Indholdsfortegnelse for July 25, 2024 i Cycling Weekly

For Jonas Vingegaard, his second place at the Tour de France, months after he was severely injured in a crash at Itzulia Basque Country, was a “bigger result” than winning the Tour. “It’s very nice for me to be back at a very, very high level,” he said. “After everything that happened with the crash… to be able to get back like this, second is a very big result. “I think, with everything in mind, it might be even a bigger result than winning the Tour when everything went perfect.” The 26-year-old reminded journalists that he had spent eight days bed-bound in intensive care after his crash at the Basque Country in April, and 12 days in total in hospital. It’s a wonder he made it to the Tour at…

1 The Pogačar-Vingegaard rivalry is predictable, but fascinating For some, perhaps even Jonas Vingegaard himself, the fact that this rivalry continued in 2024 was a surprise. Given the severity of his early season injuries and the brevity of his preparation, the Dane’s challenge to Pogačar was very impressive. It’s the same old rivalry, but it’s still just as riveting. That’s partly because they are such different characters: Vingegaard reserved and serious; Pogačar rarely without a colourful quote. Both have also swapped dominance back and forth. We even saw an emotional side to the Dane this Tour, after he won stage 11. 2 Remco Evenepoel has world-beating panache There was another rider who, in his first Tour de France, was in a league of his own riding to third place. Evenepoel…

Do you think you’re special? I’m genuinely interested to know. I believe almost everyone does, but my particular echo chamber is filled with professional athletes, so all I can say for sure is this: they definitely do. Especially convinced of their specialness are the ones who don’t have, in their own words, a lot of “natural talent”. They think everything they’ve achieved is born of hard work and smarts, but I say it’s the same soup with a different label on the tin. Whether you think you’re naturally gifted, particularly hard-working, or more tactically astute than the rest, what these all boil down to is a high sense of self-belief. If any Greats are reading this (a Great is someone like Marianne Vos, Jason Kenny, or that rider who wins…

MATHIEU VAN DER POEL (NED) 29 The outstanding one-day racer of his generation, Mathieu van der Poel has been unstoppable in the Classics over the last two years, following his historic achievement of winning all of Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships last year with a Tour of Flanders/Paris-Roubaix double this spring. The Dutchman hasn’t yet medalled at the Olympics, though, and crashed out of the cross-country mountain biking event in Tokyo. His Tour de France appearance was once again underwhelming, but that won’t fool the peloton. He’ll be the rider to watch on 3 August. BINIAM GIRMAY (ERI) 24 Not only did Eritrea’s new sporting hero win three stages at the Tour de France and the green points jersey, he consistently finished in the main autobus through the mountains,…

LOTTE KOPECKY (BEL) 28 As an event that comes by only once every four years, opportunities for Olympic glory are scarce. As the star of her generation, at the very peak of her powers at the age of 28, this is Lotte Kopecky’s moment. By winning the World Championships in Glasgow last year and Paris-Roubaix this spring, the Belgian has completed almost all her career targets – the one obvious omission being an Olympic gold. The parcours suits her, whether she wants to wait for a sprint, or mount a solo attack. The Belgian’s only worry is whether her team can protect her against the mighty Dutch line-up. KASIA NIEWIADOMA (POL) 29 At last having shed her reputation for being a perennial runner-up following her triumphant victory at Flèche Wallonne this…

Not every athlete gets the chance to compete for their country at the Olympic Games. However, many non-participants do have the opportunity to fulfil another dream: taking part in the Olympic torch relay. This cultural aspect of the Olympic Games showcases the best of the host country and kicks off the exciting build-up to the biggest sporting event in the world. Since 8 May, when the Olympic flame arrived in Marseille from Athens, it has wended its way through 400 towns and cities in France and its overseas territories in the French West Indies, French Guyana, Reunion Islands and French Polynesia, ending its journey in central Paris. Finally, tomorrow, 26 July, the world will witness a spectacular opening ceremony on the River Seine. From a pool of over 20,000 people…

As well as the above legends of cycling, a number of professional road racers and personalities in cycling have carried the Olympic torch. Eyeru Tesfoam Gebru (Team Komugi-Grand Est) on 30 May at Bayeux, Calvados: the first person from an Olympic refugee team to take part in an Olympic torch relay, Eyeru fled her native Ethiopia in 2021, seeking asylum in France and joining a professional team. Jean-René Bernaudeau, team manager, Total Energies on 4 June at Vendée: as well as being head of a leading UCI ProTeam, Bernaudeau has spent over 40 years getting young people in the Vendée region involved in cycling. Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) was pencilled in to carry the torch at Beauvais, Hautsde-France on 18 July, but clearly opted to stay in the Tour de…

• Anna Morris, 29, from Cardiff, put her career as a junior doctor on hold • Motivation: to ride for Team GB at the Paris 2024 Olympics “I was sport mad when I was younger. I joined a Cardiff junior triathlon club, borrowed a bike, and trained at Maindy cycle track,” says Anna Morris. While studying medicine at the University of Southampton, she began cycling seriously. “In my second year, they were running a UK Sportfunded initiative to increase female participation. It included everything from learning to ride the rollers to riding on the velodrome at Calshot. I fell in love with the speed and adrenaline of the track.” Covid-19 was a tough time for the trainee doctor. “I shifted to intensive care work for a couple of weeks when case…

l Ben Gregory, 33, from London, miraculously overcame a 5% survival chance after a severe bike crash in August 2022 l Motivation: to return to road cycling “Iwould cycle wherever and whenever I could,” says Ben Gregory. “I was a decathlete and I worked as a fitness trainer, so I’d ride my road bike all the time and workout six days a week. I always wore a helmet on the London roads – that saved my life.” In August 2022, Gregory was cycling home from work through London when a car being driven on the wrong side of the road crashed into him. “I don’t remember the crash itself, but I’ve been told what happened. My head went through his front window.” Gregory was put into an induced coma by…

Preparing for multiple assaults on world titles later this season, teenage sensation Finlay Tarling smashed the junior 25-mile competition record by over a minute on Sunday. On his first outing over the distance this season the 17-year-old posted a winning time of 46-19 to win the Rosson-Wye CC event in South Wales – beating the old record of 47-27. Tarling is hoping to challenge for the junior time trial, road and track world titles and showed great form to put his name into the record books. Team Bottrill completed the podium clean sweep with Tarling finishing five seconds faster than Jake Sargent, while Rob Francis finished another minute back (47-13). “The legs felt better and better as the event went on, especially towards the end when the clock was ticking…

Riders skirt around a pond in Windsor Great Park as part of a 17-lap road race course at the 1948 Olympics. The event was initially going to be held in London’s Richmond Park, but organisers were forced to reconsider upon discovering a law that prohibited speeds of more than 20mph in the park. Instead, further west of the capital, a 27-year-old Prince Philip fired the start gun on the 194km race, which was won by Frenchman José Beyaert, who broke away with his second attack off the front, and held on to win by four seconds. There was also a prize for the best team, calculated by the placings of each country’s first three riders over the line. Only 28 of 101 starters finished the race, and the competition was…

Alpine exploits The Tour’s second visit to the Alps this year didn’t disappoint, with two stages won from the break, and two stages won by the yellow jersey. Here on stage 17, Tadej Pogačar could ‘only’ manage 27th. Fan favourite After the ignominy of having a packet of crisps thrown in his face in the Pyrenees, the yellow jersey is cheered up the Col du Noyer as gendarmes look out for anyone concealing a potato-based snack. Eritrean ecstasy Biniam Girmay delights his fans with a selfie after sealing his win in the points classification. Jasper Philipsen had started as favourite, but Girmay was in green from stage five onwards. De Lie delights Belgian champ Arnaud De Lie clearly wasn’t one of the sprinters struggling through the mountains off the back…

Mark Cavendish hinted that Sunday’s time trial in Nice would be his last race as he completed his final Tour, 17 years after his first, with 35 stage wins in his back pocket and as the 2024 edition’s lanterne rouge – the last rider on the general classification. The Briton was the second man to ride stage 21’s 33.7km mountainous time trial from Monaco to Nice, and he told reporters after that it was “likely” his last ever professional bike race. A year on from delaying retirement to have one more shot at win number 35, a victory obtained in the race’s first week that moved him one ahead of Eddy Merckx in the all-time list of stage wins, Cavendish described himself as “incredibly happy” with how his 15th Tour…

“I don’t think there’s many things that come close to this.” Those were the words of Tour de France debutant Stevie Williams atop the Col de la Couillole with just one stage to go. “As a youngster you think of riding the Tour,” he added, “but you never think it will come true. So to be here now on stage 20 of the Tour on top of a mountain is incredibly special.” The Israel-Premier Tech rider was one of three Britons riding the Tour for the first time, the others being Williams’s team-mate Jake Stewart, and Oscar Onley of DSM-Firmenich PostNL. It was Scots rider Onley, just 21, who managed the most memorable result, with a standout fifth place at SuperDévoluy on stage 17. Still breathless on the mountain top,…

It was on the second rest day of the Tour, digesting how the race had already been obliterated in the Pyrenees by Tadej Pogačar, that a conversation with someone I know opened the door on doubt. It boiled down to the awful, inevitable question: is this race being won fairly? I know that doping is an issue that arises with annual regularity, regardless of which rider pulls clear of the rest. I cannot remember a year when my social media timeline has not filled with accusations levelled at whoever is winning. I used to be ITV’s reporter at the Tour, asking questions face to face with the yellow jersey and the stage winner, live on TV. This I did during the doped Lance Armstrong years, and throughout the Floyd Landis…

Mark Cavendish salutes the crowd in Nice as he rides the remaining few metres of his final Tour de France. Having won on stage five into Saint-Vulbas and put himself clear atop the list of Tour stage winners, and unsuccessfully contested the final sprint on stage 17 in Nîmes, Cavendish battled through two days in the high Alps in order to finish and show his huge respect to the race that has made him a household name, not to mention earning him a place in the history books. Sunday’s stage to Nice was his 230th Tour stage, coming 6,224 days after he started his Tour career in London 2007 in, interestingly, another time trial. “I’ve been very, very lucky to have the career I’ve had, to work with the people…

Seventeen-time gold medallist Dame Sarah Storey will compete in her ninth Paralympic Games next month. The 46-year-old, who won three gold medals in Tokyo in 2021, has been officially announced as part of a 23-rider Team GB squad for the Paris Games, which was revealed earlier this week. Storey will defend her time trial and road race gold medals in the C5 category (for those with “least impairment”), but will forgo the defence of her individual pursuit title on the track. In Tokyo, Storey became Great Britain’s most successful Paralympian of all time, having made her debut as a swimmer in 1992, before first competing as a cyclist in 2008. “I couldn’t have imagined going to eight Games, let alone winning medals at every Games, and 17 of those medals…

The women’s races are invariably more exciting and less predictable and never have boring sprint days with five minutes of action after five hours of nothing. They may be a bit slower and produce less raw power but the races are close, hard fought and great to watch. Cycling fans wedded to men’s racing don’t know what they are missing. Joe Wallace They need to change [the date], then the women will get more coverage on TV. Aemon Atkinson You might as well ask why the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 are on the same day while you’re at it. It’s because there are only so many weeks in a year, and with all the different sporting events going on there’s always going to be dates that conflict with…

HARRIE LAVREYSEN (NED) 27 SPRINT A 13-time world champion, 12-time European champion and double Olympic gold medallist, Harrie Lavreysen has a good claim to being the best track sprinter in history. Now, going into his second Olympic Games, his form is better than ever. He took a clean sweep at the European Championships in January, and before that, sailed to the overall victory at the UCI Track Champions League, winning seven of his 10 races, finishing second in the other three, and setting a series peak power record of 2,338 watts. MATTHEW RICHARDSON (AUS) 25 SPRINT Described by Sir Chris Hoy as “the real deal”, Australian Matthew Richardson could have ended up racing for Great Britain. Born in Kent, the 25-year-old grew up doing gymnastics, and moved to Australia when he was…

1 Watt-saving design After four years, Canyon has finally updated the Aeroad, and in doing so, the German brand says it has regained the title of the ‘fastest bike in the peloton’. Following many Computational Fluid Dynamics design iterations, and wind tunnel modelling carried out at the GST Wind Tunnel in South Germany, Canyon’s testing shows the new Aeroad to be a handful of watts faster than the Specialized Tarmac SL8. It does carry a fair bit more weight, however. 2 The most user-friendly aero bike As well as the topbilled performance bump, Canyon has made the Aeroad more user-friendly. Firstly, every bolt you will regularly come into contact with – be it the seatpost clamp, stem bolts or saddle clamp – is now a T25, German-made bolt. Better still, you will…

• Dan Marshall, 49, from Selby, North Yorkshire, slashed his weight from 20st 8lb (130kg) to 15st 13lb (101kg) • Motivation: to improve his health and shrink his waistline “In March 2020, I weighed 20st 8lb and I could only wear slip-on shoes because I couldn’t bend to tie my laces, and I was getting constant heartburn,” says Dan Marshall. He knew it was time to lose weight – and started with a “cheap and cheerful” bike, unsure if he would stick to cycling. By May 2020, Marshall was hooked. “I ordered a Wattbike for serious Zwifting and continued cycling around my work commitments. I couldn’t wait to get on the bike, and as the miles increased, the pounds began to drop off.” A key factor was the motivation, support,…

Location: Cumbria Website: Honister92.com Story of the jersey Honister 92’s jersey has two references on display. The first is to Honister pass itself, which it takes its name from, thanks to it being the spawning ground for the idea to set up the club. The second is the Black Cock on the top right of the jersey. This continues the theme, with the Black Cock being the name of the pub where – in 1992 of course – the club was conceived over a pint. The design for the current jersey, which is made by Castelli, dates back to 2015, although it has remained broadly similar since 1999, with a black and fluoro yellow edition produced for winter riding in 2012. Story of the club Its members enjoy a wide…

Open the energy drink packet with a carefree zest. This will ensure that a mildly adhesive miasma of powder will coat the nearby surfaces of your kitchen. And also some surfaces that are not nearby, and probably the cat. If you have a scoop, you will be pleased to observe that it’s almost certainly bigger than the neck of the bottle you’re using. This will help you distribute around 20% of each scoopful onto the kitchen surfaces, the floor, and the cat. If the drink is in a single-use sachet, reflect on the fact you’re essentially harpooning the planet while you fail to pour the powder accurately into the bottle. Add water. Half-filling the bottle will help the mix dissolve as you shake, and allow it to achieve a greater…

This beautifully restored Malvern dates back to 1978 when Reynolds 531 tubing would have been the material of choice for many frame builders. It has ornate lugwork matched with a (then) contemporary wrap-over seatstay. The royal blue of the main and rear triangle is set against the bright red head tube. The head badge is a little fussy, but the details tell the story of Percy Thornley Stallard and his affection for European-style massed start road racing. It features the Union flag, the French flag, and a flag featuring the colours that symbolise Wolverhampton - black, white and red vertical lines. Wolverhampton is written below. A further nod to Stallard’s influence is the five-colour UCI rainbow bands on the stickers wrapped around the seat tube. Stallard rode the World Championships…

Tadej Pogačar says he isn’t one for records, and yet he can’t stop breaking them. He won the most stages – six – in one edition by a non-sprinter since Bernard Hinault won seven in 1979. He held the yellow jersey for the most time in 63 years, and he is the youngest person to take three Tour de France wins. The UAE Team Emirates rider has won 20 races this year, which would put him joint-eighth on the team victory rankings, above both Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Ineos Grenadiers. He has raced 52 times this year, and won 21 times. That’s a win every 2.5 race days. Such is his dominance this year that what had been billed as a battle for the ages between the ‘big four’ of Pogačar,…

The week began with Tadej Pogačar in control of the GC after the Pyrenees, and ended with the UAE Team Emirates rider dominating the race even more in the Alps. Three stage wins in the final three days made sure it was one of the most onesided Tours in years. Stage 16: Tuesday, 16 July Gruissan > Nîmes Winner: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) Yellow: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) With today being the last chance for the fastmen, a bunch sprint was never in doubt. Lone breakaway Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies) never looked likely to go the distance, with searing heat and a slight headwind to deal with. In the end Jasper Philipsen led the sprinters home, completing his hat-trick of victories. His green jersey rival Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), came a cropper…

Of the many thousands of vehicles at the Tour de France, the antidoping truck is the most secretive, blocked off by high black fencing with a security guard permanently stationed outside. On the race’s first time trial, however, I’m waved through various checkpoints and allowed into the operations centre that is tasked with maintaining the integrity of cycling’s biggest event. Led up the steps of the long white truck, I’m shown into the first of two unremarkable, plain portable offices, featuring a desk, lots of anti-doping posters, and a bathroom with mirrors on all four sides. On average, eight riders per stage are required to give a urine sample at the Tour (at the cost of just under €1,000 per test), including the stage winner and the yellow jersey, and…

Time trial sensation George Fox rode the fastest ever 10-mile time trial on a road bike last week, clocking a time of 18 minutes and 33 seconds, at a speed of 32.3mph. Fox’s new record took just two seconds off the previous best, held by Alex Pritchard, and came after months of preparation that began last winter. “It was a whole process of optimisation,” the 30-year-old told Cycling Weekly. “I’m not physically at the very top of time trialling, so for me to get in the ballpark of these races and these records, I know I have to put everything into it.” Fox’s Argon 18 bike has an E119 triathlon frame, and has been at the centre of controversy in the British time trialling scene. Following his victory at April’s…

REMCO EVENEPOEL (BEL) 24 The world champion will no doubt be the favourite for gold in Paris. Known in his native Belgium as the ‘Aero Bullet’, the 24-year-old rides like he was born to race on a time trial bike. So much so, in fact, that he has been said to have “fast skin”, according to a report in Het Nieuwsblad last year. The finding came during wind tunnel testing, when results showed there to be less airflow resistance when he was bare-armed, compared to when he was wearing long sleeves. His confidence will be boosted by his victory in the first time trial at the Tour de France. CHLOÉ DYGERT (USA) 27 As recently as last season, double world champion Chloé Dygert doubted if she’d ride again. An Epstein-Barr virus…

In 2015, Chloé and I were team-mates on the Twenty16 team. She realised what was possible because she watched me win Olympic gold as a 42-year-old while she was on the podium of the Olympics as a 19-year-old. Since then, we’ve developed a wonderful relationship where she challenges me and I challenge her. I specifically chose my teams based on being able to focus on the Olympic Games and to control my work and race-load. It’s very difficult to peak for the Spring Classics and then have another peak in the summer. Canyon-SRAM is perfect for Chloé: she had a rollercoaster of a ride with her accident and they held her hand throughout it – every person on Canyon-SRAM cares about Chloé and wants her to succeed. We started Olympic…

LOTTE KOPECKY (BEL) 28 ENDURANCE Best known for her exploits on the road, Lotte Kopecky is a six-time world champion on the track, winning two titles last year alone. The Belgian is slated for success in the omnium, thanks to her wicked turn of pace and her ability to recover quickly after an effort. These assets were clear at January’s European Track Championships, where she won two gold medals in 19 minutes: first in the points race, and then in the elimination race. Recovery will be key again in Paris, as by the time she gets to the velodrome, Kopecky will have already ridden the road time trial and the road race. ELINOR BARKER (GBR) 29 ENDURANCE A former team pursuit gold medallist, Elinor Barker is likely to lead British hopes in…

Torchbearer at Pic du Midi de Bigorre, Hautes-Pyrénées Five-time winner of the Tour de France It was a great pleasure to be a torchbearer for the Paris Olympic Games on 19 May, especially because as a professional racer I was not allowed to compete in the Olympic cycle race. It is as brilliant as if I had won the Tour de France! I previously carried the Olympic torch for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Albertville. That was in Paris with Michel Drucker, a well-known presenter on French television. On this occasion, at Pic du Midi de Bigorre, I was with Nicolas Lopez, an Olympic champion fencer. The view of our torches as the sun rose behind the mountains in the early morning was spectacular. I had to get up at…

Canyon has launched its own range of premium cycling footwear, taking aim at the likes of Specialized and Trek, with options for road and gravel riders. The Canyon Tempr shoes get the brand’s premium CFR billing, as applied to its top-spec bikes, denoting Canyon Factory Racing. The Tempr CFR Road shoes weigh a claimed 250g per shoe in size 42 and are available in sizes from 36 to 48, with half sizes between 40.5 and 46.5. They come in either black or white and are priced at £319.95. Branding is subtle, and that is no mistake: Canyon is aiming to reach a much wider market than its existing customer base. It’s fair to say that early impressions are great. Canyon has certainly delivered a quality product that will absolutely go…

• James Golding, 43, from Rugby, Warwickshire, survived cancer in 2008, then survived being hit by a truck, and in 2011 pulled through a second cancer diagnosis • Motivation: to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Cancer Unit “How you train for the Race Across America (RAAM) depends on the physical type of rider you are and how much time you have available,” says James Golding, “but my training was four hours a day at 290 to 310W, while managing heart rates around 125 to 130bpm.” Golding had planned to do longer rides ahead of RAAM 2024 but broke his hand in a crash on the buildup to the race. “Your best bet is to aim to meet the demands of high performance over long hours.” The race…

• Scott Mitchell, 46, from Endmoor in Cumbria, set a Guinness World Record by cycling across 43 of England’s 48 counties in a week, covering 1,142 miles • Motivation: to raise funds for Muscular Dystrophy UK, inspired by his son Alex, who has Becker Muscular Dystrophy “My preparation began in early 2022, focusing on hill training for my first Fred Whitton. By 2023, I was doing 100-mile rides and back-to-back century weekends.” Mitchell averaged 250-320 miles per week, adhering to the 80/20 polarisation principle. “I kept the bulk of my training in Zone 2, with my HR under 143bpm, but with at least one ‘fast’ ride a week, with higher outputs and sprints up to 1,250w on the turbo or out on my local roads.” With the help of his…