Indholdsfortegnelse for March 23, 2023 i Cycling Weekly

Shirin van Anrooij led home a Trek-Segafredo 1-2 at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda in Italy on Sunday. The Dutchwoman broke away with 24km left to race and hung off the front of the peloton by little more than 10 seconds for several kilometres. But as the race hit the penultimate climbs, she extended her lead further and was out of sight on the tight, twisty roads. It seemed like her hopes might have been dashed when an errant police motorbike forced her to brake heavily but she would increase her lead in the final ascent of the finishing circuit’s Orino climb, while behind, attacks started to disrupt the rhythm of the chasing group. An untroubled descent to the line then led the U23 cyclo-cross world champion to her first WorldTour…

GB triathlete Ben Goodfellow mastered tough conditions and unknown roads to take victory over a 26.2-mile technical and picturesque course in North Yorkshire at the Circuit of Ingleborough. The 26-year-old from Wrexham was expecting a tough battle with event regular and wily veteran Richard Bideau of promoting club Pendle Forest CC, as well as top junior Patrick Casey (Team Lifting Gear Products). But in reality he eased to victory by almost four minutes over Bideau, while Casey was a non-finisher after hitting a pothole and suffering a mechanical. Fastest female was 360cycling rider Laura Tring, whose time of 1-22-47 gave her a comfortable win by almost five minutes over North Lancashire RC veteran Sue Cheetham. Goodfellow, the former British duathlon champion and age group Ironman 70.3 world champion, clocked 1-01-03…

I like the colour, but not for a points jersey. The leaders’ jerseys should stand out, both to show off and for the peloton to easily see in an attack. Both the blessings and curses that they are. Ryan Close I like it. It has a distinct colour of its own. Kitty Robinson It doesn’t stand out. Looks like Bora’s colour. Alison Putman I get that sponsors want their branding reflected, but some jerseys should be sacrosanct. They wouldn’t change the yellow or polka-dot jersey, and the UCI wouldn’t change the rainbow jersey, so why change the green jersey? These are some of the few cases where the branding of the item itself should be favoured over that of a sponsor’s. Anon Nice colour but won’t stand out enough. Alan…

THE BIG THREE The big three of the cyclocross world also happen to be the three biggest names on the Classics circuit. Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel were already proven in these races, with wins across the biggest one-day races, but Tom Pidcock, strong as he is, felt like the weakest member of this trio, as he did in cyclo-cross this past winter. However, with his win at Strade Bianche in early March, the man from Leeds cemented his place among this group. They can win from anywhere: a solo attack, a sprint from a small group, or even a larger bunch effort in the case of the first two. The only downside of their prowess – and this applies particularly to van Aert – is that…

Former team pursuit world and Commonwealth champion Charlie Tanfield rode this blacked-out Canyon Speedmax to victory – and a course record – in a road 10-mile time trial on the J4/20 course south of Manchester earlier this month. The younger of the Tanfield brothers, aged 26, has signed with UCI Continental team Saint Piran this year and said he entered the event, which is local to him, to “get into the swing of things” – though the bike he used is already in full battle mode. “It’s quite old, but still really good,” he says of the rim-brake Speedmax, his former team bike from his Canyonsponsored days. Saint Piran will be riding Trek Emondas this year following the breakdown of their deal with Lapierre but won’t be given time trial…

ON EUP Colnago C68 £12,999.95 The C68 is slightly more expensive in the equivalent Dura-Ace Di2 build. It’s made in Italy, is the latest generation of the legendary model-C Colnago, looks incredible and since it’s not designed as a race bike and isn’t quite as stiff, in our experience supplies a more exciting ride quality for those who don’t ride at 45kph. MID RANGE Colnago V3 Disc Ultegra Di2 £5,999.95 The consumer version of the two-time Tour-winning bike is a more cost-effective way to buy into Colnago’s latest racing success and it comes in the same eight sizes as the V3RS. If you want a Colnago for competition but don’t want to risk sending £12K cartwheeling down the road, this could be it.…

Fittingly for the longest race on the professional calendar Mathieu van der Poel’s victory at Milan-San Remo on Saturday was a story best told by the numbers. There were personal numbers like 62, the number of years since the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider’s grandfather, French legend Raymond Poulidor, won the same race. There were patriotic numbers like 38, the number of years since another Dutchman, Hennie Kuiper had won La Primavera. There were also numbers summing up the ferocity and power of the race itself, from the average speed of 45.773 kph, the second fastest edition, to the finale itself. According to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport’s analysis of video footage van der Poel averaged 39.18kph up the Poggio climb for a time of 3-40, the fastest it has been raced.…

It’s one of cycling’s most famous, and feared, cobbled sectors, but right now Paris-Roubaix’s iconic Forest of Arenberg is but a calm idyll for grazing animals. With names like Ginette and Caouette, a herd of goats, around 40 in size, has descended on the road, tasked with trimming back the grass in time for the race on 9 April. “This is the first time we’ve used this method,” ASO’s race designer Thierry Gouvenou told Cycling Weekly. “During Covid, we realised that the grass in the Forest of Arenberg was growing back really quickly, so we said we needed to find solutions. Why not eco-grazing?” If you’re not familiar with ecograzing, the concept is simple. Rather than using weedkiller or industrial-sized lawn mowers, a drove of duty-bound herbivores are employed to maintain…

We’re back racing. After a winter of uncertainty, not knowing if I’d be racing at all, it was funny that I found myself on the start line of the Rhodes Tour, just like the year before. In a weird way, it was like I’d never left Hagens Berman Axeon. I travelled to the airport with one of my old team-mates, and then met up with the boys in the airport. The only difference, I was no longer a part of the HBA club. Arriving in Rhodes, I met up with SN Vitae Bim Bam, a UK club team who I’m effectively ‘guesting’ for during UCI race days on the road. The race started much like the year before; I was climbing well and I was always in the front group.…

Described by the Swedish brand as “the most aerodynamic” shades it’s ever produced, the Propel is said to reduce drag and enable “airflow to interact with the rider and their body position”. To achieve this the glasses sit closer to the face and use side fairings designed to guide air away from the rider’s ears; it’s this component that helps to better manage airflow, guiding it over the shoulders and improving a rider’s aero profile. How many watts you might save by wearing the Propel glasses, however, will vary from one rider to another. “It’s impossible to say that everyone will have the same savings as every rider has a different position,” says POC’s head of global PR and communications, Damian Phillips. “But even then we are seeing watt savings,…

For most riders there are two main limitations to getting started with a power meter: cost and compatibility. Step forward the aptly named Limits BIA, which sits between your pedal and crank and can therefore be fitted to any bike regardless of crank, bottom bracket and pedal type. And at £229 it’s also one of the cheapest power meters – if not the cheapest – on the market. With a claimed power accuracy of +/-2%, the BIA is a small, circular plastic and carbon-fibre device with metal pedal/crank threads. It is single-sided only. Measuring 42mm in diameter and 18mm thick, an 18mm spacer is included to add between the right pedal and crank to balance out the increased Q-factor between each side for a total increase of 36mm on a…

aymond Poulidor, ‘the Eternal Second’, rides alone on the lower slopes of the Via Duca d’Aosta, better known in cycling as the Poggio. This famous 3.62km tight, twisting climb is the final obstacle of the 295km Milan-San Remo. Crest it alone and a rider is almost guaranteed to win. As long as they can descend. Frenchman Poulidor, perhaps the most popular rider who has ever competed, is alone and clear, with just two polizia motos and a race official for company. The look on his face seems to be that of an exhausted rider, rather than one launching a late attack. A long, lone effort by Poulidor is supported by other images and the results, as he won by just three seconds from a big group sprinting in behind. Without…

Riders and team staff were left aghast last Friday when out of the blue, “funding issues” and an “uncertain banking and finance sector” led to the sudden collapse of AT85 Pro Cycling, formerly known as Wiv-SunGod. Team owner Tim Elverson had previously spoken of his hopes to move to the ProTeam level for 2024 but then last week “bombshell” news hit the squad, whose headline sponsor is an investment fund, that a financial shortfall was going to force it to close. Speaking to Cycling Weekly, sports director Colin Sturgess said: “I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say it’s with absolute regret and a heavy heart that all of us have learned about this. I don’t think any of us could have foreseen the timing of it.” Being hit just weeks…

For a select group of riders, any race with a date after April is just an epilogue to the real season. By the time the sun rises high in the sky, the battles have been fought and the victors crowned, the rest of the year is just a long drawn-out afternoon in the sunshine. Sure, you could pick up stages in big races here or there, burnish your palmarès, but the reason you got up early and headed out the door in the rain in December has, by that point, been and gone. There remains something special about the Classics. On a cold and dull morning in a Belgian (or French, or Dutch) town square around 180 riders will start out with the same hopes and dreams, if not for…

How do you stop Jumbo-Visma? That will be the question in the mind of many a directeur sportif on any given weekend in March and April. The Dutch team in yellow won both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on the opening weekend, through Dylan van Baarle and Tiesj Benoot, respectively. Their star rider, Wout van Aert, wasn’t even present, and they look strong for any situation. Add Christophe Laporte, Attila Valter, and Nathan Van Hooydonck into the mix, and the squad is ridiculously strong. Van Baarle, the winner of Paris-Roubaix last year, can attack, or Benoot can, and leave the chasing to other teams in the knowledge that van Aert and Laporte will be behind to mop up any opportunities. It might just be their own intrateam dynamics that are…

SMALLER CLASSICS E3 SAXO CLASSIC Men: Friday 24 March 2023 I 205.1km I 13:15 - 16:50 Eurosport, discovery + and GCN The E3 Saxo Classic is widely considered as being an essential warm-up race to the Tour of Flanders, sharing many of the same climbs as the Monument, and producing a lot of the same winners over the past 10 years. Due to its length, racing at the E3 is nearly always a tactical affair, in which the teams with the best group battle plan nearly always prevail. Jumbo-Visma masterfully took the victory in the men’s race last year through Wout van Aert. GHENT-WEVELGEM Men: Saturday 26 March 2023 I 260km I 12:00-16:40 Eurosport, discovery + and GCN Women: Saturday 26 March I 162km I 15:15-17:50 Eurosport, discovery + and…

Each year, the trio of events that form the racing block known as the Ardennes week never fail to disappoint. A variety of riders can thrive in the three races, although each one is largely defined by the short, sharp and punchy hills typical of the region, making them ideally suited to puncheur-type riders in the mould of Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SR A M). The oldest bike race in the world, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, forms the centrepiece of the occasion as one of the five cycling Monuments, and in 2022 the women’s edition of La Doyenne won by Dutch superstar Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) arguably overshadowed the highs of Soudal-Quick Step’s Remco Evenepoel taking his first ever Monument victory. Racing for the men begins and ends in the…

As Oscar Wilde said, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. Which means that even though Tom Boonen and Dirk de Wolf suggested the Colnago V4RS is 2kph slower than its peers, angering Ernesto Colnago himself, the public row it caused has leapfrogged it miles ahead of its more mainstream rivals in terms of exposure. Additionally, Tadej Pogačar this month rode the V4RS to victory on all three mountain stages at Paris-Nice and took the overall victory. It could be the most talked about bike of 2023 so far. But what’s the Colnago V4RS really like? Construction One of Boonen’s remarks, translated from the Flemish, was that the V4RS was “old school” and that Colnago “hadn’t quite mastered that super-hyper aero stuff yet.” I…

Cyclists should undergo a full-body strength training routine once or twice a week, ideally all year round but certainly through the winter. It is important to train your upper body as well as your legs, since this helps support your riding position, stability and power production. Aim never to forego strength training for long periods of time, as the athletic qualities gained soon begin to decline once sessions cease. There are no must-do exercises. It is not the particular exercise that matters, it is how you move within a given exercise. For example, the concentric pushing component should be executed as fast and forcefully as possible. The exercises you choose must be suited to your training experience, current needs, and the time of year in relation to your goals. I…

The turn is something that might not be unique to British bike racing, but is still very characteristic of it. It’s what separates the first half of a traditional time trial from the second half. Originally the turn was simply a point in the road. You were expected to know where it was, and a gentleman wouldn’t dream of nipping a few yards off it to boost his chances of winning the nothing-at-all that an amateur competed for. When it quickly became apparent that we weren’t all gentlemen, the organisers started dispatching a marshal to the turn, to stand in the middle of the road like a human bollard for the riders to turn around. Interestingly, in those traffic-free days, you could ride around the marshal in either direction, which…