Innehållsförteckning för June 8, 2023 från Cycling Weekly

I recently rode up to Crystal Palace Park for the Tuesday evening crits. Not to race – I’m not a complete glutton for punishment – but to marshal. The park is a beautiful little oasis in South London with a rolling landscape filled with mature trees, a small lake and plenty of space. A lovely place to be on a summer’s evening. Although I have spent a few summer evenings up there getting dropped, wondering why I bothered, and not seeing it in such a positive light. Road and cross racing has been taking place there for at least 60 years, and I was happy to see the scene still thriving, with lots of races taking place, ranging from kids of eight or nine years old up to elites. My…

Tour de France to reintroduce strict Covid-19 protocols The organisers of the Tour de France are set to implement a new Covid-19 protocol at the race this July, which will see interaction between fans and riders reduced. This follows a slew of cases at the Giro d’Italia. In a bid to reduce the risk of infections, the Tour de France has laid out a new protocol, including the compulsory wearing of face masks at starts and finishes, and limiting social interactions. Spoon Customs to pause carbon frame production British bespoke bike manufacturer Spoon Customs announced that it will be suspending the production of its awardwinning carbon bike, the Vars Disc, to manage the backlog caused by “the perfect storm” of supply chain issues in 2022. Issues have led to some customers…

The BMC Kaius is a new platform for the Swiss brand. It was designed with the UCI Gravel World Champs in mind and even went on to take the top step of the inaugural podium, piloted to victory by none other than Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. It is a phenomenally fast bike. Although the Kaius isn’t quite as lightweight as the Crux (the claimed frame weight is 910 grams compared to 725 grams) it has a lower front end – the lowest on test – enabling you to get a more aggressive and aerodynamic riding position. This is backed up by two other superlatives: the shortest wheelbase and the (joint) lowest bottom bracket on test. It’s an interesting combination, generally bikes with a shorter wheelbase have faster handling, whilst a lower BB…

Dr Desire Coelho, a nutritionist, author and keen amateur cyclist, urges all cyclists to stick to these golden rules: Sleep well: “Adequate sleep is key to both health and performance, and can even influence your appetite. Lack of sleep can increase ‘hedonistic hunger’, i.e. hunger that has nothing to do with what your body needs and everything to do with how tasty you find certain foods.” Eat plenty of protein: “Cyclists are rightly very focused on carbohydrate intake but making sure that you eat plenty of high-quality, lean protein – 1.5-2g per kilo of body weight per day – can help you build and maintain muscle mass, even while losing weight, and can keep you feel fuller for longer.” Plan ahead: “Failing to plan really is planning to fail – don’t…

David Millar is a man who knows Mark Cavendish better than most. The now retired pro was part of the Great Britain squad the day Cavendish won the World Championship road race in Copenhagen in 2011. Millar shared a touching tribute to the Manx Missile on the website of clothing brand CHPT3, which recalled that day and the belief Cavendish instilled in those around him. “I was road captain that day and we had the audacious plan of controlling the race for the entire 266km,” Millar wrote. “Only having Mark as your leader could inspire such confidence. In hindsight we had quite a good team – after all, three of its members would end up winning the Tour de France – but still, it was unheard of to use such…

Cannondale is a brand with a reputation for doing things differently and, on the whole, that bears out in the Topstone. But let’s start with the frame specs and geometry. Like the Trek Checkpoint, the Topstone has clearance for 700x45c tyres or 650bx2.1in, but this is combined with chainstays which are among the shortest (420mm), and the shallowest bottom bracket drop on test, at just 67mm. Still, despite the unusual combination, the Topstone pulls it off. The ride had a strong bent towards the fast and the snappy, responding immediately to line adjustments and in the cornering – but still felt controlled. Naturally, Cannondale’s new Smart-Sense system gets a look in here, with the option to choose a model with integrated front and rear lights (as well as a rear-facing…

Scott deserves credit for just how attentive it’s been to the changing contours of the ‘gravel scene’. The first Addict Gravel was unveiled right back in 2017, making Scott one of the first big bike brands to commit to the category. The next step was to refine the racing pedigree of the platform. As such, this second iteration of the Addict Gravel was one of the first models to be designed specifically for the UCI Gravel World Champs. Like the Specialized Crux and BMC Kaius, Scott’s Addict Gravel prioritises speed over bikepacking functionality: it too eschews a triple-bossed fork in favour of a lighter and more minimalist design. The concessions to luggage are confined to down tube bosses for an extra cage and mounting points for a bolt-on top tube…

Body weight: The combined total of your muscle, fat, bones, body organs and fluids. Body weight can fluctuate by as much as 1-2kg a day, mainly due to alterations in fluid and food intake. Body composition: Generally reported as the proportion of fat to muscle (e.g. body fat percentage). This can be measured by DXA scan, skinfold assessments or bioelectrical impedance. Each of these provides imperfect estimates, and are best used to track your own progress, rather than to compare with others or to compare to reference ranges. Power-to-weight ratio: Your sustainable power (watts) divided by your body mass (kg). The higher your power-mass ratio, the stronger you will feel on your bike, particularly when climbing. Energy balance: The balance between calories consumed and calories burnt. Every cell, organ and…

How did you get started in cycling? My dad [Jonny] was a rider and took my younger brother [Lucas] and me on family cafe rides on Saturdays from a young age. We did that for years and didn’t take it seriously until we were about 16. My dad took us to some national races, and we got into racing that way – very casual to begin with. Your dad was also a motorbike champ – quite the mentor! Yeah, and he’s still super-competitive! Racing has been part of our family our whole lives. Dad was the driving force: he’d always say he didn’t want to take us to a race unless we were going to be competitive. In terms of cornering skills, he’s definitely taught me and Lucas the tricks of…

This year’s Giro d’Italia wasn’t a classic. But that final time trial stage, with its simple two-part flat opening switching abruptly into a horrendously steep second half, was so dramatic that it rekindled a suspicion I sometimes have that what we’re watching isn’t a sport at all, but a carefully scripted entertainment. In this particular conspiracy, those radio earpieces don’t just link back to the team director in the car, they link to the live TV director. “OK, Primož, we’ve uncovered the pothole, so ride into it, press the button to derail the chain, then get off and fix it. Mitja is in position for the push, in the red T-shirt. He’s supposed to have been an old ski-jump team-mate, so a little flicker of recognition would be nice, but…

Throughout my career so far I’ve taken on a variety of roles within our team, from domestique focusing on early support and positioning, to road captain, and more recently a leader in the Classics. Over the last 12 months I’ve also had the opportunity to be a leadout for the two fastest sprinters in the world right now, Charlotte Kool and Lorena Wiebes. With this comes quite a bit of pressure, but if executed well, a lot of success. It’s a role that demands fearlessness, communication and in a lot of cases, patience, and one which I enjoy immensely. A fundamental part of a good leadout is knowledge of the course and timing your effort as a team – focusing on the key moments and choosing when to invest and…

I can’t believe how little space you gave Mark Cavendish in last week’s issue of CW. Just completing such a mountainous edition, in foul weather, is an achievement. But to win the final stage in Rome was remarkable. The greatest road sprinter ever, in his final year, producing that sort of performance was incredible. And what about the other British riders? Not a mention for Jake Stewart in his first Grand Tour, sixth on the final stage as well. Give them the credit they deserve. Mick Ives, email Ed – We had a really tough call to make last week as we’d prepared our Giro coverage around Geraint Thomas winning the race only for him to lose it on the penultimate day. We even had a double-page spread on Cav…

Having recently unveiled our selection for Race Bike of the Year, the time has now come to take this show off the road - and onto the trails! Welcome to Cycling Weekly’s 2023 Gravel Bike of the Year awards. The very first thing to note is that gravel is in the process of ascending from being a sub-category of drop-bar bikes – think endurance, aero, lightweight, etc – to sit atop of a genre of its own. Just as mountain bikes can be split into crosscountry, enduro, downhill et al – each getting progressively burlier and more capable – the same is true for gravel bikes. At the lightest and fastest end of the gravel spectrum, we have ‘all-road’ bikes, which feather the transition between endurance road bikes and those…

The Checkpoint is a particularly exciting platform. The previous iteration was already quite unique and really stood out from the crowd. But Trek has since given the Checkpoint another revamp – a shame for the previous model’s diehard fans, although it opens the gates for new ones. What hits the hardest is the loss of the ‘Stranglehold’ dropouts, which enabled you to adjust the chainstay length by up to 15mm (to a minimum of 425mm). This put the previous Checkpoint in line with most quick-handling gravel race bikes. As it is, Trek has now fixed the chainstays at 435mm and reoriented the Checkpoint to be a bit more of a milemuncher. The carrying capacity has been greatly increased by the addition of triple mounts on the fork legs and additional…

Despite the breadth of Ribble’s drop-bar off-road range, the Gravel SL still finds itself balancing a couple of different purposes. On the one hand, it is a lightweight carbon gravel bike built for speed. The Gravel SL boasts aero flourishes, from kammtail tube shapes to its dropped seatstays and one-piece cockpit. It’s lightweight, responsive to accelerations and has the third lowest stack height on test. Then again, the Gravel SL also comes bedecked with bosses and mounting points for pretty much any attachment you could think of. There are top tube and underside-of-the-down tube bosses (which complement the sets inside the main triangle) and triple bosses on the fork legs. There are even mounts for a pannier rack and mudguards. Essentially, the Gravel SL is a beast of burden and…

Whereas so many gravel bikes cater for one niche or another, the Giant Revolt manages to straddle a much wider section of the spectrum than most. Still, it’s not a jack of all trades and master of none; it goes toe-to-toe with the best on either end – even offering some unique features which really make it stand out from the crowd. “Compliance is utterly exceptional” Let’s take a run through all those spec details which make the Revolt quite so distinctive. After that, I’ll share how it all played together in the ride. As I mentioned previously, the Giant Revolt manages to both have its cake and eat it regarding the seatpost set-up. The stock D-Fuse seatpost is said to provide 12mm of flex (and you really can feel…

Many cyclists use tracking apps and wearable devices to monitor their energy intake and expenditure. These can be useful to monitor progress and to identify potential areas for improvement. But take the actual numbers with a very large pinch of salt. Energy expenditure is notoriously difficult to measure, and most apps and fitness devices provide only a rough estimate at best. So go ahead and track if you find it useful, but don’t obsess over these numbers. Instead, focus on your performance stats, and listen to what your body is telling you – not your watch.…

TIME TRIALS SUNDAY, 4 JUNE a3crg 50 (Petersfield, Hampshire): Men: 1. Paul Burton (Paceline RT) 1:39.26 2. S. McNamara (Sigma Sports-Cannondale) 1:41.25 3. H. Shaw (trainSharp) 1:43.45 4. A. Jones (VMCC powered by Y Beic) 1:44.08 5. H. Bayley (Blazing Saddles) 1:44.34 6. A. Rivett (VC St Raphael) 1:45.14 Women: 1. Simone Mitchell (a3crg) 1:57.06 2. L. Brooke (Wahoo-Le Col) 1:57.32 3. C. Emons (a3crg) 2:01.25 4. E. O’Toole (Districts of Hamwic Cyclesport) 2:06.32 5. K. McSeveney (a3crg) 2:14.29 6. J. Smailes (VC Venta) 2:17.40 Merlin Cycles Classic Series 28 (Circuit of Greystoke Forest, Cumbria): Men: 1. Lewis Wake (Team Kirkley Cycles) 19.18 2. M. Schubert (Darlington CC) 19.46 3. M. Anderson (GTR Return to Life) 20.02 4. E. Adam (Durham City Velo) 20.04 5. D. Yarwood (ADDFORM-Vive le Velo)…

Word reaches us of a young rider, keen to hone his ‘pro’ skills. Having seen a rider in the Giro d’Italia using his back wheel to flick a stray bidon off the road for the safety of the peloton, he decided to perfect the same trick. He put a bottle on the road on the street outside his house, and started work. After an hour or so he’d managed the bit where you jump your back wheel out and recover. And, after another 15 minutes, he connected with the bottle. It zinged off the road, bounced off a neighbour’s wheelie-bin, and straight back under his front wheel, causing him to crash into a flower bed.…