Innehållsförteckning för February 1, 2024 från Cycling Weekly

They say moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do. Having recently gone through a move, I concur. It’s right up there with driving my wife to hospital in the middle of the night with a baby on the way and ice warnings in place; and driving up Alpe d’Huez, trying not to hit drunk Dutchmen jumping out in front of the car while gendarmes simultaneously shout ‘allez, allez!’ at me because apparently there’s a bike race coming (all while desperate to go to the toilet). The most exciting thing for me about our move is that for the first time in my adult life I own a garage. It’s little more than four bare walls but I’m already fantasising about how to create the perfect…

MATHIEU VAN DER POEL NED, 29 The Dutch doyen has been so good this winter it feels like he could cruise to victory riding at 80% this weekend, especially without Wout van Aert or Tom Pidcock on the start line. His near two-minute win ahead of van Aert on New Year’s Day was his most emphatic this winter. CW rating ★★★★★ CAMERON MASON GBR, 23 Ninth in last year’s elite Worlds, Mason has had a solid season so far and targets a top 10 at Tábor. He won the elite British Nationals and has ridden eight World Cup races, his best finish being eighth place at Maasmechelen back in October. CW rating ★★★ ANNA KAY GBR, 24 New British elite champion Kay will be one of GB’s top women for…

Dear UK cyclists, I have been a cyclist all my life and am a keen road cyclist. Having lived outside of the UK for over 20 years, I moved back to the Peak District four months ago. I am saddened by the conduct of many road cyclists towards other road users, regularly seeing cyclists riding two-abreast with a long line of traffic behind them. This may now be allowable by law but it is extremely bad manners. Living in France, I rode in big and small groups and we always went single file when we heard a vehicle behind us. By holding up the traffic, you are enabling aggressive drivers when we should be trying to promote our way of travel. To make cycling safer, we all have a responsibility…

Tom Pidcock returns to the Tour de France this year with his sights firmly fixed on the GC. He hopes a keener focus than before will help yield a top-five overall. “This year I’m going to fully focus on the general classification, then hopefully I come away from the Tour very well for the Olympics,” he said. Like last year, the Yorkshireman will forgo the World Cyclo-Cross Championships, riding a pared-back cross calendar before starting his road season at the Volta ao Algarve in mid-February. Last year he was top-10 for much of the Tour, but slipped back after a jour sans on the road to Morzine yet still finished 13th in Paris. The Ineos Grenadiers rider, who turns 25 nine days after the Tour finishes, is also targeting another…

There will be an Annemiek van Vleuten-shaped hole in the women’s peloton this season. For the first time in 16 years, the Dutchwoman will be absent from the sharp end of races, having chosen to retire at the end of 2023, aged 40. Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Canyon-SRAM’s Tiffany Cromwell, who has spent her entire career brushing shoulders with van Vleuten, said the vibe will be “different” in the bunch from this season on. “I think it will mean some of the stage races will be a bit more open,” Cromwell said. “Now, we don’t have to deal with van Vleuten attacking with 100km to go and holding us off. That’s one thing we don’t have to worry about. I’m sure it will be weird at the start, but there’s…

New aero road helmets have been spotted on the heads of the Ineos Grenadiers and EF Education First-EasyPost riders this January. Both feature designs that hide the tops of riders’ ears. Kask’s unreleased helmet will likely be a replacement to the six-year-old Utopia. It features a similar four-vent layout at the front, but sits narrower on the rider’s head. From the side, the helmet drops lower down the face than most helmets on the market, covering the eartips, before sloping up and back, making it comparable to a short-tailed time trial helmet. POC’s new lid is more aggressive still, and would look even more at home in a time trial. The unnamed helmet shares a lot of its DNA with the POC Procen TT helmet. Presumably, the new lid uses…

Campagnolo’s role as one of the pioneers that paved the way for the modern groupset is well known. In more recent years, though, it has been slightly behind the curve when it comes to electronic shifting, lagging behind competitors SRAM and Shimano. But 2024 is the first time this century that not a single team in the WorldTour will ride Campagnolo groupsets, a sign of the Italian company’s diminished profile compared to the other behemoths in the component sector. Instead, the first division is full to the brim with SRAM and Shimano gear, with the latter proving the most popular. Of the 33 teams across the men’s and women’s WorldTours, 23 of them will be riding Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupsets, while just 10 of them will use SRAM Red AXS…

Eagle-eyed Adam Becket spotted the Intermarché-Wanty team mechanics using invisible tubeless valves at the Tour Down Under, and naturally, sought to find out more details. On closer inspection, and with the help of Intermarché mechanic Alois Gevaert, it’s clear that there is a valve there – it’s just hidden in the rim of the Newmen Advanced SL R42 wheels. Instead of the usual Presta valves accessed externally, the mechanics use an extended pump which reaches inside the wheel to a Schrader tubeless valve – as seen on most car tyres. Gevaert explained that there were some teething issues to begin with, but that now the set-up is pretty straightforward to use. “Last year, it was something new from Newmen too,” he said. “If you have something new, there will always…

When I was a student, I was forced to be a Derby County FC supporter. It happened like this: I ran out of clean T-shirts, and my roommate, a perpetually disappointed Derby supporter, lent me a team shirt to wear while my washing was on. I watched a match with him in the common room. And Derby won, for the first time in several weeks. Thereafter he forced me to put on the shirt whenever there was a Derby match. I had to watch on TV, listen on the radio or sit through live Ceefax updates. I was required to display enthusiasm and interest, have a favourite player, and know the name of the manager and all the many and ever-changing reasons he was a moron. I tend to imagine…

Cycle schemes ‘sucking lifeblood’ Cycle to work schemes are “sucking the lifeblood” out of bike shops according to Mark James of retailer JE James. “No cycle retailer should pay for a scheme, full stop. If anything we should be paid for the extra admin involved,” he said. He was speaking following a meeting between retailers and the All Party Parliamentary Group on cycling and walking. Obese car addiction Britain’s addiction to “obese cars” has gone too far, national cycling charity Cycling UK has said. Its external affairs director Sarah McMonagle also said that drivers in wider cars are more likely to pass cyclists closely and make the roads more dangerous. Her comments came in response to a new report by environmental think tank Transport & Environment, which found the size…

MEN’S WORLD TEAMS ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK BELGIUM Riders: 30 Under 24: 6 Over 35: 0 Key stat: Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves took 74% of the team’s 35 wins last year. Then again, Mathieu van der Poel won Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix… There was a time when Alpecin was essentially built around Mathieu van der Poel, but the team is a much broader proposition in 2024. With sprint stars such as last year’s Tour de France green jersey Jasper Philipsen having morphed from ‘Jasper Disaster’ into ‘Go-Faster Jasper’, and emergent fellow fastman Kaden Groves, Alpecin can win almost anywhere but the high mountains. The team has been bolstered this year by four graduates from the development squad, plus young signings from Movistar and Soudal Quick-Step. ARKÉA-B&B HOTELS FRANCE Riders: 29 Under 24:…

It’s all change for Tao Geoghegan Hart in 2024 after he made the move to Lidl-Trek following a seven-year spell with Ineos Grenadiers. The British rider signed a three-year deal with his new team during the off-season and has since been confirmed as Lidl-Trek’s co-leader for the Tour de France alongside Mads Pedersen. Geoghegan Hart was in top form at last year’s Giro before a devastating crash left him with major injuries including a fractured hip, so it was a long road to recovery. Prior to the crash, he had just taken his second-ever overall victory at last year’s Tour of the Alps and appeared to be very much on the up before that great form was taken away. The Londoner possesses perseverance, determination and drive by the bucket-load and…

MEN’S WORLDTOUR & PROSERIES ■ FEBRUARY 10-14 Tour of Oman 10 Figueira Champions Classic 11 Clasica de Almeria 14-18 Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta 19-25 UAE Tour 24 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 24 Faun-Ardhèche Classic 25 Faun Drôme Classic 25 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 28 Trofeo Laigueglia ■ MARCH 2 Strade Bianche 3-10 Paris-Nice 4-10 Tirreno-Adriatico 13 Danilith Nokere Koerse 13 Milan-Turin 14 Grand Prix Denain - Porte du Hainaut 15 Bredene Koksijde Classic 16 Milan-San Remo 18-24 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 20 Classic Brugge-De Panne 22 E3 Saxo Classic 24 Ghent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields 27 Dwars door Vlaanderen 30 Gran Premio Miguel Indurain 31 Tour of Flanders ■ APRIL 1-6 Itzulia Basque Country 3 Scheldeprijs 7 Paris-Roubaix 10 De Brabantse Pijl 14 Amstel Gold Race 15-19 Tour of the Alps 17 Flèche Wallonne…

Lidl-Trek has announced a partnership with Aerosensor, a company that provides an on-bike system for measuring aerodynamic drag. The company’s founder and CEO has over 20 years experience in the Formula 1 world, and hopes to bring his technology to the world of cycling. The system is made up of two main components: the Aerosensor itself, which measures real-time aerodynamic drag, and the Aerobody, which measures a rider’s body position. The company says the system can measure CdA with +/- 1.5% repeatability on the road. The Aerosensor can also provide a real-time CdA reading and display it on Garmin head units, which the Lidl-Trek riders will presumably use to make sure they are holding an aerodynamic position. “We’re working hard to grow,” explained Koen de Kort, Lidl-Trek Team support manager.…

There are many approaches to dealing with an unwelcome headwind. By far the best is to get over the love/hate relationship your ego has with your computer, and just ride slower. If you have to use the little ring, use it. That’s what it’s there for. Simplex didn’t invent the little ring so you could be too proud to use it. If it helps, look at it as saving wear on the big ring. If you absolutely have to try to ride at the same speed you normally do, accept that the only way to do this is to make your 'normal' speed very slow. If you change down a couple of gears to get your cadence right, and settle in, you’ll be amazed how quickly you get used to…

■ Explore the creation of a centralised procurement function. ■ Produce a new branding, marketing and communications framework. ■ Undertake a full review of the digital strategy. ■ Develop event organiser succession plans for all national series events. ■ Develop a ‘Winning Pattern’ playbook based on existing successful races. ■ Consider a targeted sponsorship agreement for the National Series. ■ Review rider entry processes to stimulate early entries. ■ Develop best practice guidance for teams. ■ Undertake a full review of the National Circuit Series. ■ Prioritise National Circuit Series locations by audience size. ■ Review the entry criteria for WorldTour riders to enter the National Circuit Series. ■ Review the national road calendar and ensure more races are outside of the north of England. ■ All efforts should be made…

The Trofeo Calvià, which kicked off the men’s Challenge Mallorca series of UCI 1.1 one-day races on Majorca, was won by Simon Carr (EF Education-EasyPost), who also opened the team’s account for the season. The 25-year-old Brit outsprinted breakaway partner Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) at the end of the 150km race. It was a different story in the following day’s Trofeo Ses Salines-Felanitx. The 181km outing ended in a sprint finish, with Soudal-Quick Step’s Paul Magnier taking the spoils. There was more breakaway action in Friday’s Trofeo Serra Tramuntana, with Vlasov once again in the thick of it. However, it was not to be for the Russian rider, who lost out to Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny). A hard-fought finish in Saturday’s Trofeo Pollença-Port d’Andratx saw Vlasov third time unlucky, this time…

Following how Primož Roglič’s arrival at Bora-Hansgrohe plays out this year will be intriguing. Having won the Giro d’Italia, the Slovenian triumphed in nearly every stage race he started last year, his last with Jumbo-Visma. All eyes will now be on his performance during July at the Tour de France, and rightly so. Roglič has a score to settle with the biggest race on the planet. The 34-year-old famously missed out on Tour victory in 2020 after a breathtaking time trial up the Planche des Belles Filles, which saw his compatriot Tadej Pogačar topple him in the overall standings. Rolf Aldag, head sports director at Bora, has said that the Slovenian’s arrival has forced the team to recalibrate their goals for the year ahead. This means that former Giro winner…

In late January, domestic racing in Britain received yet another hammer blow with news that SweetSpot, the promoter of the Women’s Tour, had entered liquidation. With the Tour of Britain’s future already hanging in the balance, it now looks like racing in the UK will be without its two major stage races. The RideLondon Classique remains, but it lacks the prestige and heritage of SweetSpot’s two big races. British Cycling rescinded SweetSpot’s right to hold the men’s race over an unpaid licence fee of £700,000 but the women’s race rests solely within SweetSpot’s remit. BC have vowed that they have a plan in place to save the men’s race, and reiterated their commitment to protecting the women’s equivalent. How this happens remains to be seen. At time of writing, it…

Groupama-FDJ announced late last year that it would no longer be continuing its 22-year partnership with French bike sponsor Lapierre. The French WorldTour team will now ride Wilier Triestina bikes. Interestingly, Lapierre will continue to sponsor the FDJ-Suéz women’s team. There is a lot of speculation as to why the partnership has come to an end, with some suggesting it could be for financial reasons. The Inner Ring blog previously reported that Lapierre’s parent company, Accell Group, committed €1.5m to the team in 2023. The company, which owns bike brands Lapierre and Raleigh, has had its financial rating downgraded, due to its “unsustainable” capital structure. “THE FRENCH WORLDTOUR TEAM WILL NOW RIDE WILIER BIKES” The partnership means the Italian company joins the likes of Canyon and Specialized in having more…

Since going gluten-free, 32-year-old pro rider Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek) has twice achieved a top-10 finish in the overall standings at the Giro d’Italia. The Austrian also won stage 16 at the Tour de France 2021. “Since I was a child, I had stomach issues from time to time and often felt unwell. When I became a pro cyclist [in 2014] I was diagnosed with coeliac disease. The good thing is that I don’t need any medication – but I have to follow a strict gluten-free diet. At the beginning, it was tough, as I got used to avoiding cross contamination. Gluten appears in many more foods than you may think. “If ever I’m caught out by something contaminated, I feel really unwell and sick. It’s also really bad for my…

CYCLO-CROSS SUNDAY, JAN 28 Wessex League round nine (Crow Cross, Ringwood, Hampshire): Men: 1. David Bone (RC Ravenna) 1:03.58; 2. G. Casale (unattached) +1.33; 3. O. Hoult (VC Venta) +2.21; 4. G. Coppola (Four4th) +2.29; 5. N. Charlton-Smith (Nova RT) +2.35; 6. K. Norfolk (Pedal On) +2.51. Women: Helen Pattinson (Montezuma’s Race Team) 44.22; 2. A. Boniface (Reading CC) +1.41; 3. L. Brazier-Larkin (Sarum Velo) +2.30; 4. A. Patterson (Ignite) +3.05; 5. S. Toms (RAF CA) +3.39; 6. G. Wilks (Sotonia CC) +4.44. SATURDAY, JAN 27 North West League round 10 (Buile Hill Park, Salford, Lancashire): Men: 1. Jake Edwards (Cog Set Papyrus RC) 50.13; 2. N. Craig (SCOTT Racing) +1.11; 3. A. Worden (360 cycling) +1.30; 4. M. Lawton (Macclesfield Wheelers) +2.19; 5. H. Hunter (Kendal CC) +2.29; 6.…

Word reaches us of a Scottish rider who has, for the last few seasons, adapted his cyclo-cross bike for snowy conditions by using a trick using some cable ties. The technique is simple – just loop numerous cable ties around rim and tyre, and zip them closed with the join facing out and therefore acting as a sort of tyre stud. The downside is that it’s a bit laborious. This year he decided that since he actually uses his cross bike more in general over the winter, rather than stud and de-stud it several times, he’d just winterise his road bike and leave it like that. He did so. First snowy ride he remembered that his road bike has rim brakes. He didn’t remember in a painless way.…