Innehållsförteckning för May 5, 2022 från Cycling Weekly

You may remember a few weeks back I was asking to hear from those who had been or were getting back to training post Covid. Thanks to all those who got in touch. Unsurprisingly lots of you had the virus in the past few months and it seems like no two experiences are the same. It struck down all three of our Fitness Project riders in the last month or so (see page 50) and like many of you they have taken a very cautious approach to returning to training. I have too. Although I struggled to find sports specific advice, and didn’t take 10 days off completely once symptoms had disappeared as some have advised, I have only done short training rides – nothing over 90 minutes – and…

I first rode a bike when I was five or six years old. I pestered my dad till he got me one. It was much too big for me, I could only just reach the pedals, so he swapped it for a Royal Enfield with 18 inch wheels and rod brakes. I used to ride that bike round the streets of Paddington not knowing where I was going but always finding my way back. One day I decided to ride round the block. As I was turning right out of Elgin Avenue (without signalling) I was hit by a Rolls Royce (they were very quiet then) and was thrown across the road, landing on the pavement on the other side. The driver picked me up, put me in the back…

After nine whole years away, Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, 36, Great Britain) returns to the Giro d’Italia, and remains one of the men to beat in the sprint. The Manxman has a phenomenal record here, having won 15 stages in just five appearances, and could add to that tally with the might of Quick Step’s leadout train supporting him. The only sprinters with comparable Giro returns are Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal, 27, Australia) and Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ, 30, France), who both have five wins from three appearances. Ewan has the best form, following recent stage victories at the Tour of Turkey and Tirreno-Adriatico, whereas Démare has struggled to find his best legs for over a year now. It’s been even longer since we’ve seen the best of multiple stage winner…

If you want some idea of how little influence I have at Cycling Weekly, I’ll point you in the direction of the regular feature the magazine now has about readers’ ‘pain caves’. If we cyclists, as a group had sat down to brainstorm the most instantly effective means of making ourselves look very, very strange to outsiders, this name is it. Look at it this way, if someone called at your house and over a cup of tea you casually asked if they wanted to see your pain cave, one of two things would happen. Either they’d run away so fast they’d leave a human-shaped hole smashed in your front door, or you’d end up showing your turbo trainer to a deeply disappointed person who was actually expecting to be…

SEAN FLYNN, 22 Swiss Racing Academy Chambéry, France What’s your background? As a youth rider I always raced road, track, cyclo-cross and mountain bike, and was on the GB MTB programme when I did some races with the road guys and decided to focus more on the road. I raced with SEG last year with the plan of a dual programme, but due to Covid I only raced road. Why commit to the road? I felt that I had reached a plateau with my mountain biking, and when I started to invest properly into the road, I got more into the rhythm of it and was competitive in big races at the end of last year. You’re at a new team? SEG folded sadly, but I really enjoyed being part…

Caja Rural-Seguras RGA rider Eduard Prades suffered a particularly ignominious end to stage one of the Tour of Hellas, when his saddle collapsed underneath him as he celebrated on the finish line and he crashed. To make matters worse, he hadn’t actually won – Prades had not realised that Bolton Equities-Black Spoke rider Aaron Gate had crossed the line solo two minutes earlier. At least he held on for second. Fab’s new team Former Classics star Fabian Cancellara has announced the launch of his new team, Tudor Pro Cycling, for 2023. The seven-time Monument winner will take ownership of Continental-level team Swiss Racing Academy, with the intention to register them as a ProTeam next season. He said: “Today is a great day. It is a project focused on and born…

1 FRIDAY 6 MAY BUDAPEST - VISEGRAD | FLAT 195 KM Hungary will at last host the Grande Partenza, two years after the Covid pandemic scuppered plans to do so in 2020. The first ever Grand Tour stage held on Hungarian roads will be a mostly flat affair, but an uphill finish to the beautiful medieval castle in Visegrad, overlooking panoramic views of the Danube Bend, rules out the pure sprinters. Instead, the first pink jersey of the race will go to whichever fast-finishing puncheur can hang on for the five kilometres of climbing (at an average gradient of five per cent), or a climber with a rapid enough finishing kick. 2 SATURDAY 7 MAY BUDAPEST - BUDAPEST | INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL 9.2 KM Even compared with the many glorious…

PELLO BILBAO 32 | Bahrain Victorious | Esp He might not be one of the peloton’s star names, but Bilbao has quietly been one of the better stage racers in recent years, finishing fifth at the 2020 Giro and ninth at the Tour de France last year. He’s made the most of the increased leadership opportunities given to him this year by finishing third at the UAE Tour and fifth at his home Tour of the Basque Country, and so could step up for Bahrain-Victorious if Mikel Landa falters. HUGH CARTHY 27 | EF Education-EasyPost | GBr Riding under the pressure of increased expectations following his podium finish at the Vuelta a España the year before, Hugh Carthy struggled for his best legs at last season’s Giro and rode solidly…

In association with SUN, 1 MAY Welsh CA 25-Mile Championship (Usk, Monmouthshire): Men: 1. Jake Sargent (FTP Racing) 47.37 2. M. Cox (Guernsey Velo Club) 47.55 3. T. Ward (Ward WheelZ) 48.18 4. T. Scorer (RNRMCA) 48.26 5. C. Gibbard (Bynea CC) 48.30 6. O. Burgess (UF Rowe & King) 49.49 Women: 1. Hannah Saitch (Horsepower Coaching) 57.23 2. C. Emons (a3crg) 59.16 3. K. Jackson (Guernsey Velo Club) 59.31 4. R. Comins (Newport Phoenix CC) 1:02.15 5. J. Jago (Performance Cycles) 1:02.26 6. E. Wyatt (Hereford & Dist Wh) 1:02.44 Scottish 10-mile Championships (Bishopton, Renfrewshire): Men: 1. Douglas Watson (GTR Return to Life) 19.57 2. R. Bunyan (Torvelo Racing) 20.22 3. S. Taylor (GTR Return to Life) 20.29 4. M. Anderson (GTR Return to Life) 20.42 5. R. Mitchell…

RICHARD CARAPAZ 28 | Ineos Grenadiers | Ecu Giro starts: 2 Best GC result: 1st, 2019 Best stage result: 3 stage wins, 2018 and 2019 When Egan Bernal’s career was put on hold following his severe training crash in January, there was much speculation that Richard Carapaz would take his place as Ineos Grenadiers leader for the Tour de France. After all, the yellow jersey has historically been the team’s main focus at the expense of every other race, and after Bernal, Carapaz is their best Grand Tour rider. That Carapaz did not change course testifies to how much more seriously Ineos Grenadiers take the Giro these days. Starting with Chris Froome’s first pink jersey in 2018, they’ve won three of the last four editions, and are favourites to do…

Most likely to attack at any given moment MATHIEU VAN DER POEL 27 | Alpecin-Fenix | Ned Despite having only ever raced one week of a Grand Tour, van der Poel has already won a Tour stage and spent six days in the yellow jersey. He’s simply the most powerful rouleur in the world, and has the attacking instincts to potentially explode the peloton to pieces anytime, anywhere. Most likely to win the time trials TOM DUMOULIN 31 | Jumbo-Visma | Ned Though his climbing form since returning to racing after taking a break from cycling last year suggests there won’t be a repeat of his pink-jersey winning ride of 2017, a silver medal at last year’s Olympics proves that Dumoulin is already back among the very best time triallists…

Wahoo acquired Speedplay in 2019 and launched an overhauled, pared back and improved version of the range in March 2021. The Powrlink Zero is built around the Speedplay Zero pedal with its stainless steel spindle and, like the standard Wahoo Speedplay pedals, is compatible with Speedplay cleats. The electronics are housed in a pod that sits next to the crank arm, with LEDs at its base to display power, connection and low battery. The Powrlink Zeros at 273g are lighter than the Gamin Rally (road version) and Favero Assiomas, neither of which come in under 300g – but, as with the regular pedals, the Speedplay cleat assembly which houses the spring trap mechanism is heavier than Shimano or Look road cleats. Wahoo has had to slightly increase both the stack…

Banbury Stars races Date: Sun 22 May Arguably the highlight of this pair of races is the women’s race for riders from third cat to elite that forms part of the British Team Cup, but there is also a men’s race for cats three and four in the morning before it. The course ascends the Knowle climb at Edgehill three times. Closing date: Sun 15 May Leicester Forest 25 Date: Sat 21 May This race on the A25/37 course runs up and down the A46 between Leicester and Nottingham. The men’s course record is held by champion John Archibald and is 44.50, the women’s is held by Hour record holder Joss Lowden at 52.14. Closing date: Tues 10 May…

A friend reminded me of a road race from long ago where one of our teammates was up the road in a two-up break with less than 10km to go. The bunch was indecisive. A chase would start, then peter out. Another of our team-mates moved to the front of the bunch. We assumed he was going to do a bit of blocking, but instead he put in the biggest 5km of his life to almost single-handedly tow the bunch back up to the break. In the end none of us made the top 10. When challenged (with some force) about this tactic after the race, he looked crestfallen. “I’m sorry, I really am. I just wanted to get near enough to see how the sprint worked out.”…