed by pretty much any figure that’s measured in kilometres or miles rather than…

Most cyclists have a load of cycling-related stuff that they no longer need, want, or have space for. But at the same time, they’re always steadily accumulating more. Such is life. Fortunately, there is a way to deal with both of these problems, and that is to attend a cycle jumble. In theory you can sell off your surplus, at the same time generating some spare cash to re-invest. In practice, of course, it doesn’t work quite like that — you’ll sell three things but buy five and probably come home poorer than when you left. But it’s still great fun. Shortly after the local sparrows have flatulently welcomed the dawn, dozens of shabbily attired men (and yes, a few shabbily attired women as well) will turn up at a…

April 26-28 Tour of Chongming Island The first stage race of the season on the Women’s WorldTour calendar, the Chinese race has attracted last year’s winner Jolien D’Hoore, who now rides for Mitchelton-Scott. April 27 GP Viborg The sixth edition of the Danish one-day event, the race makes the most of the country’s small lumps and bumps, resulting in a technical parcours. It was won by native Kasper Asgreen (Virtu Cycling) in 2017. April 27-29 Festival Elsy Jacobs Those not racing in China are instead taking to the start line of this three-stage Luxembourg race. Starting with a 2.8km prologue, the following two stages could both see the puncheurs triumph. April 27-29 Vuelta Asturias The northern Spanish race won by British climber Hugh Carthy in 2016 features three mountainous stages.…

On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your last race? My last race was Flèche Wallonne. It’s a race that I don’t like so much, it’s super-hilly, so I would probably give it a four, rated on the crowds going up the Mur de Huy. Everything else isn’t my cup of tea. The roads are narrow and the road surfaces horrific; I got a front wheel puncture going down one of the descents and my bars slipped. It took a long time tightening my bars and changing a wheel — I was in the cars for ages to get back on. What’s been the highlight of the year so far? Valencia [Setmana Ciclista Valenciana], getting the young rider’s jersey and being able to stand up on the podium…

Matthew Holmes Holmes, 24, has already notched up a number of impressive domestic results, with the highlight being his fifth-place finish at last year’s Tour de Yorkshire. Connor Swift In just his second year with Madison-Genesis, the 22-year-old cousin of Ben Swift looks to be making his mark already this season. With a second place stage finish at the Tour of Normandy showing that there could be plenty more to come. Richard Handley Handley has ridden every edition of the Tour de Yorkshire since its inaugural race in 2015. The Wiganborn man secured a 10th place overall finish when riding for JLT-Condor.…

We haven’t done a recce yet but the finish is similar to previous years. Earlier in the stage there’s Sutton Bank. It’s really steep and you always feel you’re going slower on a main road climb. You could almost reach forward and touch the ground because it’s nearly 25 per cent at one point. After that climb it’s a reasonably straightforward run in and then it gets to East Deighton and goes through Forge valley where it’s up and down and twisty but nothing too bad until you reach Hackness, which is a climb that my old club, Scarborough Paragon, used to use for hill-climbs. It’s got three or four switchback climbs to contend with, which is cool because it’s like a mini Alpine climb, it’s steep enough to make…

Blue Jersey — The overall leader of the race, which is decided by the lowest accumulated time, will wear this jersey. Green Jersey — The points leader of the race will wear this, a competition decided by intermediate sprints and points awarded by finishing positions at the end of stages. Red Jersey — The mountains classification leader. The person wearing this will have garnered the most points at the top of the classified climbs of the race. Grey Jersey — Awarded to the most aggressive rider on that day of racing.…

“I have trained my body to burn fat primarily. I know how to fuel to maintain a very steady power; I never suffer from the bonk. “I don’t use sports drinks, which are expensive and unnecessary. For the record attempt, I’ll be refuelling with milk and sausages: high fat, high protein and no sugars. Milk is a great hydrator: in training, I usually dilute it with water, to reduce the calorie intake. “Too many riders become reliant on energy drinks and gels, but they don’t take into account that your body has enough fat to fuel multiple days of riding — a kilo of fat contains 8,000 calories. Even a rider like Chris Froome probably has enough on him to keep going for three days, and I have twice that…

News writer Chris Froome will start the Giro d’Italia in two weeks’ time with a plan, the details of which are a closely guarded secret. The general gist, though, we can take a confident stab at: control the controllables. It has been an oft-repeated Team Sky mantra, passed on from British Cycling, which has been as successful as it is succinct. And it makes sense: put every ounce of energy into ensuring you do everything in your control to the best of your ability, and the rest will take care of itself. “THAT SKY HAVE TRIED AND FAILED TO WIN THE GIRO SPEAKS VOLUMES” But whether it makes perfect sense, Froome will find out at the Giro. The Italian Grand Tour is a race like no other. Beautiful yes, but…

British Cycling reveals 2018 National road race courses BC has revealed the courses for the British National Championship road races on July 1, in Stamfordham, Northumberland. The circuit is defined by its technical narrow roads through the countryside before the riders hit the only significant climb of the course, the Ryals. Białobłocki comes close to breaking 25 record Current national 25-mile time trial record holder Marcin Białobłocki came close to setting a new benchmark for the distance on Sunday at the Ogmore Valley Wheelers event in South Wales. The Polish Nopinz rider clocked 44:16 on the fast R25/3H course, just 12 seconds slower than his record of 44.04 set on the same course in 2016. BMC Racing owner dies Andy Rihs, the owner of BMC Racing, died last week at…

Having just completed the Wiggle New Forest Sportive at the weekend and received a complimentary copy of Cycling Weekly, the letter from Frazer about his weekend racing with his son (CW April 12) made me think about my experience. I had ridden with my grandson Freddie — it was his first sportive and I had promised to do it with him when he received his new bike at Christmas. We did the 30-mile route as Freddie is eight years old and it was his first experience of riding on the road. We finished at an average of 10mph, he loved the pit stop with an array of goodies including jelly beans and the encouragement from many of the other riders. At the finish line I very nearly burst with pride…

The first day of racing sees both the men’s and women’s races set off from Beverley, but the routes diverge after leaving the East Yorkshire market town. Whereas the women head south down the A164 in the morning, the men will exit to the east of town in the afternoon on the A1035 towards Hornsea, before returning back to the start town 41km later. From there on both races follow identical and generally flat routes north towards the Côte de Baggaby Hill, which is the only speed bump of any note, and over 90 kilometres from the finish in Doncaster. The flat south-west run in is likely to end in a bunch sprint, like the last time Doncaster hosted a stage finish in 2016 when Team Sky’s Danny Van Poppel…

I grew up 10 minutes from where the stage finishes and the final 20-30 kilometres go through my old stomping ground. There’s one climb near the beginning, it’s tough but it is not as pivotal as the last two and in between it is up and down and twisty-turny. On a profile people would think nothing of it, but I think it will wear people down, it will be a day of attrition. If it’s a glorious day then maybe you’ll see a bigger bunch, but if the bigger teams want to put the hammer down through the small villages they could easily split it. The last two climbs are tough, it finishes at the top of the Cow and Calf but Old Pool Bank will be very hard. You…

SERGE PAUWELS SERGE PAUWELS DIMENSION DATA AGE 34 The reigning champion returns to Yorkshire this year looking to double up after 2017’s success. He’s had a rather uninspiring start to his campaign this year with a third place on the final stage of the Volta ao Algarve being his best result. Pauwels seems to time his peak for only one or two races a year these days — it’s fair to assume he will be in top form. OWAIN DOULL TEAM SKY AGE 24 This will be the Sky youngster’s first appearance at this race but he and his team will have big ambitions. Doull burst onto the scene during the 2015 season when he finished a very strong third place at the Tour of Britain while riding for Team…

24HR TT SUPREMO MICHAEL BROADWITH When we arrive at Michael Broadwith’s home in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, the whole place is full of life, young children seemingly everywhere. The Broadwiths — Michael, his wife Helen and their four kids, aged between nine and six months — have literally just returned from holiday in southern Spain. The atmosphere is hectic but happy. Did Michael find any time for riding in Spain, I ask. “Some, although the weather wasn’t great and Spanish roads can be slippery in the wet, but I did some 50-mile rides on dual carriageways, which are long, straight and fast — excellent for training.” After coffee we get down to the matter at hand: Broadwith’s upcoming end-to-end attempt. Has it been a lifetime goal? “At university I had a vague…

CW’s Simon Smythe speaks to Gethin Butler, 49, whose 44hr 4min 19sec End-to-End record from September 2001 still stands “I think the chances of the record being broken this time are fairly high. Things are different now. I rode on a road bike with tri-bars and no computer, whereas [Broadwith and To] will be riding on power. “I could have taken two more hours off my record, I think, but you don’t bother going for your own. If I went now, I would possibly use a TT set-up. “My training wasn’t a lot different to normal, but at time trials I’d ride the tandem race as well as the solo, or ride home too. I was just adding more miles really. I did a few Audaxes; just before [the record]…

CW: How long have you been with the club? JA: Since 2002. I used to ride round on my own and saw them on Thursday nights when they used to do the club time trials. I always thought I’d love to have a go and it took me about a year before I approached the club. I rocked up one Thursday and said, “What do you do?” and I’ve never looked back. It’s been brilliant. CW: You’re the ladies captain, what does that involve? JA: I try and promote ladies and encourage ladies riding. I used to see so many girls riding on their own, or they would say they felt intimidated by the guys and I thought, we have got to get these girls on board. I started advertising,…

1 Wangford Road At 125 feet above sea level we are hardly at altitude, but riding on a low plateau, open fields either side of us, no place more exemplifies the area than here. 2 Lowestoft Road Having left Southwold and after the short rise from below sea level at Easton Broad, once again we wind at a good pace through wending lanes, past flint cottages. 3 Millennium Way Avoiding a difficult stop/start ride through town is made easy taking the cycle path through Lowestoft. Well surfaced, it’s downhill and very fast. ▪ Favourite cafe Cafe on the Green Just metres from the Southwold’s beach and pier, this small cafe has a couple of indoor tables but plenty of space outdoors to enjoy the sea air, overlooking the putting green.…

doctorhutch_cycling@timeinc.com I enjoyed Chris Froome’s comments after the early stages of the Tour of the Alps last week. He threw in a couple of his trademark high-cadence attacks. I think his RPM has, if anything, gone up over the winter — he looked like a kid trying to keep his feet on the pedals of a toy trike that’s run away down a steep hill. The attacks had very little effect — it wasn’t so much that he was reeled back in as that he never really got off the front in the first place. But afterwards, he coolly assured us that we hadn’t seen nothing yet, that the Giro was his main target, so he was very happy with his form. “I had good sensations,” he said. I always…

A tale reaches us from a training camp in Spain. A rider, having completed the last of his long rides, and feeling that he’d put in a really good week’s work, felt it would be a suitably flamboyant sign-off to cycle straight into the swimming pool of his hotel in front of his mates. He did so. Unfortunately, he rode into the shallow end, so there was a significant impact with the bottom of the pool, which wrote off his frame. Secondly, it turned out his GPS wasn’t quite waterproof enough. Thirdly, nor was his phone. Fourthly, the hotel management insisted on closing the pool so it could be drained and cleaned, meaning that everyone else staying there was denied a soothing swim, and told that it was all his…