Innehållsförteckning för February 25, 2021 från Cycling Weekly

If that picture on the cover doesn’t have you yearning for a cycling holiday, I don’t know what will. Running a feature on riding in Andorra isn’t us being cruel; we felt it was about time to start dreaming about where we can go and ride when the time comes. I’d give my right arm to be riding up a mountain with the sun on my back right now, and reading about the climbs in the Pyrenean Principality has got me dreaming even more. There’s a reason why so many pros are now basing themselves there, and it’s not just because of the altitude and potential tax benefits. Read on and allow yourself to dream. Whatever you do, don’t miss next week’s issue. We’re running a women’s edition to mark…

I have been invited to join a first division national French cycling team for the 2021 season. My manager is desperate to have me in France to prepare for the upcoming races. However, this is proving difficult. The problem is my position is similar to an internship where I will be unpaid for the year and so I have to apply for a tourist visa, not a work visa. This is because sport has not been included as an exemption in the Brexit deal. I have applied for a long-stay French Visa (through TLS Contact) and have all my documents ready. However, I was told that long-stay visa applications for tourists (the only one I am eligible for as the position is unpaid) have been withdrawn because of Covid-19 concerns.…

McGowan landmark signing US rider Ayesha McGowan will achieve her aim of becoming the first African American woman to race bikes at elite level having joined the Liv Racing team as a trainee. The team announced it will help support McGowan’s development by offering the 33-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia, training and equipment before she is able to race with the squad from August. McGowan said: “Thank you to everyone who helped me get this far, it’s the beginning of another journey and as always I’m gonna give it my all. August is right around the corner! There’s work to do!” Cav gunning for victory Mark Cavendish has said he would like to take one more win in what could be his final season as a professional. The 35-year-old sprinter has…

This might be old news, but I want to discuss the former RideLondon-Surrey Classic. True, it was a deeply flawed race. But at least it was a UCI WorldTour event held in this country. Now Surrey County Council has killed it stone dead. The ‘thinking’ behind S.C.C.’s decision is laid out in a report dated 27 October 2020. I read it and found it to be blinkered, self-interested and contradictory, written by Council members with little understanding of cycling either professional or social. You too can read the report on Surrey Council’s website which carries the names of its two authors. I’ve contacted them regarding its content. If you wish to do likewise, their work e-mail addresses are readily obtainable. Who knows? Perhaps a little outside pressure on S.C.C. might…

Just when the fuss about disc brakes in the pro peloton had started to die down, the topic was reignited by Chris Froome, via a YouTube ‘review’ of his Factor team bike from Israel Start-Up Nation. In the video, published earlier this month, Froome reawakened several arguments against disc brakes, including stating that he experienced issues with the pads and rotors rubbing, as well as overheating on descents. In part, we were grateful. Where would cycling be without its little holy wars? Whether aero or lightweight is best, how high your socks should be, how wide your tyres should be and what you should put inside them. Without these (at times bewilderingly) passionate debates we would lose some of the richness that attracts us to cycling. Part of the joy…

Damien Clayton, 28, entered Zwift Academy for the first time in 2020 and made it to the final five, coming incredibly close to securing the contract with Alpecin-Fenix. CW: Tell us about entering the ZA. DC: I just love turning my legs, whether that’s inside or out, so it added another dynamic to my training. I approached it in quite a rigorous way, which may have been why I did quite well in the process CW: How did you approach the sessions? DC: My coach planned it all into my training schedule. I took it quite seriously. I worked with my nutritionist as well – the impact of the turbo on your body is something people forget. CW: How did you make peace with coming so close to winning? DC:…

Having spent 20 years caring for the critically unwell, Dr Laurence Gant now specialises in looking after the obscenely fit. Team Sky riders were his main professional focus in 2018, before he transferred his talents to football as head of medical for Tottenham Hotspur’s youth academy. When Covid-19 arrived, it presented little threat to the teenage prodigies under Gant’s care. Besides, all games were off. “When football shut down in March, I went back to work in the NHS,” he tells me by video call from his home in Woodford Green, London, recounting how he was tasked to care for a subset of seriously unwell patients for whom mechanical ventilation had been ruled out. For these patients, in the early days of the pandemic, there were no proven therapies. “It…

A few weeks ago this magazine ran an article on old training methods, and what we can learn from them today. In general the training methods included had something going for them – riding a heavy bike, riding fixed gears, riding up steep hills at very low cadences. It’s part of a recent trend that looks back at what old racers did, often from the perspective of asking how much better they might have been with “modern training”. I’m going to defend the thesis that the absolute last thing the stars of yesteryear needed was modern training. That’s not to defend all the old methods. When the piece about it ran, more than a bit of cherry-picking had gone on. Here are some other venerable old training methods that for…

Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart is to sponsor an under-23 rider to race with his former team, Hagens Berman Axeon, this summer, as part of his own effort to make the sport more inclusive. “Cycling has a problem with diversity and inclusivity,” he wrote on social media. “It’s not unique within sport but we must face it head-on all the same. I feel cycling has not done enough during this past year. Furthermore, I have not done enough. But what good are words without action?” The 25-year-old Londoner went on to explain that he would work with Hagens Berman team boss Axel Merckx to “identify, train and mentor” the rider, who would start with the team on 1 August. Diversity and inclusivity within cycling is something Geoghegan Hart has…

Dave Farmer makes the point: “There’s this mindset that everyone should be following what the pros do, but really that doesn’t make much sense.” On the one hand, some of the points that affect Chris Froome aren’t so much of an issue for the casual rider. If there is a little rub from fresh Swiss Stop rotors when hauling 600 watts up a climb, this isn’t really going to affect your average person. The extra service life is arguably more valuable here. On the other hand, for those amateurs already comfortable with the ins and outs of mechanical rim brake systems, the servicing they require will be easier to manage than a completely different system that is a hydraulic disc-brake set-up. There are so many considerations that determine whether disc…

Though the official Zwift Academy happens only once a year, the eight-week training plan associated with it can be undertaken whenever you like. Each session tests different elements of your cycling ability. All the ZA 2020 sessions are available. To find them, go to Zwift, click ‘Training’, select ‘Workouts’, then scroll down until you see ‘Zwift Academy 2020’. You can do them at your leisure but in order to simulate the Academy and really test your results, head coach Stephen Gallagher recommends structuring them over eight weeks, going into each one fresh and prepared to go deep.…

Grant says: “These caffeine kick cakes will keep you going on your long rides. They’re a cup of coffee and a cake in one, with a little caffeine kick. Made on a base of raw beets, with dates, they are gluten and dairy-free and without any added sugars – natural energy without a peak and crash in blood sugars.” Method 1) Preheat oven to 175°C/350°F. In a food processor add all the ingredients and combine well until it’s a wet granulate. 2) Line a muffin tray with paper cups or grease with coconut oil and sprinkle chopped hazelnuts into it. 3) Fill the tray with the batter, pressing it down firmly. Smooth the surface with a wet rubber spatula or spoon. 4) Bake for 25 minutes until they are spongy…

Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick Step) To say that he is Deceuninck’s best prospect is high praise indeed. The Dane is coming into his prime at 26 and already has a podium at the Tour of Flanders and a win at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne to his name. He had a bit of an off-year in 2020, compared to 2019’s success, but perhaps the more ‘normal’ shape of the 2021 season will suit him better. CW rating ★★★★★ Søren Kragh Andersen (DSM) Coming third last year would be enough to mark the 26-year-old Dane as a threat for the win here even if he hadn’t gone on to win two stages of the Tour de France later that year. Expect a buoyant and attacking ride, as DSM are so fond of providing. CW rating ★★★★…

WHERE TO STAY The capital Andorra la Vella is a good central base, as is Encamp and La Massana. There are a number of hotels ranging in price (Hotel de l’Isard is a good mid-range option) while the six campsites – four of which are in the small village of Canillo – are regularly populated with cyclists. WHERE TO EAT In 2019, Trek-Segafredo pro De Kort opened the Grupetta cafe in La Massana, an ideal location for a coffee stop. For dinner, both the Taberna Angel Belmonte and Can Benet in Andorra la Vella are recommended. HOW TO GET THERE The nearest airports are Toulouse in France (from €32 bus transfer; 3h 45m), and Barcelona in Spain (from €34 bus transfer; 3h 45m). Driving from Calais to Andorra will take…

THE WOMEN 2019: Jessica Pratt 23, Australia Switched from a nursing career to pro cycling with Canyon-SRAM for 2020, Pratt bagged a top 10 in the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under GC with the team and is now off to pastures new. 2018: Ella Harris 22, New Zealand Still with Canyon-SRAM, Harris broke her leg during a recon ride for the 2020 Strade Bianche but came back with her usual resilience. 2017: Tanja Erath 31, Germany Won the Academy after graduating medical school, Erath moved from Canyon-SRAM to Team Tibco Silicon Valley Bank for 2021. 2016: Leah Thorvilson 42, USA Thorvilson won the inaugural Academy and has since traded in her pro jersey for a non-riding role within Zwift. THE MEN 2019: Drew Christensen 19, NZ Rides with the NTT…

Telling the riders they’d made it to this year’s final was Olympian, former national champ and now TV commentator Matt Stephens “This year was one hell of a project, it blew my mind – 10 riders remotely, all over the world. My involvement was helping to come up with the daily tasks that would give us as much information as possible to make the right decisions. “Primarily the driver was physiological but a couple of riders revealed an interesting side to their character that came out through the way they engage on social media and the way they conducted themselves. A lot comes through in interviews. Jay, for example, is not only world-class but was calm throughout the whole process.”…