Indholdsfortegnelse for October 1, 2020 i Cycling Weekly

The coronavirus pandemic might have wrecked the 2020 season, but when it comes to the World Championships it gave us exactly what we’ve been waiting for. A winner and leading group stacked with the greatest riders all going flat out. No one will be disappointed by Julian Alaphilippe’s win, he is the most exciting rider we’ve seen in years. But it wasn’t just his win that made the men’s road race so gripping. Behind him was Wout van Aert, undoubtedly the rider of 2020 so far, in a small group of riders who lit up the Tour de France. And all this after the winner of the Tour had us on the edge of our seats for a lap with a tenacious solo move. Is it time to move the…

Putting their road racing goals to one side for the season, John Archibald and Joss Lowden etched their names in history by clinching National 25 honours on Sunday. Looking to showcase their sponsors and put their form to use, they both took the first of what they hope will be several national time trial crowns in the coming weeks. Windy conditions challenged riders on a traditional out and back 25-mile course in Leicestershire. However, Archibald recorded an average speed of over 33.4 miles per hour to set a winning time of 44 minutes and 50 seconds, giving him an impressive winning margin of 50 seconds. “I always look at time trials and feel you can only do your best and if that’s finishing fourth or fifth then so be it,”…

With just three months to go to the end of the year there are still lots of miles to be ridden, but the nights are drawing in again and our riding time is becoming ever more precious. We also have to think more about our kit before heading out as the long, warm sunny days are sadly over. The good news is clothing partner dhb is sponsoring this month’s challenges with a prize: one full outfit from the new Flashlight range, including the as-yet unreleased Spectrum jacket. This will be sure to help one lucky challenger take on autumn and keep their miles ticking up. With less daylight at our disposal our emphasis has moved away from the bigger rides to riding more regularly. Whether or not you’re closing in…

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Has anyone looked into why so many young riders are winning so many of the big races these last couple of years? I don’t want to sound like an old git who thinks policemen are looking younger and younger, but I don’t remember a time when so many riders in their early 20s were winning the biggest races on the calendar. Tadej Pogačar, Egan Bernal and Remco Evenepoel almost seem to be winning with ease, and doing so consistently, not just popping up to win a race then disappearing again. Is it that talented riders can be fast-tracked now, rather than being told to learn the ropes? Or are we just lucky to be witnessing three great riders (five if you rightly include Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der…

GERAINT THOMAS (Ineos Grenadiers, GBr) Giro participations: Three Best GC result: 80th (2012) Best stage result: Two second places (2012, 2017) This wasn’t in the plan for Thomas. All year he has been talking up a GC attempt at the Tour de France alongside Egan Bernal and Chris Froome, but the Critérium du Dauphiné put paid to that target. If you weren’t following it, this traditional Tour de France warm-up race saw Thomas and Froome finish in the gruppetto together on the final day, rather than bothering the podium as they would have hoped. Cue new goalposts: the Giro for Thomas, where he would be the team leader; and the same for Froome at the Vuelta. Even after another month of training, it must have been with some trepidation that…

The King of the high peaks Miguel Angel López (Astana, COL) The 26-year-old Colombian returns to the Giro, hot on the heels of his superlative performance on the Tour de France’s highest stage, where he outshone the other GC contenders to win on the Col de la Loze at 2,300m. He went on to place sixth on GC. He’ll mostly be working for leader Fuglsang here, but don’t be surprised if he goes for a stage win – especially if the Dane falters. The big engine Victor Campenaerts (NTT, BEL) As the current World Hour record holder, it stands to reason that Campenaerts is pretty handy against the clock. His plan is to take on the Giro’s three individual time trials this year. Even if the two 15km tests that…

The new S-Phyre RC902 shoes have already seen plenty of racing action under Wout Van Aert but should also work well for us mere mortals. They use what Shimano calls “engineered fit”, which is based on analysis of its own bikefitting.com data from sponsored riders performing explosive accelerations. In practice this means a redesigned heel cup and a combination mesh/microfibre leather upper. As always there is a carbon sole, which scores 12/12 on Shimano’s stiffness scale, with a replaceable heel plate. The sole now features a full wrap from the upper which should improve the hold and feel of the shoe and resist the stretched-out feeling that creeps into road shoes over time. This wrap helps the shoes feel really connected on the up and downstroke without the need to…

If you have Covid-19, or think you have had it, make sure your return to cycling is gradual and cautious. Recommendations in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, written as a collaboration between the elite sporting bodies in the UK, give a clear timeline to dealing with Covid-19 and returning to your sport to reduce the risk of long-term complications. You’ll need to monitor your resting heart rate, energy, mood, sleep, stress levels, fatigue and muscle soreness. DAY ONE TO 10 (and until at least seven days symptom-free and off any treatment): Nothing more taxing than walking. Rest lots. Nap when you can. Fuel recovery with good quality nutrition – many people report losing weight through their illness, which can stress the body further. DAY 11 TO 12: Light activity…

Alan Murchison’s PB-FUELLING BAKED OATS Murchison says: “Anything involving peanut butter and banana is a winner. This is a new take on a Performance Chef classic – baked oats. It’s also suitable for our vegan friends.” Method 1) Pre-heat oven to 190°C. 2) Put the oats in an ovenproof dish, pour on the boiling water, leave for 10 minutes, not a second more. 3) Stir in the oat milk, maple syrup, mashed banana, coconut, peanuts and nut butter. Keep back a few nuts and some coconut for the top. 4) Make a fancy pants arrangement of sliced banana, nuts, coconut on the top, plus maple syrup (optional). 5) Place into the oven for 20-25 minutes. 6) If feeling ‘chef-y’, glaze under a hot grill to give you a crispy topping.…

Specifically, how to sleep the night before a big race. There are a number of tried-and-tested techniques you can rely on for a good night’s sleep, however nervous you are. After you’ve gone to bed and turned the light out, think through the following day. Focus on all the things that might go wrong. Think about how they might go wrong, and how helpless you will be to fix any of them. Have you considered the possibility your chain might break? No? Well, you can have that one on me. Spare a thought for your rivals. They will probably be fast asleep, so they will arrive well rested for the race. They’re presumably asleep because they’re better than you. Certainly they’ll have trained harder. In fact, this might be a…

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The sprinters’ line-up for the Giro d’Italia is an impressive one, with at least as much strength in depth as the Tour de France. The big four names – Elia Viviani (Cofidis), Michael Matthews (Sunweb), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Fernando Gaviria (Deceuninck-Quick Step) – all have multiple Grand Tour stage wins in their palmarès. Of those, Viviani looks the most shaky. He didn’t look his usual self at the Tour. Maybe he was off form, missing the Deceuninck lead-out train or perhaps just saving himself for his home Grand Tour. Cofidis will hope it’s the latter as they’ve not been to this race since 2010. Démare, it seems, just can’t stop winning at the moment. So far post-lockdown, he has bagged six wins, and that doesn’t include the GC and…

1 SATURDAY 3 OCTOBER MONREALE > PALERMO 15.1KM | ITT It has been several years since the Giro started with a short individual time trial – the last time was 2012, when the Danish Grande Partenza saw riders tackle an 8.8km prologue around the city of Herning. This year’s test between Monreale and Palermo in Sicily isn’t quite the way the organisers had envisaged it of course – the start has been hastily relocated from Hungary, where this TT would have paraded up and down the banks of the Danube in Budapest on the way to an uphill finish. With Monreale perched on the slopes of Monte Caputo, the revised stage is likely to be a faster affair as riders plunge downwards into Palermo’s coastal heart. It ought still to act as…

Meredith Gilbert, 22, from Brighton, is a trainee rider with Storey Racing. She began feeling unwell at the height of the pandemic “At the time, in April, it wasn’t clear I had had it. I assumed I was just fighting off a cold or it was fatigue due to upping my mileage over lockdown, so I pushed on training, and Covid didn’t cross my mind.” After a month of fatigue and feeling short of breath, the young racer saw others talking about similar symptoms, and the penny dropped. “I feel like I’ve constantly ‘bonked’ or I’m recovering from the hardest session ever. I still get heart palpitations and shortness of breath, especially on waking up. The DOMs in my leg haven’t gone since April either, and my legs feel really…

Geraint Thomas narrowly missed out on a medal in the time trial, coming fourth despite not having any data on his ride as Italian Filippo Ganna blitzed the field. Thomas, who was the closest Brit to medalling over the championships, revealed to BBC Sport: “I don’t want to make excuses but I had no Garmin, so I had no idea [how I was doing], I didn’t have [information for] power, distance, time, anything.” Thomas added: “It was good to be in the mix, obviously I would have loved to have medalled but that’s the way it goes. [Having a Garmin] helps a lot towards the end with staying focused and staying on the pedals. But I think it looks good for the next month with the Giro.” Fellow Brit Alex…

7.03W/kg Pogačar comes out to play on the Marie Blanque, stage 9. 2,134 Pogačar’s estimated VAM (vertical climbing speed in metres per hour) for the last two kilometres of the Pas de Peyrol, stage 13, a measurement Diegner describes as “insane”. “It was the only word I could come up with to properly describe it!” he says. 350 watts Stage 17 winner Miguel Angel López’s estimated power over the 21.3km Col de la Loze to the summit finish. Equal to 5.93W/kg for the 59kg rider. 6.585W/kg Pogačar’s power to weight on the Peyresourde, stage eight. He recorded an average of 428 watts up the 9.5km climb. Diegner picks this out as Pogacar’s best ride. “He took 40 seconds out of the yellow jersey group and beat the 17-year-old previous record…

$499 Echelon ‘Ex-Prime’ fitness bike was removed from sale by Amazon just a few hours after its release Echelon had pitched itself as a rival to the much more expensive Peloton indoor trainer and being a partnership with Amazon, hence the ‘Prime’ name. An Amazon spokesperson told business press including Forbes: “Echelon does not have a formal partnership with Amazon. We are working with Echelon to clarify this in its communications, stop the sale of the product, and change the product branding.” Quintana: ‘I have nothing to hide’ Nairo Quintana has responded after French authorities launched a doping investigation into him and Arkéa-Samsic at the Tour de France. Quintana and his brother Dayer were voluntarily interviewed by police, and two staff members were taken into custody and later released. Quintana…

There’s no hiding the fact: the Giro is Yates’s current obsession. “I prefer the Giro,” he says. But at some point, one would expect him to turn his attention to the Tour de France, a race in which he won two stages in 2019. The Tour question elicits a shrug-of-the-shoulders response. “I’ve done the Tour, I don’t know, four or five times.” It’s four, Simon. Clearly, then, the Bury-born rider doesn’t profess to people that he has ridden the World’s Biggest Race™, like mythology suggests all bike riders do to non-cycling fans. But one day, he’d like to at least challenge for GC at the Tour. “At some point I would like to go for it. When that will be, right now I don’t know because at the moment the…

Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb, NED) After seeing their stablemates Marc Hirschi and Søren Kragh Andersen imposing themselves on the Tour de France, spirits will be running high throughout the Sunweb Giro team. Oomen, 25, is a previous winner of the Tour de l’Ain and finished 11th on GC at Tirreno last month – don’t be surprised to seem him snapping at the wheels of the Giro favourites, spurred on by his Tour team-mates. Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana, RUS) If Sam Oomen is on his way up, Aleksandr Vlasov is more or less there already, despite his tender 24 years. He’s had an excellent post-lockdown season so far, winning the Giro dell’Emilia, coming third at Il Lombardia and fifth on GC at the Tirreno. If his team leader Jakob Fuglsang falters, then…

Campagnolo has launched its first gravel-specific groupset, and in the process it’s added an extra cog to its cassette. As well as having an extra gear, the mechanical-only Ekar groupset is the lightest gravel option on the market – shaving 86 grams off its nearest competitor, SRAM Force 1x11. There’s only one spec level, with four available chainring sizes – 38t, 40t, 42t and 44t. The 13-speed cassette features a new nine-tooth sprocket, enabling a wider range with limited jumps. The lightest configuration – with a 9-36 cassette – comes in at 2,385g, whilst SRAM Force 1x with a 10-42 cassette comes in at 2,471g Price wise Ekar is pitched below Chorus, with a full groupset retailing at £1,449 First foray Before setting out on the design process, Campagnolo says…

Snot-rockets have become the new half-wheeling – the most annoying, risky faux-pas you can commit on a club ride. Long-drawn-out sociable coffee stops are out, in favour of downing an espresso in an empty car park. Jersey pockets are stuffed full of hand sanitiser and masks. Welcome to Cycling 2020: Covid-19 edition. While riding became incredibly popular during lockdown, with thousands of new recruits discovering the joy of life on two wheels, for the old-timers, this winter’s training may not feel quite so joyful. The current advice is, you may have up to 30 in a coached session, but outside of formal training sessions, you must follow the rule of six. Because you are outside and not facing each other while riding, the risks are not high, but the social…

It was another fast and furious Club 10 last Wednesday (23 September) on the ‘Innsbruckring KOM’ course, with just six seconds dividing the top three places in the men’s race. James Gelsthorpe took the win in 21.03, just one second faster than Simon Norman, while Ali Robinson was third in 21.08. “I have been using the CW Club 10 as a regular way of getting some mid-week top-end efforts in,” said 33-year-old Gelsthorpe. “This week I paced it a bit better [than usual] and kept something back for the climbs, which definitely helped… I still felt like vomiting at the end, though!” The water engineer from Bourne in Lincolnshire was putting the final touches to his preparation for last Sunday’s National 25. There were far bigger time gaps in the…

I’ve been doing the Cycling Weekly Club 10-mile time trials on Zwift. Every Wednesday evening, I’m on the Wattbike, warming up, focussing on race strategy, mentally preparing myself for the effort. It has set my recovery back by years. My recovery from what, you ask. Well, it goes back to an interview I did with Chris Boardman a few years ago when he described himself as “a recovering sportsman”. He meant he was finally free of the shackles of competitive sport, he could put the pursuit of speed and victory behind him and behave like a normally adjusted person. The sort of person who can take a day off training and eat cheese. If your first reaction to that sentiment is, “Easy for him to say, he won the World…

Last year, I went on a training camp in Spain with my club. On the first day, we did a really long ride – perhaps too long – and arrived back at the apartment block exhausted, but still pretty thrilled to be riding in the sunshine. Our club secretary decided it would be just the moment for the ‘insanity’ of riding straight into the pool. He’d seen it done by someone else once and reckoned it was pretty cool. He forgot that bikes have no buoyancy. He rode into the shallow end, only three feet deep, and the bike went straight down like a brick and hit the bottom. It was just as if he’d ridden off a three-foot kerb. He broke his front wheel, bent his fork steerer, and…