Innehållsförteckning för July 24, 2025 från Cycling Weekly

Sir Dave Brailsford was probably hoping for a happier return to the Tour de France than the one he got. Cycling is his first sporting love, and I suspect he would have been champing at the bit to get away from Old Trafford and back to the team buses. While a full house at the Theatre of Dreams is no doubt an exhilarating environment, the Tour is the sporting event that makes him tick. His first week back saw the team ride in relative anonymity as they couldn’t hold the wheels of the best riders of the current generation. Riders who, in the most part, were picked up at a young age by their teams, have risen to a level Ineos can’t currently compete with, and show no sign of…

It would be understandable if Visma-Lease a Bike were to all but throw in the towel after their last week at the Tour de France. It wasn’t even that they were bad, it was that Tadej Pogačar was simply too good. On the second rest day, Jonas Vingegaard trailed the yellow jersey by over four minutes, and the race appeared to be only going one way, but the team insisted that they were aiming, trying to be, hoping to be upbeat in a difficult situation. “You have to be positive, otherwise we wouldn’t even start the Tour after the Dauphiné, you know?” Sepp Kuss said last Friday. “You can never be surprised anymore,” he added about Pogačar’s dominant ride on stage 12. “So you have to believe. Everybody in the…

Stage 10 Bastille Day falling on a Monday meant that I still haven’t had my first rest day of this Tour! The crowds were out in force to watch a brutal stage. It wasn’t the most comfortable day in the gruppetto either. The chain was kept pretty tight today – over 300W average for the stage and a four-hour transfer to the next hotel for good measure. Rest day It has finally arrived! A lot of riders feel the need to do efforts or ride for hours on a rest day. Personally I didn’t want to touch my bike so I nicked the team car instead and drove into town to meet up with an old friend. Then before dinner all the staff and riders got together to chat, play…

The 2025 Tour de France has been a race of speed, shock and sheer physical brilliance – and the numbers tell the story better than words alone. From blistering sprints topping 75kph, to breakaway masterclasses demanding eye-watering wattage, this year’s race has shown just how high the bar continues to rise. Even in the first week, the GC battle burst into life earlier than expected, with astonishing VAM stats and time trial time losses shifting the dynamic dramatically. Meanwhile, concerns are growing over the shrinking ambition of breakaway hopefuls and the increasing dominance of bigbudget teams. There are still four stages left to race as this issue is published, but the data already confirms that this has been a Tour like no other. These extraordinary stats paint a vivid picture…

Winspace Orange Seal, formerly known as Stade Rochelais Charente-Maritime, are back at the Tour de France for the first time since 2022. With just 11 riders on the team, Winspace might lack the depth of WorldTour-registered teams, but with riders such as Aurela Nerlo, Karolina Perekitko, and Kiara Lylyk, they should be in the mix in the mountains and also look for breakaway opportunities. With expansion plans for 2026 already afoot, this year’s Tour presents a valuable learning opportunity for Winspace to test combinations and build for the future. Star rider: Karolina Perekitko The Polish climber is Winspace Orange Seal’s GC hope and will look for key moments in the mountains to show her mettle. Regular top-10 finishes across stage races and one-day events testify to her talent, and she…

The Dutch team wasted no time in naming their 2025 French signing, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, in the line-up for her national tour – to no one’s surprise: she has already declared that winning the Tour de France is going to be her main goal with the team. As well as the former mountain biker, the team is also set to feature veteran habitual winner Marianne Vos, who walked away with the green points jersey in last year’s race after a series of consistent stage finishes. No first places, though – which she will surely be looking to rectify this time round. Of course, she will be up against super sprinter Lorena Wiebes of SD Worx-Protime. The team has had a solid start to the season, with stage wins in May’s Vuelta…

The team formerly known as dsm-firmenich PostNL will seek to platform their riders after recent years spent building up their team. With two stage wins at last year’s Tour courtesy of Charlotte Kool, the team’s star sprinter will be looking to outpace her ex-team-mate Lorena Wiebes, with an ever-strengthening squad behind her. Chief among them will be British rider: Pfeiffer Georgi. The 24-year-old placed third at last year’s Paris-Roubaix, and this year came in second at the British National Road Championships behind Millie Couzens. Since then, she’s consistently ridden among race favourites throughout the recent Giro d’Italia, with an aggressive riding style designed to dominate early on. Alongside her is Marta Cavalli. The Italian’s best year was 2023, when, riding for FDJ, she won the Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées…

The US team returns to the Tour de France Femmes as the highest-ranked Continental outfit in 2024. Among its star riders is the 26-year-old Letizia Borghesi, who finished second in Paris-Roubaix this year. The team tactic there was to bring as many of the team into the finale as possible rather than backing one particular rider. It is likely therefore that in the upcoming Tour, EF-Education-Oatly will be vying for consistency over individual glory. Star rider: Kristen Faulkner After a delayed start to the season due to concussion sustained in training, Faulkner will be looking to make up for lost time. A double Olympic gold medallist and US road champion, Faulkner is a seasoned rider and capable climber who narrowly missed out on winning Queen of the Mountains competition in…

The Belgian team enjoy the kind of strength in depth that is envied within the Women’s WorldTour ranks, with riders ranging from GC contender Sarah Gigante to mountains virtuoso Justine Ghekiere, to super-strong Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Kim Le Court Pienaar. These three riders alone shared a stage win, a mountains classification win, a high overall placing and multiple high stage placings between them at last year’s Tour de France Femmes – expect to see them trying to match or even better that performance this time round. Star rider: Sarah Gigante Anyone who saw the recent Giro d'Italia Women would have got an idea of just how strong the 24-year-old Aussie rider is, thanks to her impressive mountains performances and a solo stage win to boot. She was AG’s top GC finisher…

Returning for a second Tour de France Femmes after debuting last year, Laboral Kutxa will once again proudly fly the flag for the Basque Country having sealed another wildcard invitation. Without an elite rider on their roster, their modus operandi is likely to be to get into breakaways to best represent their team colours — the recent Giro d’Italia, where Usoa Ostolaza did battle with Sarah Gigante in the Queen of the Mountains and came just eight points short of landing the team the mountains jersey, offers a good template for how they can approach the Tour. Star rider: Ane Santesteban The most experienced rider at Laboral Kutxa, Ana Santesteban is also their most accomplished, and finished eighth overall at the 2023 edition of the Tour de France Femmes. Now…

Losing star rider Cédrine Kerbaol to EF Education-Oatly is a blow to Ceratizit’s Tour de France Femmes hopes – the French rider was the author of the vast majority of their six top-10 stage finishes last year, including a win on stage six and sixth on GC (apologies – you may have to read that twice). But they have other cards to play at the Tour, including young Canadian Sarah Van Dam for the GC. They'll try to pull out all the stops as they aim to impress new sponsors for next season. Star rider Sarah Van Dam This is the first season at the team for 23-year-old Canadian Sarah Van Dam, and she has already impressed in the stage races with a GC third at Itzulia Women in May,…

● Under-23 Gold Men’s individual pursuit Josh Charlton Women’s team pursuit Carys Lloyd, Maddie Leech, Izzy Sharp, Grace Lister Men’s team pursuit Ben Wiggins, Noah Hobbs, Elliot Rowe, William Salter, Josh Charlton Women’s sprint Iona Moir Silver Women’s individual pursuit Grace Lister Women’s team sprint Georgette Rand, Iona Muir, Rhian Edmunds Women’s 1km TT Rhian Edmunds Women’s keirin Rhian Edmunds Women’s omnium Maddie Leech Bronze Men’s points race Elliot Rowe Women’s sprint Rhian Edmunds Men’s keirin Marcus Hiley Women’s keirin Iona Moir Men’s Madison Noah Hobbs and Ben Wiggins ● Junior Gold Men’s team sprint Ioan Hepburn, Archie Gill, Kristian Larigo, Charlie Holt Women’s team pursuit Arabella Blackburn, Phoebe Taylor, Evie Smith, Erin Boothman, Abi Miller Men’s individual pursuit Henry Hobbs Women’s 1km TT Erin Boothman Men’s sprint Archie Gill Women’s…

Tour finish could leave Paris The Tour de France race director, Christian Prudhomme, has strongly suggested that the era of the race always finishing in a bunch sprint on the Champs-Élysées in Paris is over. “I think that the arrival in Nice [in 2024] won’t be unique. We were delighted with Nice,” he said. Mattias Skjelmose on Instagram “This was definitely not how I pictured today going”- the Lidl-Trek rider after stage 14 ended with him in hospital 34 The heat in degrees Celsius for stage 12 of the Tour de France, which prompted Primož Roglič to wear trainer socks. He was the only person in the peloton not wearing long aero socks for the stage to Hautacam, and said it was because of how hot it was. Italian under-23…

Are you happy with your season so far? The Tour of the Alps was my best performance as a pro [he won the mountains classification]. It’s not that something clicked, but more that I’ve not been injured or ill since beginning my training in November. The difference comes from getting 1% better, month after month. How does living in Andorra help you? I’m climbing every day, and often on quite steep climbs, which naturally forces me to be in a lower gear so I’m always doing some sort of torque work. I want to be a good climber so I should be practising what I do in races. Admittedly, my speed work – time spent on flat roads – does suffer, living at the top of a mountain. My descending…

Duncan Murray Wines Road Race Where: Northamptonshire When: Sunday 10 August This 80km race is part of the British Team Cup, and is a National B. It consists of four laps of a circuit around Naseby, with terrain that will suit all riders. Entry is £30 in advance on the BC website. Wolf Cycles Castle Carrock Road Race Where: Cumbria When: Sunday 10 August This Regional A is 98km of racing around Carlisle on a rolling course, with one short but steep climb close to the end of the lap. It’s on the Castle Carrock circuit for the first time since 2019, and is £33 to enter in advance on the BC site.…

Christopher Hodgson writes: “At the start of Paris-Roubaix in Compiègne some years ago, I was standing with a few other spectators near the Orica-GreenEdge team bus. “We were admiring the team bikes that were sectioned off behind some tape nearby when a rider emerged from the bus. “Mathew Hayman made his way towards the bikes, computer in hand, and greeted us. “He was happy to answer our questions while attempting to put his computer on his bike. “However, he appeared to be getting flustered. All of a sudden, he declared in a loud voice, ‘This isn’t even my ****ing bike! Mine’s over there!’ And walked off.”…

For me, the Tour de France isn’t Tadej Pogačar sparring with Jonas Vingegaard, and nor is it Mathieu van der Poel or Wout van Aert animating the race. It’s thousands of fans riding their bikes up mountain passes with baguettes poking out the top of their backpacks, and then taking up position alongside strangers from different countries for the rest of the afternoon. It’s the smell of barbecues as the race and its convoy passes through villages that are decorated in the distinctive colours of the Tour. It’s bars painting great big red polkadots onto their facades, and boulangeries that have baked yellow jersey biscuits. It’s the traffic jams that this year on stage 13 forced Biniam Girmay and Arnaud De Lie to walk to the start, and sighting Florian…

Mirroring last summer’s Olympic road race route, stage 21 of this year’s Tour de France heads into Paris’s punchy north, for three ascents of the Butte Montmartre (Rue Lepic). The first summit comes with 40km to go, and follows three laps of the traditional Champs-Elysées loop. Over the climb, the peloton will then pass in front of the whitestoned Basilica of Sacré Cœur, before returning to the Champs, circling the Arc de Triomphe, and repeating the circuit twice more. The final ascent in Montmartre will be crested with exactly 6.1km to go, and with it, the peloton will tick off the last categorised climb of the race. The winner is expected to cross the finish line around 18:30 UK time. At 132.3km, the final day brings the second shortest road…

Three years ago, Movistar wrote themselves into the history books as the first-ever winners of the Tour de France Femmes. The great Annemiek van Vleuten was the team’s talisman and almost single-handedly made them one of the most successful teams in the peloton. Unfortunately, since the Dutchwoman retired at the end of 2023, Movistar have floundered, failing to even win a stage at last year’s race. This season, however, the team has been resurgent. New signing Marlen Reusser won both the Tour de Suisse and Vuelta a Burgos, and placed second at both the Giro d’Italia Women and Vuelta Femenina, while top contributions have come from Liane Lippert (most recently two stage wins at the Giro) and teenage British sensation Cat Ferguson. While the latter might be deemed too raw…

Following the departure of Marion Bunel to WorldTour outfit Visma-Lease a Bike, not to mention the loss of title sponsor Mavic, the French team’s future in pro cycling looked uncertain – but an unlikely saviour, Preference Home, stepped in at the 11th hour in a move that helped secure them UCI Women’s Pro Team status. The team have participated in every edition of the Tour since 2022. For 2025, the team received another wildcard invitation and will want to prove they deserve their spot by animating the racing and targeting breakaways, particularly on the early flat stages. Star rider: Alicia González The former Movistar and Lifeplus-Wahoo rider is the most experienced rider on the St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93 roster, and will want to put her versatility and well-rounded skillset to good…

The Swiss team will have no general classification pretensions going into the Tour de France Femmes – they have historically struggled to break into the top 20 in stages of the biggest Grand Tour races. That said, Maggie Coles-Lyster did manage eighth place on stage two of last year’s Tour de France Femmes in a bunch sprint – though she has since transferred to the Human Powered Health team. It was a similar story at the recent Giro d'Italia Women, with Mia Griffin’s 17th on stage five their best stage showing. Star rider: Petra Stiasny The 23-year-old Swiss rider is new to the team and is already one of their strongest riders. She can also perform in the bigger races – as evidenced by her 18th place on GC at…

The Middle East-funded team, sibling to Tadej Pogačar’s all-conquering UAE Team Emirates, took a big step up when they signed Elisa Longo Borghini, who scored an impressive victory in the Giro d'Italia Women earlier this month – her second in two editions of the race. She will likely be tired but nevertheless a useful weapon at the Tour de France Femmes, where the key aim will be to improve on last year’s lacklustre performance, which saw its riders struggle to break into the top 10 on stages, with Erica Magnaldi’s 12th place their best GC finisher. But as manager Cherie Pridham said earlier in the season: "We've strengthened the team significantly. We've brought Elisa Longo Borghini for the GC and a strong support team with clear objectives. We're ready." While…

One of the seven newly-annointed Women’s ProTeams, Cofidis have found it hardest to punch above their weight in women’s cycling. Their highest finisher overall was 23rd at the Tour de France Femmes last year, and they didn’t finish above ninth on any stage. Therefore, beyond Julie Bego, who is an exciting young prospect, they will be looking to animate breakaways and try and spin fortune in their favour. They have won just three times this season. Star rider: Julie Bego At 20 years old, Julie Bego is Cofidis’s great French hope, a former junior world champion. Fifth at the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes last season, the rider from the edge of the Alps is yet to taste victory in professional cycling, but will be challenging for the white jersey at…

Last year, Fenix-Deceuninck finished on the final podium through Pauliena Rooijakkers, and in the white jersey through Puck Pieterse. Achieving the same result this year would no doubt make the Belgian team very happy. Rooijakkers recently finished fourth overall at the Giro d’Italia Women, proving she is coming into form at exactly the right time, and could do it again in France. Star rider: Puck Pieterse At just 23, Pieterse is a Flèche Wallonne winner, a Tour de France Femmes stage winner, and a mountain bike world champion. The Dutchwoman is the future, and has shown this year that she is ready to back up her white jersey win from last year’s race. She hasn’t raced since the Classics on the road, having switched back to mountain biking, but will…

Despite possessing neither a top rider for the GC, or one for the bunch sprints, Human Powered Health could yet come home from the Tour with a stage if they play their cards right. In Thalita De Jong, Ruth Edwards and Giada Borghesi they have a trio of strong puncheurs who have registered some high finishes in one-day races this year, while American Lily Williams has a quick finishing kick. If they can target the right stages and get into the ideal breakaway, any one of these riders stand a chance of taking a win. Star rider: Barbara Malcotti Italian Barbara Malcotti has reached a new level this year, making the top 10 at the UAE Tour, Vuelta a Burgos and Vuelta Ciclista a Catalunya, before improving upon her 15th…

Lidl-Trek had a phenomenal 2024 as far as season performances go. The team won 17 races, including six victories at WorldTour level, notably overall victory at the Giro d'Italia, won by Elisa Longo Borghini. After losing Longo Borghini to UAE Team ADQ at the end of 2024, this year will present more of a challenge for the American team, but with one of the biggest rosters in the WorldTour, they still have the depth to win stages and compete for the general classification. The team proved this with a successful 2025 Giro d'Italia campaign, which included a stage win by Anna Henderson, a brace of top-three finishes, and a top-ten GC placing for Isabella Holmgren. With a racing IQ few teams can match, led by sports director Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, Lidl-Trek…

Zoe Bäckstedt dominated the Baloise Ladies Tour from start to finish to achieve her first ever professional GC victory, winning her first pro road stage on the way. The 20-year-old won the opening night prologue, her first TT since winning the TT title at the British National Championships last month, by just one second from Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) and Charlotte Kool (Picnic PostNL). She was absent from the next two stages, as they were bunch sprints, but triumphed on stage 3a, the first of a two-stage day, holding off world-class sprinters Kool and Clara Copponi (Lidl-Trek). Bäckstedt followed a move from Margaux Vigié (Visma–Lease a Bike) with only 2.3km to go to the finish, but was joined by Marie Schreiber (SD Worx-Protime) and held them off for victory. “WITH…

I’ve witnessed first-hand an example of an unstructured programme that has worked very effectively. My brother and colleague Steve Shrubsall raised his FTP by more than 50 watts in three months simply by doing plentiful indoor sessions whenever he felt like it. Suffice to say, much of it was very hard riding – but he was able to adapt and make gains, rather than just get more and more tired. This isn’t a story of zero to hero; we all know that an untrained person can make huge gains quickly. Steve, who is 47, was already in decent shape when his stint of intense training began. “I didn’t ride outdoors for months,” he remembers, “but once I started training, it was relentless, and most of it came by way of…

The week: 12-18 May Location: Andorra Training for: Tour de Suisse ● Monday AM: Gym PM: Endurance ride with sprints I started the day with 90 minutes in the gym, doing mobility work plus various squats, leg presses, calf raises, hamstring curls, planks, dumbbell and deadlift exercises. If I’m not racing, I go to the gym twice a week, but I never feel as sharp on the bike afterwards. For that reason, my afternoon ride was a steady three hours interspersed with six 15-second sprints. Total riding: 3hr ● Tuesday Easy endurance ride It’d been two weeks since the Tour de Romandie, so this week was all about bringing my heart rate down and building my base again. I did a 3.5-hour solo ride without any efforts. Total riding: 3hr…

Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) “The DJ on our bus is Mat Hayman – our sports director is the one who takes control. He prefers old-style music, so a nice bit of country folk and other more relaxed music in the mornings. We have an Australian DS and a few Aussies in the team so we all have the same taste in music. We don’t get too hyped before a race. “If I was in charge of the speaker, though, I’d have electronic dance group Rüfüs Du Sol on repeat all day, specifically their 2014 album Atlas. I’ve seen them live a couple of times and I’ve got tickets to see them again in Melbourne in December. I’ve never met them but would love to one day. If I did, I’d…

They knew the crowds would be big, but nobody expected quite so many people. On Rue Lepic, a narrow, cobbled climb that bends up into Paris’s Montmarte district, fans stood 10 deep on the pavement, tilting on their tiptoes to watch the men’s Olympic road race fly by. More than half a million people gathered by the roadside in the French capital. The artist’s quarter, where tourists typically come for caricatures, carafes of red wine, and an unspoiled view across the city, was flooded with cycling fans. They shouted so loud, and so close to the peloton, that the riders could feel the air of their cries on their faces. It was a carnival in full swing. The organisers of the Tour de France, ASO, watched on with envy from…

When you are the best team in the world for so long, the only way is down. SD Worx-Protime have still won 32 times this season, including 14 times for their star sprinter Lorena Wiebes, but things don’t seem as golden at the once-unbeatable outfit as they once were. They missed out on the Tour de France Femmes last year to Kasia Niewiadoma, and have now lost Demi Vollering to FDJ-Suez. Their GC option, Lotte Kopecky, hasn’t won an overall title this season. In fact, the team as a whole hasn’t topped the GC in any race. Expect stage wins at this race for their star sprinter Lorena Wiebes and their world champion Kopecky, but a second yellow jersey looks unlikely. However, they have winning in their DNA and won't…

There is only one outcome that would satisfy FDJ-Suez and their manager Stephen Delcourt at this year’s Tour de France Femmes: overall victory for Demi Vollering. It is why the French team made such an effort to sign the Dutchwoman. FDJ aim to be the first French team to win either the men’s or women’s Tours since Z-Tomasso in 1990 through Greg LeMond. To this end, FDJ are almost unrecognisable from the plucky underdogs they once were. Along with Vollering, Juliette Labous, Elise Chabbey and Ally Wollaston were all signed, and the team have won 20 times this year, more than ever before. Last year they finished fourth through Évita Muzic, but this time not even the podium would be enough. The team’s job is to get Vollering to the…

The Aussie team doesn't win that often and is still waiting for a victory this season – something that will weigh heavily on the minds of riders and bosses as they attempt to produce sponsor value. What better place to make amends than on cycling’s biggest stage at the Tour de France Femmes? Riders like Letizia Paternoster and Silke Smulders may have opportunities, while Mavi García will be hoping to be up there in the GC groups. Star rider: Mavi García Evergreen Spaniard Mavi García is set to ride her fourth Tour de France Femmes and will be the oldest rider in the race at an impressive 41 years old. She will likely be the team’s GC rider, having come 10th here before, winning the most combative rider award along…

One of the four French ProTeams at the Tour, Arkéa don’t have lots of success to build on, having just won twice this season so far. Their best result at the race last year was second on the stage that Justine Ghekiere won on Le Grand-Bornand, and a similar performance this year might be the best they can hope for. Star rider: Lotte Claes There’s a lot riding on Lotte Claes’s shoulders as the best ranked rider on Arkéa-B&B Hotels, and one of only two riders to win a race this year for the French team. Her victory came at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where she surprised the field with a win from the breakaway. She has the potential to do so again at the Tour, and comes to the race…

This will be the Tour de France Femmes debut for VolkerWessels, formerly known as ParkHotel Valkenburg, the finishing school for all the latest talent. As a result, expect them to come to the race with a lot of ambition to be seen and heard, but with a focus on talent development for their charges. There are only three riders on the whole team over 27, and that gives a good indication of their raison d'etre. Expect to see the women in blue and white to feature in as many breakaways as they can get into. Star rider: Eline Jansen Now in her second season as a pro, 23-year-old Eline Jansen is developing into a specialist on undulating courses. Her only victory this season came at La Classique Morbihan, a one-day…

Previously among the second tier of World Tour teams, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto go into this year’s Tour de France with their reputation, expectations and scrutiny all greatly increased. That’s because this time, they’re riding as defending champions, following Kasia Niwieaomda’s memorable triumph 12 months ago. The team certainly has a talent-filled roster to support Niewadoma: Soraya Paladin, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Neve Bradbury are all quality climbers, while young Antonia Niedermaier was good enough to make the top five of the recent Giro d’Italia; Chloé Dygert offers great protection in flatter and punchier terrain; and Chiara Consonni could even compete for stage wins herself in the sprint. But do they have the form? Most have been under par this season, and the team has (excluding national championships titles) only managed one…

When the terrain is flat, look for Uno-X Mobility to come to life. In Linda Zanetti they have a talented young sprinter who was able to challenge the fastest finishers in the world during the Spring Classics; Maria Giulia Confalonieri, a powerful rouleur who placed sixth at Paris-Roubaix; Anniina Ahtosalo, second in the opening stage last year; and Susanne Andersen, a reliable sprinter who can also handle testier terrain. They’re not quite so well stocked when it comes to climbers, but the Norwegian duo of Katrine Aalerud and/or Mie Bjørndal Ottestad could push for a top 10 on GC. Star rider: Mie Bjørndal Ottestad Hard to miss in her Norwegian national champion’s jersey, Mie Bjørndal Ottestad looks like the team’s best option for the mountains. The 28-year-old looked great at…

The 2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain will begin in Suffolk before travelling through Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Warwickshire, British Cycling announced last week. Three new stage towns will appear in the race for the first time: Woodbridge will host the start of stage one, which will go on to finish on the coast at Southwold. Stage two will start and finish in Stowmarket. The race has visited Suffolk for the past two editions, but this will mark the first time the county has hosted two stages of the race in a single year. Last year the Suffolk town of Felixstowe hosted the final stage, which was won by Matevž Govecar (Bahrain Victorious) and sealed overall victory for Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech). Stage three will start in Milton Keynes before finishing in…

Ben O’Connor is competing in his fourth Tour de France and will be hoping to add to his single stage victory from 2021, when he finished fourth overall. His second place at last year’s Vuelta on the back of a fourth place at the Giro underlines the Australian’s ability to survive and indeed prosper over three weeks of Grand Tour racing. For much of the 2025 edition of the Tour, he’ll be aboard a Giant Propel Advanced SL. It’s Team Jayco AlUla’s aero race bike and features many of the attributes you’d expect from such a machine. The deep head tube and fork blades make for a wind-cheating front end, complete with a D-shaped steerer tube. The Cadex Aero cockpit adds to this, with the flattened tops, narrow width between…

The R4.A is Scope’s 45mm all-road offering. The rim bed is wider than the R4 wheelset, measuring 23mm internally and 30mm externally, and is designed for use with 28-30mm tyres, while also accommodating up to 65mm tyres. Tubeless tape is required for sealing duties, but spokes can be adjusted with the external nipples. The rim itself is developed with Scope’s own Algorithm Enhanced Aerodynamics (AEA) for an optimal rim profile across multiple conditions. Spoke holes are locally reinforced to provide extra strength while maintaining a low weight. The wheelset weighs 1,580g on our scales, which is close enough to the claimed 1,583g, and the wheels have no user weight limit. Spokes are all Sapim CX Sprint straight-pull, bladed spokes, laced in a 2:1 ratio with 21 spokes at the front…

here is a movie about the Eurovision Song Contest (titled The Eurovision Song Contest) that was released in 2020. It came about when Will Ferrell, who wrote it, saw the competition for the first time while staying with his wife’s family in Sweden. “What the hell is this?” he asked. “It’s Eurovision,” he was told. “It happens every year.” “Every year? This lunacy happens every year?” he replied incredulously. And he made a movie about it, which has one excellent joke near the start, but otherwise isn’t as good as the actual competition. Like most of us, I’ve been watching the Tour de France. And I can’t stop thinking about the, “Every year?” quote. I can’t believe we do this every July and behave as if it’s normal. Every year…