Innehållsförteckning för May 20, 2021 från Cycling Weekly

Top riders and campaigners have given a cautious but optimistic welcome to the announcement last week that the inaugural modern women’s Tour de France will take place in 2022. Last week Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme finally confirmed the long-rumoured return of the race to the Guardian. “It will take place next year, that’s certain,” Prudhomme said. “It would have happened this year if it had not been for the Covid-19 pandemic, obviously, and above all if the Tokyo Olympics had not been after the [men’s] Tour, so the best riders may not be available. But the decision has been taken.” Details of the exact route and length will be announced in October but it will take place immediately after the men’s Tour. Speaking to Cycling Weekly Lizzie Deignan…

Wouldn’t it be great if a British rider won every stage of a Tour of Britain? We think it would be, so we have therefore acted on our desires and have decided to create our very own fantasy national tour that will help British riders be victorious in every single stage. Our criteria for success is really quite simple: we have chosen routes based on home advantage or a route’s parcours being perfectly suited to a British rider. If Mark Cavendish was still in his pomp, we’d have eight sprint finishes, but in 2021 we are mainly going for punchy stages. The result is the same: British success guaranteed. And, yes, we have lobbied SweetSpot, organisers of the race (see box). Over to you to enact our dreams, folks. STAGE ONE…

Giant opts for a more exposed two-piece bar/stem set-up on the TCR all-rounder but fully integrates the cables on its Propel aero bike. A Giant representative told CW, “Giant continually evaluates the pros and cons of internal cable routing based on the best interest of the customer and their intended use of the product. Where we can provide a cleaner aesthetic, protection from the elements, aerodynamic superiority and smoother, more direct-routing, Giant’s designers and engineers take the step to provide integrated cable routing. While we recognise that internal routing can create challenges for mechanics who work on these products, we feel the overall benefits far outweigh the challenges of internally routing cables.”…

On paper, Peter Kibble couldn’t have started his 2020 racing season any better. His first two races were National B events on consecutive Sundays before the first lockdown hit, and he won them both. Aged just 21 at the time, he should have been delighted with his progress, but no. “I wasn’t happy after winning them,” he tells CW candidly. “It was more like ‘Oh, cool, something to put on my CV’ and then I moved on. I didn’t stop and think about what I was really doing and what I had achieved.” Racing for the Welsh Racing Academy, Kibble was in his final year as an U23 rider – a crunch year in which he would either fulfil or fall short of his dream of turning professional. “I’d always…

Felice Gimondi gives a drink of water to Belgian cycling ace Eddy Merckx during the 12th stage of the Giro d’Italia. While Merckx’s reputation is one of ferocious competitiveness (the nickname the Cannibal is no accident) moments like this show that even at the height of his powers he did have a lighter side. Gimondi was his big rival at the Giro for many years and no more so than in 1969. Merckx had won four stages and built a lead of over a minute before the race had even hit the mountains. But a few days after this picture was taken Merckx would test positive for fencamfamine, a stimulant that was used to fight fatigue and was rumoured to be in common use throughout the peloton. After the B…

It’s hard to believe that Egan Bernal had never won a Grand Tour stage before Sunday. With such an extensive palmarès – including the 2019 Tour de France – it feels like the Ineos Grenadiers rider ought to have a few tucked away already, surely. When the moment finally came, atop the steep gravel ramps of Campo Felice on stage nine, a seven-second solo win that saw him sweep into the maglia rosa to boot, Bernal didn’t quite realise what had happened. Viewers might have been puzzled to see the 24-year-old wheel cross the line like any other also-ran, slumped shoulders betraying the effort involved rather than arms raised in celebration. It wasn’t until an Ineos soigneur caught up with him 10 seconds later that Bernal learned the good news.…

Anyone who thought the British road and circuit calendar for 2021 would come off without a hitch “was very misguided”, said Canyon-dhb-SunGod boss Tim Elverson, speaking in the wake of a spate of National Circuit Series cancellations. British Cycling’s HSBC National Circuit Series was reduced to just one race – the Otley GP on June 30 – last week after British Cycling announced that the Barnsley round, which had been slated for 9 July, would be cancelled due to the Covid pandemic. It followed the cancellations of Sheffield (14 July), Colne (20 July) and the proposed Newark round, announced at the end of April. The Circuit Series races were not the only ones called off: the southern round of the National Road Series, details of which were yet to be…

I think that women’s races are often less predictable and more exciting than men’s, especially when one or two teams dominate, as has been the case in recent years. The coverage and support has to come from the sport and broadcasters to get the spectacle out there! Marion Gray This is fantastic news but I can’t help but feel a little resentful that it’s too little, too late from the ASO – it would have been good to get the ball rolling a few years ago. Emma Pulsford Love how [Prudhomme] insinuates that the ASO women’s races losing money is down to the sport’s lack of popularity. Quite a few of the women’s Classics had higher viewing figures than the men’s races this spring. Failure to capitalise on that and…

Some people cannot tolerate the word ‘cockpit’ in a cycling context. It’s a bike, not a fighter jet! Apologies if the lexeme makes you reach for the eject button, but not all modern-day bikes have what you’d traditionally call a ‘handlebar and stem.’ Arguably, naming these creations after the flight deck of an aircraft isn’t so fanciful: neither is compatible with amateur fettling. The pursuit of improved aerodynamics has meant a race for greater integration. Enter handlebar/stem duos – cockpits – and proprietary seatposts. These are designed with the frame to create smooth lines. Is this a good thing? Well, it depends on what you want from a bike, your mechanical prowess, or, the budget you have available for future maintenance. There are a few factors well worth considering before…

If there’s one thing that all cyclists can agree on, it’s that a good pair of cycling shorts is absolutely essential to a happy summer of riding. Pain in the saddle can not only ruin a very good day on the bike, it can even see you relegated to the sofa if saddle sores persist. Regardless of whether you pronounce it sham-waa or shammy (we prefer the latter), the essential ingredient to a good pair of cycling shorts is the chamois (or insert or pad). For this test, we’ve focused on pads that market themselves as ‘endurance’ ready, suitable for over five hours in the saddle, though most are perfectly adequate for shorter, harder efforts too. Whilst the padding is the most important element, the shorts that it’s housed in…

Serves 1 Waterfall says: “Most people think of quinoa as a savoury food, but in Peru and Bolivia it’s a breakfast essential! This magical gluten-free seed grain is full of protein, and packed with nutrients including iron and magnesium. I love this version, flavoured with warming spices and with sweetness from the orange. It’s perfect for pre-ride fuelling.” Method 1) In a saucepan, mix the quinoa with the chia seeds and spices. Add the orange juice, plant milk and maple syrup and stir. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15-20min until the quinoa has soaked up most of the liquid. 2) Transfer to a bowl and add your favourite toppings – fresh or dried fruit, nut butters and desiccated coconut all work well. TJ Waterfall’s book The Plant-Based Power…

Aussie sprinter Caleb Ewan took to social media last week to defend his decision to abandon the Giro on stage eight after suffering knee pain. But the Lotto-Soudal rider, who had won two stages and was wearing the sprinters’ jersey at the time of his abandon, was forced to defend himself against accusations that he had disrespected the race by leaving early to prepare for the Tour de France. Ewan, 26, is hoping to win stages in all three Grand Tours this year, and had already said he wouldn’t ride the whole Giro to allow him to reach the Tour in peak condition. “To the people who feel I’ve disrespected the race, I’m sorry you feel that way. If you saw the hard work and dedication I’ve put into my…

Canyon-dhb-SunGod unveiled what is surely a partnership for the times last week – a Covid PCR test sponsor. European racing is not hard to find, with both Canyon and Drops engaged in a busy calendar, but with all the testing necessary, costs have ramped up drastically. Canyon’s deal with Farnborough-based company Cignpost, which operates airport Express Tests, will see them benefit from enough free tests to dramatically reduce their costs. “We’ve got a decent-looking European calendar, but you’ve got to do £1,000 of PCR tests every race,” explained Canyon team owner Tim Elverson. “It’s a lot of money – you go to Europe with 10 staffers, that’s 10 staff that need PCR tests. And you’ve got to have multiple PCR tests. “Some of that cost will vanish with the sponsorship…

There aren’t many certainties in cycling, but if there is one it’s that the sport’s power brokers are only ever one step away from an argument about who gets paid, who has the power to decide things or simply what form the sport takes. Race organisers, national governing bodies, teams and even the UCI are in a fractious alliance, ready to crack as easily as a rusty old frame whenever the sport hits a bump in the road. But throughout decades of wrangling over how the sport works, the loudest voices have rarely been those most central to the drama – the riders themselves. That means everything from safety to the way races are designed and raced has rarely had those pedalling the bikes at its heart. Part of the…

In the women’s test, the Endura Pro SL shorts are the product of extensive research, and we reckon they will prove to be an absolute game changer for some. However, our tester found them to be a bit ‘Marmite’, with success varying quite dramatically depending upon the saddle used in conjunction. The Chapeau! Women’s Club shorts offer excellent value for money, but the fit wasn’t quite as refined. Rapha’s offering puts forward an extremely plush chamois, which still dried well and offered comfort on the bike though we weren’t big fans of the gripper redesign. The test winner had to be the T.laalalai shorts_s7 bibshorts from Assos. They’ve been on the market for years and seen little change, but in this case, the oldie is absolutely the goldie. In the…

A page on how to deal with a puncture contains some sage advice, some of which still holds true today. Some not so much. Under the headline of Puncture Mending for the Beginner, the writer starts: “The first essential to the mending of a puncture is the acquiring of one.” Can’t argue with that. To get a puncture, the advice is to ride at night on roads you don’t know, preferably on a rainy night. We’d suggest you just wait until you get one. The advice then took a surprising turn. “Some people, on finding they have a puncture, resort to the practice vulgarly known as ‘riding on the rim.’” But, the writer says: “I assure you it is not done in the best circles.” The advice instead, clearly written…