Innehållsförteckning för March 14, 2024 från Cycling Weekly

Executing his team’s plan to perfection, Jack Hartley won the prestigious Eddie Soens Memorial Handicap with a well-timed sprint last weekend. The 22-year-old got his position right into the finishing straight to win a threeup sprint, beating former national circuit race champion Matthew Bostock into second, with John Bardsley in third. “It’s a race with a lot of history and it’s well respected, it’s probably my biggest headline win,” said Hartley. “There are a lot of names on that trophy and I’m proud to have my name there as well. “I’m very happy to get my season under way with my new team, Cycling Sheffield. We were working as a team to win so to pull it off is great, and to outsprint Matthew Bostock is pretty cool. “It’s the…

Last week was Paris-Nice, an important early-season stage race that has it all. Typically, you start off with some flatter stages and slowly, as you head south, things get more lumpy. Throw in some crosswinds on those flat days and it’s definitely a solid week on the bike. For me, it’s a race for adding the icing on the cake before the Classics kick off properly. Writing this the day after the race, I’m hoping it wasn’t too much icing, as the body feels rather destroyed. They call it ‘the Race to the Sun’, but this year it was more a race to the rain. We started the week with nice weather and not even a crosswind in sight but come the weekend the heavens opened. The last couple of…

I think I’m on my third sandwich bag this decade. It appears to be an elegant solution…and you can keep sandwiches in it. Oliver Neilson I have always used a sandwich bag, as a waterproof phone case can be too bulky. Richard Gillett I use an old Tifosi sunglass bag for my spare tube, tyre levers, etc. I stick it in my pocket as I don’t care for seat bags. Rick Avalos I use a poo bag from the dog stash! Abbie Howson Putting your IP67 or IP68-rated phone in a bag to avoid it getting damp, when it can be submerged in water! Awesome. John Young Shoot me now… I use the waterproof Rapha case. I did get it in the sale though. Mal Gilliatt Samsung (and others) have…

TECH PRODUCT TEST Discontinued as part of a large round of cost-cutting at Zwift, the Hub One is still worth a look. We tested this model late last year, and the trainer is still available to buy via the Zwift site (while stocks last) while the single cog tech is also used on the Wahoo Kickr Core Zwift One trainer. The single 14-tooth sprocket is compatible with any 8-12 speed drivetrain, and even singlespeed bikes. To attach your chain to the sprocket select a mid-range gear before mounting your bike to the trainer as you would any other. Your mech should then align with the single cog; if not it should take one or two shifts to get it lined up. I tried a range of drivetrains on different bikes…

There’s already a bicycle in that list of famous French innovations – baguettes, the Eiffel Tower, pasteurisation, Breton stripes and so on – but specifically it should be a Peugeot PX-10. We’re heading deep into national stereotype territory of course, but the bike really is that iconic. This PX-10 that we photographed at Golden Age Cycles doesn’t have the curling, black Nervex Professional lugs of the classic Simpson era – by the early 1970s the design had evolved slightly – but it’s every bit the ultimate French racing bike and this one is in fabulous condition. Although the Stronglight 80 triple chainset will not be original and neither is the more modern San Marco Regal saddle, the all-French build is mostly faithful to the Beaulieu factory spec of the era.…

The last time an American won Paris-Nice, Matteo Jorgenson was six. Eighteen years on and the Visma-Lease a Bike rider won the biggest race of his career in just his third event with his new team. The 24-year-old admitted that he was not looking to win Paris-Nice ahead of the event, but thanks to consistent riding all week, combined with making the right moves on stages six, seven and eight, the man from Idaho swapped one yellow jersey for another come the end in Nice. Helpfully, it’s where he lives when in Europe, so it was on home roads where he claimed the race win. Jorgenson’s win was hardly a surprise – he does ride for Visma-Lease a Bike after all, the team which won every Grand Tour last year…

Forget the dream of a Britishbased Grand Départ in 2026: focus instead on the Tour de France coming back in 2027. That was the message from UK Sport after it confirmed that the plan to bring the world’s biggest bike race back to the UK in two years’ time had been dropped. Ten years after the euphoria of the 2014 Yorkshire Grand Départ, and in the hospitality suites of the 2012 Olympic Stadium – now the home of West Ham United – UK Sport’s deputy CEO Simon Morton and colleague Esther Britten, head of major events, set out future plans for bringing the Tour and other global events to the UK. “We are not actively pursuing hosting [the Tour] in 2026,” Morton said, before adding the caveat, however, that “things…

Milan-San Remo will start 40km south in Pavia this year after relations between RCS and the Milanese authorities turned sour. The name, however, stays the same, as does its status as the longest Monument, with 288km leading to the finish on the Via Roma after the ascent of the Cipressa followed by the Poggio, the race’s final climb. Judging by Tadej Pogačar’s form and audacity at Strade Bianche earlier in March, it might be an atypical edition. Attacks from far out traditionally fail here, but if the Slovenian is on form, tradition could be turned on its head. It is also Mathieu van der Poel’s road debut for 2024, with last year’s winner hoping to hit the ground running, as his training partner Pogačar did a fortnight previously. All eyes…

On the cobbled climb in downtown Kigali, Rwanda, known as the Mur de Kigali, a British Israel-Premier Tech rider in the race leader’s jersey surges forward, with overall victory in his grasp. As hundreds cram the roadside to witness the action, it is not Chris Froome who is in the race lead, racing to the win, but a man almost 18 years his junior, Joseph Blackmore. The 21-year-old from south London is in his first race as a professional, only his second elite event ever, and on his way to becoming the champion of the Tour du Rwanda. Not a bad start to life on the Israel-Premier Tech Academy, the squad’s development team. “It was incredible to win, I did the race last year with the national team, so to…

It was great to see a women’s race from 1958 in last week’s magazine. But apart from the winner, where were all the women? I’m still enjoying Cycling Weekly after more than 40 years. Keep up the good work. Ed – As women had only just been allowed to race at this level, it’s perhaps not surprising that there were no women on the balcony in that image. That crowd of people would likely have been made up of cycling officials, dignitaries and maybe sponsors, and as women hadn’t been afforded many opportunities to race until then, few, if any, would have taken the well-trodden career path from racing into administration of the sport. Sadly, even today there still might not be many women in those positions, when there clearly…

Historically, until the past few years, you could pick up a solid carbon-fibre framed bike featuring either Shimano’s 105 or Ultegra groupset for less than £2,000. Those days are unfortunately long gone. It’s still possible to get change from two grand, but you’ll have to settle for an aluminium frame, and it might not be from a big-name brand. For around the £3,000 mark, there are carbon bikes with mechanical Shimano Ultegra or electronic 105 Di2 drivetrains, but beyond this sweetspot, prices and specs escalate sharply. Arguably, £3,000 is the point beyond which you see diminishing returns – performance gains no longer proportional to additional outlay. Then again, the reality for most of us is that we spend as much as we can afford.…

Twenty-eight years after the platform’s controversial debut for World Tour Team ONCE – as the first bike to feature a sloping top tube – we are now on the 10th generation of Giant’s groundbreaking TCR. It might look like not much has changed – at first glimpse it would appear it’s not a grand departure from the previous generation – but across the bike there were multiple updates and tweaks to get to grips with at its recent launch in Taiwan. The most obvious of these is the (almost) full internal cable routing, with the cables running along the underside of the stem and down through the head tube. Regarding the performance, the latest frameset is claimed to be 10% lighter, five watts faster, and fractionally stiffer than its predecessor.…

Le Col Winter overshoes £75 Weight 146g For its deep winter overshoes, Le Col has gone for a 100% polyester water-resistant outer with a taped seam that runs from the toe box up to the top of the overshoe where it ends at your calf. An elasticated band also runs around the top of each overshoe and on the inside of this a soft, thin silicone strip. Also included is a thin piece of fabric beneath the zip to provide a close seal, designed to avoid skin irritation. A narrow reflective strip follows the zip at the rear of each calf along with two reflective logos. The fit was skin-tight against my lower calf – which is exactly what you want to provide a reliable seal. The close cut wasn’t a…

iggle-CRC, Planet X, Orange Bikes, Islabikes… The last 12 months have seen some of our biggest bike brands go to the wall. Of those that have survived, many have been forced to offer unprecedented levels of discount. The closures have led to hundreds of job losses – Wiggle-CRC alone axed approximately 450 last month – and the winding down of iconic, established manufacturers is an outcome no one would have wished for. As an end-user, though, it’s been hard not to be tempted by the discounts – bargains galore, with deals as enticing as 50% off and even buy-one-get-one-free. But is now the best time to buy? To answer this question, we need to understand how this situation arose and where prices are set to go next. The bike industry…

Made entirely in France, Look’s new Keo Blade Power pedals aim to blend performance, accuracy, and durability. The former is largely achieved through its familiar blade technology that sees you clipping in and out of a carbon blade, rather than a metal spring. Look says it’s lighter and more aerodynamic while still providing solid foot retention. The power measurements are claimed to be accurate to +/-1% “regardless of air temperature or altitude”, and use “proven algorithms” to help achieve consistency. You can opt for dual pedals, which measure total power, cadence and left/right balance, or a cheaper single-pedal options that uses a left-sided power sensor and then doubles the number to give you your total power reading. “YOU CAN OPT FOR DUAL OR SINGLE-PEDAL OPTIONS” Look has integrated the electronic…

Previously, the high ground with its thin air was the preserve of climbers and the general classification cohort – and even for them, only for certain training blocks in the weeks leading up to a Grand Tour. But cycling has evolved so significantly in the past few years that the old training rulebook is looking more and more like an ancient relic. “How you coach a sprinter has changed a lot in a short space of time,” Anastopoulos says. “Before, sprinters dictated the race: the race was really slow, and the sprinter with the highest power would win, but that’s not the case anymore. Now, they sprint fatigued, having burnt 4,000 kilojoules in three hours. They have to sprint at the end of a hard race. It’s now not always…

Identifying a bike rider in a race is very, very difficult. If you’re standing by the roadside, and the bunch passes at race speed you’ll be lucky to put a name to more than one or two riders out of maybe 180. There are a number of techniques that can help. The first is to learn all the numbers. This is easy – they go by team, and within each team by alphabetical order. So all you need to do is remember every rider in every team, put them in alphabetical order in your head, allow for the team leader being 'x1' in the outfit, and job done. Although by the time you finally shout, “Valentin Maduoas! He was in the middle beside the Ineos guy!” everyone else will have…

A TeleVizier rider infiltrates the break among three Salvaranis in the 1966 Paris-Nice. With the blazing sun evident despite the black and white image, the riders look to be nearing Nice. Salvarani, a major team in the Sixties and Seventies, put in a good showing in the race winning the first two stages and placing Vittorio Adorni in third overall. However, they had to contend with the French superstars of the era, Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor. Despite Anquetil’s own star beginning to wane (he had won his fifth and final Tour de France two years previously) he won this edition of Paris-Nice, with ‘Pou-Pou’ in a familiar second place.…