Innehållsförteckning för May 9, 2024 från Cycling Weekly

If someone asked you what one thing has changed cycling more than anything else in the last 20 years, what would you say? Disc brakes, carbon-fibre, GPS technology? My answer would probably be Strava. Uploading your ride to an app might not seem like a groundbreaking or epoch-changing activity, but it’s how Strava has woven its way into our riding that, I think, makes it so significant. It’s now an integral part of our lives like clipless pedals, inner tubes and padded cycling shorts. After reading through our article (turn to page 25) it got me thinking about how I use it and how I take it for granted. From choosing routes to pushing a bit harder on a hill to tracking my fitness – and my friends’ fitness –…

Tadej Pogačar might appear firmly in pink, but Geraint Thomas remained within touching distance after the opening weekend of the Giro d’Italia. The Welshman, 13 years his Slovenian rival’s senior, was 46 seconds behind after stage three but was not disheartened by the first three days. These saw an Ineos Grenadiers win on stage one through Jhonatan Narváez, Thomas limiting his losses on stage two on the Oropa climb, as Pogačar won, and then following a surprise move from the maglia rosa on stage three. It was this performance, on the supposed nailed-on sprint day, which showed that Thomas was a man in form and a man ready to keep attempting to follow Pogačar, while not flying too close to that sun. Pogačar followed Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) as the…

Riders from last weekend’s CTT UK Road Bike Championship are still waiting for a result, as the governing body considers a complaint launched against the performance of provisional fastest men’s rider, George Fox. Cycling Weekly understands that a complaint under Section 29 of Cycling Time Trials’ regulations – which governs road bike position and the machine itself – has been made. Fox has apparently as yet not been told which part of Section 29 he is accused of falling foul of, and while the CTT is considering the complaint while it gathers evidence, it may yet be rejected. The provisional results show that Fox (George Fox Cycling Solutions) rode the 22.4-mile course on the B1043 south of Peterborough in a blistering 46.28, beating second-placed Alex Dowsett (NoPinz) by a full…

Luke Rowe to retire Ineos Grenadiers stalwart Luke Rowe has announced his retirement at the end of the season, his 13th with the team. Despite having another year to run on his contract, he said: “I’ve had an amazing career, but the last 18 months have been testing with this latest crash and injury.” He hopes his last race will be the Tour of Britain. Peloton shrinks Indoor fitness company Peloton is aiming to save $200 million by the end of 2025 as it continues to lose money. The company aims to achieve this by cutting around 400 jobs (15%) worldwide and closing stores. “Hard as the decision has been, we had no other way to bring spending in line with revenue,” said exiting CEO Barry McCarthy. €6.9m Nacer Bouhanni…

As a location-tracking app, Strava has had its fair share of privacy controversies over the years. In 2018, its heat maps tool revealed secret US military bases in Afghanistan, after it highlighted an area where soldiers had been tracking their exercise. More recently, the app has given rise to fears of stalking, its ‘Flyby’ feature allowing users to see who ‘flew by’ them during an activity. This feature is now opt-in only. To keep your data private, head to ‘Privacy Controls’ under the settings cog, where you can limit who sees your profile and activities. You can either be open to the public, followers only, or totally private, keeping the app as a personal training log. It’s worth bearing in mind that, if you want your times on a certain…

Aplastic anaemia is a rare, serious blood disorder that sees the body failing to produce enough of all three types of blood cell – red, white and platelets. ‘Aplastic’ refers to the failure of the bone marrow to produce these vital cells. According to the Aplastic Anaemia Trust, sufferers can be of any age, but are most commonly diagnosed young (between 10 and 20 years old) or as older people aged 60-plus. With only around 100-150 people diagnosed in the UK each year – that’s only around two per million – the disease is classified as ultra-rare. It happens when the immune system attacks the bone marrow. Though it can caused by inherited genetic mutations, the condition can also develop for unknown reasons. Symptoms can include bruising easily, anaemia –…

ONE UP Enve Custom Road $200 deposit The Custom Road is just that, a fully custom road bike tailored to your specific needs, wants and desires. Geometry, paint, wheels, cockpit, groupset – all can be specified how you see fit. All you need to do is stump up a deposit, work with an Enve representative to finalise your dream build, then await a build slot. ONE DOWN Enve Fray £5,500 The Fray is Enve’s all-road machine – designed for those “who came from road racing and are now looking for broader two-wheeled objectives but performance is still critical”. It does this by pairing a road racing pedigree with all-road features like wider tyre clearance, in-frame storage and a fit comfortable for all-day adventures.…

A bike retailer I know recently told me about a single order he’d received for six different models of power meter. He was a bit unsure about whether someone had, perhaps, managed to do this by accident – maybe adding them all to the basket with the intention of editing it before checkout. So he rang the contact number. “Hi – I just wanted to check that you actually intended to order all six models?” “Yes.” “That’s fine – can I just ask why? If you’re looking for them for a review or something we might be able to come to some better arrangement.” ‘No – I’m planning to test all of them, see which one produces the highest number, and then return the rest.”…

After a surprisingly barren start to 2024, during which time she was dogged by questions over her team for next season, and whether contract talks had affected her mentality, Demi Vollering stamped her authority on the women’s peloton with overall victory at the Vuelta Femenina last week. Across just eight stages – albeit with three summit finishes – the SD Worx-Protime rider managed to pull out an advantage of almost two minutes on her nearest competitor, Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike), and reassert herself as the dominant stage racer in the peloton. Vollering, now the reigning Tour de France Femmes and Vuelta champion, was clearly a cut above the rest when the road started going seriously uphill, and took stage wins atop the Alto del Fuerte on stage five, and…

Ioften hear young or domestically based riders share their desire to become WorldTour riders. The Instagram image looks appealing, the best kit and seemingly endless sunny Spanish training rides. Having just finished my first Classics block I can attest that these races are no Nat Bs, this is all out warfare! The pain and suffering are high. So high that my quads simultaneously went ‘pop’ on the Nokereberg mid Dwars Door Vlaanderen! The test is mental as well as physical. How long can you endure the pain? If you just keep going you can get back into the race even when it seems all is lost. What was very clear to me is that you can’t rush learning. So many times, I lost places by going the wrong side of…

To better understand the public consensus around Strava, we asked you, Cycling Weekly readers, for your thoughts on the app. Your answers were mixed. “If it ain’t on Strava, it didn’t happen,” said keen user Ben Culverhouse, repeating a popular adage. For some of you, the app provides motivation, an impetus to get outside, clock up the miles, and go a little bit faster. “I am 66,” wrote Debra Valentine, “and I like to see on Strava that I can still get an achievement on a ride I do regularly. It helps me see that I am not losing fitness as I age.” For others, Strava’s competitive element has had the opposite effect and has proven a turnoff. “I used to use it all the time but found myself spoiling my rides,”…

I have recently had the good fortune to have the opportunity to hand over some money in exchange for a bicycle. You’ll appreciate that I resent the transactional nature of this. Like St. Francis of Cycling, I feel the bicycles should come to me of their own accord. A week or two after the bike arrived, the friend who ransomed it to me asked me what I thought of it. And I hate it when this happens. When the conversation turns to the characteristics of bikes, I feel like a man getting drunk as fast as possible in grim silence while surrounded by people swilling wine around their mouths and saying, “I’m getting grass, peaches, and a hint of WD40.” Every time I read a professional bike review I am…

The danger for Tadej Pogačar lies in his desire to race at every moment. It is already clear, if it wasn’t before the race, that the Slovenian is the best bike racer present at the Giro d’Italia. The 25-year-old’s unbound enthusiasm and insatiable desire to attack is part of what makes him one of the most electrifying riders to watch, and turns even potentially dull stages like Monday’s into gripping thrillers. Every day is a GC stage when the UAE Team Emirates rider is involved. However, his energy, unlike his desire, is not limitless. There might not be a lot of energy spent on wild attacks like on stage three, but there will be some. If this is kept up over 21 days, then it could well be that Pogačar…

Out of sheer rage, I write in connection with passages included in the ‘Ringing the Changes’ article (CW 18 April). Your contributing writer, Mr. Chris Sidwells, has included remarks concerning Jimmy Michael that are without reference and insulting in the extreme to Jimmy’s memory and the surviving members of his extended family. He claims there is “plenty of evidence” to support a culture of doping amongst professional cyclists in Jimmy’s milieu. Really? Where? Having researched in greater detail than any other contemporary writer the lives of Jimmy Michael, the Linton brothers and their ‘trainer’, James ‘Choppy’ Warburton, and having been taken into the confidence of the Michael family, I am in prime position to dispute entirely Sidwells’ words. For your information, Jimmy Michael died on board an ocean liner bound…

Of the around 40 million women on Strava, Illi Gardner has the most QOM trophies. The current British hill-climb champion, she was coincidentally brought up in the app’s home state of California. At just 24 years old, Gardner boasts the best female time on over 9,000 segments, including legendary Tour de France climbs including Alpe d’Huez, Mont Ventoux and the Col du Tourmalet. For her, QOM hunting is a lifestyle. Why does she like it so much? “It’s just fun,” she tells Cycling Weekly with a chuckle. After six years of road racing, Gardner was tired of feeling “terrified the whole time” jostling inside the peloton, and switched to a life of solo climbing. “I think I’ve always liked doing things quietly, just because it kind of takes the pressure off,” she…

Nick Topley’s bulging trophy cabinet has come as a happy sideeffect of looking after his own well-being and his desire to raise awareness of transplantee sport. As part of this drive, Topley is involved with Transplant Team Wales, which he chairs. He wants to spread the message about how much transplantees can benefit from being involved in sport. “The important thing is that more transplant patients realise that exercise is good. It’s good for physical and mental well being,” he says. “It’s not the doctors’ job to recruit to sport, it’s the job of other transplant patients, government and sporting bodies.” Giving the example of Welsh transplantees, of whom less than 2% compete in the Transplant Games, he says: “That means there are 1,950 transplant patients not competing in the…

How was your off-season? There was lots of training! I did two camps with the team in Spain, one in December and one in January. I also trained on the track in Montichiari [in northern Italy] as I had the European Track Championships in January. Has cycling always been your sport of choice? When I was a child, I did a lot of sports. I went skiing a lot during winter because I was born in Cuneo [northwest Italy] which is really close to the mountains. I also did biathlon and really loved swimming, as well as doing some running races with the school. When did you realise you could make a career out of riding your bike? At around 14 years old, I decided I would train properly for cycling.…

Early racing cyclists rode in wool shorts with no padding at all. This means that 65% of all the chafing the world has ever seen occurred in the first 15 editions of the Tour de France. Only in the mid 1930s did someone have the bright idea of putting a bit of leather in their shorts, to make things at least very slightly smoother. The leather was from either a goat or a sheep until the 1950s, when more supple deer leather started to be used. A leather chamois wanted to do nothing as much as dry out, and a dried-out leather chamois pad was indistinguishable from a sheet of sandpaper. So it needed treating with chamois cream to keep it soft. This was such a crucial task that riders…