Innehållsförteckning för July 10, 2025 från Cycling Weekly

Two weeks ago, I wrote about my nervous excitement ahead of the Tour as I was taking my children to see it for the first time. A bad day out could have put them off for life. The good news is that it couldn’t have gone any better. We drove over in pouring rain – massive kudos to everyone who rode to Dover and ended up soaked before they got on the ferry – drove through more rain in France, only for the sun to come out the minute we parked our car in the town at the bottom of the Côte de Cavron-Saint-Martin. On the drive over, I told them about the publicity caravan throwing out free stuff, and their eyes lit up. We got ourselves into position, around…

For the first time since 2021, the Tour de France had its Grand Départ on home soil, after excursions to Copenhagen, Bilbao and Florence. Lille was the chosen host, the prefecture of the Nord Département, and capital of the Hauts-de-France region, where the three opening stages took place. There was little of the soaring temperatures and blazing sun of recent weeks, with the opening day affected by the wind and Sunday’s stage two, in particular, blighted by heavy rain from the start. That’s what you get for starting in northern France. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sprinted to victory on stage one, taking the race’s first yellow jersey as a result. However, his stay in the race lead lasted just 24 hours, as his team-mate Mathieu van der Poel won stage two…

Mark Cavendish can’t keep himself away from the Tour de France, such is his love and affinity for the race that’s given him everything and defined much of his career. The all-time stage win record holder could have sailed off into the sunset after last year, but instead he’s back on the ground at the race, glad-handing Tour dignitaries and shepherding VIP guests around the team paddock each morning. Never mind the current pros – including Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard, the peloton’s big three – it was Cavendish who sent delighted fans into raptures as they glimpsed a sight of him passing by, dressed in dark sunglasses and skinny jeans in an attempt to fly under the radar in Lille during the Grand Départ. I saw Cavendish…

4 Riders from Team Sky/Ineos Grenadiers won the Tour de France from 2012 to 2019 7 Tour stage wins by Chris Froome between 2012 and 2016 – the most of any rider from the team 5 British Tour stage winners from Sky/Ineos 0 Number of GC wins by Ineos from the 12 Grand Tours leading up to this year’s Tour 5 Number of Tours de France, out of the previous 15, at which Sky/Ineos have not won a stage 7 Minutes – the time gap that both Richard Carapaz (third in 2021) and Geraint Thomas (third in 2022) were adrift from the winner 3 GC victories from 28 ‘Big Seven’ one-week stage races since 2022 6 British riders on the team in 2025 – the fewest ever €50m Reported amount…

In the top 10 of the elite men’s road race at the British National Championships last week, one name stood out: Alex Beldon. Not just because he was the youngest rider there, but because he was the only one not riding for a professional team. In fact, he was the only domestic club rider in the top 16. However, it wasn’t the top 10 that the Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck rider was focused on, but the race within a race. “It wasn’t really the overall result that I was concerned about,” Beldon told CW last week. “It’s a massive bonus, but I was thinking about who was an under-23, and what I needed to do to put myself in the best position to get a result [in that category]. A podium would have…

Felix Gall heads into this year’s Tour de France in a period of form, finishing fourth overall in this year’s Tour de Suisse. For the 112th Tour de France, Gall leads his team, Decathlon-AG2R, hoping for an improvement on last year’s 14th place overall. Protected by Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Bruno Armirail the Austrian leads a strong team this year, and with the latest Van Rysel RCR-F – developed in Lille, where the race started this year – under him, his confidence should be high. The bike employs Shimano’s Dura-Ace 9200 groupset, which remains the most successful groupset in the WorldTour. Here, they’ve updated the chainset with the addition of Carbon-Ti chainrings, in 54-40 guise. While the gearing will undoubtedly help in the early stages, it’s the frame that the team…

“I describe it as like a frog in boiling water. You don’t realise it’s happening, as it’s such a slow decline, but then you learn about the symptoms and realise you have them all.” That’s how Mary Penta, age 46, describes perimenopause affecting her quality of life. Penta is a top age-group MTB rider from the US who has 20 years’ experience racing bikes. “The first thing I noticed was just being tired and not being able to recover from workouts,” she said. “After that, it was night sweats. Then it was sleep disruption. I never had energy for anything. I would do my workout, but I wouldn’t do things after work: cleaning, calling friends or whatever. I was just putting one foot in front of the other.” Rob Ogren,…

Molly Weaver has set a new world record for the fastest circumnavigation of Great Britain by bike. The 31-year-old completed the feat of cycling around the island of Britain in 21 days, 10 hours and 48 minutes, taking 17 hours off the previous time. She is the first woman to hold the record and is raising money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). The former pro cyclist turned ultra-rider set off from London on 15 June, and returned to the capital on 6 July, three weeks later, to take the record from Nick Sanders, who set the benchmark in 1984. On the way, she rode the coastline of England, Wales and Scotland. In an Instagram post, Albion Cycling, which supports Weaver, wrote: “Molly has made history by becoming the…

Non-cycling friends often say things to me along the lines of, “You must really be able to get some thinking done when you’re cycling. I imagine you think up all your columns when you’re out on the bike. They must almost write themselves!” Normally I say something straightforwardly dishonest, which is, “Yes.” That’s because the truth is difficult to explain, and I feel that it does not reflect well on me. Ironically, thinking about things isn’t something I think about too often. And that’s because when I look back at what has been going through my mind during a long ride, I find the tapes are missing. There’s nothing there. If I really concentrate I can come up with a few decisions about the route, some dark thoughts about the…

Sean Flynn, Picnic PostNL “Frank van den Broek, or DJ Franky Custom to give him his official DJ name, is the one always on the speaker in our bus. He’s mixed his own tracks in the past and played paid sets. Most of his stuff is Euro hype music and techno mixes, but he drops little bits in for each individual every now and again. There’s a lot of pressure being in charge of the music, so I’m happy for Frank to take charge. “The one day that I don’t like having too much music on is during time trials. I don’t want to get too hyped up that I end up going out way too fast. “If I’ve got my headphones in I’m almost certainly listening to UK rap.…

As the Tour de France peloton arrived safely into Dunkirk on Monday afternoon, the race organisers breathed a huge sigh of relief. Stage three had passed without disruption – an outcome that was by no means guaranteed, given the threat issued by the CGT union two months earlier: “There will be no yellow jersey in Dunkirk.” More than 700 redundancies had just been announced at the ArcelorMittal and Outinord steelworks. “I respect the Tour de France… but this is an economic and social emergency,” said the CGT’s secretary general Jean-Paul Delescaut, adding: “If we have 1,000 to 2,000 comrades, that’s one every 100 metres of the route. [The government] will have to bring in every police unit in France for the stage to take place.” Thankfully, it didn’t come to…

1.6-2.0G Recommended daily protein intake (per kg bodyweight) for older athletes to preserve muscle mass 8% Per decade – typical decline in muscle mass after age 40 without resistance training 30-50% Decrease in oestrogen during perimenopause, often fluctuating unpredictably before menopause 20-25% Decrease in growth hormone levels every decade after age 30 51 Average age of natural menopause in women (typical range: 45–55) 2 Per week – minimum frequency of strength training shown to significantly reduce muscle loss in older adults 30-40% Reduction in bone mineral density seen in some lifelong cyclists without strength training or adequate fuelling…

Dawlish GP Support Races When: Friday, 25 July Where: Devon Held on the same day as the Dawlish GP, part of the National Circuit Series, there are various levels of races on the same 1km-long course around Dawlish town centre. There’s a Regional-B race, youth races, and a community ride too. Entry via BC. Clevedon & District Club 10 When: Tuesday, 22 July Where: North Somerset Riders new to time trialling are invited to Clevedon & District Road Club’s Club 10, on a very flat course in North Somerset. The course isn’t marshalled, so riders are advised to bring their bike computers, but with 47.8m of climbing in 10 miles, it’s a speedy course. Entry via CTT.…

A tale from a men’s pro race a few years ago. A rider punctured. His team car arrived, the mechanic jumped out changed the wheel. The rider was pushed up to speed, and the team director drove off to get in front of him to give him a bit of a tow. The mechanic, and the punctured wheel, were left by the road. It took the director several minutes to notice how quiet the team car was, and how much better it smelled. Clearly he couldn’t go back. So when another rider needed a spare bike he did the only thing he could. He told the VIP sponsor’s guest in the passenger seat that it was an immersive experience, and to get the hell out of the car and give…

Alpecin-Deceuninck enjoyed a dream opening weekend of the 2025 Tour de France until their star sprinter and the race’s first yellow jersey abandoned on stage three after crashing. Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage in Lille after crosswinds caught several of the pre-race favourites out, and then 24 hours later Mathieu van der Poel edged Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard in an uphill finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer. But en route to Dunkirk on stage three, French rider Bryan Coquard collided with Philipsen as they were racing for the intermediate sprint. The Belgian sported significant cuts and grazes to his shoulder and back and quit the race minutes after. “It’s a real bummer to lose Jasper,” Van der Poel said after the third stage. “It was always one of our goals to…

I’m feeling surprisingly chilled about heading into my first Tour de France. The laid-back approach has definitely worked best for me this year, so it’d feel wrong to change that now. A delayed train threw a spanner in the works on Wednesday, turning the day into a bit of a travel slog. Add in a 7am blood test on Thursday morning – which I still detest – and I wasn’t feeling my sprightliest. After plenty of interviews, photos and meetings, we finally arrived at the team presentation in the centre of Lille. I spotted my parents and grandparents in the crowd, somehow managing to pick them out, which made an already special moment that much better. It didn’t take a genius to realise the crowd were on the hunt for…

I read your article on finding the cycling equivalent to parkruns (CW 19 June). That’s definitely easier said than done. But one option might be to look to Germany and see what they do. Every weekend clubs up and down the country organise what they call ‘tourist rides’. They are basically signposted rides of varying distances, usually 40, 70, and 110km plus. Participants pay €8-10 to get a number and can use the various feeding stops. Starting time is normally between 7am and 10am. The longer you plan to ride, the earlier you need to start. They provide a good income for the clubs and an excellent opportunity for riders to meet up and ride in small groups…

Rating The updated Ares aims to enhance comfort and ergonomics, and Specialized says it analysed more than 100,000 3D foot scans to optimise the foot-shoepedal interaction and boost overall system efficiency. Tension is controlled by a dual Boa Fit System that uses Li2 multidirectional dials. This, paired with a much broader and squared toe box, gives greater flexibility where the shoe tightens around the foot. I have been riding consistently in the Ares, covering everything from long road rides, hill intervals, light gravel rides and even a criterium race. I found it best suited for shorter efforts where acute power transfer is key, especially in sprinting. The use cases where the shoe felt ideal were more limited than I anticipated. The Ares features a high, rigid ankle cup intended to…