Indholdsfortegnelse for August 20, 2020 i Cycling Weekly

Sometimes a throwaway tweet is all we need to commission a feature. So when Elinor Barker called out the Instagram-filtered social media posts that suggested a full time bike rider’s life should be as polished and perfect as an advert for the Peloton exercise bike – complete with city-scape view from a luxury high-rise apartment – we got in touch. We asked Elinor if she wanted to write about a typical day in her life and give a more honest account of being a full-time athlete. Her article on pages 30-31 is not only funny, but reassuringly relatable. For a (very) short period of my life I was a full-time bike rider, and I instantly recognised the procrastination and lack of productivity Elinor described. I used to think this was…

Egan Bernal (Ineos - DNF Dauphiné) ★★★ Struggled in the finales until a recurring back injury saw him sidelined. Geraint Thomas (Ineos - 37th GC Dauphiné) ★★★ Looked solid but some way off his best. Lost a lot of time towards the end of the race. Chris Froome (Ineos - 71st GC Dauphiné) ★★ Clearly has some way to go. Looks unlikely to challenge at the Tour — if he even makes the team. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora - DNF Dauphiné) ★★★★ Riding well till taken out by a heavy crash. No broken bones but a set-back for his Tour prep nevertheless. Primož RogliČ (Jumbo - DNF Dauphiné) ★★★★★ Looked the strongest rider by some distance until sidelined by a crash, which paradoxically could help him at the Tour by reining…

It’s six months since the UK locked down and the race season was brought to a juddering halt. Half a year without pinning on a number – that’s a long time, and thanks to the lack of practice, you’ve probably grown very rusty in your race preparation. As with any aspect of cycling, if you don’t use it, you lose it. Now, with time trials back up and running across the country, as well as some circuit races and hill-climbs, it’s time to tune back into your preparation routine – and we’re here with a handy refresher course. “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail,” said Benjamin Franklin, and the Founding Father may well have made a handy cyclist – because what you do in the 36 hours before a…

Aero specialist and coach George Fox (gfoxcycling.co.uk) provides a back-to-racing pep talk… Getting ready: Preparation is key, we all know that. But there is preparation and then there is preparation. Making sure you’re physically ready is important, but if you get to the race without your Garmin, what was the point?! Make a checklist. Don’t forget: In my TT experience, the easiest things to forget on race day are the Garmin and the rear light – usually on charge in the living room, hence so easily forgotten. Top of the checklist: anything that needs charging. Warm-up: We’ve spent lockdown training hard with minimal warm-ups. It’s time to get serious again. Getting the body primed and ready for peak performance takes some warming up. Follow the British Cycling TT warm-up if…

Last week’s Club 10 virtual TT took place on one of the hottest days of the year (Wednesday 12 August), with temperatures soaring into the mid-30s across much of the country – and still in the high-20s come race time at 6pm. Shed temperatures were close to unbearable, so it was cruelly apt that the challenge ahead was an out-and-back up and down Zwift’s Bologna climb. Perhaps not surprising, then, that only 52 made it to the finish – and chapeau to every one of them. Forty-eight-year-old Gavin Lancaster took his second win in the series, finishing in 24.41. The Steele Davis Via Roma RT rider from Swindon averaged 409 watts, and was just two seconds faster than second-placed Club 10 regular Jason Roberts (see box). Third place went to…

We have previously covered how to bunch-sprint, in a column that started, “First remove your brain and put it in a jar in the fridge.” Now we will deal with, not the act of sprinting, but the state of being a sprinter. To be a sprinter, is to be the most protected of protected riders. On a flat stage, you need never fetch a bottle for yourself. Don’t forget this. Your job is to avoid even the appearance of an honest turn, so that come the finish you can roll in about 10th and tell everyone you got boxed in and you’ll do better next time. Or blame your lead-out train. Up to you. You need never try too hard on a climb. You’re allowed to slide out the back…

With so many big-name riders having their Tour de France put in jeopardy due to crashes, the race organisation at both the Critérium du Dauphiné and Il Lombardia have come under the spotlight. After the stage-four crash that took Steven Kruijswijk out of the race, his Jumbo-Visma team-mate Tom Dumoulin said it was “a disgrace” that the descent in question — the Col du Plain Bois — was used in the race. “The first two or three kilometres were full of gravel, potholes, bumps in the road… That they still put things like this in a race is… well, I’m really angry about it and I’m pretty sorry for Stevie that he has to go home because of this, because he was in great shape. This downhill should never be…

Taking stock, reassessing, gaining a new perspective. It’s been a common story this year and Geraint Thomas — the Welsh third of Team Ineos’s trio of Tour de France hitmen — is no different. “This lockdown period has definitely made me realise that I still love just racing really, and that’s what I want to do,” he told Cycling Weekly from his Monaco home, as he was getting ready to put the finishing touches to his training ahead of the coming season. “Because I enjoy training — I enjoy riding my bike and you know, pushing yourself,” he underlines, “but there comes a point when you’re just like, Oh, I need that competition.” While most of us would have contented ourselves with that level of personal insight, Thomas has experienced…

I managed to rack up a few hundred kilometres on the BMC Teammachine before sending it back. Lockdown restrictions meant I was never able to test it out in anger with a number on my back, but I can imagine it performing exceptionally in a hard and fast road race. Jumping out the saddle to sprint felt immense. This bike’s handling was second to none, too. On longer rides around lanes, I wished it could offer me just that little bit more comfort – but a wider tyre could well supply the cushioning needed.…

Alan ‘Performance Chef’ Murchison tells us how to pre-prepare his favourite race-day breakfast. If you want to minimise stress on the morning of your race – or if you’re staying away and don’t want to gamble on the accommodation’s dodgy fry up – you can pre-prepare this ‘Car boot Bircher’ recipe on the night before. This provides 80g quality carbohydrates and 20g protein – without the problems of a breakfast bunfight! All the ingredients are portable and can be kept at room temperature so can survive a night in the hotel. Ingredients: ■ 60g oats ■ 1 tablespoon nut butter of your choice ■ 100ml soya or rice milk ■ 1 banana, peeled and chopped ■ 1 tablespoon honey ■ 1 handful mixed nuts such as almonds, cashews or walnuts…

You live near Manchester and share a house with Ethan Hayter and Matt Walls – was that a good training environment? It was actually really good in lockdown, having others to train with who could push me on. I don’t think there were many riders who had that situation, so I was quite lucky really. For me, lockdown didn’t seem that bad – compared to some other riders not even being allowed to go outside. Your first race back post-lockdown was Strade Bianche (1 August). How did it go? To be honest, I was a little bit disappointed [to DNF], it being such a big race. I got a bit unlucky and then I just didn’t have anything in the heat. I was cooked really early on, and that was…

I get pain in my knees during cycling. What could be the cause? There are several possible diagnoses, so always consult a professional for the best results. However, the two common symptoms we see are: Anterior knee pain – pain at the front of the knee, usually caused by overloading in the patellar tendon, known as patellar tendinopathy. This tendon attaches the quadriceps to the front of the knee. During pedalling, the quads activate to extend the knee. With repeated use, the tendon can get irritable. Here are the possible fixes: Fix: Reduce your load. This doesn’t mean stop! Try reducing your duration, inclines or speed by 20 per cent to start. Monitor how this affects your symptoms and adjust again if necessary. Then gradually build things back up. Tendinopathies…

I was discussing my training programme with Mrs. Doc a few days ago. I was on the horns of a dilemma – to switch to a higher-quality set of sessions and sacrifice a certain amount of endurance mileage? Or retain the mileage, but incorporate harder efforts, which would give me the best of both worlds, but at a cost of a greater fatigue loading. If I did the former, it might produce a shorter bump in form which I could use to win a CW Zwift time trial. But the latter might be better for next year… “Why don’t you sack the whole lot for the day, and have a gin and tonic?” said Mrs. Doc. There was an appalled silence. “Have you literally not listened to a word I’ve…

Following the Critérium du Dauphiné and Il Lombardia at the weekend, the stage has been set for the Tour de France — although the curtain is still tantalisingly pulled partially across as we wait to see just how much the ailments being nursed by favourites Egan Bernal (Ineos) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) — and others besides — will affect them at the Tour. And they were far from the only casualties. The Dauphiné, which was won overall by Daniel Martínez (EF Pro Cycling) is usually little more than a straightforward week of engaging Alpine racing, acting as a useful barometer of form for the Tour favourites. But this year it has scattered multiple major contenders in its wake. Dutch super-team Jumbo-Visma looked imperious at the start of the race, winning…

Millar fundraiser David Millar will lead a ‘Heroes’ ride to raise money for the NHS this 18 October. Two courses – either 50 or 100 miles – are available, both of which start and finish in Brighton and loop into the South Downs. Registration is £50 and entrants will be required to raise at least £350 each, with incentives such as a signed jersey and a finish-line photo taken with Millar for those who raise more than £500. Millar said: “I’m thrilled… it will be a wonderful day out and for a brilliant cause.” 337 days to go to Tokyo Olympics and British Cycling CEO Julie Harrington is to leave her position to join the British Horse Racing Authority. Harrington took over from Ian Drake in 2017 and helped restructure…

I was deeply saddened to read about David Taylor passing. I knew him for many years and had given him a lift out to numerous races, mainly in the North-West, but also further afield. He was always great fun to travel with. His stories and anecdotes were brilliant, some of the things he knew and told, that weren’t for public consumption, were excellent. He was always the guy I’d call if I had a snippet of information that l thought might be useful. I’m sure he will be greatly missed, not least by his wife, who I had the opportunity to meet when I delivered him home once, and his daughter. Paul Wright, photographer Ed – Thank you, Paul. It seems everyone who knew him has nothing but kind words…

2007 Thomas rides his first Tour, in the colours of Pro Conti team Barloworld. Later admits he thought very seriously about abandoning. 140th 2008-2009 Skips the Tour, but rides the Giro d’Italia in 2008, coming fifth in the prologue and going on to finish the race. 2010 Joins Team Sky. Comes second in the Tour’s cobbled stage three behind Thor Hushovd, hinting at a love of Classics to come. 67th. 2011 Thomas’s Tour progression continues, with four top-10 stage finishes and a GC position of 31st. Got the combativity award on Bastille Day. 2012 Rides the Giro ahead of the Olympics, where he wins team pursuit gold, but misses out on helping Bradley Wiggins to GB’s first Tour win. 2013 Back on Tour, where he crashes on stage one, breaking…

SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling rider Andy Turner talks us through his TT preparation for his first race back post-lockdown Having been limited to Zwift racing for the last few months, I’d near enough forgotten how to prepare for a real-life race. Riding a road frame hooked up to a direct drive trainer at the back and gradient simulator at the front with no wheels wasn’t going to get me very far in an actual TT! First I had to clean the bike, meticulously clean and lube the chain, fit the 58-tooth ring, find, fit and charge the rear light, put my rollers in the car, fit carbon brake pads, deep-section and disc wheels, and tape over all the little holes here and there. Marginal aero gains don’t get you far on…

Recovery day activity? An afternoon nap. Sport that isn’t cycling? Football. Post-ride food? Always fancy a bit of gnocchi. Motivational music or film? Kanye West always delivers, and 300 is a good film to watch on the turbo – plenty of action. Quality in a training partner? Good chat. Some would say, ‘don’t half-wheel’, but if you’re getting half-wheeled because you’re not pushing on enough, it can be a good thing. Training product or accessory? I always have my long pump in the frame of my training bike – just because it’s so much better than a little hand pump.…

A friend of mine has admitted that until a few days ago, he thought “Remco Evenepoel” was not a rider, but a team. In his defence, it does sound exactly like a Belgian conservatory manufacturer, or a brand of some weird Flemish chewing gum that tastes of grass. Also, in my friend’s defence, there aren’t a lot of teams who have won as much this year as Evenepoel has on his own. Let us add it up – Vuelta a Burgos overall (and a stage), Tour of Poland overall (and a stage), Volta Algarve overall (and two stages), Vuelta San Juan (whatever that is, oh, and a stage). That’s a very large proportion of the stage races this year so far. He’s only 20. He was born this century. Riders…