Innehållsförteckning för May 8, 2025 från Cycling Weekly

João Almeida finds himself in a difficult position. The 26-year-old is good enough to win WorldTour stage races – he has won both Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie this season – and appears to have found a hitherto hidden level of form in 2025. At another team he would be the sole leader at a Grand Tour but at UAE Team Emirates-XRG he remains Tadej Pogačar’s understudy. That is understandable but it still does not make Almeida’s life easy. The pair will race the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España together. The Portuguese rider slowly built up his lead in Switzerland last week, climbing up the top 10 to third overall on the penultimate day, before finishing second to Remco Evenepoel in the time trial…

Thornley has a big target to aim for after it was announced that the Tour de France would start in his home city of Edinburgh in 2027. By the time the world’s biggest bike race comes to town he will have already got a full year’s worth of WorldTour level racing in the legs, but it might be a bit too optimistic to imagine being on the start line. “In the back of my mind, I think the 2027 Tour is, to be honest, probably two or three years too soon,” he said. “But it is still in the back of my head, imagining starting in Edinburgh, it would be just unbelievable. “It’s huge starting in Edinburgh, I just think it’s a great venue with the history the city’s got,…

Twenty years ago the Cannondale Synapse helped usher in the endurance bike category. Now in its sixth generation, launched this week, it remains true to the original ethos of a comfortable and user-friendly performance road bike but thanks to contemporary technology, has doubled down on both comfort and performance. The frame boasts an aeroenhanced head tube and seatpost and a carbon layup that Cannondale says is 20% more compliant than its predecessor. There’s also clearance for 42mm tyres. The new Synapse made headlines as the bike that Lachlan Morton rode when setting his lap around Australia record. Its adventurous nature is enhanced by several features. There’s a hidden top tube mount, bosses for mudguards and Cannondale’s StashPort, an in-built storage system located on the down tube. SmartSense delivers ‘intelligent’ lights…

At least you get out, and it’s still exercise. I wouldnt be riding anymore if it wasn’t for my e-mountain bike. I moved from Lincolnshire to just outside the Peak District. There are so many hills to climb! Robin Weston Not a bit of it. At 85, it rebooted my life. Christopher McGrath I will be on an e-bike when they force one underneath my cold, dead body. Alec Sparks I always remember stopping at a cafe on my e-bike and someone saying to me: “Well I suppose it gets you out.” Yes it does! 4,500 miles of ‘out’, 50% of that is without power, or just on eco mode depending on how I’m feeling. Helen Butler It all depends on what you want from your ride. I will admit…

“It was like one of those mirages that you see in old cowboy films,” says Keith Lambert, former U23 head coach at British Cycling. Speaking to me from his North Yorkshire home, he is recalling the moment, circa 2008, when he first laid eyes on the Yates twins in a bike race. As a seasoned coach, Lambert had seen plenty of fledgling talents and usually knew within a few pedal strokes who was going to make it. On the Friday evening in question, he had driven to Colne, Lancashire, to watch a local youth criterium – and initially worried he was seeing double. “These two riders were going round in the same kit, on the same bikes, they were the same size, everything. They just rode away from everybody that…

Cycling Sheffield has achieved plenty of success over the last few years. The Elite Development team races locally, nationally and internationally and can count Connor Swift, currently racing with Ineos Grenadiers, as one of its most illustrious graduates. At 19, Ryan Williams will be hoping to follow in Swift’s footsteps and has already racked up some experience on the Continent. In 2025, he’ll be pursuing his racing dreams aboard a Moda Finale. The Finale is Moda’s aero race frameset. Made from a blend of Toray T1000 and T800 carbon, it bears all the hallmarks of a bike designed to cheat the wind. Deep-section tubing abounds alongside a seat tube that tightly hugs the contours of the rear wheel; the rear chainstays measure just 400mm. The fork features a distinctive curved…

The rim-brake wheelset market might be smaller than it once was, but it’s far from dead. There’s still a healthy number of riders wanting highperformance carbon hoops for their rim-brake bikes, and so the Mavic Cosmic S 40 finds itself in a surprisingly competitive arena. So how does Mavic’s Cosmic S 40 upgrade stack up against the rest? Mavic pitches the Cosmic S 40 as a premium upgrade for rim-brake loyalists, sitting just below the brand’s lighter SLR 40 wheels. As the name suggests, the rim measures 40mm deep, with a blunt, aero profile. It’s a full carbon construction with a hooked bead, and the rims are clincher and tubeless-ready. The internal rim width is 19mm (26mm external), a figure that feels modern enough for rim-brake wheels, but is starting…

Sam Chisholm (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) and Lulu Bartlett (Team Boompods) were winners at the Scottish National Road Race Championships near Garelochhead last weekend. The pair held off Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), a former champion, and Arianna Holland (Handsling Alba Development Road Team), respectively. And in Lincolnshire at the Witham Hall Grand Prix, Phoebe Roche (O’Shea Development Team) won the women’s race, with James McKay (Wheelbase CabTech) winning the Timmy James Memorial Grand Prix on the same course. Junior ace Dylan Sage secured the Welsh 25-Mile Championship title with a strong performance near Raglan, leading a top-four clean sweep for Team Bottrill and continuing a strong family tie to the event. Sage clocked 47.33 to beat teammate Rob Francis by 30 seconds, while other Bottrill riders Jake Sargent and…

Sweeping view Visma-Lease a Bike drill it on the front during stage three of the Tour de Romandie, oblivious to the beauty of the Jura mountains behind them, with the snow still present on the peaks. In bloom The red jersey of race leader Ellen van Dijk is clear on stage two of La Vuelta Femenina. The peloton were sweeping past a bank of wild flowers on their way to a sprint finish, won by Marianne Vos. Log off Raúl García Pierna and Welay Hagos Berhe pass a pile of logs at the side of the road during stage two of the Tour de Romandie. The pair were part of a short-lived breakaway in the west of Switzerland. Champagne moment Karolin Migoń is showered with Champagne (or Cava) as she…

Rapha’s new Super-League will see a best allrounder crowned at the end of the road racing season, with points collected across road races, crits and stage events. The new series, which is set to begin this month at the Lincoln Grand Prix, will sit alongside British Cycling’s National Road and Circuit Series. Both male and female riders will earn points from results across the season, aping the Super-Prestige Pernod, a points-based competition that crowned the best all-rounder across European professional races, which ran from 1959 to 1987. Winners of the men’s and women’s Super-League will be crowned at the end of August, and will receive £1,000 each, a trophy and a winner’s sash. Speaking to Cycling Weekly last week, Rapha’s UK and EU community marketing manager Jess Morgan explained that…

The Ardennes races are the culmination of the always chaotic spring Classics block. The difference? In the Ardennes, it’s the climbs that do the damage - not the cobbles of West Flanders or Roubaix. Fortunately, that’s where Ben Healy, who I coach, thrives. For Ben, this one week of racing is a key focus of the season. The previous four months were built around it: winter miles, team camps, altitude blocks, all structured toward this crescendo - the Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He finished on the podium at Amstel in 2023, but never in the top 30 at Flèche, and his best result at Liège was 4th. His stage win at Itzulia Basque Country and the show of form that followed took some of the pressure off.…

MAY CHALLENGES Each month we set our riders two challenges to keep them motivated no matter their total mileage. Here are our May challenges. • CW MINI 1. Ride bingo* - Spot five things 2. Ride for three hours in one week • CW MIDI 1. Ride bingo* - Spot six things 2. Ride for five hours in one week • CW MAXI 1. Ride bingo* - Spot seven things 2. Ride for seven hours in one week • CW5000 1. Ride bingo* - Spot eight things 2. Ride for 10 hours in one week *Ride Bingo things to find: Hospital, runway, bad cycling infrastructure, boat moorings, bike shop, milestone, library, any POI or tourist attraction Sign up to the MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge at www.cyclingweekly.com/bigridechallenge…

Given that Colnago and Ferrari are among Italy’s most revered brands, it’s unsurprising that the two marques would find a way to collaborate. In 2009, Colnago released the Ferrari CF7. With only 99 made, it was collectible from the outset – even more so if you happen to have ‘Number 1’, as seen here. The bike is centred around the EPS frame and fork. At the time, it was the range-topping model in the brand’s C Series, featuring carbon-fibre tubes and junctions. The tubes use ‘3PRS’ technology; the ribs of varying length and thickness inside the tubes are said to provide greater rigidity and resistance against the forces generated by pedalling. The CF7 sports Colnago’s signature B-stays and ‘leaf-shaped’ chainstays. The C-HS1 headset was also new at the time and…

The Tour de France begins in just 58 days, less than two months away. This close to the biggest race of the year, the three main GC contenders have very different approaches, although all three will meet at the Critérium du Dauphiné next month. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has just come off yet another successful spring, with seven wins in 14 race days this year. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) has won three times this year but has not raced since crashing at Paris-Nice in March, and his form is an unknown quantity. The final member of last year’s podium, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) only started his season three weeks ago, and has two wins, but still has a long time to go. The Belgian was the victor on…

Callum Thornley says he will “strive to be better” after signing his first professional contract with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. Hailing from Peebles in the Scottish Borders, 21-year-old Thornley became the first rider to make the progression to WorldTour level from the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies team last month, after he had originally joined the German cycling project from Trinity Racing. Currently out injured and recovering from collarbone surgery after a heavy crash at Paris-Roubaix Espoirs, Thornley will be promoted next year, after the rest of the season with the Rookies. The young Scot rode with the Red Bull WorldTour squad at the Volta ao Algarve in February, alongside Primož Roglič, which he described as “surreal”. “I remember that being crazy,” he said. “Guys like Jan Tratnik, Jordi Meeus, Jonas Koch, Freddie Wandahl…

STAGE 1 Fri 9 May | Durazzo > Tirana | 160km hilly It is unlikely to have escaped your notice that this year’s race will start – for the first time – in Albania, a country just a Mediterranean hop away from the heel of Italy’s boot. The Grande Partenza kicks off with this reasonably challenging road stage, and will remain in the country for two more days before transferring to Italy. Setting out from the coastal town of Durazzo, the riders loop south and back up to nearby Tirana. They will be prodded into action after a flat opening half by the cat-two climb to Gracen (13.5km at 5.2%). At Tirana they will complete a 21km finishing circuit twice, tackling the small Surrel climb each time. At 4.9km and…

For those that haven’t heard of them, Sturdy Cycles is a boutique brand specialising in high-end 3D-printed titanium bikes. The first time I came across Sturdy’s work was at Bespoked in 2014, where Tom Sturdy himself was exhibiting a somewhat crude, early proof of concept for the technology that he has now, as this bike ably demonstrates, perfected. Sturdy was exhibiting alongside Robot Bike Co., which later became Atherton Bikes. Charlie Hatton won the 2023 UCI World Downhill Championship on their 3D-printed, titanium-lugged bike, then Andi Kolb followed up to become European champion in 2024. Both were on 3D Athertons, validating the team and the tech behind it. Since he retired from elite competition, Tom Sturdy’s wins are somewhat lower-key, but he’s got a growing collection of top rosettes from…

Despite the continual advances in bike design, fundamentally, the whole thing, no matter how much it costs or how many watts it saves, is screwed together like an Ikea wardrobe. No number of attempts by the bike industry to confuse you with different bolt head recesses for different tools that you don’t own will change this. Just be grateful they don’t use nails. The theory of the screw thread dates back to Archimedes in ancient Greece. Its first practical application was in the 16th century when soldiers used screw threads to fasten suits of armour. It wasn’t until the 18th century that screws and bolts started to be made by machine – before that, they were all handmade and each nut and bolt were a unique pair, and no two…

The field departs Brighton pier on stage one of the 1976 Milk Race. With the town’s iconic seafront parade and race vehicles supplied by British Leyland and Triumph, the scene could barely be more British. The race that year started, in fact, with a 3.2m prologue at Brighton the previous day. That was won by Ian Hallam in 4:12 – 21 seconds faster than Sam Watson’s 4:33 over a similar distance but likely far more technical than the Brighton event. From Brighton – which had become a de rigueur start for the race back in those days – the riders would head north for a Swindon finish at the end of a 174km stage on this day. That was won by Czech rider Jiri Prchal, who outsprinted eventual GC winner…