Innehållsförteckning för July 14, 2022 från Cycling Weekly

Afrenetic and high-paced first half of the Tour de France has left teams wondering if breakaways will be allowed to succeed more frequently as the race enters its most decisive period. Before the first proper rest day in Morzine on Monday, seven of the first nine stages had been won from the peloton, with the only exceptions being Israel-PremierTech’s Simon Clarke winning from the break on stage five, and Bob Jungels (AG2R-Citroën) holding off an oncoming peloton on the ninth stage. Some French riders, including Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels), have questioned whether UAE-Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma – both with two stage victories apiece at the time of publication – really need to try and dominate each stage, noting from history that the peloton and spectators don’t usually take too kindly…

Ineos Grenadiers went into the second week with two leaders as opposed to their original three, after Dani Martínez lost over 16 minutes on stage nine. Across the first nine days, their leaders and stage hunters were not given the same level of protection as a leader in a sole leadership team, such as Tadej Pogačar at UAE-Team Emirates. “Our leaders are aware that at times they will have to put our nose in the wind,” the British team’s DS Steve Cummings says. “They’re aware of their own strengths and weaknesses. The main thing is that we ask for full commitment and sometimes that means sacrifice.” Cummings explains that an open discussion is the only way to choose the right team strategy. “It’s our plan and everyone contributes to it…

Funny how we are not used to seeing this type of riding. I would rather watch this than the next two weeks we might be watching. I was so hoping he would succeed so the GCN talking heads would eat their words. Joe McNamara Going out in a blaze of yellow glory is what he was doing. The jersey was gone the next day. Terry Brownell Going down in a blaze of glory… He knew he’d lose the yellow jersey… Why not get maximum team exposure and individual recognition for being one of the best cyclists in the world!! He mixed it up and made everyone think, instead of making it a procession. Rich Bradley I think it was a rush of blood to the head. Lose the jersey? He…

How fit you are is a question that’s fundamental to the racing cyclist. “Feeling fit?” is a standard greeting, to which the answer is traditionally the first excuse of the day. You reply, “No. Been struggling a bit recently, I’m getting over a cold/Covid-19/birth of first child/ageing process/lack of motivation.” No one ever greets replies to this with the words, “Right enough, you don’t look fit.” They should. You can test your fitness in a number of ways. Because this is science, the word ‘ways’ is replaced by the word ‘protocols’. (That is how you know it’s science.) Accepted protocols include ramp tests, where you ride harder and harder till you just break, or time-to-exhaustion, which is the same but at a steady pace, and lasts for hours rather than…

“I think we have the strongest team in the Tour de France” We have the strongest team in the Tour. That was Tadej Pogačar’s message for anyone underestimating his UAE Emirates squad as the race went into its second full week. The Slovenian had been wearing yellow since taking the jersey from Wout van Aert on stage six to Longwy, and on Sunday night in Châtel he led the race by 39 seconds from Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard, with Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) third at 1.17. “If you watch the stage today you can see we were pulling in the front,” he said at the finish when asked about the strength of his team. “We have one guy down so we’re already one less. I think we have the strongest team…

For many riders, a first Tour de France is about growing up after experiencing the sheer speed and pressure that comes with the biggest bike race in the world. Modern cycling demands something different. Tadej Pogačar came into the Grand Tour and won it at his first attempt in 2020, and his second attempt too. Today, young men come into their first edition eyeing results. Tom Pidcock, the 22-year-old Ineos Grenadiers rider, is no different. Fresh from an impressive Classics season, where he finished third at Dwaars door Vlaanderen and fifth at Brabantse Pijl, he has been thrown into his first Tour for the demanding team. “The stress is a bit more, the speed not so much yet,” he explained ahead of stage four. “We haven’t raced properly, maybe today…

STAGE FOUR TUESDAY 5 JULY DUNKIRK TO CALAIS (171.5KM) Winner: Wout van Aert, Jumbo-Visma Yellow: Wout van Aert Van Aert produced a stinging solo attack with 11km remaining, leaving every other rider in his wake. The peloton tried its best to bring him back, but the Belgian proved too strong, too powerful, in the closing stages. Comfortably winning, van Aert crossed the line flapping his arms like a bird. Hero of the day: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) Sprinting for the line, Philipsen raised his arms aloft in celebration, ecstatic with his maiden Tour victory. Although, it wasn’t. Van Aert had finished eight seconds earlier – Philipsen had come second but like a hero he could laugh at himself. STAGE FIVE WEDNESDAY 6 JULY LILLE TO WALLERS-ARENBERG (157KM) Winner: Simon Clarke, Israel-Premier…

STAGE 4 WOUT THE HELL?! So stage four was a lot more lumpy than the days we had in Denmark. I actually enjoyed the fact we were pressing on more than the previous two stages. It sounds odd but sometimes you feel worse cruising along in the bunch waiting for the finale. Everyone knew the last kicker was going to be hard, but definitely not that hard. I had flashbacks to the first stage of Paris-Nice when I saw Jumbo-Visma at the front of the bunch and I knew what we were in for. I did my best-ever two-minute power up the climb, it was flat-stick. Jack Haig did the same. There was no stopping Wout, don’t even want to think about the power he must have done. To then…

Jumbo-Visma staged a surprise raid on the Côte du Cap Blanc-Nez on the way to Calais. First Tiesj Benoot stretched out the peloton then Wout van Aert snapped it into tiny pieces. At the top, he was alone. By the finish, the peloton was bearing down on him, but it was too late, the stage was his. “Did I surprise you?” he asked defending champion Tadej Pogačar as the pair warmed down behind the podium. “A little bit,” the Slovenian replied. “You dropped your guys also though, so I was lucky.” It shouldn’t really have been a surprise. Jumbo-Visma pulled the same trick on a similar climb in Paris-Nice in the spring, only that time it was three of their riders who rode a team time trial to the finish…

As was expected Annemiek van Vleuten took a third Giro Donne victory last Sunday, and afterwards warned her rivals she is feeling good ahead of the Tour de France Femmes. The reborn women’s version of the Tour de France begins on 24 July, giving the Movistar rider, and a few others, only two weeks to recover and reclaim their form, setting an unprecedented conundrum. Others have approached the task with lesser ambitions, but van Vleuten’s Italian performance should strike fear – or maybe resignation – into the hearts of those who would try to usurp the undoubted queen of stage racing. “I come out of this tour, it sounds almost arrogant, but quite fresh,” the Movistar rider told reporters. “I did so many hours of training that my capacity for…

What are you watching? The schedules are very tight, so I can’t watch too much, but usually I’m watching the highlights and preparing for the next stage. I am addicted to the race! It’s a good sign, actually, as it seems that I am in the right business. It’s a very demanding race so far so we need to be well prepared. Are you still managing Accrington Stanley on Football Manager? I’m not playing at all at the moment. Why? I got married! I picked up playing golf and that also takes a lot of time. It’s true, it’s not a classy sport, I am used to playing Accrington – I have grown up. Who’s your roommate? Nils Politt – he’s a snorer, but I have decent ear plugs. He…

Two team-mates hand in hand, beaming in collective triumph as they took the stage honours in one of cycling’s most iconic mountain finishes. That is at least what fans and onlookers saw on 21 July 1986, as maillot jaune Greg LeMond ushered five-time winner Bernard Hinault across the line just ahead of him, the friendly gesture between the two signifying the French patron’s apparent blessing of his young American team-mate in his quest for a maiden victory. Alpe d’Huez has played host to some legendary cycling battles in its time, and it’s likely to do so again this week, but it doesn’t get more memorable than this Franco-US truce. Hinault and LeMond both rode for the French La Vie Claire team which, with its iconic Mondrian-style jersey, is often cited…

Toms Skujins’s Trek Madone Trek-Segafredo’s Toms Skujins hit the first few stages of the Tour on the US brand’s new Madone SLR. It has been redesigned to cut weight and increase aerodynamics and comfort. The most obvious change is the cut-out in the seat tube area. It’s called IsoFlow, and supposedly offers just as much compliance while saving 300g. That’s not the only change on the new Madone. A redesigned cockpit system gets riders into a more ergonomic position, with flared drops and slightly sloped tops with narrower hoods. Trek partner with Wahoo, and Skujins has an Elemnt Bolt out front. Trek-Segrafredo riders roll on a suite of SR AM Red eTap AXS components. Skujins has opted for a 54/41 chainring combo on his SR AM crankset, along with a…

Cyclists have always been hungry for knowledge. And it’s almost always knowledge on, 1: How can I ride my bike faster? Or, 2: Can I ride my bike at all? Two simple desires that we have shared with each other ever since a person first sat on a self-propelled contraption with two wheels. The cycling media helps in this sense with Q& As. Back in 1948 the advice was interesting to say the least, but some of it very sound. “I should be pleased to know when, and under what conditions, one may resume cycling after an appendix operation,” wrote an anonymous reader. It was a Dr C. R. Woodard ‘The athlete’s specialist’ who answered this and other questions. “It isn’t a case of when you resume cycling as how…