Innehållsförteckning för January 16, 2020 från Cycling Weekly

Unless £20,000 can be raised before the end of March, the Lincoln Grand Prix will be cancelled. Organisers of the historic race, which stretches back to 1956, have been plunged into a financial black hole after their previous title sponsor, Chestnut Homes, decided it could no longer provide funding for the race. The cost of running both the men’s and women’s races is £45,000, but currently organisers have only secured around £25,000. That money is derived from other sponsors, the associated sportive and the local authority. A police bill of £10,000 needs to be paid in the next 10 weeks, and if no new sponsors come on board then the race that has been won four times by Russ Downing and Paul Curran will be absent from the domestic calendar…

ABBY MAE PARKINSON Monaco emergency care is the best As it’s my first column here it would be rude not to introduce myself: Abby Mae Parkinson, 22, professional cyclist. Born and bred in Yorkshire. I’ve been living and racing abroad since I was 18, which is ironic because the only subject I dropped at school was French and it’s probably the one I use the most. I am currently living on the Côte d’Azur between Monaco and Italy, a million miles away from my little village of Hartshead. Living down here it’s crazy the people you bump into — usually when you’re not quite ‘at your best’. None more so than the time I tried to remove my arm-warmers rolling into Monaco and ended up wrapped around a bollard. It…

I thought rushing him back into shape and competitive cycling was a bit naive, let alone dangerous. I mean, he broke his femur, that’s kind of a big deal of a bone. Babis Charalampidis Froome will never be back to his very best form after this injury. If he were 25 years old instead of 35 it might be a different story. That’s why his dream of a fifth Tour de France win is out the window. Stoney Saunders Let him have his space to recover. A broken femur is very hard to recover from. Let him rebuild his form and come back strong in 2021. Lawrence Leong Give this man some time. Remove the pressure from him. He has done enough. I am sure he can recover and perform…

Sportives remain a great way to get out and ride. Whether it’s your big aim for the season, a break from the same old training rides, or a way to explore some new roads, a few events dotted throughout your 2020 calendar are a good way to keep up your motivation. Over the following pages we’ve listed over 200 events for you to chose from, so start planning and get entering. January Harp Hilly Hundred Reliability Ride Hertfordshire | January 19 31/62 miles | All £12 bit.ly/2PLUS2A Performance Cycles Winter Mini-Sportive Wiltshire | January 12 45/65 miles | All £9.50 bit.ly/2EmoaiU Ride It Gatwick Mini Sportive Crawley | January 19 45 miles | £25 bit.ly/34r5dWK Westerley Winter Warmer Buckinghamshire | January 12 27/38/68 miles | £4/£6/£8 bit.ly/2PptqbZ Velo29 Sprint Sportive…

Riding on closed roads remains a rare occurance in the UK but it’s always worth paying a premium for. Etape Loch Ness April 26 There are plenty of closed road sportive alternatives to the big obvious one in London — Etape Loch Ness is such an event. Starting and finishing in Inverness, the 66-mile-long Etape Loch Ness takes in 900 metres of climbing and the very best views across the famous loch. The route leaves Inverness and heads anti-clockwise around the loch. Midway through the event, the riders face the biggest challenge of the day, the 4.8-mile-long climb out of Fort Augustus. The climb is a timed King of the Mountains segment and reaches 12 per cent at points. Etape Caledonia May 17 The Etape Caledonia offers another day out…

One of the latter groups crosses the line of the Amateur World Championship road race at Ballerup in Denmark. In the centre of these pages, one down from the top, is Harry Reynolds, one of the members of the British squad. Reynolds (No.40) wouldn’t really be a factor in the race; he was lapped on lap 12 of the 15-lap race and was already 10 seconds behind the main group when he suffered a puncture on lap five that effectively ended any chance of him helping Britain’s leader, Alan Jackson. Jackson had been towards the front of the race, which had been held in extremely chilly and windy conditions on the exposed roads. “The flags are out straight,” Cycling reported. Jackson was one of a few riders remaining to try…

Bollé has resurrected one of its most iconic eyewear shapes and relaunched it for 2020. The original Chronoshield can trace its history back to 1986 and had a design inspired by Bollé’s best-selling Chrono ski goggle. As the trend for larger eyewear has increased over the last couple of years so it became ripe for Bollé to revamp one of the originators. The new Chronoshield 2 leaves no doubt as to where its inspiration comes from but Bollé has given it a not so subtle revamp to bring it more up to date. It benefits from a lightweight and durable frame featuring clever features to make them incredibly comfortable to wear. Flexible rubber inside the temples increases the area of contact with the skin, ensuring the best hold and almost…

You wouldn’t describe many cycling jerseys as works of art, but the La Vie Claire team’s literally was. Inspired by the geometric paintings of Dutch modernist Piet Mondrian, this legendary jersey on the shoulders of Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond dominated cycling between 1984 and 1986. After a frustrating 1983 with the Renault-Elf team, where he missed the Tour de France due to recurring tendinitis while his team-mate Laurent Fignon won it, Hinault formed a new team with entrepreneur businessman Bernard Tapie. One of Tapie’s ventures, La Vie Claire — a health food chain — would be the title sponsor. Other sponsors would be Wonder, Radar, Teraillon and Look — all Tapie companies. Tapie hired Paul Köchli to be the team coach, scientist, nutritionist and guru — a radical departure…

Newly-crowned elite national cyclo-cross champion Tom Pidcock (Trinity Racing) already has his sights set on a podium at the World Cyclo-cross Championships in Dübendorf next month. After returning to racing in the UK at the National Championships in Shrewsbury this weekend, a confident Pidcock told Cycling Weekly: “I really want to be on the podium.” Having pulled on the red, white and blue jersey of national champion, the 20-year-old even said that swapping those colours for the rainbow bands of world champion is not wholly unreasonable. “The win’s not impossible but it is certainly going to be very difficult. I want to go there in the best shape I can and do the best ride I can.” Pidcock’s Nationals victory was his first win of the 2019-20 season but he…

Cameron Meyer has claimed the Australian men’s national road race title, attacking over the final climb to seal a championship win on the 12th time of asking. The 32-year-old shouted “finally” after crossing the finish line before bursting into tears. Mitchelton-Scott team-mate Lucas Hamilton crossed the line 56 seconds later, with Marcus Culey (Sapura Cycling) coming in soon after in third place. After collecting himself, Meyer, who’s mostly known for his exploits on the track, said: “It’s been 12 long years. I fell in love with this race so long ago and I’ve been so close so many times. “Someone said the other day, ‘You’ve got nine World Championships, why do you want it so much?’ But my brother has won it, Luke Durbridge, one of my best mates, has…

Riders of all levels, from seasoned racers to plucky amateurs, take part in these events, but why do they do it? 1 Get fit. Taking part in sportives regularly will have a positive effect on your fitness, especially for those who might struggle to get out and ride as much as they’d like. Whether the aim is to shed some weight or ride faster for longer, having big rides in your diary will focus your mind and keep you motivated — essential when looking to improve fitness. 2 Explore a new area. Sportives are a great way to ride new roads without the risk of getting lost. With signposts and marshals there’s no risk of going astray and having to stop and check your phone or ask a local to…

In the past few years, indoor cycling has been transformed — from a means to an end that was only mildly more preferable to watching paint dry, to an entertaining form of exercise and a racing genre in its own right. Like any emerging trend, this has resulted in an explosion of products available to enhance the experience — including an influx of indoor cycling-specific clothing. The most recent brand to join the party was Rapha, with a sleeveless technical T-shirt, vented ‘indoor training cap’, alongside the existing Cargo waist shorts. Back in 2018 Madison launched its men’s turbo bibshorts and jersey — both garments feature fast wicking fabrics, with antibacterial properties, and the chamois has been specifically designed with indoor training in mind. “You’re less likely to get out…

Fizik Tempo Argo R1 £179.99 Weight 197g The Tempo is part of Fizik’s new Argo range of saddles that can be identified thanks to a short nose and squat profile. The Tempo version is aimed at those seeking comfort on long rides, with more padding and a squared-off nose. The R1 model combines a flexible carbon composite base with 9mm oval carbon-fibre rails. Padding is slightly thicker around the sit bone area to support a more upright riding posture and it’s softer and more progressive than the type Fizik uses on its racing saddles. Set-up is pretty straightforward but as with many short-nosed saddles you will need to measure from the rails rather than the nose to position it correctly if moving from a standard-style saddle. The Tempo Argo really…

■ The ground is tinder-dry right now. The smallest spark or dropped cigarette could start the next blaze. I cannot see it going ahead without some impact on some of the routes due to recent or potential fires. Perhaps it’s time cycling stepped back and considered its carbon footprint. Steve Crispin ■ Possibly holding a bike race in the middle of a continent-scale catastrophe is a little inappropriate. Wendy Lawson ■ If the fires aren’t affecting the route of the race then it should go ahead. When smoke and the actual fires get close to the riders then questions should be asked. Tim Bonville-Ginn ■ No! It’s a sport, not a necessity. Use the money to promote the event for humanitarian causes. Next year you will have more fans than…

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If you’ve ever ridden a time trial on one of Britain’s many out and back A-road courses you’ll know even a slight breeze can turn them into a race with two faces: floating one way, soul-crushing drudgery the other. It’s a feeling British time triallist Alex Dowsett knows only too well, but nothing could have prepared him for the extreme highs and lows of 2019. Dowsett clinched a sixth national TT title last year and finished fifth in both the European Championships and the World Championships in Yorkshire. In the background though, he found himself in a bind. Contracted to Katusha until 2021, he was unable to secure a spot elsewhere as rumours that the team was in crisis persisted. “I’ve never had stress like it,” Dowsett says. “It’s not…

Reaching the end of the year has a special significance for cyclists. Not only are we just over the hurdle of the shortest day and beginning to assemble our hopes and ambitions for spring, it’s also a time to reflect on the year just passed — specifically on our total mileage. Did you hit your target? Which rides remain most lucid in your mind? And what can you learn from your fitness progress as correlated against your training miles? Here, we seek inspiration from five amateur riders who each had a bumper year in the saddle despite juggling the myriad responsibilities of full-time work and family life. THE COMMITTED COMMUTER IAIN ROBINSON Age: 31 | Occupation: Railway signaller | Hometown: Carlisle, Cumbria | Height: 5ft 10in | Weight: 65kg |…