Indholdsfortegnelse for November 18, 2021 i Cycling Weekly

Geraint Thomas became the latest victim to feature in what has become a string of bike-theft news stories in recent months – only to quickly become the latest good news story. His Pinarello Dogma F was stolen as he paused for a mid-ride coffee in Menton on the French Riviera, near his Monaco home – and then turned up just hours later. “Look what showed up!” tweeted Thomas, along with a picture of a trio of police officers proudly displaying his bike. “Boy have I got a good story for you on next week’s @gtcc [podcast]. Big thanks to Menton Police for their help.” Thomas had only just got back to riding after a six week off-season break when his bike was stolen. He had posted a disgruntled selfie from…

It’s legal stuff. If you don’t like it then you don’t have to do it. No reason to pass judgement on others. Rick Wiltfong Unfortunately, teams will find ways to stay ahead. It’s life, not great but definitely normal now. George Ferncez Respectable decision. Cow Zi Siong At the elite level, athletes in any sport will take whatever legal supplements they can to reach their very best performance. Some go even further, which is why we have anti-doping controls. It’s just the way things are and I think this guy is being a little naive. Ian Haskins Very sad but as the old cliche goes, “It’s not illegal.” Poor lad. Don’t take these things – they won’t make you a champion. Russell Rowles Easy, don’t take them. We didn’t take…

Being the most expensive trainer on test, naturally it’s also the one which offers the most in terms of added features. Equally, in charging such a premium, Tacx has set a very high bar for itself that it now has to clear. In terms of packability, the Neo 2T isn’t as user-friendly as the other turbo trainers. Folding the legs up – rather than just sliding them together – presents a bit more of a faff, while the lack of a single carry handle means that the turbo requires both hands to move it around. When set up, though, the Neo 2T does deliver a pretty unique riding experience – for one thing, it’s able to simulate the sensation of riding over cobbles, wooden boards and other surfaces quite realistically…

CYCLO-CROSS SUNDAY, 14 NOVEMBER Yorkshire Points Series round seven (York Sport circuit, North Yorkshire): Men: 1. Bjorn Koerdt (Shibden CC) 54.40; 2. J. Scott (Canyon-dhb-Sungod) +0.27; 3. T. Scott (Trek Sheffield Fox Valley) +0.30; 4. W. Weatherhill (Hope Factory Racing) +1.39; 5. H. Ellison (Shibden CC) +1.55; 6. O. Thompson (unattached) +2.04; 7. R. Jebb (Hope Factory Racing) +2.09; 8. B. Ramsden (Shibden CC) +2.23; 9. H. Walshaw (Shibden CC) +3.14; 10. R. Middleton (Shibden CC) +3.30. Women: 1. Freya Whiteside (PH MAS-Paul Milnes Cycles) 47.19; 2. L. Greatorex (Cyclocrossrider.com) +0.43; 3. A. Kinloch (PH MAS-Paul Milnes Cycles) +0.52; 4. C. Mackintosh (Rapha CC) +1.26; 5. B. Halcrow (unattached) +3.19; 6. A. Mourne (Shibden CC) +3.45; 7. K. Tostee (Hub Velo) +4.30; 8. N. Matthews (Shibden CC) +4.58; 9. C.…

Cooking for a cyclist is very simple. For a start, all you need to be able to cook is rice and chicken. (Or some sort of acceptable vegetarian/vegan alternative – but don’t worry about trying to find more than one. Cyclists do not crave variety.) So, having found a chicken-and-rice recipe, you double the quantities, reduce the seasoning, and get going. You need to pay attention to the exact nutritional requirements of the riders. Cyclists are finely tuned machines, and demand very precise quantities of macro and micronutrients in each meal. So you must question riders closely on exactly what they want in terms of carbohydrate, protein and fat content, as well as sodium, nitrates and vitamins. It will not take much encouragement to get them to tell you in…

Hopping mad Puck Pieterse (Ned) was the only rider in the elite women’s race to successfully bunny-hop both barriers at the UCI World Cup cyclo-cross event in Tabor, Czech Republic. The riders hit the first barrier at the top of a small rise which scrubbed off most of their speed, but despite this she was, incredibly, able to clear the second one as well. World champ Lucinda Brand (Ned) eventually took the win having attacked before the barriers to nullify the advantage Pieterse got from jumping them.…

CHARLOTTE BROUGHTON Why the UK needs a ProTeam With the off-season winding down for many of us and winter training back in full swing, many British riders are still in their own transfer season. Lots of riders have thankfully signed contracts for 2022 and beyond already, but many haven’t. Sadly, a lot of hugely talented British men are once again finding themselves falling victim to the fact that the UK does not have a UCI ProTeam (formally known as Pro-Continental) to stabilise the scene and create a natural bridge to the WorldTour. In Ineos, of course, we have a WorldTour team that has taken on many young talents recently, but there’s only so many riders they can accommodate. It wasn’t long ago that we had teams like JLT and NFTO…

It’s that time of year again. Dark and early nights combined with increasingly miserable weather makes riding outdoors much less enticing, while the boom in indoor training platforms – and ever-improving turbo trainers – conversely has made riding indoors far more inviting than ever before. We’ve put four top-of-the-range direct-drive turbo trainers to the test for a definitive verdict on what’s the best trainer money can buy and where you’re best putting your money – the two don’t always go hand-in-hand. It’s worth noting that with the continued development of turbo technology, four of the main metrics by which they used to be judged – maximum resistance, maximum gradient, noise levels and power meter accuracy – are of lesser importance these days. Accuracy and ‘trueness’ Today’s turbos offer over 2,000W…

Although we’ve ranked these trainers with their star rating, each has its own unique selling point. There are possible circumstances where each of these four trainers could be the best buy for someone’s particular situation. But with that said, there are also typical use cases and we’ve ordered the trainers in terms of how well they perform for a general audience. Starting from the bottom, the awkward ERG mode of the Elite Direto XR-T, combined with its issues of sprinting stability and the long wait for it to read zero watts when freewheeling, compromise the trainer for both traditional indoor training and Zwift racing. For the relatively small increase in price, most people would be better off going for the Saris H3 – or else investing a bit more still…

OVEN-ROASTED RATATOUILLE WITH FLAGEOLET BEANS This recipe could not be easier to make – you simply add all the ingredients to a roasting tin and let the oven do the work. It is packed with beta-carotene, vitamin C, folate and fibre. The flageolet beans boost the protein content but you can easily substitute chickpeas or any other type of beans. What you need: 1 red onion, thinly sliced 2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced 2 large courgettes, thinly sliced 1 large aubergine, sliced into half-moons 2 x 400g cans flageolet beans, drained and rinsed 2 cloves of garlic, crushed A handful of basil leaves, torn Salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes To serve: 300g…

British legend Malcolm Elliott leads the pack around a corner in the centre of Leeds. Or at least we think it’s Leeds – that’s what the info on the picture says. But when we contacted him for more information Eilliott himself said he didn’t have a race in Leeds in his diary from the time, so it may well be another location. We do know the city hosted a round of the Scottish Provident League in 1990. Elliott, racing for Teka, was at the height of his powers, although we couldn’t confirm the result of this race assuming it was indeed in Leeds. Event sponsor Scottish Provident remained a supporter of bike racing in the UK for many years, right up until the 2000s, sponsoring events both big, like this…

RideLondon returns next spring with a new date, new route and new headline event. Having not run in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic the organisers recently announced a completely new look to the weekend of events. The men’s one-day race has gone, and instead the organisers will run a three-day Women’s WorldTour stage race along with the closed-road sportive. Both events will take place in central London and Essex after Surrey County Council decided not to renew its involvement following an online backlash from just a handful of residents. The women’s RideLondon Classique will now be the only professional part of the weekend and is a significant step up from the central London criterium race of the previous format. While details are still to be announced the first…

‘Excuse me,” says a woman’s voice from behind me. “Could you move so I can get a photo?” I’ve been standing idly by the start of stage two of the Tour of Britain observing the best all-round cyclist in the world, Wout van Aert, as he politely waves to the crowd from the sign-in rostrum. Even here on this half-finished Devonian housing estate the Belgian has fans. I duck out of the woman’s shot. The fact she wants a picture is hardly surprising. In the flesh the Belgian is striking. When I interview van Aert, seasoned photographer Simon Wilkinson is so stunned by the Jumbo-Visma rider’s anime matinee-idol looks he remarks the Belgian could easily be a model. We both wonder if the blond streak in his fringe is natural…

The Direto XR-T comes shipped in its packed-away state, so setting it up straight out of the box is much the same as setting it up for a turbo session. Simply spread out the legs and hand-tighten the screws to lock them in place – it takes about 20 seconds at most. With a relatively narrow profile once the legs are folded away, finding a home for it between sessions isn’t much of a challenge. That said, being a little taller and longer than the other turbos on test does make it a touch more imposing. Although relatively light, the placement of the carry handle isn’t a natural feel for its centre of gravity and lifting it does feel a little awkward. Putting in some sprints and harder efforts, the…

The Wahoo Kickr has been around for a while now, with updates to the trainer being more incremental than transformative. But considering the performance of each edition, that’s no bad thing. For the V5, Wahoo has added feet to reduce vibrations from the trainer and to add a little sway, as well as increasing the claimed accuracy from ±2% to ±1% and removing the requirement to manually calibrate the trainer. With a horizontally oriented carry handle, the Kickr is by far the easiest trainer to transport – even for its not inconsiderable weight – and when it comes to packing away, the legs snap easily together and the height of the axle can be lowered to result in a really quite low-profile package. In use, the Kickr does feel more…

EATING A vegan diet has become increasingly popular over recent years. Within the cycling community, there are passionate proponents as well as diehard sceptics. Mention the ‘V’ word on social media and you’ll provoke a lively – if not inflammatory – debate about the merits and harms of a plant-only diet. Naysayers will be quick to cite a story of a rider who became unwell on a vegan diet before switching back to eating animal products. On the other side, vegans will extol the ethical, environmental, health and performance benefits. How to take a balanced view? Admittedly, it’s hard not to be biased by your own food preferences. To declare my own position: I am a vegetarian and I recently published a vegan cookbook. This feature is not designed to…

The watershed event of the year for me was getting selected for the Škoda Academy back in April. Before then, I’d only ever competed as a swimmer, so I went along to the selection day with no expectations at all. It was a complete surprise to get chosen, and it set me off in a whole new direction. There have been so many highlights: the trips away with my Academy team-mates; our day at the Tour of Britain with our mentor-in-chief Dame Sarah Storey; riding my first ever time trial (10 miles on my road bike in 24.31); my first crit race against men as well as women; and completing my first race series – all during the course of this Project. None of this was planned, and if I…