Innehållsförteckning för August 3, 2023 från Cycling Weekly

Whoever came up with the idea of a unified cycling World Championships deserves a big slap on the back. It’s a genius idea that I have no doubt will make for an amazing event. Cycling is the best sport in the world not just because people like me say it is, but because of its diversity. Once voted as the greatest invention of all time, the variety of things you can do on the humble bicycle is incredible. There is no other sport that can match it. From road racing to track, BMX to mountain bike, trials to artistic cycling, it’s a breadth of disciplines and variety of skill sets that is unrivalled in any other sporting arena. Bringing them all together and giving a bigger platform to some of…

Britons’ attitude towards cycling has been shown up as the worst of 12 countries in a new international survey conducted by YouGov. Forty-five per cent of Britons surveyed had a negative view of travelling by bike, as opposed to the 80% of Poles who favoured the twowheeled transport, according to the survey by the international data and analytics group. It’s worth underlining that YouGov was not surveying opinions on cyclists, but on cycling as a mode of transport. Cycling Weekly has reported on numerous reasons why Brits might be put off using the bike, with danger and perceived danger from traffic often coming out on top. Perhaps surprisingly, walking came out on top for Brits, with 82% having a favourable view of shanks’s pony. Less surprisingly, travel by car came…

I didn’t feel the magazine article (pages 6-7, 27 July 2023) about doping in relation to Vingegaard was a balanced article. It left the reader to speculate for themselves as to the veracity of the allegations. In my opinion, the article should also have included the doping protocol at the Tour and ideally and specifically in relation to the main players. The reader is then in a position to make their own and better informed opinion. Ed - Unfortunately the doping protocols for in and out of competition testing are very long and detailed and when it comes to things like the biological passport need a solid understanding of biology and chemistry to understand them. And when it comes to individuals and the testing being carried out there are privacy…

While Tom Pidcock is the most famous rider for non-mountain bike aficionados, Nino Schurter is getting towards the end of his career, but remains the undisputed star of men’s crosscountry racing. New Zealand’s Sam Gaze boasts the diverse achievement of being reigning champion at both the short track and the marathon, although he’s not riding the latter this time, and has tipped the man he beat last year, Andreas Seewald, to win. Young Dutchwoman Puck Pieterse counts mountain biking as one of the many cycling disciplines she’s taking by storm. Along with the more experienced Olympic champion Jolanda Neff, Frenchwoman Loana Lecomte, British hopeful and 2021 XCO world champion Evie Richards, and short track World Cup leader Laura Stigger, she’ll be the main threat to Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. The downhill events…

The ‘other’ Slovenians to watch, Primoz Roglič should be a factor in the road race and TT while Matej Mohorič is known for enjoying the races that tick over the 200km point. He’s had a quiet year, but a stage win at the end of the Tour shows he finished in good form. The man he beat, Kasper Asgreen, is part of a strong Danish team and is likely to have dual leadership with Pedersen. If there’s an early break Ireland’s Ben Healy is a good bet to be in it, as is Victor Campenaerts (Bel). If the pair are dressed head to foot in aero gear on the start line, you know what their aim is. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) should be there at the end and will be hoping…

Outside the big favourites, there are plenty of other riders capable of hitting the high notes in Glasgow. Classics rider Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) is a fast finisher who can handle tough courses so is likely to lead the team in black, yellow and red. Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser has had a sensational season, winning Ghent-Wevelgem and finishing third in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. She should mount a strong challenge to her SD Worx colleagues Vollering and Kopecky. Italy’s Marta Cavalli is an out-and-out powerhouse and will be another rider to watch. Australia’s Grace Brown will be gunning for gold in the road race and TT. The FDJ-Suez rider has won the Australian national time trial on three occasions including this year. In terms of home favourites, look out for Anna Henderson in the TT.…

Last year’s Under-23 road race winner in Wollongong, Niamh Fisher-Black (New Zealand), is eligible for the category for one more season, and has top-10 GC finishes in the recent Giro Donne and Tour de Suisse. Célia Gery was third at the Junior Ronde Van Vlaanderen and has had a good haul of top-10 finishes in stage races, with her French team-mate Julie Bego another rider to watch. Germany’s Emil Herzog won the junior road race last year and took bronze in the time trial. This year, perhaps with an eye on a space that needs filling now that Josh Tarling has moved up to U23s, Herzog takes on the time trial again.…

If you’re looking to jump out of your comfort zone in Glasgow this summer in terms of your cycling spectating, then we have just the thing for you – bike dancing aka artistic cycling. It’s an event bound to provide an entertaining spectacle while being less frenetic than a road race. WHERE IS IT? Events will be taking place in Glasgow’s Emirates arena. WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE? Artistic cycling is full of some of the most jaw-dropping feats of balance and technical skill that you’re likely to have ever seen. A lot of riders are former gymnasts, or still practise gymnastics and it will soon be clear why. Most riders start training at clubs from as young as the age of six in order to nail down the skills needed…

“The raw speed and high pressure of the discipline will get spectators off their seats in Glasgow. It’s like Mad Max on wheels, they’re not too dissimilar. It’s not identified as a contact sport, but because the course is quite short compared to mountain biking or road racing, it means riders need to make their move as quickly as possible. “In those disciplines you’ve got a lot more time and road to plan your attack, but in BMX you’ve got literally four straights and three corners, so there’s a lot more urgency to it. People go in as hard as they can, make contact and brush up against each other but that’s just part of the territory.” “The three key aspects of BMX racing that make it so special are…

Cyclists have always been obsessed with tracking their miles, it’s just the technology used for doing it that has evolved. It started with a map, pen and a paper allowing a rider to fill in a mileage chart or training diary. Cyclists rubbed along with this arrangement for many happy decades. Then in the 1980s the Avocet computer could be seen perched on the handlebars of any ‘serious’ cyclist with its little wire wrapped neatly around the front outer brake cable, then down the fork to the sensor picking up the magnet on a spoke. Soon after the first heart rate monitors, a technology born in cross-country skiing, started beeping from within the bunch as Polar stole a march on its rivals. It took time for them to catch on,…

ON EUP Cannondale Topstone 2 £4,500 The Topstone Carbon line aims to make the frameset available to a wide range of budgets. The 2 shares much in common with our review bike but rather than mixing Shimano’s GRX groupsets, it sticks to the 800 series – but still with the FSA Gossamer crankset. Other differences include a carbon SAVE seatpost, Cannondale 2 bars and stem, and a Fizik Terra Argo saddle. ONE DOWN Cannondale Topstone 4 £2,800 Dropping down the Topstone Carbon hierarchy gets you to the entrylevel 4 model. The frameset remains unchanged from the 3, as do the wheels, tyres, cockpit and saddle but the groupset is now 10-speed, and mixes Shimano GRX 400 front and rear mechs with an FSA crankset and a SunRace 11-36t cassette.…

There is no guaranteed way to prevent low back pain when cycling. However, there are sensible precautions everyone should take. Ensure your bike fits you properly: When buying a new bike, make sure you select the correct frame size, and consider the level of adjustability (bear in mind, for example, that integrated cockpits are fixed). Set up your bike to your flexibility: If you lack flexibility through your spine and hamstrings, you may need a lower saddle and/or higher cockpit position. Make an effort to improve the flexibility of your spine and hamstrings through mobility exercises. Check for saddle discomfort: Being uncomfortable on your saddle is likely to change your riding posture and lead to low-back pain. Don’t overstretch yourself: Is your training load overwhelming your current fitness? Consider whether you…

I got a puncture a couple of months ago, out for a ride on a new bike. But it was dry and sunny, there was a nice verge to fix it on, and the grass was cut short so I could find my pump when I set it down. All in all, I didn’t feel I could really complain. This breezy attitude did not last. After I took the old tube out and rolled it up, I stuck the valve of the new tube into the valve hole. It didn’t fit. The diameter of the valve was larger than the diameter of the hole. This was a whole new problem. Till this point I’d never had the tyre off the rim. Even if I had, it’s not something I’d have…

A tale of a friend’s (non-cycling) friend. He took his hybrid bike to a local bike shop because the gears had stopped indexing properly and the chain was skipping. The mechanic said he’d sort it out there and then, since it was a quiet day. He popped the bike on the stand, fiddled around for five minutes, and handed it back problem solved. He waved away all suggestion of payment, “Happy to help, mate,” he said. Our hero was sufficiently embarrassed by this small act of generosity that he’s never returned to the shop in case they give him anything else for nothing.…

Great Britain has been issued with a warning that its hardline stance on the rules of participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes will affect its chances of hosting major cycling events in the years to come. According to a report from The Times, UCI president David Lappartient has written to the minister for sport, Stuart Andrew, and claimed that the UK government does not trust the UCI to ensure that Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete at the Glasgow Worlds as neutrals. The letter from Lappartient is the latest sign of the evident backlash against the government’s insistence that Russian and Belarusian athletes must sign a separate written declaration that they do not, and will not, support the war in Ukraine or the Russian and Belarusian regimes. Lappartient wrote: “The…

Prominent rider union The Cyclists’ Alliance (TCA) and Strava are set to launch a grant to support female riders from less advantaged countries in turning professional. Speaking to Cycling Weekly at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, TCA co-founder Iris Slappendel revealed the scheme, launched a few weeks before the race. “Really, what we need in women’s cycling is more opportunities for riders,” Slappendel said. “Together with Strava, we created a fund for upcoming riders, especially from outside of Europe, so they can apply for a grant.” The grants will be between €2,000 and €5,000 and will come in the form of a one-off payment. “Let’s say you’re a rider from an African country and you want to try racing in Europe and you need to cover costs for…

Flanders crash rider handed 30-day suspension Bahrain Victorious rider Filip Maciejuk has been handed a 30-day suspension from racing for causing a crash at the Tour of Flanders. The Polish rider was judged to have been “riding outside of the race course and through a puddle on the roadside” when he crashed and caused a mass pile-up, wiping out most of the peloton. Broadcast footage of the incident supports the UCI’s conclusions. UCI conducts 997 ‘motor doping’ checks at Tour The UCI carried out a total of 997 checks for ‘motor doping’ across all 21 stages of the Tour de France last month. All were negative. 837 checks were carried out at the start of stages using magnetic tablets which were used to check for the presence of hidden propulsion…

The biggest names in world cycling will face off against each other for the elite men’s road race with the move to August meaning this year promises to be even more competitive than usual, as most will arrive in flying form following three weeks of racing at the Tour de France. At 271.1km, this race is the championships’ longest, and features Scotland’s two major cities with a start in Edinburgh and a finish in Glasgow. The 100km of road in between – where the early break will form and the peloton will cruise, aware of what is to come – sees the bunch pass through several major towns, including Falkirk and Stirling, but there’s not much by the way of climbing. Crow Road, which stands about 300m high and is…

Option one is just to provide the context for what investing in a highend bike computer and smartwatch could potentially come to. This isn’t a ceiling – there are many smartwatches more expensive than the Forerunner 955 Solar, which is actually quite competitively priced for its functionality. Option two is a suggestion for anyone who wants a small bike computer on their bars, as well as a smartwatch for the health tracking and the mapping functionality when cross training – but who absolutely doesn’t want to break the bank. If you wait for a good discount, it gets even cheaper. Option three is for someone who wants to stay within the Garmin ecosystem, but who would also like a larger screen to navigate with and the full functionality of a…

Movistar’s team performance at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift showed signs of a promising after-life once star rider Annemiek van Vleuten retires at the end of the season. The Spanish squad took two victories at the race, prevailing with young riders Liane Lippert and Emma Norsgaard, while the world champion bowed out fourth in the overall standings. “I’m fully convinced that these girls and this team are going to keep stepping up, continue growing,” team manager Sebastián Unzué told Cycling Weekly. “We have a core of young riders that still have margin to develop. I’m 100% sure that once Annemiek is not there next year, they will have the opportunity to step up.” At the Tour, van Vleuten was always among the first to celebrate her team’s successes.…

If you are searching for supreme talent, look no further than the current crop of Italian track racers. Leading the current golden generation are the likes of Elisa Balsamo (right), a former road world champion, and Martina Fidanza, who will have her sights set on taking a third world title on the trot in the scratch race. The duo also make up half of last year’s gold medal-winning team pursuit squad. Another star in the endurance ranks is 21-year-old Maike van der Duin (below). The Dutchwoman, of Canyon-SRAM’s road squad, scored two runner-up medals last time round, claiming silver in the omnium and second in the scratch race. As for the sprint events, keep an eye on Mathilde Gros’s France teammate Taky Marie-Divine Kouamé who enters the Championships days after…

FORT WILLIAM “Fort William is a known entity, it’s brutal on bikes and brutal on bodies. You need to be very, very strong and very, very fit, more so than some other courses around the world. The weather always plays a part there, but importantly most riders have raced it. It regularly hosts World Cups and unlike many other courses, it’s open all year round. The riders train and do testing there, so teams will have spent a huge amount of time prepping for this race. It’s great for spectators, probably one of the best on the circuit. Times will be tight, but look out for the French, if they’re injury free.” GLENTRESS “It’s a brand new course at Glentress, so a new challenge for the riders, although all the…

At the time of writing, it remains to be seen who will be selected in the final squad for the home Worlds. It is likely that Geraint Thomas will lead the line-up; he won the 2014 Commonwealth Games on a circuit that is not too dissimilar. He took a fine podium at the Giro d’Italia in May and is now building back up to the Vuelta. He’ll likely share leadership duties with national champion Fred Wright who had a solid, if not spectacular Tour de France. They will be supported by the likes of Ethan Hayter, Ben Swift, Owain Doull and Ethan Vernon.…

Moving from its usual penultimateday Saturday slot, this year’s elite women’s road race will have the honour of occupying the headline slot of the final Sunday, the last event of the championships. In recent years it’s reliably treated us to some of the most exciting racing of any of the events, so it’s set to ensure that the racing at Glasgow 2023 closes on a high. The riders will begin the 154.1km race from one of the nation’s most spectacular natural wonders, Loch Lomond, the largest freshwater loch in Great Britain. They depart from its southern end, meaning the nearby hills to the north will be avoided, as the riders instead make their way over flat roads, first in an eastwards direction through Stirlingshire, then southwards until they arrive at…

Seventh in the junior Ronde Van Vlaanderen this year demonstrates Imogen Wolff’s potential in the junior road race at Glasgow. The Yorkshire rider was fifth, too, in both National TT and RR this year and the first GB finisher in the road event at last year’s Worlds in Wollongong. National CX champion and national RR silver medallist Seb Grindley lines up for the junior men’s road race at Glasgow. In domestic events this year he has been more familiar with being on the podium than off it – can he continue the trend at Glasgow? Ben Wiggins (yes that Wiggins), silver medallist in this year’s National junior time trial, will be lining up against the clock, where he’ll be joined by junior Nationals winner Jacob Bush, with bronze medallist Matthew…

Reigning Olympic champion Beth Shriever is a bit of a star in the making and has plenty of results to prove it. Following her success in Tokyo the Londoner was crowned female world champion in 2021. The 24-year-old will be one of the hot favourites for a medal in Glasgow. Fellow Londoner Kye Whyte grew up in the small but thriving BMX scene in Peckham. A silver medallist at the World Champs in Nantes last year, he will be another rider to keep an eye on across the BMX racing rounds. He has tasted success in Glasgow before, winning silver in 2018 at the European Championships. Kieran Reilly and Declan Brooks will both be out to impress in the freestyle park. Reilly won gold earlier this year for GB at…

TIME TRIALS SUNDAY, JULY 30 East Sussex CA 100 (Hailsham, East Sussex): Men: 1. Nathan Russell (trainSharp) 4:02.43 2. C. Geldard (North Hampshire RC) 4:03.55 3. G. Westall (RAF CA) 4:04.34 4. C. Jones (Bynea CC) 4:06.18 5. A. Rogers (Eastbourne Rovers CC) 4:08.10 6. R. Sheridan (North Devon Velo) 4:11.57 Women: 1. Claire Emons (a3crg) 4:28.02 2. K. Mankelow (Lewes Wanderers CC) 4:44.28 3. N. Shinkins (Bournemouth Jubilee Wh) 4:47.55 4. A. Turner (Eastbourne Rovers CC) 5:17.10 Bedfordshire Roads CC 25 (Tempsford, Beds): Men: 1. Andy Critchlow (Paceline RT) 50.31 2. R. Kennington (Bedfordshire Road CC) 54.52 3. A. Fisher (Cambridge CC) 55.47 4. O. Grady (Bedfordshire Road RT) 57.19 5. J. MacRae (Bedfordshire Road RT) 57.21 6. L. Tate-Harris (Bedfordshire Road RT) 58.20 Women: 1. Emily Robertson (Bedfordshire…

Traumatic injuries in cycling are usually easier to cope with than the ones that just sneak up on you through overuse, degeneration, bad bike position or overtraining. The first step when something, like a knee or a hip, begins to hurt for no good reason is to ignore it. This phase of the treatment can last for many months, and fringe into denial. Denial is crawling into the cafe stop but telling the rest of the ride that you could walk if you really wanted to. After that comes acknowledging you have a problem, but hoping it will get better on its own. This might well work. It probably won’t, but you certainly can’t rule it out. If you’re over about 40, you can completely rule it out, but you’re…