Innehållsförteckning för April 21, 2022 från Cycling Weekly

Easter is a time of renewal and so it’s appropriate that in the last two weeks we’ve made a few tweaks to the news pages. For several years now we’ve had a panel of 12 columnists writing for the magazine. Now we’ve reduced that down to just five to free up some space for more in-depth news coverage and in the process we’re welcoming some new faces. Last week was the turn of Londoner and Bahrain Victorious rider Fred Wright. He won’t mind me saying he took a little convincing to do it but he needn’t have worried as he wrote elegantly and insightfully about his Tour of Flanders experience, including completely missing his dad shouting in his ear. This week we welcome Olympic gold medallist Elinor Barker who’s going…

Rarely are 14th century Italian poets invoked in press conferences. It’s usually staid comments about the legs feeling good or having faith in one’s team. It was different on Saturday, as Elisa Longo Borghini spoke eloquently about one of the biggest victories of her career. Speaking about the experience of riding Paris-Roubaix for a second time, and this time winning, the Italian said: “It’s like going through the Dantesque hell and then being in the paradise.” Riding on hard cobbles in the dust might well fit in as one of the punishments in Dante’s Inferno, but Longo Borghini conquered the pavé, attacking from over 33km out to solo to victory in the end, in a race she revealed that she wasn’t supposed to ride. She always had faith in her…

How’s France? This is my third year, I speak good French now, and I’d say that I’m a resident of France. I feel fully settled in and I’ve got a life off the bike here. I’m at the base of the Alps so the training is great. Other interests? I enjoy keeping up with politics and current affairs, and enjoy cooking too and I think being savvy in the kitchen helps me on my bike. Something I miss is a good curry and they’re hard to come by in France; I’ve got to get good at cooking them myself. What have you learned? Not to stress out about every race. The best guys are not superdrilled and not trying to perfect every single marginal gain or focusing on every minute…

At March’s Volta a Catalunya, there was a moment towards the end of stage six that demonstrated a rider’s naivety – and, perhaps, a lack of race and tactical education – but, above all, an insatiable thirst to win, and the power to do so relatively easily. With 25km remaining, and eventual stage winner Richard Carapaz and Sergio Higuita almost two minutes ahead of a beleaguered peloton, 19-year-old Juan Ayuso of UAE Emirates attacked in pursuit of the two South Americans, building a gap over the main group and distancing his team-mate, and race leader, João Almeida in the process. Although not quite as consequential, it had echoes of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome on the climb to La Toussuire in the 2012 Tour de France, of the student being…

Liam Holohan (holohancoaching.com), a former UCI pro rider with Team Wiggins, Rapha Condor and Madison Genesis, points out that breathing gains are tricky to measure. “PowerBreathe trains the muscles to be more fatigue-resistant, but it’s difficult to quantify and say convincingly that X amount of watts improvement was down to this device specifically, because you’re always doing a multitude of things to try optimise your performance. “The newer models ‘self-optimise’ and calibrate where you’re at, so as to deliver the optimum load. It’s very easy to use – you can hold your nose or pop a clip on and it’s 30 breaths, once in the morning, once in the afternoon. “When it comes to improving performance, I think this is quite far down the list of priorities with many of…

In association with TIME TRIALS SUN, 17 APRIL Kent CA 25 (Ashford, Kent): Men: 1. Christopher Fennell (The Independent Pedaler – Nopinz) 51.27 2. Nicholas Fennell (Thanet RC) 52.25 3. Ronnie Stone (Regents Park Rouleurs) 52.28 4. Sam Fuller (7Oaks Tri Club) 54.11 5. Mark Hill (VeloRefined Rule 5) 55.07 6. Paul Burrows (Thanet RC) 55.53 Women: 1. Jennifer George (The Independent Pedaler – Nopinz) 55.54 2. Kate Thomas (Lewes Wanderers CC) 1:01.59 3. Rebecca Wilson (Rye & District Wheelers CC) 1:04.49 4. Nicola Spensley (Kent Velo Girls/Boys) 1:09.20 5. Julia Barte (1904RT) 1:09.24 6. Gillian Selman (Old Portlians CC) 1:12.28 Vive le Velo 25 (Bridlington, E Yorks): Men: 1. Adam Duggleby (Chapeau! Vive Le Velo) 49:32 2. D. Brearley (Chapeau! Vive Le Velo) 52:32 3. D. Yarwood (Chapeau! Vive…

It is, in truth, hard to pin down when Paris-Roubaix started producing weirdness. In very early editions the roads weren’t really all that much worse than most of the others. And anyway, the big balloon tyres and slack frame angles of 19th Century bikes were very well suited to the cobbles. In more recent years, though, it’s become the annual chance for the special projects divisions to get themselves and their latest daft idea out there. Double-wrapped bar tape was already passé in the 1970s. Back then, of course, everyone was riding 20mm tyres that punctured as soon as the first cobble appeared, so they all got a break from the pounding while they waited for service. In the 1990s, several manufacturers (including Italian artists Bianchi, worryingly) created Frankenstein bikes…

It must be something about the theatre and atmosphere of the Roubaix velodrome that provokes riders to sprint for every last place. That’s what Pfeiffer Georgi did, sprinting to ninth place from the second chasing group on the road at Paris-Roubaix, thereby netting one of the standout results of her nascent career. The British champion said immediately afterwards that despite it being “really hard”, she “loved every minute of it”. “It was pretty crazy to be fighting for a top 10 finish,” Georgi explained. “I wasn’t expecting it today. Last year was so hard and I didn’t know how it would go but I felt really strong, and coming into this velodrome just gives you so much motivation to dig deep.” This was her fifth top 10 result in a…

ELINOR BARKER How racing prepared me for labour When I told her I was pregnant, my nutritionist suggested packing food for my labour bag as if I was going to race an omnium: lots of simple sugars for a quick bit of energy and something more substantial “in case of delays”. I imagine I’m one of few people who arrived at the hospital with a caffeine gel in my backpack. This was not the only way in which bike racing has helped me prepare, as much as anybody can ever feel truly “prepared” for childbirth. Sure, it didn’t come with the certainty of racing that I was used to. There was no course profile to look over beforehand, no start time and really no way of even knowing which discipline…

JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE QUICK STEP-ALPHA VINYL The world champion narrowly lost out on winning three stages at the Tour of the Basque Country earlier this month, taking one and being pipped in two other sprints. His performance over those flat run-ins bodes well for the finish at Liège. CW rating ★★★★ PRIMOZ ROGLIC JUMBO-VISMA He might have won it just two years ago but the Slovenian was complaining of an niggling injury behind his knee at the Tour of the Basque Country two weeks ago. There it did seem to blunt his ability to respond to attacks, so his competitiveness in Belgium likely depends on whether he’s been able to heal. CW rating ★★★ MATEJ MOHORIC BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS If this course were a Grand Tour stage it’s definitely the kind of…

I do get why everyone is so excited by Mathieu van der Poel, he is an attacking racer not afraid to put it all on the line for the win – the same goes for Tadej Pogačar in the mountainous stage races – but are we in danger of having a new era of total dominance? For the next 10 years the main question any racer will have is, can you beat one of these guys? There will no doubt be moments along the way that are exciting but I fear we could see a predictable few years of racing ahead. The women’s sport, by comparison, seems to have a much more even spread of riders who can win any given race, certainly now Annemiek van Vleuten no longer seems…

ONE UP Canyon Endurace CF 7 All Road £2,949 Even the most expensive bike in the Endurace CF range comes in under £3,000. This model gets 35mm Schwalbe Allround tyres, wider DT Swiss Endurance LN wheels and a SRAM Rival eTap AXS 2x12 electronic groupset. ONE DOWN Canyon Endurace CF 7 £1,949 The entry-level spec is based around a Shimano 105 groupset and there’s a bright red colour option but otherwise it’s pretty much the same as the Ultegra mechanical version, with the same Fulcrum Racing 900 DB wheels.…

“Around 80% of us have dysfunctional breathing patterns,” says Jamie Clements, breathwork coach (thebreathspace.co.uk). “But the breath can play a pivotal role in managing the autonomic nervous system (ANS), calming the sympathetic branch of the ANS – fight or flight response – and prompting the parasympathetic branch – so-called ‘rest and digest’ – to ease anxiety.” “If we can start to shift our breath to a slow, gentle, nasal, belly breath, we stimulate the vagus nerve to lower the heart rate and bring a sense of peace to mind and body.” Go-to breathing exercises for anxiety: • Extended exhale: Inhale through the nose for four seconds, Exhale out of the nose or mouth for eight seconds. • Cadence breathing: Inhale through the nose for three seconds, hold for three seconds;…

Castle Coombe Summer Series Date: Thurs 5 May The Castle Combe racing circuit has long been a favourite of riders in and around Wiltshire. This year the annual summer series is back for seven nights of Thursday-night action. There are categories from youth right up to adults. Nonadult races may be shortened if daylight becomes an issue. Yorkshire Clarion 19.6m TT Date: Sat 7 May This race on the V461 course is not one to attack from the gun, as while the first half is mostly flat or rolling, there’s a not insignificant climb half way and from there, although the overall trajectory is down to the start, there is still a final little kick at the end. Closing date: Tues 26 April…

On Christmas Eve 2019, a hired hitman shot a music producer on his doorstep on a London Street where I used to live. It was a Swedish gangland hit, one of a tiny handful that has not yet been turned into a 10-episode Scandi-noir Netflix series. The hitman made his getaway, laudably, by bicycle. Being the Swedish drugs mafia, they bought what they thought was an inconspicuous stepthrough (“woman’s”) bike with a basket on the front, because that’s the unisex solution to all things cycling in Sweden. In London, the sight of a bulky assassin-type making his escape on it was so distinctive that it helped the police track him all the way back to his base. So far this is the first Act of Cycling Stupidity that has led…

Wout van Aert rode to an impressive second place in Paris-Roubaix in his first race back from Covid but it raised questions about what might have been had he been fully fit in the run-in to the race. He himself admitted to such thoughts, but preferred not to overindulge on the matter. “Looking back can always be nice at times, but it can be difficult at times as well. I’m in a struggle between these two,” he said. “Of course, everything went well this year until two days before Flanders. Without the sickness, it would have looked a lot better now. I was really ready for this period, and even though not everyone believes me, today I showed that after sickness I’m still able to ride to a podium. That…

Young British rider Jake Stewart is confident he can still achieve his potential in the sport despite a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, which destroyed his Spring Classics campaign. The Groupama-FDJ rider revealed last week he had been diagnosed with the lifelong condition, which causes inflammation in the intestines, after first experiencing stomach cramps on a training camp in Spain in January. “There’s no reason it should hugely impact me in the sport” He told Cycling Weekly: “The night before I flew out, I’d had a stir-fry for dinner. And I was convinced I’d given myself food poisoning. My guts were all over the place but it didn’t really come to anything, just kind of stomach cramps, and a bit of a dodgy belly.” The 22-year-old said that the worst his…

Sheffield’s Wednesday win Young Ineos Grenadiers rider Magnus Sheffield won his second pro race at Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday last week after breaking free of the leading group in the final kilometres. Sheffield went free from a group containing two of his team-mates – 2021 winner Tom Pidcock and Ben Turner. “I just felt unbelievable when I found myself off the front with those last kilometres. I really didn’t expect to be able to hold on,” said the American. Tony Martin has Olympic medal returned Time trialling legend Tony Martin had his Olympic silver medal returned to him after he auctioned it off to raise money for children in the Ukraine conflict. In March, he announced he would be auctioning “the biggest trophy” of his career to raise money for…

After two pandemicstricken years of maskwearing, ventilating and protecting our respiratory systems from a lethal threat in the air, it seems an appropriate time to focus on how breathing affects the way we ride. The coaching community is divided over the claims surrounding ‘belly breathing’ and ‘nasal breathing’. So what’s the truth? Can you train yourself to breathe better? Advocates of breathing drills insist that they yield clear advantages, while sceptics question the value of focusing on techniques that they suspect offer only the most marginal of gains. At the University of Kent’s exercise respiratory clinic, Professor John Dickinson points to consistent evidence that cyclists who improve their breathing efficiency can and do see their efforts translate into an improvement in performance. “An efficient breathing pattern reduces the work of…

Chris Froome exploded onto the world stage at the World Championships in 2006 with a time trial ride that today is remembered mainly because three seconds after the start he and his bike collided with an official. Froome went flying, the official went flying and, most picturesquely, the notes on the official’s clipboard took flight as if a sixth-former was throwing her A-level results in the air for a Daily Mail photographer. A decade and a bit later, Froome’s career was almost brought to an end by another TT bike crash, this time when he hit a wall while recceing a stage. He has suggested on several occasions now (including after Egan Bernal crashed into a stationary bus in Colombia in January and after Alexey Lutsenko’s recent spill training in…