Well, that’s one of my favourite weekends of bike racing over for another year…
Down on the Côte d’Azur, the Race to the Sun finally, and rather belatedly, lived up to its billing, as the sodden conditions that greeted the riders for much of Paris-Nice’s closing weekend relented just in time for California-born Matteo Jorgenson to soak up the sun on the Promenade des Anglais, along with the biggest win of his career so far.
(A.S.O./Billy Ceusters)
The 24-year-old, who moved from Movistar to Visma-Lease a Bike over the winter (draw your own conclusions there), backed up the tactical nous he displayed on Friday’s ultimately race-defining move to La Colle-sur-Loup by showing he had some of the strongest legs in the bunch, dropping his ol’ mucker and yellow jersey Brandon McNulty on the following day’s modified summit finish to La Madone d’Utelle by 19 seconds to close the gap between the American pair to just four seconds ahead of yesterday’s always explosive final stage around Nice.
And, as Remco Evenepoel Remco’d the bunch to pieces on the series of short, stinging climbs, Jorgenson (after they’d finally dispatched Aleksandr Vlasov) was the only one who could follow, as an isolated McNulty – his UAE Team Emirates squad having a badly timed off day – toiled almost two minutes behind.
(A.S.O./Billy Ceusters)
By the final steep climb of the Col des Quatre Chemins, Evenepoel – who started the day over half a minute back on his American rival – was resigned to his fate (a stage win in this case), as the Visma rider held tight to swap his white jersey for a yellow one, and cement his stage racing credentials in the archetypal stage racing team.
And speaking of which – Jorgenson’s Visma teammate Jonas Vingegaard blew everyone away again on Saturday’s summit finish at Monte Petrano to wrap up his first ever Tirreno-Adriatico GC title by almost a minute and a half over Juan Aysuso. Watch out, Pog.
(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
And away from the glamour of the pro peloton, the organiser of the National A-level Bourne CiCLE Festival race, which was supposed to be reappearing on the calendar for the first time since its inaugural edition in 2019, has confirmed the event’s cancellation, citing spiralling police costs and bureaucracy, as yet another British bike race bites the dust.
> "I can't think of any British bike race that would run at a profit": Another organiser cancels cycle race amid spiralling costs
Brian Moran's event, part of the wider Bourne Festival of Wheels first held in the Lincolnshire market town in September 2019, will not be returning this year, the organiser being forced to pull the plug when informed that police costs for motorbike outriders to marshal the race would cost £35,000, ten times the £3,500 cost five years earlier, that despite the 2024 route being “simpler”.
Meanwhile, another shocking close call incident in Richmond Park, involving a young family this time, has led to renewed calls for through traffic to be banned from the London park.
> "Disgraceful that vulnerable road users have to put up with this": Renewed call from cyclists for drivers to be banned from using popular park as rat-run
New figures have also revealed that e-bike fires led to 11 deaths in the UK last year, amid calls for tighter regulations, while the co-founder of Frog Bikes joined the line to criticise Jeremy Hunt’s budget, which he says did little to encourage children to cycle.
> "It is almost like having an unexploded bomb in your house": New figures reveal 11 deaths from e-bike fires in UK last year, as MPs call for tighter regulations
> "We would have liked to see more going towards cycling": Frog Bikes co-founder disappointed by little "encouraging kids to cycle" in budget
> Cyclist injured by homemade nail trap, warns local riders of hidden danger on popular trail after suffering puncture wound
> Near Miss of the Day 895: Cyclist close passed by multiple drivers in space of seconds, including shocker from lorry driver
> Storck claims Aerfast.5 is the "fastest road bike ever released", Prologo's 149g 3D-printed saddle and G's new Quocs + train with pros on BKOOL, Merida, MAAP and MET
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14 comments
I took an educated guess but had to Google for confirmation. This makes me happy.
Not sure what route she's taking, but it can't be a very direct one if it's 500km.
I suspect it will be passing all the major conurbations for as many people to see her and dip into their pockets to subsidise the government.
So yesterday's race, Ronde Van Drenthe, Canyon Sram only have 4 riders in it.
The question is why were they not be excluded from the race as Cynisca Cycling at the Argenta Classic race were?
(https://road.cc/content/news/womens-cycling-team-suspended-uci-fraud-306967)
Is it the usual? One rule for the big teams and a different one for the small teams?
If you have a palmares like Kelly, Strava KOMs are going to be laughable. Why would someone of that stature want to waste any mental energy on Strava KOMs?
Nothing to do with cycling but had to post this gem
"Lee Anderson defects from the Conservatives to Reform, a move that has the rare effect of boosting the average IQ of both parties."
I don't think that's what he is saying at all. He is just saying the conditions in which a KOM are set are likely very different to the conditions you are riding in a week long stage race, so they are not a good guide to what's likely to happen.
(I realise I am taking a tongue in cheek article too seriously.)
A few years ago I watched the Tour of Britain peloton riding a short but steep climb in Cheshire. I recognised Niki Terpstra, an early example of a pro who made his Strava public. He was riding sitting up chatting to a teammate and holding a bidon in one hand and an energy bar in the other.
Some weeks later I was in a café near the climb listening to a guy on an adjacent table telling his pals how he was quicker on the climb than the Paris-Roubaix winner.
I unwittingly nabbed a KOM on a section of cobbles used by the TdF the following day, albeit ridden in reverse. The KOM was previously held by Romain Bardet, so there for the world to see (if they cared) was me in 1st place and a rather well-known WT pro and French darling relegated to 3rd as my teammate rode it with me.
Of course, he had almost certainly been on a recce of this important stage and riding slowly back to the start of the sector before riding it harder the 'proper' way, but I didn't care, I was definitely going to have that one!!
I've long thought that Strava segments should record the prevailing wind conditions for KOMs
I - and I think Kelly - more meant the difference between "just blasting up this hill to try and set a KOM" and "racing up this hill after 6 back to back racing days". But I agree with you.
I also wish the weather data on strava would do more than just give the weather when you set off. If you set off at 8am in the morning and ride 100 miles from point to point, then the weather for most of the ride will be very different.
Sounds like you need to subscribe to something like mywindsock. It can do the relevant calculations and add some relevant stats to your strava ride note.
I've got https://www.activitybot.cloud/ set up so that it records start and end weather conditions and puts a weather emoji onto the ride description, but I was thinking it should be more for KOMs.
e.g.
Night Ride ⛅
Start: Mist, 5°C, Feels like 2°C, Humidity 90%, Wind 11mph from E
End: Mist, 6°C, Feels like 2°C, Humidity 91%, Wind 11mph from E
Nice to see no nonsense about internal cable routing for the King!