Innehållsförteckning för September 24, 2020 från Cycling Weekly

Editor simon.richardson@futurenet.com Should every Tour de France finish with a mountain time trial? I think maybe it should. Saturday’s showdown on La Planche des Belles Filles provided the kind of nail-biting finale that we’ve been waiting for since 1989. To watch a Tour leader collapse on the final day of racing is cruel and exhilarating in equal measure. To watch a 21-year-old, who has seemingly ridden the Tour alone, thrash the might of Jumbo-Visma’s uber-team when riding mano a mano was jaw-dropping. Some might say unbelievable. Let’s not forget that had their form gone the other way the TT would have instead been a fitting coronation for Primož Roglič. So an ideal end to the race either way. The Tour has often finished with a late TT of course, but…

1947: The first post-war Tour was also the last one when the yellow jersey changed in a road stage on the final day. Italian race leader Pierre Brambilla didn’t respond when Jean Robic attacked early on the stage from Caen to Paris, but never saw the Frenchman again. Robic took the yellow jersey for the first time in the capital. 1958: Sixteen minutes behind going into the Alps, Charly Gaul sealed a remarkable comeback when he won the 74-kilometre Besançon to Dijon time trial on the penultimate day to take the lead from Italy’s Vito Favero. 1968: A split stage on the final day concluded with a time trial into Paris. Dutchman Jan Janssen won it and in doing so emulated Jean Robic by claiming the yellow jersey for the…

I think I have probably solved the mystery of the archive picture (CW, 10 September). It’s the Tour de France Mont Revard time trial on 10 July, 1965. Why do I think this is the case? In 1965 I was 20 and with my two friends, Ron Ford and Adrian Jones from the Crawley Wheelers, we travelled to France to watch the Tour. We shadowed it for about 10 days and watched the time trial on Mt Revard. Ron took a cine film of the whole trip, which was later transferred to video. I have a screen shot of Planckaert in the TT and many things are exactly the same. The film also has some great shots of Simpson, Poulidor, and Van Looy. This trip was my first time abroad…

I still can’t quite believe what I’ve seen. Tadej Pogačar has just produced one of the best time trials in history to win the Tour de France in the most incredible manner, becoming the youngest champion since 19-year-old Henri Cornet won the second Tour after the four riders that finished above him in the standings had been disqualified. This had already been an extraordinary three weeks before the Tour arrived in the Vosges for the final key test up to La Planche des Belles Filles. Not only has the race reached its intended climax, after many predicted it wouldn’t, but it’s rarely been dull, particularly during the last fortnight. I thought there might be a last twist and that Pogačar would be behind it, but expected that it would occur…

It was a great finish to the Tour – and a great race in general. I certainly didn’t see that coming. I thought Tadej Pogačar could potentially take time off Primož Roglič and get within touching distance in the time trial if he was on an amazing ride. But to completely flip it on its head… Roglič just didn’t look like the same rider. He was in and out of the saddle. He was in the drops. His composure and demeanour completely collapsed. There was nowhere to hide either. If you have an off-day on an intermediate day you can sort of get away with it, but on a day like a time trial… you could tell from about five kilometres in. He was kind of holding Pogačar but he…

The partnership between Brompton and ex-pro David Millar has entered its fifth year, celebrating with a new special edition high-end folding bike. The CHPT3 Brompton draws artistic inspiration from Barri Vell, the old centre of Girona, the home of Millar and where his CHPT3 brand is based. The top tube decals depict the labyrinth of stairs and arches for which the old city is known. The latest bike keeps to the original ethos: a Brompton stripped back to create a lightweight, performance folding bike which was about speed and agility. This goes without mudguards and storage and features an S-type handlebar. The six-speed gearing and Black Edition finishing kit of the original Brompton X CHPT3 are teamed with upgrades and components which the partnership says are unique to the range.…

Do: make sure you have a fan or fans. Without a sufficient means of keeping cool, your performance will markedly decrease. A huge amount of wattage is lost through heat, meaning the cooler you are, the more power you’ll be able to produce. Do: make sure you’re sitting comfortably. The lion’s share of indoor riding is done in the saddle so it’s essential that you aren’t inflicting any unnecessary chafing on your undercarriage, especially during longer sessions in a TT tuck. With only your fan moving the air, there’s an increased risk of sustaining a sore. Choose your chamois and saddle carefully. Do: use earbuds or airpods rather than sweat-inducing over-ear headphones to listen to music. Don’t: get caught up in competition. Following a rider sustaining a few more watts…

This week features CW’s Simon Scarsbrook, the man who provides the distressing PhotoShop images of me that usually accompany the column. So if nothing else I’m about to discover whether he actually reads all of it. He got the coveted ‘Performance of the Week’ nod for his ride in the Cycling Weekly Zwift time trial a couple of weeks ago. So it was with serious focus and high ambitions that he prepared for his race last week. Unfortunately, just as the race started, he realised he’d forgotten a drink. He shouted to his son to fetch him a bidon. The son dashed to the kitchen, filled a bottle, and rushed back. Alas, in doing so he kicked the power cable out of the back of the turbo trainer, and ended…

Stage 5, Privas Third in the sprint, a place ahead of Sagan, Bennett took green for the first time, with an advantage of nine points. Stage 7, Lavaur Bora’s pressure led to Bennett being dropped in the crosswinds. Sagan, though, didn’t capitalise fully, finishing 13th in the sprint. He retook the jersey, leading by 11 points. Stage 10, Ile-de-Ré Bennett’s first Tour stage victory put him back in green, 21 points ahead of Sagan. Stage 11, Poitiers This was Sagan’s best bunch sprint, as he narrowly lost out to Ewan. Unfortunately for the Slovak, the commissaires relegated him for dangerous sprinting.…

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There is, says Matej Mohorič, no redhot secret to Slovenia’s domination of the 2020 Tour de France. “It’s just a coincidence that there are two guys from Slovenia at the top of the standings. We’ve had strong guys before who’ve finished in the top 10 at the Tour, Jani Brajkovič won the Critérium du Dauphiné, and we’ve had other top results. But it’s pure coincidence that we’ve got two strong guys at the same time and hitting form at the same time,” the Bahrain-McLaren rider tells Cycling Weekly prior to the start of stage 16 in the small town of La Tour-du-Pin. A few minutes later, his compatriot Luka Mezgec offers much the same take on the success of Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič, who eventually finished the Tour in…

SAGAN’S SPRINT DQ Peter Sagan had already looked a little out of sorts by the time the race galloped into Poitiers on stage 11. Rarely has he been in trouble with the judges, save for his disqualification in 2017 for a collision with Mark Cavendish, which they later conceded was not his fault. But now he seemed to be pushing the boundaries, unable to conjure his usual magic. And so Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was on the receiving end of a Sagan headbutt as he attempted to make space for himself. Van Aert stayed upright and the Slovak was relegated to the back of the 85-strong bunch. FANS SANS MASKS With the riders forced to don masks as soon as they hop off the bike, and exist in bubbles to…

There had been fears that the lack of a roadside audience might be replicated in the number of TV viewers as a consequence of the Tour’s switch from July to September. However, figures released for the first half of the race indicated very much the opposite, with significant rises in France and other European countries that suggested that audiences starved of sport for several months had lapped up all they could of the racing action. “I think people have a very particular bond with the Tour. Most French people love the Tour and for them seeing it again is a kind of renaissance. And seeing this vibrant event travelling along France’s roads was a way of seeing the country come back to life,” said France Télévisions head of sport, Laurent-Eric…

The formative years of gravel riding were defined by the merging of technology from both road and mountain bikes. This was especially true with groupsets, which never quite offered the range and robustness that gravel racers were looking for. For years I’ve run all kinds of converters and compromises in order to run a mountain bike rear derailleur and cassette with road shifters and crankset. When Shimano first released its Di2 mountain bike gears I, and probably hundreds of others, bombarded them with requests for a double-chainring set-up with an XTR rear derailleur and STI brake levers. We were told to wait patiently. Then, with their late 2019 release of GRX, our prayers were answered with a bodgefree option that isn’t just great for gravel, but is a wonderfully practical…

Joss Lowden and Dan Bigham, as well as being a couple, are both top-notch TTers for whom indoor training is a vital component JL: We’re both big believers in indoor training, but if you’re going to race outside, you need to practise on your TT bike – or at least ride in your TT position on the turbo. There is an argument that training indoors has an additional benefit – the thermal stress increases blood volume; Dan calls it ‘poor man’s altitude training’. The difficulty for me is that I’m really sensitive to temperature changes and so easily under- or overheat, and in hot conditions I lose a massive amount of salt. Last year when I rode the National 10, I hadn’t ridden my TT bike in three months, but…

The week: 10-16 August, 2020 Location: Glasgow, Scotland Training for: RTTC National 10-mile TT Champs How do you train to win the National 10? We decided to ask Emily Meakin, who on 30 August took the title with a 20:45 (28.9mph) clocking on the H10/3R course, 12 seconds faster than team-mate Alex Clay in second. For 2020, Meakin signed a road racing contract with Drops, while continuing to time trial with The Independent Pedaler. The 31-year-old is also reigning National 25 champion, and fits in training around her work as a pharmaceutical sales rep. Here, she tells us about a peak week of ‘10’ preparation from mid-August. How did you get started in cycling? My sister and I are farmer’s daughters, so we were into horses and team sports. After…

Watching on TV as a star rider drops out of the group of leaders on a climb has a very special agony. I don’t know if there is anything else like it in sport. Depending on your feelings about the rider involved, there is the thrilling/horrifying moment when the elastic snaps. And then there is the long, slow death. We know it’s long and slow because the TV camera stays to watch. It lingers on a face that’s just watched its hopes ride off up the road. It zooms in, to see if they’re going to cry, or merely blow their cheeks out in resignation. Just because a rider has lost doesn’t mean they can quietly leave the spotlight to be alone with their misery. We’re with them all the…

2014: Vincenzo Nibali won the stage and the Italian regained the yellow jersey having lost it the day before to Tony Gallopin. Like Wiggins two years earlier, Nibali went on to win the title. 2017: Another Italian victor, this time Fabio Aru, while Froome took the yellow jersey from Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas and, ultimately, won the Tour. 2019: At a new finish, higher up and accessed via a dirt road, Dylan Teuns outsprinted Giulio Ciccone to win the stage, but the Italian was rewarded for his breakaway effort with the yellow jersey as Julian Alaphilippe left his final charge too late. 2020: The first time trial to finish at La Planche produced the most unexpected exchange of the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogačar sweeping aside three weeks of Jumbo-Visma domination…

Having taken over as team manager Bahrain-McLaren at the very end of last year, former Team Sky stalwart Rod Ellingworth described himself as happy with his riders’ performance during the Tour, with team leader Mikel Landa finishing in fourth place, among the gaggle of riders that just missed out on the podium places. “The team goal was to make the podium but we lost that time on stage seven when Mikel got caught out in the crosswinds. But I’m really happy with how we’ve performed and progressed during the Tour. It’s a new team with a new group of riders and due to Covid-19 we haven’t had as much chance to ride together as we’d planned,” said Ellingworth. While Bahrain failed to take a stage win, they did make a…

STRUGGLE DAY 17, WEDNESDAY 16 SEPTEMBER I had quite bad legs today. I struggled straight from the off, I struggled on the Col de la Madeleine. When we hit the Col de la Loze my legs came round a bit, but it’s one of the worst climbs I’ve ever done on a bike. It’s just relentless. The last five kilometres, I can’t imagine racing up it; I rode up it just to get it done. I don’t think the front guys are really racing up it either, they’re probably just trying to get up too. I heard Sam Bennett say it wasn’t so bad but maybe I suffered a bit more because I was with Nairo Quintana and following him up 25 per cent gradients, even when he’s going steady,…

ELIA VIVIANI The Italian champion is far from the only sprinter to have struggled on this year’s vertiginous and technical course, but he is the one with the biggest recent pedigree. Having donned the kryptonite jersey of Cofidis that seems to rob so many of their powers, he’d not come close to last year’s total of one stage win and four podium places. This year he’s managed just a fourth, and we’re betting you barely noticed. THIBAUT PINOT It was a race route made for his talents. Pinot had been the strongest climber in the 2019 Tour before his retirement with injury and the 2020 Tour was as good an invitation to end France’s three decade long drought as he is likely to get. However, his race came unstuck before…

Before the 1970s, the only choice for racing was a tubular rim, whereby a tubular tyre would be glued on. For all other types of cycling, the only option was ‘wire-on’ tyres, which had a rigid wire bead and were heavy and slow. The arrival of Mavic’s Module E rim in the mid-1970s changed all that. It incorporated a hook shape to capture a lighter, foldable bead and prevent it from blowing off under high pressure. And it’s taken from the 1970s until now for road cycling to get more or less in line with all the other modes of pneumatic tyred transport – including mountain bikes – and use hookless rims with tubeless tyres. They’re hardly universal yet, but the top road wheel brands, including Roval, Enve, Zipp, Corima…

CW’s weekly event on Zwift came at just the right time for me to tune my TT engine. Free to join, it gives those who aren’t averse to a little pain of a Wednesday evening the chance to pit themselves against CW’s and Zwift’s finest – Doctor Hutch and Ed ‘Cleatless’ Ray included. The race attracts over 100 competitors every week, of all abilities. Despite the size and depth of the field on the first race of the series, my focus had zeroed in on one person, namely this publication’s fitness editor David Bradford. It was time to repay the beating I had received in our summer virtual crits. I could see his avatar just a few slots before me on the starting grid, nonchalantly turning the pedals in the…