Innehållsförteckning för 12/16/2021 - Xmas issue från Cycling Weekly

Movistar rider Gabriel Cullaigh has vowed to get himself back into the top flight of the sport after he announced he will step down to the domestic Continental level with Saint Piran in 2022 having been unable to find a new WorldTour contract. Cullaigh barely raced at Movistar, which he joined in 2020, and told CW in an open and expansive interview that he “felt very lost at points” in his two years there. Now he’ll return to domestic racing with the hope of resurrecting his pro career. “I owe it to myself to give it another year. Working with Gary [Sadler, his coach], I can make it work. The main thing is focusing and enjoying my racing and competing. Hopefully the results will come, and with that I can…

Cyclo-cross doesn’t need snow and it is a winter sport and fantastic in its own right. It deserves a place in the Olympics as it stands. David Salt The IOC adds breakdancing to the Olympics but needs to be convinced cross is a winter sport? Andy Smith Just checked it isn’t April Fool’s Day! Good to see them trying to get more attention for cyclo-cross – will be interesting to watch, depending on how deep the snow is. Edward Throp Nothing but a gimmick. After the riders train on the course, the snow will turn to ‘sugar’ and they’ll be riding on frozen dirt for the race. Can’t really race cross on ice so not sure how they’d keep the compacted snow from falling apart. Paul Thoresen All cyclo-cross races…

In order for Ben Watson to win two Paralympic golds on his debut in the C3 time trial and C1-3 road race, he had to willingly put himself through a form of suffering that he describes as “truly awful”. As part of the preparation for dealing with the heat and humidity in Tokyo, riders were given heat tents and some, like Watson, turned to cycling on their turbo trainers in the 35° heat of a greenhouse. “I would be lying if I said I enjoyed it, but it was great to see the adaptation,” the 33-year-old tells CW. “It’s basically like pedalling in a sauna. It’s not pleasant at all, and you’re sweating 3.5 litres an hour, making huge puddles on the floor.” Watson made a dream a reality by…

Amicrocosm of Mathieu van der Poel’s dream first half of the season can be found on a horrifically wet stage five of Tirreno-Adriatico when he won from a solo 60km move. “I attacked from afar because I was cold,” the Dutchman said. The best way to get warm is to do some exercise, and clearly the peloton’s pace was too sedate for a man who is burning with so much raw power that whenever he decides he’d quite like to do something, he just… well, does it. By doing so he rewrites convention and leaves everyone struggling to comprehend how a man on a bike can be so fast, so ruthless, so damn strong. He first had us in awe in January: six cyclo-cross races, five victories, only allowing Wout…

I raced today with the power of generations of women who were denied the opportunity to battle for this Monument, and with my daughter in my heart, who I hope will never face the same barriers they had to.” Had Lizzie Deignan posted that on Instagram after any other victory it might have lacked the poignancy and profundity it held when she won Paris-Roubaix on 2 October. The Hell of the North has always inspired emotion, and Deignan recognised that the inclusion of a first women’s edition feels like a turning point for the sport. The addition of other women’s races, including Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2017, failed to attract such optimism. But Paris-Roubaix came at just the right time. The popularity of the women’s sport has been gaining pace for some…

Peter Smith One of the country’s finest time triallists in the 1960s, the York rider died from injuries he sustained in a crash while riding his bike in March. Mike McNamara A multiple winner of the BBAR team competition in the 1970s, McNamara also won national team titles in 25 and 50-mile distances. He died in May aged 85 after a long illness. Tim James A promising young rider who rode with Zappi Racing Team in Italy for two years, racing the Baby Giro twice before joining SwiftCarbon in 2020. He died in May, aged 23, after contracting a rare cancer. Robert Marchand Known as the world’s oldest competitive cyclist, he set multiple world records as a centenarian including Hour records in the over-100 and 105 age groups. The Frenchman…

Most would assume that to win a national 100-mile title, you’d need to fine-tune your training. Perhaps not though. “I didn’t know what to expect in the ‘100’ because I’d never ridden that far on either my road or time trial bike before,” says Joanna Patterson, winner of the women’s National Championships this July. “I didn’t train specifically for it and only decided to enter it at the last minute. My longest rides were always a maximum of three and a half hours.” Patterson, unbelievably, is not alone. The men’s winner, and her Independent Pedaler-Nopinz team-mate Chris Fennell, has a similar story. “The ‘100’ surprised me because I hadn’t raced the National 100 before and I didn’t know what to expect – I wasn’t thinking I’d do a 30mph-plus ride…

Even with a hatful of big race wins under his belt in 2021, Sonny Colbrelli was the underdog as he entered the Roubaix velodrome on 3 October. Considering he was in the company of Mathieu van der Poel, that’s not surprising. But it echoes the theme that Bahrain Victorious hasn’t until now been regarded as a team to beat. Colbrelli won the race, outsprinting VDP and Florian Vermeersch. This year, Bahrain Victorious has pretty much lived up to its name and Roubaix marked the end of a transformational year for Colbrelli. Classed as a fastman, the 31-year-old Italian had seven wins, including Roubaix, the European road race title where he dispatched Remco Evenepoel, and a hilly stage at Romandie. There were more close calls in the Tour de France, including…

1 Max Schachmann won Paris-Nice in March but after said he wished he had won it differently. What was he referring to? 2 This season has been a big one for Wout van Aert, who was winning races pretty much from beginning to end: what was his first win of 2021? 3 Mathieu van der Poel wowed fans with a dominant performance at Strade Bianche, but who won the women’s race? 4 What race is this the finish of? 5 With the Tour Down Under cancelled this year due to Covid, what became the first men’s WorldTour race of the season? 6 What is the name of the riding position – popular with riders wanting to get aero – banned by the UCI in February? 7 Stage four of the Vuelta Andalucia was delayed by a…

Going into the Tokyo Olympic Games, women’s cycling had been defined by Dutch dominance. Between Annemiek van Vleuten, Anna van der Breggen, Marianne Vos, Demi Vollering, and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, the Netherlands had claimed most of the one-day Women’s WorldTour races that season. The Dutch had also held the world title four years running – plus had in their midst the reigning Olympic champion, van der Breggen. That’s not to say that races had become predictable and stale, even if the results sheet suggested otherwise. Women’s races are dynamic and aggressive and rarely follow the same script as the men’s. Still, as predictions started to roll in before the Tokyo Games, all eyes were on the usual suspects. Nobody added the name Anna Kiesenhofer to their list. Instant attack…

The dream of being a professional rider and all that entails – an on-hand mechanic, a following support vehicle, a DS instructing you – is one that almost all readers of this magazine have no doubt had. And one that, bar a select few, none of us have ever experienced. Yet for six memorable days this coming April, you could live the life of a pro rider with the Spanish UCI ProTeam BH Burgos, who are running a ride camp for 12 cyclists in the south of Spain with expert guidance from their sporting directors and even professional riders coming on board to guide daily tours. Based out of the beautiful and quaint coastal town of Almuñécar, the four rides will take in the nearby mountainous roads, pass the plentiful…

VUELTA SKELTER by Tim Moore Always hilarious, Tim Moore is at his best when he’s taking on a daft challenge on two wheels. That humour, coupled with an ability to pluck out pithy cultural and historical insights to educate the reader, is unmatched. This time it’s the 1941 Tour of Spain. £16 THE ART OF CYCLING by James Hibbard A former pro rider who left the sport, believing it rotten to the core, and didn’t ride a bike for 10 years, James Hibbard came back to riding with a very different perspective after studying philosophy. This book takes a look at riding in a way few others have. £14.99 BLACK CHAMPIONS IN CYCLING by Marlon Moncrieffe Telling the stories of the best black riders from the UK and abroad, Moncrieffe…

Winter wonderland Dutch supremo Marianne Vos almost mastered the snow on Sunday at the latest round of the cyclo-cross World Cup in Val di Sole, Italy. She crashed in the race’s closing moments scuppering her chances of catching compatriot, and eventual winner, Fem van Empel. The race was deliberately held in the snow of the mountains as part of the UCI’s quest to get CX into the Winter Olympics. In the men’s race Brit Tom Pidcock was third with Wout van Aert taking the top spot.…

With my last event of 2021 done and dusted things have calmed down now but this time of year is busy with meetings mainly planning for next season. I had my first in-person Road Commission meeting for quite a while in early November and a couple of weeks later I represented the Yorkshire region at British Cycling’s National Council. It was nice to see so many familiar faces from all over the UK and catch up with friends. It’s great to know that everyone is remaining upbeat and positive. Regionally I’m helping shape the 2022 calendar and I’m currently planning the content for a commissaires and organisers workshop which will be held in the new year. This will bring together organisers and officials to refresh minds and help promote best…

TT PRIZE MONEY CONUNDRUM Governing body CTT declined to mandate equal prize money for men and women in all races. British stalwart Rod Ellingworth returned to Ineos after just one year at Bahrain-McLaren following the withdrawal of the British F1 brand from its involvement in the team. BORA RIDERS INJURED Bora-Hansgrohe riders Wilco Kelderman and Andreas Schillinger were left with broken bones following a collision with a car while training. PINOT SKIPS THE TOUR The Frenchman announced he’d miss his home race, which had brought him both pain and glory in recent seasons. He had tired of the pressure that comes with riding the Tour de France. SCOTTISH RACE COLLAPSES The Women’s Tour of Scotland collapsed with debts of £855,000. It ran for only a single edition, in 2019. PIDCOCK…

THOMAS’S ROMANDIE SLIP Geraint Thomas missed out on a stage win at the Tour de Romandie after his cold hands slipped off the bars as he went to sprint. Luckily he didn’t lose enough time to endanger his GC win. LORDS DING-DONG Members of the House of Lords called for bells to be made mandatory on bikes due to “aggressive and foulmouthed cyclists”. FROOME HITS BACK After some negative fan reaction to a string of underwhelming performances Chris Froome hit back at his critics saying he was not the sort of person to “throw in the towel”. CIRCUIT SERIES SLASHED As coronavirus continued to hit the domestic calendar, the BC circuit series was reduced to just one race in 2021. When it was eventually held in June it was won…

VUELTA GOES ORANGE It was announced that the 2022 Vuelta route would start in the Netherlands, kicking off with a TTT followed by two sprint stages. RAPHA GOES OFF-ROAD Marmite cycling brand Rapha launched its first off-road collection with jackets and hoodies designed for those who enjoy the rough stuff. WOUT FORKS O UT Wout van Aert was ordered to pay €662,000 to his former bosses Verandás Willems-Crelan after breaking his contract early to join Jumbo-Visma in 2019. MOUNT VENTOUX RECORD British rider Illi Gardner set a new record up the fabled Mount Ventoux, riding the climb in 1:12.16. PARA RECORD FALLS Britain’s para-cyclists won 11 medals at the World Championships – six of which were gold – a record haul. BIKE SUPPLY WORRIES Retailer Halfords warned that the supply…

HALFORDS BC GIFT Bike retailer Halfords gave the Chris Boardman wind tunnel to British Cycling. It was due to be moved to the Etihad Campus in Manchester before the end of the year. LGBTQ + MESSAGE Groupama-FDJ rider Jacopo Guarnieri voiced his support for anyone who might come out as LGBTQ+ in the men’s pro peloton, saying, “The person who does that will have me backing them up.” BC TARGETS WOMEN British Cycling targeted a 40% increase in women racing, across all disciplines, by 2026 as part of a wide-ranging strategy to increase diversity. It also committed to a 20% increase in the number of women in its talent pathways and a 20% increase in riders from ethnic communities and disabled riders over the same timeframe. PORTE QUITS TOUR Ineos…

When it comes to crushing superiority few are better than SD Worx. Just look at how they filled all three steps of the podium at the season’s toughest race, the Giro Donne. Behind Anna van der Breggen, winning her fourth maglia rosa, Dutch compatriot Demi Vollering was second and South African Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio third, a whopping three minutes ahead of fourth place. With Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) absent, van der Breggen’s dominance was complete. She put 1min 22sec into Moolman-Pasio on stage two’s mountaintop finish, and two days later won the 11km mountain time trial by 1min 2sec from Vollering. But that was her last stage win, her final GC victory before retirement and the team will miss her winning habit. Since joining what was Boels-Dolmans in 2017 she has…

It seems to have gone almost unnoticed that Annemeik van Vleuten had arguably her best season ever in 2021. Sure, she won more WorldTour races in 2018 on her way to 12 victories, the same number as she racked up in 2021. But she was 35 then and three years older in 2021. While 2021 lacked the boot-on-the-neck supremacy of her previous high, the women’s sport has also evolved considerably in the interim, and the challengers have improved. To be at her best again this year was remarkable. At the Ladies Tour of Norway she ground the opposition to dust on the race’s only summit finish; at the Certizit Challenge at the Vuelta, she won with one of her trademark banzai long-range attacks; and at the Tour of Flanders she…

As the year comes to an end and we face the reality of battling a new variant of Covid-19 and potential restrictions, it’s easy to forget now that at the beginning of 2021 there was doubt over whether we would have a season at all. After the lockdown was eased in March, a tentative return to road racing came in the form of a test event in the Mendips on April 18. Winner Conor McGoldrick of Primera-TeamJobs declared it a resounding success: “Everyone was eager to be on that start line,” he said. “There were [Covid-19] protocols at the start, but as soon as the racing started, it was back to normal.” The National Road Series racing finally got going again in June after a break of nearly two years…

We’ve collated the top eight tech news stories to remind you of some of the ‘highlights’ of the year. From broken bits of kit to pro bikes covered in mud and tech that was banned by the UCI, these are the stories that caught our eye and captured your imagination through 2021 as rocketing web traffic and social media engagement proved. 1 Aussie team pursuiters crash out of qualifying thanks to a snapped handlebar Bastion is an Australian brand, specialising in Additive Manufacturing (3D printing), and it proudly produces components for the Australian Olympic track riders. Unfortunately, during the Tokyo Olympics, the team’s rider Alexander Porter crashed following a dramatic component failure. CW’s source confirmed the part was made by Bastion, and we noticed that its base bar page was soon…

‘Let’s hope it’s a crash-free one’ CW sub-editor Steve Shrubsall is determined to break old habits this Christmas… My Christmas training plan typically starts by unearthing the CX bike from some far-flung corner of the shed, giving it a fleeting once-over, pedalling to the woods, falling off and swearing – a lot – returning the bike to that same far-flung corner of the shed, and promising never to ride the poxy thing ever again… until roughly the same time the following year. This year started in a similar fashion, although I had learnt (finally) from the previous lack of aptitude for off-roading and procured the bicycling equivalent of a bulldozer: a 29-inchwheel mountain bike. This thing is pretty much idiot-proof. On its maiden outing, I clattered down one of Surrey’s most…

Seventeen-year-old Zoe Bäckstedt took her first elitelevel victory at Robotland Cyclocross Essen on Saturday. The Welshwoman started on the front row and sprinted into the lead at the start. After duelling with Laura Verdonschot (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) and compatriot Anna Kay (Starcasino) for the first muddy set of hairpins she powered away and had over a minute in hand at the final finish line. “It gives me a lot of confidence after a hard couple of weeks getting ready for the Christmas period,” Bäckstedt said. But the junior, who is focused on winning both the junior World Cup series and the CX World Championships this winter, said she wasn’t getting carried away with her first elite win, pointing to the absence of many top-drawer riders who were in Italy for the…

From a quick glance at the medal table, it was a case of déjà vu for Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics. Twelve cycling medals, six of them gold, just like Rio five years earlier. But the opposite is actually the truth, because for the first time ever, the cycling successes came from a wider pool of riders and across numerous disciplines, the deliverance of a new strategy and a vision of the future. Maiden mountain bike and BMX golds captured public attention like few other wins did and prompted engagement from sections of society who have been less and less enamoured with track glory after it became the ‘norm’. In the Paralympics it was also business as usual, where for the fourth consecutive Games GB topped the cycling medal…

STANNARD TAKES OVER British development squad Trinity Racing appointed former Sky rider Ian Stannard to lead its team of young riders in 2021. GEOFFREY BUTLER CLOSES Long-running cycle shop Geoffrey Butler, that gained prominence in part due to its large mail order business advertised in the pages of CW, closed its doors for the final time. WOMEN’S TOUR POSTPONED Covid-19 led to the postponement of the stage race, usually held in May, to October, when it was successfully held after Paris-Roubaix. FREEMAN CHARGED UK Anti-Doping charged former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman with two anti-doping offences following an investigation into the delivery of testosterone patches to BC’s Manchester base in 2011 TAO’S HAND UP Giro d’Italia champion Tao Geoghegan Hart launched a scholarship to fund riders from…

As readers of a certain age will remember, dedication’s what you need if you want to break records. And dedication was clearly one of the few commodities that wasn’t in short supply in 2021, as Record Breakers host Roy Castle would be pleased to note. Cycling records tumbled across the board, ranging from the relatively short ultra-intense effort of the Hour, to the days-long grind of Land’s End to John o’ Groats, with the slightly more esoteric efforts on Mont Ventoux and Everesting also in the mix. To topple any one of these marks is a huge achievement by any standard, and judging one above the other rather misses the point. So in the interests of non-judgmental curiosity, we’ll start with the longest – Christina Mackenzie’s Land’s End to John…

“It is time to return to the path that we took in 2019 and from which we separated a little,” said Egan Bernal recently, announcing his return to the Tour de France next summer. It was just one sentence, but heavily loaded with significance that reveals a lot about the feeling within and outside Ineos Grenadiers at the moment: things haven’t gone as well as the sport’s richest team not only desire but expect in the previous two years. And perhaps they’ve only got themselves to blame. Even factoring in Bernal’s comprehensive Giro d’Italia win, Filippo Ganna’s continuing time trial superiority and the emergence of Ethan Hayter and Tom Pidcock as genuine rivals to Mathieu van der Poel and Julian Alaphilippe et al, it’s difficult to avoid the feeling that…

This bike more than qualifies for our longtermer series since it was built as a made-to-measure frame as long ago as 2000 – except it was made for somebody else. I’ve been the proud owner for only a twentieth of its life but I like to think I’ve put enough of my stamp on it to call it my own. It belonged to my clubmate Andy Critchlow, former GB junior rider and current fast vet, who had it made for him by Roberts in Croydon, one of the legendary names of the South London handbuilt bicycle scene. Andy was planning a racing comeback for 2001. He’s a powerful rider and had the frame made from Columbus Max steel tubing, the stiffest at the time. The slightly compact geometry with a…

Hornit Hero 16 kids’ bike £369 Weight 5.7kg When my daughter was presented with a Hornit Hero 16in pedal bike, it’s fair to say that her eyes lit up. Whether you’re five or 75, everyone loves New Bike Day. But the question on my mind was whether a premium kids’ bike could justify its cost against the more mainstream versions that her older sister grew up with. The difference between the latter’s B’Twin 500 and the Hornit Hero is extraordinary, with weight being the most obvious win here – 8.7kg for the B-Twin versus 5.7kg for the Hornit – but there’s also the wallet-lightening £260 price gap. But weight really does make a huge, huge difference. Those little muscles will struggle to turn the cranks on inclines that are barely perceptible…

Turkey Breast Steaks Nutrition per 138g serving, Calories 244, Carbohydrate 0g, Protein 31g, Fat 14g Mitchell says: “Turkey breast is a great quality protein source. It is lean, tasty and high in amino acids such as beta alanine. It definitely shouldn’t be reserved just for Christmas!” You will need: • 500g (4 steaks) turkey breast steaks• 30g olive oil• Salt and pepper Method Heat a heavy-bottomed frying pan and add the oil. Season the four turkey steaks and cook for about three to four minutes before turning over. When both sides have browned, the meat should be cooked. Let the steaks rest for about five minutes, then serve. Trio of Medjool dates Nutrition per 117g serving, Calories 442, Carbohydrate 61g, Protein 6.4g, Fat 17g Mitchell says: “This recipe gives you…

Eric de Vlaeminck shoulders his bike and runs up the “mountain in the forest” on the course of the Cyclo-cross World Championship in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. The defending champion led the race from start to finish to capture his fifth world title ahead of two of his compatriots. “I had just one challenger, [Albert] Van Damme,” De Vlaeminck said after the race. “But though he stuck close to me he was never a real threat.” It was much the same for the British squad – without the being close to De Vlaeminck bit. “For Britain it must be described as a disaster day,” Cycling reported. “Progress in recent years undone with only Chris Dodd’s sixth place in the amateur event giving any cause for joy.” The riders awoke that morning…