Innehållsförteckning för April 17, 2025 från Cycling Weekly

The freedom for people to stand by the side of the road, inches away from those taking part in a major sporting event, is both cycling’s strength and its weakness. Cheering spectators are a big part of the excitement and atmosphere of bike racing, and no one, from riders to organisers, to governing bodies, wants to take them away. Young riders dreaming of becoming a pro will fantasise about riding through those crowds to victory as much as the victory itself. It adds drama and spectacle that no other sporting event can match. Races would be nothing without them. Then someone comes along and throws a bidon in Mathieu van der Poel’s face. It’s shocking to see and hard to imagine exactly what is going through that person’s head when…

The school Easter holidays are a time for students to relax, catch up on coursework, and prepare for their upcoming exams. Unless you’re Carys Lloyd, who also found time to make history at one of the biggest bike races in the world. At 18 years and 102 days old, the Movistar rider became the youngest rider to ever compete in Paris-Roubaix Femmes, which began in 2021. “It was a hell of a lot harder [than I expected],” she said afterwards. “I saw [my family] on one of the cobble sectors, and genuinely, my dad made a grimace face because he could see how much pain I was in.” In the days leading up to the race, the teenager juggled her nerves with maths equation revision for her A-levels. Her first…

Rik van Looy Years active: 1953-1970 Belgian | 178cm | 73kg 19 Classics and semi-Classics wins, including: 4x E3 Saxo Classic; 3x Paris-Roubaix; 3x Ghent-Wevelgem; 2x Tour of Flanders Eddy Merckx Years active: 1965-1978 Belgian | 182cm | 74kg 29 Classics and semi-Classics wins, including: 7x Milan-San Remo; 5x Liège-Bastogne-Liège; 3x Paris-Roubaix; 3x La Flèche Wallonne; 3x Ghent-Wevelegem; 2x Tour of Flanders Roger De Vlaeminck Years active: 1969-1984. Belgian | 181cm | 74kg 20 Classics and semi-Classics wins, including: 4x Paris-Roubaix; 3x Milan-San Remo; 2x Omloop Nieuwsblad; 1x Tour of Flanders; 1x Liège-Bastogne-Liège; 1x La Flèche Wallonne Johan Museeuw Years active: 1988-2004 Belgian | 184cm | 71kg 18 Classics and semi-Classics wins, including: 3x Tour of Flanders; 3x Paris-Roubaix; 3x De Brabantse Pijl; 2x E3 Saxo Classic Fabian Cancellara Years…

1780 Year the last pair of white-tailed eagles bred on Culver Cliff, Isle of Wight, before the species was hunted to extinction. 2019 Year the reintroduction scheme began on the Isle of Wight, with a licence to release up to 60 juveniles. 1.8-2.4 Span, in metres, of a white-tailed eagle’s wings (5ft 10in to 7ft 10in). 37 Number of eagles released on the Isle of Wight since 2019. 6-8 Number of breeding pairs it is hoped will become established on the Isle of Wight. 40% Percentage of white-tailed eagles that survive to breeding age. 2,000 Kilometres one eagle, tagged G818, travelled over just 22 days, visiting Normandy and Brittany before returning. 30% Proportion of the white-tailed eagle’s diet made up of carrion. 130 Number of breeding pairs in Scotland following…

Omega Portsmouth Circuits When: Saturday 3 May Where: Portsmouth A series of crit races for those around the south coast, taking place at the Mountbatten Centre. There are races for elites all the way down to fourth-category riders, with everything in between, including a range of youth categories. Entry is £15. Cheltenham and County Circuit Races When: Saturday 10 May Where: Swindon Held at the new Moredon Cycle Hub, there are crit races across the categories in Wiltshire, all with the opportunity to earn points. Each race will last for about 40 minutes and there’s the Route 45 cafe onsite. Entry is £18.…

In the early days of cycling, it was easy to choose a tyre pressure because tyres were made of the same material - iron. The concept of tyre pressure only came about after John Boyd Dunlop developed the pneumatic cycle tyre in 1887. Pressures were initially fairly low (50-60psi) and the tyres were fairly wide (40mm) They rolled quickly and provided excellent comfort. Cyclists quickly decided that thinner tyres would be faster, mainly because they looked faster, and that higher pressures would be better because of the nice “pinging” noise you could get from a thin tyre pumped up until just before you gave yourself a hernia from jumping on the pump. Luckily no one had invented any means of actually measuring whether these assumptions of speed were valid or…

There was a mini British invasion of Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes last weekend, with 27 riders from these shores taking part across the races – 11 women and 16 men – which included the youngest riders in both. Cycling Weekly caught up with some of them in the Roubaix Velodrome. Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious), 9th ‘I kept believing, despite my bike going into crash mode on the Arenberg. I was in my biggest gear churning away and getting passed by everyone and I thought the race was over. The headwinds allowed me to come back slightly. Coming into the Carrefour [de l’Arbre], I was thinking, ‘I need to go here’, because I was feeling better than this group. I attacked my group, and that worked alright.” Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike),…

Sitting in the GB pits at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Turkey last month was a surreal moment. My first race for GB and it was everything I hoped it to be. We were a young team, with Harry Radford and Harry Ledingham-Horn, and I could feel the excitement. It was also a slightly weird feeling too, to think that I would probably have been there racing for Australia if I hadn’t made the nationality switch. In the team sprint, we put down some great rides and really gelled. We qualified top, which meant we were ‘being hunted’ rather than ‘the hunter’. Those who follow the results will know, things went well! We won, which was a first Nations Cup win for the boys. I sat out the keirin…

Alice McWilliam (Hess Cycling) triumphed in the women’s race in East Cleveland, besting the likes of Robyn Clay (DAS-Hutchinson). McWilliam pulled on the female National Road Series leaders jersey at the end of the race after her victory, combined with her second place at the CiCLE Classic, pushed her ahead of Lucy Harris (Smurfit Westrock) in the overall standings. The 29-year-old worked in tandem with her Hess team-mate, Holly Ramsey, in the closing stages to ensure the race would go their way. “It was a great race for us,” McWilliam told The British Continental afterwards as she reflected on the day’s action. “I wanted to win, but I also wanted this jersey. I had to race hard on the climbs and then soften things off on the flatter sections. So…

Your article on athletes from other sports turning to cycling (CW 3 April) has been a huge help for me in recent pub arguments. I’ve been telling my friends for years how cycling is best, and now I have some hard evidence – of sorts – to back me up. Now if you can just do an article on how to avoid d******ds in cars and why you shouldn’t wear pants under your shorts, I’ll have all base’s covered. Ed - Well done for continuing to make the case for cycling, Ainsley. Not always easy to win those pub arguments.…

Rating Q36.5’s new Dottore Hybrid Que Long Sleeve jersey aims to be a jacket and a jersey combined. UF Hybrid is Q36.5’s windproofing material and keeps the gusts out. At the rear, a silver thread regulates heat. Fleece keeps your arms and stomach toasty. The fit is close and secure with plenty of free movement. It features three main cargo pockets, one with a zip. Sizes range from XS to XXXL, and it comes in three colours. The hybrid fabric feels great against the skin, and despite providing less stretch than elastane, it worked well whether upright or over hunched over the handlebars. The jersey proved comfortable in all situations tested, between 18˚C and 4˚C. However, when the mercury drops below 10˚C, you might need a gilet. For long climbs…

My 10-year-old son recently tried an experiment. He got several Theraband elastic physio resistance bands, and tied them together. Then he attached one end to the seatpost of his bike, and the other end to a pillar that holds up our porch. The plan was to ride down the drive, stretch the band, and then be entertainingly pulled back up the drive by the elastic. What actually happened was that the band broke, delivering him a smack on the backside that I don’t think he’ll ever forget. If he does forget, we’ve got it on our doorbell camera. Anon (he’s embarrassed enough already)…

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) wrapped up what he described as ‘the biggest win of my career’ when he clinched the final stage of the Itzulia Basque Country to complete a GC victory. On a rain-hit final stage based on the town of Eibar, the Portuguese rider outsprinted Enric Mas (Movistar) to claim his second success of the week, which left him with an overall margin of 1:52 on the Spaniard, while Max Schachmann (Soudal-Quick Step) filled the third spot podium spot, another seven seconds back. “This victory means a lot to me,” Almeida said post-race. “There have been so many sacrifices for me, for my family and for my girlfriend. It’s hard to be a professional rider nowadays with this high level, so this means a lot. I think…

Jakobsen’s road to recovery Iliac artery surgery has knocked Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen for six. After the op, he told De Telegraaf: “I came out of it in a very bad way. I feel like an old grandpa, but I walk and move,” and that his off-bike recovery time is expected to be 12 weeks. Tom Dumoulin on Instagram With just social rides as training, Dumoulin finished 98th at the Sea Otter Classic. “Turns out talent also needs training,” he said. 53:40 The time behind Mathieu van der Poel that British rider Joey Pidcock (Q36.5) finished Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, almost half an hour behind the time limit. The last man in the velodrome quipped: “I thought it would be dark by the time I got here.” Ellis Briggs framebuilding conservation…

The spring Classics are cycling’s greatest spectacle. Up to seven hours of high-octane racing, up and over short, punchy climbs, across bone-jarring cobbles and loose gravel, from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in early March to Liège-Bastogne-Liège in late April. Winning just one Classic can make a rider’s career. But there are a select few who win, win some more, and keep on winning, becoming their generation’s giant of the Classics. But what makes a Classics legend? What are the key ingredients needed to become a serial winner? How big a part is played by local knowledge? Is it nature, nurture, racecraft, or more to do with the strength of the team? Take a look at the make-up of the sport’s most iconic Classics riders and one thing jumps out: most are…

Crossing the Solent from Southampton to East Cowes only takes an hour. Before your cappuccino has cooled, a captivating sight hoves into view: a colossal, 12-by-65-metre mural adorning the shipyard’s Columbine Building. From far out to sea, you can make out the brown plumage, and as you get closer, the bright yellow talons and ​Crossing hooked bill sharpen into focus. It’s a stunning artwork, executed with lifelike precision. The majestic animal it depicts is the largest bird of prey to grace UK shores, and its presence here is the culmination of a remarkable conservation success story of which the Isle of Wight is rightly proud. ​It was late January, and as I exited the port, the towering mural served as an unsubtle reminder of the purpose of my trip. Upon…

Muc-Off has added a new model to its inflation range with the AirMach Electric Mini Inflator Pro. It’s a compact electric pump designed to make tyre inflation quicker and more precise, with a few key upgrades over the original version. At 122g and measuring just 64.5 x 63 x 28mm, the Pro is said to be small enough to fit in a jersey pocket or saddle bag. The main change is the addition of an LED display, which shows real-time tyre pressure and battery level. The maximum output is 120psi, and the 450mAh battery is claimed to inflate up to four road bike tyres on a single charge. It recharges via USB-C in around 30 minutes. The inflator is compatible with both Presta and Schrader valves, and includes an AirHose…

Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, are widely used by cyclists to manage pain, inflammation and recovery, especially during intense training and multi-day competitions. In the UK, NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and naproxen can be bought over the counter to help reduce discomfort. But there are concerns among sports scientists and the medical community about their longterm effects, including gastrointestinal issues and delays to the body’s natural healing process. Ethical questions have been raised about the use of NSAIDs in sport, in relation to fairness and athlete welfare. Should masking pain to push harder be considered performance enhancement or a health risk? Although NSAIDs aren’t banned, some within cycling and sport more widely are calling for a clamp-down on the use of performance-enabling painkillers, with riders increasingly being advised to weigh…

For me, one of the great attractions to a career as a professional athlete was that it’s more or less a licence to be a sociopath. At the very least, it’s officially sanctioned selfishness. If your body is how you make a living, everything you do to it and everywhere you take it matters, so you can get pretty choosy. This means that there are many things you can’t really do. You can’t sink five pints a night. You can’t smoke. You can’t live on a hamburger-only diet. These are small sacrifices. They’re even smaller when you balance them against a serious upside: all the things you just don’t want to do that you can now wriggle out of. It’s like having a get-out-of-crap-social-events-free card. In my career I opted…