Innehållsförteckning för January 12, 2023 från Cycling Weekly

In a few days’ time the Tour Down Under returns as a fully fledged WorldTour race for the first time since 2020. Once again hundreds of riders and staff from all round the world will decamp to Adelaide, Australia, to kick off the racing season and no doubt get soundly beaten by the home riders all absolutely flying thanks to a summer of riding and lack of jet lag. There’s a part of me that’s a little surprised by its return, but the fact it’s back demonstrates the robustness of the racing calendar, and perhaps more importantly the local demand for a good bike race always being there. Its return reminds me that it wasn’t long ago that life, travel and sport were still all affected by the pandemic. And…

Brian Cookson, the former president of both British Cycling and the Union Cycliste Internationale, has spoken out once more on the difficulties faced by British Cycling last year. At the end of a tough 2022 for the UK sport’s governing body with a string of controversies over trans rights, the Queen’s funeral and its sponsorship deal with Shell, it ended without a permanent CEO after former boss Brian Facer stepped down. To add to the problems, caretaker boss Danielle Every is also heading for the exit after taking a sideways move to UK football refereeing organisation PGMOL. Writing in a blog post on his website last week, Cookson said BC has been continually “damaged by outsiders” in what he described as a “brain drain” and “hollowing out of the organisation”.…

Your readers may be interested in helping the National Cycle Museum’s latest appeal. We will be holding a fundraising Cycle Jumble on Saturday 1 April during the morning at the Automobile Palace, Llandrindod Wells. We are now appealing for unwanted cycle parts in good condition, to sell at the event. Perhaps readers had a chance to have a sort out in their garages and sheds over the Christmas break… Anyone who is able donate should contact us via our email: curator@cyclemuseum.org.uk or ring 01597 825531 and leave a message. Depending on location we may be able to collect parts. Anyone who is able to deliver parts will be entitled to free entry to the museum. Weather permitting the museum should be open during winter on Mondays from 9 January. Separate…

Understanding how much a person can gain from wind-tunnel testing isn’t straightforward. Beyond the equipment, aerodynamicists have to account for an individual’s build, as well as how comfortable and viable a certain position is. Recalling his days as British Cycling’s head of research and development, Chris Boardman says: “I think the first Olympic cycle was an average 6% improvement, which was just unbelievable. It was taking people from fourth to first. “Alex Dowsett, we couldn’t do much for him because he was already really aero. Whereas Victoria Pendleton got over 10% [performance gain] at one point.” Still, says former Olympic champion Ed Clancy, there’s more to it than just going “slippy”. “I’m telling you now, we could put you in a wind tunnel, sit you on the top tube and…

The Rayner Foundation has announced the names of the 24 riders it will support this season. They include Ben Askey, brother of WorldTour Lewis Askey, and junior national road champion Zac Walker, who will be riding in his first senior year. Thirteen of the riders will move to teams in France, five in Spain, with others finding places in Belgium, Switzerland and Italy. The Rayner Foundation, set up in 1994 in memory of popular pro rider Dave Rayner, supports young riders as they move abroad to pursue their careers, via its Springboard scheme. The Foundation celebrated its most successful year to date in 2022, with two female and five male riders finding WorldTour contracts. These included Sam Watson to FDJ, Oscar Onley to Team DSM and Josie Nelson to Coop-Hitec…

WVA’s double cross Wout van Aert won his second cyclo-cross World Cup race of the season at Zonhoven at the weekend, beating big CX rival Mathieu van der Poel into second place by a healthy 1.23min. The victory came off the back of a win the day before in the Superprestige Gullegem, as van Aert continues a fruitful cross season. The women’s elite race was won by Shirin van Anrooij of Baloise-Trek Lions. t BC streams National Champs British Cycling is to stream the action from this weekend’s National Cyclo-cross Championships at Milnthorpe in Cumbria. The junior men’s (09:55) and women’s (11:10) races, plus the elite men’s (14:25) and women’s (12:55) races – all held on the Sunday – will be available to watch on BC’s YouTube channel. 28% That’s…

Until now, wind tunnels have mostly been the domain of track riders and TT specialists. Riders competing across other disciplines may never have stepped inside one before. Now, though, with British Cycling’s new toy, comes a keen desire to test more athletes than ever. Asked what he’s most looking forward to, senior aerodynamicist Chris Hebert says: “I’m excited for this to benefit way more people in the squad than it would have done previously. “I’m excited about the fact that para-athletes, BMXers, other people on other squads will get an opportunity to avail themselves.” Former Olympic champion Ed Clancy agrees. For the three-time gold medallist, BMX in particular is a sport with a lot of untapped marginal gains to be made. “When you’re going down a start ramp, you’re approaching…

WorldTour team Cofidis announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with Look, starting in 2023. And the wheels will be from Corima – also a famously French brand. This isn’t the first time Look and Cofidis have joined forces: the team rode Look bikes from 2009 to 2014 before switching to Orbea and then De Rosa in 2020. In the interim, Look-sponsored Pro Conti team Fortuneo from 2014 to 2018, launching the original 5.9kg rim-brake 785 Huez RS during that time. Cofidis’s wheels will continue to be supplied by Corima, the team’s existing wheel sponsor. Last March both Look and Corima withdrew their partnership and technical support of the Gazprom-RusVelo team after the Ukraine invasion and have wisely decided to invest closer to home. Now, with both brands equipping Cofidis, we are…

We get it. You’re a cyclist – you enjoy riding your bike, not picking up and putting down heavy objects. But bear with us. Strength and flexibility training really does benefit cycling performance for all types of rider – research has shown it time and again. The biggest gains are made by cyclists who target their weaknesses and work towards objective targets. To that end, we’ve compiled a list of 12 key exercises, split into four categories, with benchmark targets for each. Start gradually, work on each one over the remaining weeks of winter, and we promise you’ll notice the benefit once the spring sunshine arrives. Strength benchmarks It’s an uncomfortable truth, admits British Cycling S&C coach Peter Gascoigne, but “athletes who have only ridden their bikes all their life…

CYCLO-CROSS SAT-SUN, 7-8 JANUARY National Trophy Series round six (Cyclopark, Kent): Elite Men: 1. Thomas Mein (Hope Factory Racing) 57.09; 2. J. Blackmore (Team Inspired) +0.31; 3. D. Barnes (Spectra Wiggle p/b Vitus) +1.49; 4. T. Barnes (Garden Shed UK-Ribble) +1.57; 5. M. Wuyts (Cycle Passion-Scott RT) +2.00; 6. J. Coukham (Garden Shed UK-Ribble) +2.16; 7. J. Young (Garden Shed UK-Ribble) +2.43; 8. S. Wylie (Spectra Wiggle p/b Vitus) +3.03; 9. G. Ferguson (Hope Factory Racing) +3.12; 10. S. Chisholm (The Cycling Academy) +3.33. Elite Women: 1. Millie Couzens (Crelans-Fristads) 53.53; 2. E. Maclean-Howell (Hope Factory Racing) +0.29; 3. M. De Bruyne (Proximus-Alpha Motor Homes) +3.07; 4. L. Mansfield (Montezuma’s Race Team) +3.29; 5. S. Thackray (Paul Milnes Bradford Olympic) +4.03; 6. E. Day (Ignite) +4.05; 7. C. Wiejak (Saint…

Jack Rees and Tom Timothy’s ambition for a second British WorldTour team within three years is certainly attention-grabbing. It is hard not to admire it. Forming and developing another British squad capable of reaching the WorldTour within a small time frame would create a huge buzz around the British scene and could rejuvenate it in a way which it urgently requires. Races are being cut back, and we’re now down to just three Continental teams. Bringing in big investors would certainly give British riders hope that the WorldTour is more accessible and wouldn’t necessitate a move to Europe. However, whether they are able to actually secure the type of large-scale financial backing they describe is another story. As I put to Rees, why would potential foreign investors care about a…

Thomas Mein fine-tuned his form ahead of next weekend’s National Cyclo-Cross Championships by winning the final round of the National Trophy Series in Kent. The 23-year-old from Gateshead took his second win of the season at a muddy Cyclopark, a week out from the defence of his national title. Hope Factory Racing rider Mein, who has spent large parts of his season racing in Belgium, led from the opening lap and built a winning margin despite crashing on the penultimate lap. Under-23 rider Joseph Blackmore, who finished third in last year’s Nationals, led the chase behind in the driving rain and took second while Daniel Barnes (Spectra Wiggle p/b Vitus) finished a further 1-18 behind in third. After a consistent series which included a race win and two further podiums,…

MAY 2018 The wind tunnel, conceived by Chris Boardman, opens as part of Halfords’ Boardman Performance Centre in Evesham, Worcestershire. Sessions are open to the public, starting at £195. APRIL 2020 Less than two years after opening, the Boardman Performance Centre closes following a “strategic review”. Boardman says: “It is my hope that we can find someone who is in a position to take the centre on.” JUNE 2021 Halfords donates its wind tunnel to British Cycling as a “million-pound gift”. The governing body pays £1 to receive it. OCTOBER 2022 British Cycling unveils its new wind tunnel at the Manchester Institute of Health and Performance. Cycling Weekly is invited to the ceremony, which takes place inside an astro-turfed sports hall. NOVEMBER 2022 The first members of the Great Britain…

FEW SPRINTERS can claim to have truly dominant seasons. Of course, someone always tops the pile of most wins, but in the vagaries of bunch finishes, it is rare for one rider to pile up great seasons. If we take the measure of 20 wins in one season, in the last decade only Alexander Kristoff in 2015 (20) and Peter Sagan in 2013 (22) have managed to clear this hurdle in men’s cycling. Only one woman has managed to do it in that time period: Marianne Vos, in 2013 (22) and 2014 (21). That was until her compatriot Lorena Wiebes came along in 2022. Of course, the pair are very different riders at opposite ends of their careers – there are 12 years between them – but these two Dutch…

By removing the UCI’s 3:1 regulation, which meant that tube profiles could not exceed a ratio of 3:1 between their height and width, deep-section tubes have become more exaggerated again. You only need to look at the changes made to some of the highest-profile (or lowest-profile, depending on your standpoint) aero bikes released in 2022 for confirmation of the trend. The latest iterations of the Scott Foil, Giant Propel and the Cervélo S5, for example, have seen the bikes cut new silhouettes thanks to oversized head and down tubes, beefed-up bottom bracket areas and deeper fork blades. Scott claims that the new Foil is 20% faster than the outgoing model, which equates to it being 1 minute, 18 seconds faster over 40km at 40kph. Similarly, Giant managed to shave over…

According to several press releases I’ve been sent, this is the most depressing week of the year. And so I found myself having this gloomy thought: one day I’ll go for my last ever bike ride. Same applies to everyone. One day we’ll all turn our last pedal, climb off, and put the bike away. When it comes, it seems unlikely I’ll know that’s what’s happening at the time. The days of deliberately retiring from cycling are long gone – it used to be called ‘hanging up your wheels’, and it was sort of expected of riders of a certain age. For a very long time the assumption was that a pro retiring from racing wouldn’t ride again – when Jacques Anquetil hung up his wheels, the story goes that…

I got a photo on New Year’s Eve from Alan Murchison, the only person I know who has both beaten 18 minutes for a 10-mile time trial and been awarded a star by the Michelin Guide to restaurants. It was a picture of the screen on his computer, showing a 12hr 45min ride on his turbo trainer that covered the 500km of the Festive 500 in one hit. All done on his time trial bike, in fullon aero position. “To make it interesting,” he reported, “I’d do an hour at 90rpm, then an hour at 80rpm.” He says he’s not in a hurry to do it again.…