Innehållsförteckning för September 29, 2022 från Cycling Weekly

Anyone who read last week’s editorial might remember that last weekend I was riding a 25-mile TT as part of a feature on aerodynamic kit and how fast it could make me. It’s been a long time since I’d ridden an open TT and it was nice being back at an HQ watching others mill around, getting themselves and their bikes ready for a race. Then tragedy struck. Rider John Froud was hit by a driver during the race and later in the day died of his injuries. Everybody at the event was clearly, and not surprisingly, shaken by the incident when all we knew was of John being airlifted to hospital. Many riders, myself included, rode past the scene with emergency vehicles in attendance, before we could safely turn…

On Saturday new world champion Annemiek van Vleuten capped off one of the best seasons that professional cycling has ever seen. The Dutchwoman’s victory in the women’s road race completed a triple crown of the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and the World Championships not won since Stephen Roche in 1987. Van Vleuten also won the Ceratizit Challenge, the women’s equivalent of the Vuelta a España, alongside it. After struggling and clinging onto the front of Saturday’s race for much of its 164km length she mugged everyone under the flamme rouge to solo to victory while her rivals looked at each other. It was a costly tactical mistake for a group that contained nearly all the major pre-race favourites. No one felt it more acutely than Belgian Lotte Kopecky who…

Dr Justin Carrard is a postdoctoral researcher and overtraining expert at the University of Basel in Switzerland. He explains what’s going on in an overtrained body: “There are still lots of unknowns when it comes to how overtraining syndrome affects the body. A change in the levels of hormones and their response to certain stimuli is one of the most frequently studied phenomena. For example, overtrained athletes often have elevated levels of catabolic hormones, such as cortisol and catecholamines, which tend to promote muscle breakdown. Hormonal disturbances can disrupt the body’s normal functioning, which, if it it persists, can lead to health complications. “There’s also some evidence that overtraining syndrome can have an impact on the brain. In particular, overtrained athletes may have fewer serotonin transporters and/or impaired serotonin sensitivity. Serotonin…

Afew weeks ago, while I was hanging around at a bike race, a rider I didn’t know came over to say hello, and to brag a little. “I’ve ridden my bike every single day since 1 January 1991,” he told me. “I haven’t missed a day. Not one.” I told him that was very impressive. “Would you like to know my longest ride?” he asked. “Actually, no, thank you,” I said. “But I’d very much like to hear about your shortest.” He looked confused. “I don’t know,” he said. “Probably about 20 miles?” “Even when you were ill? Or injured?” We worked our way down to a day in the early 2010s when he was suffering from pneumonia, and his ride consisted of getting his wife to bring his bike…

The overall contenders will want to bring their A-game on day one of next year’s Giro d’Italia, which kicks off on Friday 6 May with an 18.4-kilometre (11.4-mile) time trial on the Costa dei Trabocchi from Fossacesia Marina to Ortona. The time trial will be followed the next day by a 204-kilometres road stage from Teramo to San Salvo. Stage three will also start in nearby Vasto and head south. It marks the first Grande Partenza in the Abruzzo region, central Italy, since 2001. Some of the earliest GC skirmishes will also take place in the region, when the race returns on stage seven for its first summit finish above 2,000m, at Gran Sasso d’Italia, the highest mountain in the Apennine Mountains. Simon Yates won here when the race last…

It was great to read your piece on Andy Schleck (CW Sept 15). The Schleck family is a real institution in our small country and it’s good to hear his view on Tour wins and life since. I moved to Luxembourg two years ago and have been a regular visitor to his store in Itzig, which is always worth a visit. The store has weekly road rides that have helped me meet numerous like-minded folk since I got here. If you’re ever passing through Luxembourg I recommend to come on down on a Saturday to experience the incredible roads here. I can also confirm that Andy Schleck delivers on customer service. He personally replaced my jockey wheel holder for free after it gave out following a crash and I’d asked…

Fun fact: Specialized’s first product back in 1976 wasn’t a bike. It was a bike tyre. Because the best way to improve any bike’s performance is where the rubber meets the road, founder Mike Sinyard believed. The newest generation of the S-Works Turbo is said to contain its fastest, best handling and most durable performance tyres yet. In other words, the new generation S-Works Turbo tyres roll faster than their predecessors yet also maintain grip in a variety of weather and road conditions, and won’t wear out as quickly. To achieve this, the brand’s engineers applied the tried-and-tested dual compound approach, in which the centre of the tyre looks and acts differently to the sides. To elaborate, a harder and smooth compound in the centre will benefit the tyre’s durability…

There is still a lot to learn about how overtraining presents in different athletes, and the research is still playing catch-up. Nevertheless, the following checklist provides some key signs and symptoms you’ll want to watch out for: ▪ Recent increase in training load and/or infrequent recovery days.▪ Reduction in performance lasting longer than a week.▪ Changes in mood (e.g. depression, lack of motivation, anger/irritability, confusion/difficulty concentrating).▪ Subjective sense of fatigue, both on and off the bike.▪ Difficulty sleeping▪ Reduced libido▪ Increased or suppressed heart rate, or decrease in heart rate variability.▪ Unexpected weight loss or gain▪ Frequent illness…

Zoe Bäckstedt is a generational talent. Never before have we seen a junior rider reign so supreme over the rest of the field at the World Championships. That’s not my opinion, that’s a fact. Her winning margins of 1-36 in the individual time trial and 2-07 in the road race are the largest ever recorded in the junior ranks. Next year, at just 18 years old, Bäckstedt will join the WorldTour with EF Education-Tibco-SV. There the speed will be faster, the distances longer, and she’ll have a more intense racing calendar. On top of all that, she’ll be up against the strongest riders in the world. Bäckstedt’s coach at British Cycling, Emma Trott, has said we shouldn’t put too much pressure on the Welsh rider as she finds her feet…

Just when we were getting used to this year’s first paradigm shift – Jonas Vingegaard demonstrating that Tadej Pogačar perhaps wasn’t going to have it all his own way in the Tour de France for the next 10 years – Remco Evenepoel comes along with a second. That the 22-year-old is a prodigious talent was never in doubt. But much of his short career has been hamstrung by his crash at Lombardia in 2020. And somehow even a brace of Classics wins this year, at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and San Sebastián (where he also won in 2019) were not enough to move the needle, despite the former being a full-blown Monument and a traditional hunting ground of Grand Tour winners. But winning the Vuelta a España and the World Championship road race…

Kiwi gets 2.5-year doping ban New Zealand road champion Olivia Ray has been issued a two-and-ahalf year ban by USADA for a series of doping violations. The 24-year-old, who was racing for Human Powered Health in the USA, was sanctioned for the use and possession of clenbuterol and oxandrolone, plus the use of human growth hormone. She was supplied by fellow pro Jackson Nash, who was recently banned for life. Tramline compensation More than £1.2 million has been paid out to cyclists who have fallen off their bikes on Edinburgh’s tram line since 2012, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. A BBC investigation showed that 196 successful claims had been made in 10 years, due to cyclists sustaining injuries or damage to their bike after incidents on the tram…

S-WORKS TURBO RAPIDAIR 2BR (‘THE RACE TYRE’) Available in 700x26mm only, this is the tubeless race tyre that kept Yves Lampaert planted during the slippery corners in the Tour de France prologue. It’s an update from the 2019 version, which was already Specialized’s fastest race-day tyre, now with even more speed and a longer lifetime. Like the original, the RapidAir casing is made up of just two ply that overlap at the sidewall. Adding the new T2/T5 dual compound tread to the construction is said to save two watts of rolling resistance over the previous tyre while adding an impressive 1,000 kilometres of life to a set of tyres. There’s also a new hybrid-KevlarBlackbelt protection under the tread for increased puncture protection and the whole package is lighter than the…

ONE UP Grail CF SL 8 Di2 £4,199 Essentially the same bike but with a full Di2 groupset and double chainring. If you want Canyon’s best you’ll need to check out the CF SLX range with a higher-spec frame. Prices go up to £6,500 with SRAM Red, at which point you’re getting into a more lightweight, specialised bike that may not be suitable for heavy use in bad conditions. ONE DOWN Grail 7 £1,799 An aluminium version coming equipped with Shimano’s GRX groupset is a great entry point for newbie gravel riders. You get bog standard bars, stem and seatpin, but everything else is there, from the DT Swiss wheels (shallower, but still deep section to help mud slide off) to the hydraulic disc brakes.…

What to do if you find yourself in a frazzled overtrained state? Here are the key steps proposed by sports medicine experts to help you get back on track: Take at least three weeks of good-quality recovery, i.e. completely off the bike. It’s important that you’re not tempted to ramp up your training too quickly. A small amount of non-cycling activity (e.g. walking or swimming) is OK, but this should be for the purpose of fun rather than fitness. Monitor symptoms to determine when you’re ready to reintroduce riding. You might notice a temporary worsening for the first few days of rest. Once you see signs of improvement, you can slowly start to reintroduce a small amount of cycling. Start with just 10 minutes, and if you continue to see…

HILL-CLIMBS SUNDAY, 25 SEPT Allen Valley Velo (Thornley Gate, Allendale, 2.5 miles): Men: 1. Colin Atkinson (Muckle CC) 11:02.0 2. L. Ager (Muckle CC) 11:08.1 3. J. Corfield (GS Metro) 11:57.8 4. E. Dinning (Gosforth RC) 12:01.0 5. N. Stoddart (Blaydon CC) 12:18.3 6. J. MacBride (Team Kirkley Cycles) 12:23.1 Women: 1. Sarah Wilkinson (Blaydon CC) 13:06.7 2. J. Rea (Team Kirkley Cycles) 13:39.0 3. E. Powell (Durham City Velo) 14:09.4 4. M. Hall (North Tyneside Riders CC) 14:36.6 5. A. McGurk (Blaydon CC) 15:51.2 Exeter Wheelers (Stoke Hill, Devon, one mile): Men: 1. Andrew Feather (HuntBikeWheels.com) 4:16.96 2. C. MacTear (High Wycombe CC) 4:41.64 3. J. Dallyn (Team Tor 2000) 4:44.52 4. C. Start (Mid-Devon CC) 4:49.74 5. A. Lightfoot (Univ of Exeter CC) 4:54.55 6. F. Whetter (Mid-Devon…

At college, one my team-mates was a veterinary science postgrad student, as well as a very good bike rider. He won several races, but none made more impression than a crit race a few miles from Cambridge. That’s because when he was asked what race he wanted to enter, the E,1,2,3 race or the vets’ race, he was delighted to discover that there was a category for his chosen profession, and entered the vets’ event. Being a) pretty useful and b) 20 years younger than anyone else in the event, he had no trouble winning it. Veteran riders are by some distance the toughest customers in bike racing, though, so of course he didn’t manage to make off with the prize money. In fact he was probably lucky to make…