Innehållsförteckning för March 20, 2025 från Cycling Weekly

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) secured the second GC victory of his career last Sunday, wrapping up the overall at the seven-day Tirreno-Adriatico. He has enjoyed a strong start to the year, having won the Faun Drôme Classic and Trofeo Laigueglia before coming to Tirreno-Adriatico, where he took the GC lead with a resounding victory on Saturday’s queen stage. “I think we can probably say it’s my biggest victory, this one as well as País Vasco [Itzulia Basque Country], but here I also won a stage, so I think it’s the best performance I’ve done until now.” The 22-year-old’s big ambition this season will be the Giro d’Italia, where he will set out to defend his team-mate Tadej Pogačar’s title. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) placed second overall at Tirreno-Adriatico, 35…

1 San Remo Women is here For the first time in 20 years, there will be a women’s version of Milan-San Remo. Unlike the men’s race, San Remo Women will begin in Genoa, not Pavia, but the routes will more or less be the same from around 140km to go. They might be called different things, but they’re versions of the same race, although the women’s race is 130km shorter, so the action will come quicker. 2 Pavia, not Milan The men’s race is still called Milan-San Remo, but this will be the third year in a row that the race actually begins in Pavia, about 30km to the south of the Lombardian capital. The length of La Classicissima hasn’t changed a great deal as a result, however, with a…

The new Boardman SLR range has been overhauled, with the goal of improving versatility and aerodynamics. Redesigned from the ground up, its frame is said to be 5.7W faster across a full yaw sweep at 50kph, according to wind tunnel testing. Interestingly, it retains a traditional two-piece bar and stem, making adjustments and replacements far easier than with an integrated cockpit. A hidden seat clamp secures a dual-position seat post too, improving bike fitting. Built for real-world usability, the SLR 9 accommodates up to 36mm tyres, has extra bottle cage mounts, and features concealed mudguard mounts with dedicated Fend-Off guards – ideal for us UK riders. At the top of the range, the SLR 9.8 boasts a C10 carbon frameset, SRAM Red AXS, and Zipp 404 wheels for £5,500. More…

Bad weather for cycling is typically anything that’s not a balmy, flat calm. In truth, though, wind can be dealt with by going more slowly in one direction and faster in the other. Cold and wet can largely be ameliorated with suitable clothing. You might have to wash your kit and your bike when you get home, but it’s not exactly a full-on melodrama. However, it is important to pretend it is. If you are in a group on a wet winter ride, you should talk about how wet and cold it is, and how tough this makes you. You need to find the right balance between emphasising just how awful the weather is, and yet how you are willing to suffer through it in a way that few other…

T he Raleigh Chopper holds a special place in the heart of many adults of a certain age. For children in the late 1960s through to the mid-’80s, it was simply the bike to have. Those fortunate enough to own one were the talk of the town. For the rest of us, well, we just had to make do with grabbing a ride on that extra-long saddle. The Chopper first rolled off the production line in 1968, and launched in the UK a year later. This ‘Ultra Violet’ MKII was released in 1972. Although in need of a little restoration, it has nonetheless retained all the significant details, including the aforementioned paintjob. While the MKII was offered with five gears, this example features the more common Sturmey-Archer three-speed gear hub,…

Marche on The hills of Marche roll on behind the peloton during the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico last week. The west of Italy looks glorious in the early spring sun, with it appearing very similar to Strade Bianche. Lake view The peloton rides past Lago Maggiore during the Trofeo Alfredo Binda last weekend. The tranquil lake juxtaposes with the action at the Italian Classic, which was relentless, despite the race finishing in a sprint. Moor rise The road rises up ahead of the women’s pack at the Peaks Two-Day Race last weekend. The winner, by seconds in the end, was Lucy Gadd (see UK Scene on page 54). Tears of joy Italian super sprinter Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) looks ecstatic as she embraces Amanda Spratt after winning the Trofeo Alfredo Binda…

The 2027 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will have their Grands Départs in the United Kingdom, it was announced on Wednesday. The first three stages of the men’s French Grand Tour will take place in the UK, with stages announced in Scotland, England and Wales. It will be the first time that the Tour has come to Britain since 2014, when the Grand Départ took place in Yorkshire, and the third time that the race has begun in the UK, with London hosting in 2007. The 1994 Tour also visited England, for two stages mid-race and in 1974 Plymouth welcomed the event. 2027 sees the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift come to the UK for the first time, but there was little announced about…

I was pleasantly surprised to land in Paris for Paris-Nice 10 days ago to clear blue skies and a whopping 18°C. In previous years we’ve had to get some team time trial practice in on the days before the race and the weather hasn’t played ball. This year, we were chopping off in the sunshine and feeling confident for the week ahead. Things then went relatively smoothly for the first few days; we avoided the crashes and carnage and put out a decent enough performance in the TTT. It was hard to keep those vibes up when the weather turned, though. On stage four, our leader Sant [Santiago Buitrago] crashed out so I was already feeling a bit lost, then when the race was paused in a snowstorm it was…

Type: Gravel Size tested: 56cm Frame: Carbon Fray Tyres: WTB Riddler TCS 45mm / Raddler TCS 44mm Tyre clearance: 50mm Handlebar: ENVE G-Series Integrated Groupset: Shimano GRX Di2 Drivetrain: 1x 42 with 11/42 Head tube: 71.25° Wheelbase: 104.2cm Stack: 58.7cm Reach: 39.7cm Type: All-road Size tested: 56cm Frame: Carbon MOG Tyres: WTB Exposure TCS 30mm Tyre clearance: 40mm Handlebar: ENVE AR Integrated handlebar Groupset: Shimano Ultegra 8150 Di2 Drivetrain: 52/36 11-30 Head tube: 72.6° Wheelbase: 100.8cm Stack: 59.1cm Reach: 38.9cm upon Once upon a time, there were mountain bikes and there were road bikes. Flat bars, knobbly tyres and a patina of mud versus drop bars, skinny tyres and a liberal coating of sweat. Choosing between the two was straightforward: one was for off-road, the other for on-road. Fast forward…

So, you love race bikes. Maybe, like me, you used to race but now find your stem spacers mysteriously multiplying. Or perhaps you’re after a road bike that offers all-day comfort without the sluggish handling of a traditional endurance bike. Enter the Basso Sempre Veloce, or SV for short. Founded in 1977 by former pro cyclist Alcide Basso, Basso remains one of the few family-owned brands in the cycling world. While some of its competitors have moved to sponsorship deals in the WorldTour, Basso has opted for a different approach. Instead of building bikes solely for professional racing, the company focuses on crafting machines that offer a balance of performance and comfort for everyday riders. This is the philosophy that led to the creation of the Sempre Veloce. CONSTRUCTION Basso…

A new series of races for young cyclists in central Scotland has been launched, named after the late journalist and podcaster Richard Moore. The Richard Moore Youth Race Series will take place once a month on Tuesday evenings from April to August this year at the West Lothian Cycle Circuit in Linlithgow, consisting of five races for girls and boys aged 10-15 (Under 12 to U16), with some evenings including races for younger riders. Moore was a big supporter of the West Lothian Cycle Circuit project, with The Cycling Podcast and its listeners helping to raise money for it. The series will be run jointly by Edinburgh Road Club, Falkirk Junior Bike Club, Stirling Bike Club and West Lothian Clarion. Richard Levinson of Edinburgh RC said: “Our goal is to…

In the aftermath of winning a second successive Paris-Nice, Matteo Jorgenson wants “to set the bar higher” and target overall victory at a Grand Tour in the years to come. The 25-year-old American came to the ‘Race to the Sun’ as co-leader for Visma-Lease a Bike alongside Jonas Vingegaard but became the sole leader for the Dutch WorldTour team when Vingegaard abandoned after stage five. Jorgenson is now at the level where he can be vocal about his self-confidence. “It was something that I have thought about a lot during the off-season,” he said, “because last year the team asked me if I wanted to race a Grand Tour as leader. And it is something in my career that now is a goal.” At the Auron ski station on stage…

In her first-ever Women’s WorldTour race, Cat Ferguson finished on the podium, with the young Movistar rider sprinting to third behind Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda. Despite a series of fierce attacks at the Italian Classic, from star riders like Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), and Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), the race came down to a bunch sprint. First-year pro Ferguson opened up the sprint, but couldn’t hold onto her position, and the junior world champion was out-powered by former elite world champion Balsamo, and former under-23 world champion Vas. Ferguson, however, did manage to pip another former world champion, Marianne Vos, to third place. Lidl-Trek back Balsamo’s second consecutive win was her third in total…

Nah, I’m not falling for this. After shorter cranks, narrower handlebars - both of which I tried at great expense and very little difference in either performance or comfort – to now fit larger tyres, I would have to discard my older bikes as they only have clearance for 28mm tyres. Roy Beeley Very dependent on what you want. Do you want a fast-feeling tyre, or a tyre that feels like a sponge? I use 28s. They feel soft and OK on crap roads, but for speed, it’s 25s. And forget tubeless. Carl Dyson Clearly one size does not fit all, though for road users it looks like the sweet spot is in the 29-35mm range. Frames like the Trek Domane are designed for exactly this range. The next discussion…

As Cofidis’s designated aero bike, the Look 795 Blade RS is right up Stanisław Aniołkowski’s street. Like most bikes in the peloton, it’s designed to cut through the air and uses dragreducing tube shapes to do so. There’s also Look’s fully integrated Combo Aero cockpit to help improve front-end aerodynamics, and the D-shaped Look Aeropost 4 seatpost to improve airflow at the rear. While we didn’t weigh Aniołkowski’s bike, complete builds are said to hit the 7kg mark. To help achieve this, Look uses a carbon blend made up predominantly of Ultra High Modulus fibres, which it says allows it to attain the weight-to-stiffness ratio required at the professional level. We’d also be remiss not to mention the paintwork; Look’s Mondrianinspired colours are as iconic as they come and are…

Raptor Factory Racing rider Rowan Baker took overall victory at the Peaks Two-Day stage race, while Lucy Gadd (Smurfit Westrock CT) won the women’s race. Baker was second on the first stage over 100km near Longnor in Staffordshire before taking fourth on stage two – a short but sharp 3km climb of Holme Moss. That left him 49 seconds behind stage one winner Adam Howell (MUC-OFF SRCT) heading into the third and final stage, a 106km race near Carlecotes. Attacking around halfway, Baker was initially part of a breakaway group before going solo and crossing the line over four and a half minutes clear. Lucy Gadd won the women’s edition of the race by just eight seconds. She was fifth in the opening stage, just 30 seconds down, but then…

Cycle speedway racers compete at the Wednesfield Aces track in Wolverhampton in 1984. While to those unfamiliar with the world of speedway this may look like an image that could only belong in the past, the sport and indeed this very track – Ashmore Park – is still alive and well. The Wednesfield Aces club continues to thrive, competing in leagues and championships, and even hosted the World Championship in 2014. The sport, which is active across Europe and also in the USA, sees riders race over four laps of a 70-90-metre track, gaining four, three, two or one point depending on their placing, with each meet held over a series of heats.…