Innehållsförteckning för May 22, 2025 från Cycling Weekly

A minute behind his Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate’s victory, Simon Yates swept into the Piazza del Campo, losing little to his GC rivals while gaining on some. The 32-year-old sat sixth overall heading into the second week, 1.42 behind Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in pink, but just 30 seconds behind fellow UAE rider Juan Ayuso. As a result, the former Vuelta a España winner is well-placed for a top-five finish at the Giro d’Italia, or even better, with much of the climbing still to come. The man from Bury has quietly worked his way up ahead of the key Alpine stages next week. Meanwhile, his twin Adam was also in the top 10, a further 20 seconds back. It means UAE Team Emirates-XRG had four riders in the…

Nearly 10 years on from his retirement, Sir Bradley Wiggins is a different man to the figure whose image was everywhere during the golden summer of 2012, when he became British cycling’s poster boy after winning the Tour de France and the TT gold medal at the London Olympics. The seemingly flamboyant, outspoken figure of old has given way to a more gentle and reflective demeanour, revealing that he has spent many years living with deep personal trauma. Since that retirement, there have been welldocumented issues, with the 45-year-old being declared bankrupt, experiencing mental health crises, and a general split from cycling, all of which Wiggins now aims to put behind him. He says he is enjoying cycling again, something that seemed far away a short time ago. Among those…

Cycling is full of rites of passage, whether it’s falling over sideways outside a crowded pub garden in clipless pedals or, on a more positive note, riding your first century. Somewhere along the line, you’re also likely to experience the bonk for the first time. Often memorable but never fun, it’s a need for food, or sugary drink, that goes way beyond hunger or thirst – rather, it’s a feeling of having been hollowed out and completely drained of energy. The usual remedy involves repairing to the nearest garage forecourt and consuming your bodyweight in confectionery and sugary drinks. Once you’ve experienced it, you’re unlikely to forget the importance of fuelling your riding – and what happens when you don’t consume enough. The idea for sufficient energy is obvious enough,…

Lincoln Grand Prix winner James McKay’s S-Works Tarmac SL8 has turned plenty of heads on its many and varied travels, which include the Tour of Britain and cobbled races in France and Belgium. “It is distinctive – I wasn’t sure at first but it grew on me,” says McKay of the colour. “I think I just about pulled it off!” It’s fitted with Shimano Dura-Ace and Ultegra, Rotor Aldhu chainset power meter with 54x40t rings, and Roval Rapide CL2 wheels with Continental GP5000 tyres. Want us to feature your race bike? Send a pic and information to cycling@futurenet.com…

Trevor Bull was a cyclist worthy of a special bike. The Birminghamborn track rider competed in the Olympic Games in 1964, won a bronze at the 1966 Commonwealth Games, and finished his career as a four-time British track champion. The last of those was in 1975, when he beat Reg Harris to capture the Individual Sprint Championship. It was a redemptive win of sorts, as Bull had lost to a 54-year-old Harris the previous year. Bull rode for the TI-Raleigh team for several years before finishing his racing career in 1979 with the Carlton-Weinmann squad, and this is the bike he rode to success while at Raleigh. The frameset was built for Bull at Raleigh’s special development factory in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. Made using Reynolds 531 double-butted tubing, it features both…

Hillside living The peloton rolls out of Potenza for stage six of the Giro. The hillside town is the highest regional capital in Italy. Despite the sun, downpours later would cause chaos as the race headed to Naples. Group hug A unique view of the victory celebrations for Mischa Bredewold after the SD Worx-Protime rider won stage two of Itzulia Women. The smiles are all there as the Dutch team won yet again in Spain. Crossing tracks The peloton crosses from Pest to Buda at the start of stage one of the Tour de Hongrie. The Liberty Bridge was built for the Millennium World Exhibition in 1896. Riders negotiated tram tracks as they left town. Trulli great Stage four of the Giro d’Italia began amid the trulli of Alberobello, a…

A few months ago I was lucky enough to be invited to the Hope Tech factory. Many of you may have heard of Hope, they helped develop the Hope/Lotus Olympic bike, one that I am proud to ride on the track as part of the GB Cycling Team. It was like stepping into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – I was like a kid in a huge sweet shop. For some reason I thought it was a small operation. In previous videos I’d seen of Hope, they only showed a small section of the facility, so it was a real treat for me to be invited to go behind the scenes. As I entered the building I was struck by the passion and friendliness of everyone who worked there, taking…

The Fray is Enve’s all-road bike, sitting between the MOG gravel bike and the Melee road machine. Given that the Melee already has 35mm tyre clearance and mudguard mounts, where does that leave the Fray? It finds its niche by offering a slightly more relaxed riding position, with a higher stack and shorter reach, along with a gravel-compatible tyre clearance of 40mm and some down tube storage. A sort of ‘all-road plus’ bike, perhaps? CONSTRUCTION Silhouette-wise, the Fray is pretty standard-looking. The carbon frame has dropped seatstays and a sloping top tube with very little in the way of overtly aerodynamic features apart from a few D-shaped tubes. As well as the bottle cage mounts and hidden mudguard attachment points, there are also bosses under the down tube and on…

Thanks to high-profile doctors such as Chris van Tulleken, TV presenter and author of Ultra Processed People, ultraprocessed food – UPF – is on more people’s radar than ever before. Research has shown it is seriously implicated in societal health issues, with campaigners calling for tighter regulations and even bans. The globally recognised Nova food classification defines UPF as follows: “Industrially manufactured food products made up of several ingredients… Processes and ingredients here are designed to create highly profitable, convenient and tasteful alternatives to [less processed foods].” So which foods are considered UPFs? The usual suspects, biscuits, crisps, ready meals and confectionery, but also some you might not suspect, including supermarket bread and putatively healthy fat-free flavoured yoghurts. In South America, Chile, Brazil and Colombia have all moved to regulate…

Reigning national 25-mile champion John Archibald (HUUB WattShop) powered to the Scottish District 25-Mile title in North Ayrshire on Sunday, leaving rivals in his wake as he set a new Scottish record for the distance. His time of 45.21 was almost four minutes quicker than runner-up Chris Smart (GTR-Return to Life), while Deeside Thistle CC’s Margaret McMillan was fastest female. “It went very well,” said Archibald. “I was really hopeful that sub-45 was possible, but it just wasn’t to be on the day.” The Levens course in Cumbria produced fast times on Saturday evening, with Simon Wilson (HUUB WattShop) clocking 17.45 over 10 miles to take the win by just seven seconds from George Peden (Team PB Performance), while Rebecca Rimmington (Tactic Sport) was fastest female with 22.12. James Jenkins…

Foreseeing that one day the bicycle would be invented, and that riders would eventually become too lazy to change gear with a cable or be able to live without a Strava upload, Italian physicist Alessandro Volta devised an early form of chemical battery in 1800. Of course, he didn’t really realise that at the time and initially thought what he’d invented was an everlasting source of free energy. This is why the Volta ao Algarve is not named after him. What he came up with consisted largely of liquids in jars, most of which really just wanted to catch fire. It wasn’t until 1900 that dry-cell batteries became portable, by which point cycling had settled on oil-lamp and pulling-on-levers technology. In any event, it would have taken an awful lot…

Ascorching day in southern Scotland saw Petr Vakoč and Tessa Neefjes crowned winners of the Gralloch UCI gravel event. The riders raced over a lumpy 111km course in Galloway Forest, made up almost entirely of gravelly doubletrack and comprising 1,761m of climbing. Czech rider Vakoč (Canyon Isadore) – a former Brabantse Pijl and Tour of Britain stage winner in a past WorldTour life – took the victory in a photo finish, with Ben Thomas (Ribble Outliers) having suffered, and fixed, his own flat tyre with a plug. Vakoč and Thomas led a front group of four riders, with Benjamin Perry (independent) rounding out the men’s podium and last year’s winner Matt Holmes (OGT Racing) coming in fourth just a second behind. The women’s race saw an early break by Noemie…

Lance Armstrong has opened up on what he did and is now using his energy to help others like Jan Ullrich and now Wiggins. Both seem much happier in life and more involved in the scene than before. He’s moved on and is doing well; time for others to do the same. Bitter isn’t a good taste on anyone’s lips. Stephen Louch There are so many men out there who struggle on a daily basis, including [Wiggins]. His story will help others find their way. I wish people could see the many positives rather than just seeing the negatives. He will always be a cycling icon. Andrew Barthram Fame and success can often end in downfall – there are leeches and parasites wanting to make money off of you. I…

When the Spectra Racing team switched to Pearson bikes for the 2025 season, it meant both a rebranding and a line-up of new bikes. Now racing as Spectra Pearson, the UK outfit, which includes 22-year-old Dan Barnes, will tackle the British Cycling National Road and Circuit Series, the National Championships, and gravel events such as the UCI Gravel World Series, aboard the Shift and the On & On. The latter is the UK brand’s performance gravel bike, but it’s Barnes’s aero-enhanced road bike under the spotlight here. The Shift uses both a deep down tube, beefed-up fork and teardrop-shaped seatpost to help reduce drag. Elsewhere, the dropped seatstays seek to add stiffness while also reducing vibration. The frame is made from a blend of Toray carbon-fibres, which results in a…

Fizik is no stranger to high-performance gear – its saddles and shoes have long been trusted by the pro peloton and us mere mortals. But the Kudo Aero and its siblings mark new territory: the brand’s first foray into head protection. With decades of expertise behind the brand, expectations are high. So, has Fizik delivered with its aero-optimised debut? Broadly speaking, yes – but this is far from a flawless first step. The big story here is fit. Fizik’s micro-adjustable internal retention system doesn’t just tweak cradle height or dial tension; it actually allows you to shift the helmet’s internal anchoring points to better suit wide or narrow head shapes. It’s a clever solution, and in practice, it works exceptionally well. I have a narrower head, and the most compact…

Want to save some pennies? Take a leaf out of the book of Cycling Weekly’s most frugal staffer: If you like the idea of the efficiency of dedicated sports fuel but are put off by the expense, you could try making your own – the preferred approach of CW’s group art editor Dan Baines. He regularly rides long distances, both on and off-road, and makes his own drinks using maltodextrin and table sugar. “I wouldn’t say I’m an expert on this – it’s more about me being too tight to splash out on energy drink,” Dan jokes. “I bought maltodextrin at £8 for 2kg, which I mix 50/50 with table sugar and then add some electrolyte mix – hot water makes it mix well – then I’ll add some squash…

F ans enjoy a stadium view of the Dover to London road race from the slopes of Wrotham Hill in Kent. It’s a scene straight out of mid- 20th century Britain, with everything from the dress to the traffic to the presence of telegraph insulators all contributing to the theme. Inaugurated in the early 1950s, the Dover to London road race was originally organised by the British League of Racing Cyclists (BLRC) before the formation of the British Cycling Federation in 1959. It was never the biggest race, but it does count racing legend Dave Bedwell on its roll of honour. Bedwell was a multiple British national champion who eventually went on to turn pro, riding for a number of teams including Viking and Hercules.…