Innehållsförteckning för January 2, 2025 från Cycling Weekly

Happy new year! I hope you had a great Christmas, and, if the weather allowed, enjoyed a few bike rides. Perhaps you even got a nice new bit of kit in your stocking. But all that is old news now, it’s 2025, and the question is, are you ready to get going this year? I am. At least I think I am. Having added gym work and running into my training last year I am now keen to get back out on my bike – maybe even back onto the turbo for the first few weeks of the year. But what I’m not doing is making new year’s resolutions. I gave them up years ago. If you want to make a change, do it ‘now’. Don’t wait for a future…

Rik Van Looy, who died last month aged 90, was one of the greatest cyclists of all time. The ‘Emperor of Herentals’ was world champion twice, in 1960 and 1961, and was the first man to win all five Monuments - Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia. He passed away after a short illness. He was the oldest living world champion, and was set to turn 91 in December. Van Looy took his first step towards cycling immortality with victory at Milan-San Remo in 1958. The following year saw Van Looy win the Tour of Flanders and Il Lombardia, before winning his first World Championships road race in 1960. Aged 28, in 1961, he won Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, taking his Monument clean sweep, although this…

DT Swiss launched its new four-wheel GRC range this summer. These wheelsets feature either a 30mm or 50mm-deep rim and are available with the 180 Ratchet EXP hub with ceramic bearings on the more expensive 1100 variant, or with the slightly cheaper 240 Ratchet EXP hub used on the 1400 reviewed here. Construction Developed in the wind tunnel with aero experts Swiss Side, the carbon rims have an aerodynamic profile and feature a hooked bead; DT Swiss prefers this over hookless because it claims greater reliability and ease of use for the customer. The rims measure 30mm in depth and 24mm wide internally, which DT says is perfectly optimised for 40mm tyres. For this review, I used 47mm and 45mm tyres, both of which were easy to set up and…

The week: 14-21 October 2024 Location: Flanders, Belgium Training for: Cyclo-cross season Monday Rest day Usually on rest days I ride gently for an hour or two so that my legs don’t stiffen up, but generally I’m a believer in not fatiguing yourself on days off. I never understand why riders do leg work in the gym on their days off. On this day, I didn’t do anything at all, as I felt that was what my body needed – I’d say I’m quite good at understanding and listening to my body. Total riding: 0hr Tuesday AM: Endurance ride, PM: Run The day started with a four-hour ride averaging 33.2kph (22.6mph) that included a few small sprints to activate the muscles. In the afternoon, I ran 6.7km at a 4:30/km…

Acollection of 38 young British cyclists - 35 men and three women - have been chosen for Rayner Foundation funding for 2025. The charity, entering its 30th year, supports young Brits hoping to forge a racing career abroad, and is named after the late Dave Rayner. Many former recipients have gone on to have professional racing careers and win the biggest bike races, from David Millar to Adam Yates and Oscar Onley. The 38 riders will mostly ride for club teams in France and Spain, but some are on WorldTour development teams, such as Seb Grindley at Lidl-Trek, and others are at Continental squads, like Awen Roberts at Canyon-SRAM Generation. Fellow feeling “I found out about [the fund] through Instagram, just other riders posting it,” Ben Chilton, who heads into…

The Feedback Sports Reflex Fixed Torque Bit Driver is one of those tools you don’t realise you need - until you do. Whether you’re building up your bike after travelling or making a sensitive mid-ride adjustment, this compact T-handle driver is designed to keep things simple and safe. The hollow handle has a nice ergonomic shape that’s easy to grip and even has storage for the included bits: 4mm, 5mm, 6mm and T25 Torx, all made from durable S2 steel. It also comes with a 5Nm torque extension, so you can tighten bolts without worrying about overdoing it and damaging your bike’s components. The magnetic bit holder is a neat touch, and since it uses standard 1/4in driver bits, it’s easy to swap in your own if needed. It’s small…

January is a great time to think about instilling good habits for the year ahead. That said, there is no point making overly ambitious resolutions that are impossible to keep. So, instead of setting unobtainable goals, try these bitesized, realistically sustainable good habits. They are mostly cheap, many are free, and every one of them is either backed by studies or, at the very least, has been tried and tested by experts in the relevant field. We’ve compiled a list of 31 good habits – one for every day of January, so grab a pen and get ready to tick them off. SWAP GELS FOR DATES Natural food such as dates and dried apricots are more easily and healthily digested according to Alan Murchison, author of The Cycling Chef. “The…

Picture the scene. Christmas morning, and a happy cyclist unwraps a jersey made by one of those manufacturers that is vastly expensive but actually quite good. He is very happy. An hour later, he realises he has time for a quick 45 minutes before lunch. He gets changed. He puts on the jersey. He is still happy. Two minutes later, he rides down his driveway, manages to fall over, and tears a little hole in the elbow of the jersey. He stamps angrily back to the house and kicks the garage door, cracking the carbon sole of last year’s over-priced present. He gives up and goes back inside. He is very bad company for the rest of the day.…

Yes Joe Baker Tech writer Once upon a time, the badge ‘made in China’ struck fear into the hearts of consumers. In the past, many exports were best described as cheap and cheerful. In the era of Temu and AliExpress, some of that reputation still remains, but dig a little deeper and you’ll realise that such prejudice is totally unfair to many Chinese brands. As of 2022, China is the global leader in carbon-fibre production (that’s overall, not bike industry specific), controlling 43% of the total market, and for good reason. Places like Shenzhen are crawling with industry-leading manufacturing plants that are capable of producing some of the best bikes in the world – it just comes down to funding and manpower. What allows a brand like Specialized to outshine…

The UCI Track Champions League was a time for the world’s best track riders to come together for some highoctane racing and put on a show for the fans. I took a few weeks off after the Paris Games and then started to ease back into training and build towards the series. With five rounds over three consecutive weekends, it’s full on, but I felt ready. Part of this prep came in the shape of a new set of race wheels from Hope. Their innovation is top class, so as a kid who was into engineering, I was buzzing when I got to spend a day at their factory. I hadn’t realised the attention to detail they put into every component, from calipers to race wheels. A huge thank you…

I enjoyed your online article on riding your first Audax. I rode many over the years until arthritis caught up with me. The Audax incident which sticks in my mind was when riding one in Shropshire, in which, as some joker said, “not even the start line was flat”. By mid-afternoon a group of us were climbing out of the curiously named Shropshire hamlet of New Invention. Among us was a small lady with tightly curled grey hair who climbed with the best of us. Someone announced, “At this rate we should finish by four o’clock.” She, in a strident Brummie accent, replied, “Tha’s alright then, but oi’ve got to get back in time for evensong.” Someone then said, “Well, if you’re late, you can always sneak in at the…

After a chance meeting with Megan Armitage during the Covid lockdown, pro rider Cyrus Monk became her coach, and is now her fiancé. “When I met Megan, she was almost keeping up with me on the climbs, even when I was pushing hard. When I found out she’d only been riding for a few months, I realised this was someone with a hell of a lot of talent. With guided help and good fortune, she could go far in the sport. I didn’t think going to the Olympics was a pipe dream, even at that stage. It was about giving her confidence and letting her know she could get to that level. “I was already coaching riders back in Australia, so coaching Megan fitted in well. Her rides had previously…

Even the hardiest of cyclists benefit from wise clothing decisions, and while many of us ride to chase the joy of clear skies and dry roads, the reality is often less idyllic. Whether it’s the risk of sudden showers or just the persistent grey of winter drizzle, a reliable packable jacket is an essential item for any rider who wants to brave the outdoors. A packable jacket should be compact enough to stash in a jersey pocket and effective enough to keep you warm when the weather turns. Packable jackets have to strike a delicate balance, then: lightweight and compact yet technical enough to do a good job at shielding you from wind and rain. But with a dizzying array of options promising everything from unparalleled breathability to total waterproofing,…

Your dad Sven is a double world champion. How does he help you? As a junior, it was specific technical things, but now he’s great on a deeper level and the smaller details. I’m the same as he was: I always want to push myself a little bit over the limit, so I ask him how he approached certain scenarios. For example, how did he manage the balance between intense training and also staying fresh for races? What’s the biggest thing you have learned since turning pro? In the last few years I’ve been really inconsistent: one week third in an elite World Cup as an U23 rider, and the next finishing really low. I worked out that when I’m too fresh, my body feels blocked. I’ve adapted to this…

I have a sort of a resolution for 2025. It’s simply to do more of my riding outside, in the actual outdoors, in three dimensions. I’ve grown very comfortable with Zwift (and similar online platforms), and I like the convenience. But more than anything else, riding outdoors has come to make me a bit nervous. Even a little scared. Cycling feels like a dangerous way to spend your time. I was thinking about this over Christmas because, at a party, I met someone whose hobby is hang gliding. “Sounds like fun,” I said. Then I cut to what is clearly the question anyone would want to know the answer to: “How many of you die doing that every year?” “In the UK? On average maybe three or four. Probably fewer,…