Innehållsförteckning för February 13, 2020 från Cycling Weekly

Late last year I met with Rod Ellingworth at McLaren’s HQ in Woking, Surrey. Ellingworth had been brought in by McLaren to run the Bahrain team, of which the British engineering firm was now joint owner. Head-hunted from Team Sky, Ellingworth had been working behind the scenes last summer, putting in place plans for 2020 and beyond. I’ve known him since he helped Dave Brailsford set up the British Cycling Olympic Academy back in 2004. The success of those initial few years under Ellingworth are well documented. At Sky, Ellingworth was one of the most senior and most trusted members of the team, and not only were they disappointed to lose him, they knew that if anyone was going to be a threat when running a rival team, it was…

Aerocoach has announced it is launching its own national series of road bike time trials in an attempt to open up the UK scene to a wider group of riders. The Aerocoach Road Bike TT National Series 2020 is a calendar of around 50 events across the UK with rules that level the playing field for experienced and beginner time triallists alike. Aerocoach boss Xavier Disley said he was inspired to set up the series through his own love of time trialling and the decline in entrants to regular open and club TT events. He told Cycling Weekly: “It’s my opinion that there is a perceived barrier to entry to time trials, where riders think that they need to have a super-expensive, all-singing, all-dancing bike to take part. “However, TTs…

Former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman is likely to face anti-doping charges before the conclusion of his medical misconduct hearing, according to reports. Dr Freeman is currently fighting claims from the General Medical Council (GMC) that he ordered testosterone to the British Cycling headquarters in 2011, while “knowing or believing” it was to be used to enhance an athlete’s performance. The medical misconduct hearing, held by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), has been marred by setbacks and delays and is now not expected to be concluded until October 2020. According to the Times newspaper, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) had planned to delay any anti-doping charges against Freeman until after the tribunal had concluded, but is now considering bringing proceedings forward because of the delays. UKAD has reportedly…

It’s a dull January day in Belgium and outside a four-star Ghent hotel the slick metallic grey Porsche Panamera stands out among the family hatchbacks. You could be forgiven for thinking that Van Halen are in town, but the fact that there’s room in the back to fit a bike is a clue. The personalised number plate reading MVDP is a dead giveaway. An altogether different breed of rock star is in attendance. The choice of car mirrors the flamboyance evident in Mathieu van der Poel’s racing. Muscular, powerful, stylish and with a storied heritage, he simply outclasses most of the competition. Style aside, it’s his results sheet that paid for it. Undoubtedly the best cyclo-cross racer in the world, his recent World Championship win was his third, the second…

Most of my cycling is geared towards road racing — I gained my Cat 1 licence in 2019 and I’m hoping to live up to it this coming summer. I tested the Bianchi over the endurance miles of winter, having it accompany me on long club runs and solo training rides through wind and rain. The chunky frame wasn’t always my best friend on the climbs, but I enjoyed the stability offered by the wide tyres, particularly in the greasy corners of December lanes, and the disc-brake stoppers were equally welcome in the same conditions.…

Coach Matt Rowe picks out the improvements from which our Training Makeover candidates — and everyone else — stands to gain most ▪ Consistency is key — get yourself organised to make getting your training done as easy as possible. ▪ Train first thing in the morning rather than waiting till later in the day, especially if work is tiring and often leaves you feeling drained by the time you get home. ▪ Don’t neglect sprint day! Even if you don’t want to race, some form of top-end/max effort is good for everyone. ▪ If you are feeling super-motivated, do a double day — that’s two training sessions in one day. ▪ Nutrition is important: you can’t expect to complete a gruelling training session without carbohydrates in your system. ▪…

Aged just four, George Kirkpatrick was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes, meaning his pancreas wasn’t producing insulin, the hormone chiefly responsible for controlling blood sugar levels. It meant he’d be reliant on daily injections and blood tests for the rest of his life. “Having been diagnosed so young,” says Kirkpatrick, “I can’t really remember not having it, which is probably helpful.” He contrasts his own experience with that of his younger brother Gus, who was diagnosed with the same condition aged 13 — and had to deal with adapting to it at the same time as the upheaval of puberty. Kirkpatrick, who has just turned 28, has never let diabetes hold him back — in fact, sibling rivalry instilled an appetite for competition from a young age. “I have two brothers,…

doctorhutch_cycling@ti-media.com With the season approaching, I thought it might be helpful if I attempted to provide some inspiration. I’ll outline for you some excellent training sessions, honed over my years in the sport. To be clear, these sessions were devised solely to make the practitioner miserable. And, for this practitioner at least, one of the best things about them is that I have no intention of doing any of them again. The most obviously deranged session was not actually the most unpleasant. That was when road conditions were too dangerous to do a scheduled six-hour ride, so I just did it on the turbo trainer instead. I always imagined that if I did these sessions while looking at a blank wall I’d achieve a sort of Zen state. I don’t,…

Geraint Thomas is among a sizable group of Brits that are set to race the Volta ao Algarve, which starts next Wednesday. The 2018 Tour de France champion, who has won this race on two separate occasions in 2015 and 2016, will be starting his season and comes fresh from training in California. He’s set to be joined by Ineos team-mates Ben Swift, who was racing last week in Valencia, and Luke Rowe, who started his season with the Tour Down Under. That contingent will find Brits for company in the shape of CW columnist Jake Stewart, racing with the senior FDJ team for the first time; and former Canyon-DHB rider Alex Richardson, who will be supporting Dutch sensation Mathieu van der Poel at Alpecin-Fenix. All these riders will be…

Cyclo-cross World Championships, 2015 Bunny hopping is commonplace in cross these days, but van der Poel’s agility in the melting snow and ice of the Czech Republic was seen as risky five years ago. He hopped, skidded and skated away from Belgian rival Wout van Aert to take the first of his three world titles. Brabantse Pijl, 2019 After spending much of the race in the bunch, van der Poel followed when Julian Alaphilipe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) attacked on a climb. Joined by Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) and Michael Matthews (Sunweb), van der Poel led the quartet through much of the closing kilometre, before effortlessly sprinting off the front. Amstel Gold Race, 2019 His best road result to date. With in-form riders Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) and Jacob Fuglsang (Astana) up the…

What are the other top cycling-related uses of the wonder-material? Vittoria tyres The Italian tyre brand now includes “functionalised graphene” in its higher-end tyres. Vittoria says that its second-generation graphene has been “verified to increase all positive performance metrics” and tailors its use of the one-atom-thick material to suit different tyre types. So race tyres use graphene to make them faster while winter tyres use the material’s hydrophobic properties to increase wet-weather grip, along with puncture resistance. Dassi Interceptor Launched in 2017, this is the first ever bike frame to use graphene. The ultra-light material is added to the resin that is used to bond the carbon layers. The frame weighs 750g, which is comparable with other high-end frames. It’s obviously incredibly stiff but has many aero design tweaks too.…

The Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles in-house brand Prime is probably better known for its wheel collection than any other part of its catalogue. In the past its wheels have garnered a reputation as giant-killers in terms not only of performance but also value. However, Prime is about more than wheels, as this new Primavera line of components show. With handlebars, stems, seatposts and saddles, Prime has produced the full line-up of finishing kit to complement its wheels. The Primavera X-Light handlebar offers a full carbon construction with a critical focus on strength-to-weight. It provides a classic short and shallow-drop design but Prime has added its own unique triangular shaping throughout the drop section. Weight is extremely competitive at just 180 grams for our 42cm test set. The stem follows…

ONE UP Bianchi Infinito CV Ultegra Disc 2020 Road Bike — £4,600 For those who have cash burning a hole in their pocket, there’s the CV version of the Infinito. This uses Bianchi’s Countervail Technology, where viscoelastic material is embedded into the frame, cutting the effect of vibrations and thus reducing fatigue. This build comes with Fulcrum Racing 518 disc brake wheels and a Fizik Aliante R7 saddle. ONE DOWN Bianchi Infinito XE 105 Disc — £2,700 If you’re keen on the Infinito XE, but want to spend a little less, you’re in luck. Bianchi also builds this model with a Shimano 105 groupset for £2,700, with the only exclusion being a KMC chain. The frame remains the same, and you still get Fulcrum’s Racing 900 DB wheels shod with…

Kate Churchill, 61, sought guidance on targeting sub-80hr at Paris-Brest-Paris. Makeover date: August 2019 “Paris-Brest-Paris didn’t go to plan. There was a nagging headwind all the way to Brest, and choosing the 80-hour time limit was a mistake — riders in this time category were very slightly faster than me. The work rate was slightly too high early on — schoolgirl error — I should have known better and let them go. The final straw was saddle soreness, so I packed with just over 1,000km done. If I do it again, I’ll be firmly in the 90-hour time limit group.”…

ROAD RACING SAT, 1 FEBRUARY The East London Velo Winter Series round four (Redbridge circuit, London): 2, 3, 4: 1. Max Bolton (Tofauti Everyone Active); 2. F. Barker (Hope Factory Racing); 3. T. Cullen (Otley CC); 4. P. Burton (Paceline RT); 5. J. Pullen (Maidon Du Velo-Storck Bikes); 6. B. Kenneally (Zero BC); 7. T. Yiangou (UEA Velo); 8. A. Randall (Twickenham CC); 9. C. Peck (Athlon CC); 10. A. Kerrigan (Lee Valley Youth CC). Fourth cat: 1. A. Breuste (East London Velo); 2. W. Weatherill (Hope Factory Racing); 3. A. Wakeling (Hub Velo); 4. P. Lovett (unattached); 5. D. Clark (Orwell Velo); 6. W. Taylor (unattached); 7. R. Speers (Cambridge CC); 8. C. Ballbach (unattached); 9. C. Lynch (unattached); 10. N. Hawksworth (East Grinstead CC). Overall (after four rounds):…

CW news writer We could sit here and discuss until the day of Mark Cavendish’s retirement whether he will ever regain the form of his most prolific seasons. Many will say there’s not a chance of this happening, and Cavendish says he doesn’t care what his detractors think, but the inevitable truth is that time eventually catches up with all athletes. Instead of dwelling on whether Cavendish is sprinting how he used to, whether the last four Tour de France stages to equal Eddy Merckx’s record are within his grasp, both questions he is sick of rebutting, I propose another one: is Mark Cavendish happy? “HE’S GELLING WELL WITH HIS NEW SQUAD” He is now back with Rod Ellingworth, as well as Roger Hammond, in a team that has many…

Vino calls for investigation Alexandre Vinokourov has called for the Cycling Anti-Doping Federation (CADF) to investigate how a report claiming two Astana riders had met with banned doctor Michele Ferrari was leaked to the Danish press. The CADF’s 24-page report alleged that Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang had been training with the disgraced doping doctor, and that Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko had met with Ferrari in Monaco. Both riders denied the reports saying they had not met with the doctor and no charges had been levelled at them. 90% of the peloton are doped. That is the claim of Stefan Denifl’s defence lawyer, as the Austrian pro stands trial over his own blood doping, accused of serious sporting fraud. The 32-year-old, who rode for Aqua Blue Sport and IAM Cycling, has already…

In reply to John Corrigan’s query (CW Jan 16) as to whether he should keep or sell Johnny Hoogerland’s bike: That’s easy… keep it! As you appreciate, it’s an iconic machine and we all remember the car shoving him off the road into that barbed wire fence. Shocking. You say you’ve ridden and enjoyed many events on it, so why not continue to enjoy it? Just because you’ve gone past the three-score-years-and-10 point doesn’t mean you can’t justify riding a good bike. Let’s face it, as we get older we need all the help we can get as with most of us, natural fitness can drain away. I’ve just this week invested in my first brand-new machine for over 20 years. A carbon-fibre job dripping with that well-known Italian componentry…

Mathieu Van der Poel is a Dutchman in a Belgian-dominated sport and his dominance isn’t always regarded favourably by the sport’s observers. We sounded out a couple of ardent fans to get their views on one of cycling’s most versatile talents. Pascal Boffaert “Belgians don’t like the Dutch, but van der Poel we do because he’s very friendly and in interviews he says it like it is. “He is a fantastic cyclist but it is not exciting, and the Belgians are not there anymore, so I lost interest watching every week. “On the road I think he will be like last year, maybe he will be even better, but in the Tour of Flanders and Roubaix, I don’t think so, you have too many who will be able to compete with…

Phil Godfrey, 39, was looking for help to improve his road racing. Makeover date: March 2018 “After my makeover, 2018 was quite a good season for me. I found that by incorporating intervals in my commute, my one- to three-minute power increased and I could attack and recover more quickly in races and on the local chaingang. This gave me a few decent results and I managed to get second at the Sandisons Spring Classic Road Race and win a circuit race. I also won the 2018 club hill-climb championship.”…

Etoile de Bessèges (February 5-9) Frenchman Benoît Cosnefroy triumphed in this lumpy race in France after a strong performance on the queen stage to Le Mont Bouquet. Although Tour of Flanders champion Alberto Bettiol (EF) turned himself inside out to unseat him in the final hilly time trial, he held on. Scott Thwaites (Alpecin-Fenix) was the highest British performer, finishing fifth on stage one. Herald Sun Tour (February 5-9) Sunweb rider Jai Hindley left no doubt about his quality, winning the two hilly stages of the Herald Sun Tour in Australia to secure overall victory in one of his home races. Brit Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) spent the week working for team-mate Damien Howson, who finished on the podium, while Yates was 19th. Vuelta CV Feminas (February 9) After dominating women’s…

I was recently reminded of a time triallist of the 1990s who was convinced that the secret to becoming a stronger rider was a very heavy training bike. To this end, he got a pannier to put some weights in. To save money, he had the brilliant idea of using tools which were heavy and which he already owned. So he tipped most of his toolbox into the pannier and off he went. Forty miles from home, his chain snapped under the strain. And as he removed spanners, hammers, screwdrivers, Allen keys, tenon saws and drill bits from his pannier, he discovered that the only tool in the whole world he hadn’t been carting about with him was a chain tool.…