As Mark Beaumont comes to the end of his extraordinary round the world cycle, one day ahead of schedule today, I’m caught in two minds. On the one hand you can only feel admiration for such an epic feat of endurance cycling. He’s covered 18,000 miles, riding 16 hours a day since the beginning of July. He met his target of covering 240 miles a day and has endured physical and mental exhaustion to get there.
On the other hand one’s left with a feeling of, well…what’s the point?
Read MoreOne of the most popular riders to emerge from the peloton this season has been the Irishman Conor Dunne who races for Aquablue. At 2.04m tall he absolutely towers over many of his fellow riders. Conor, nicknamed ‘El Alto’, was the winner of this year’s Lanterne Rouge at the Vuelta Espana, the award given to the last placed finisher of the race.
We wondered if height can ever be an advantage to a cyclist in the same way that it can be beneficial in other sports. Clearly, the important figure is the power to weight ratio a rider can produce. But is there an ideal height for cyclists?
Read MoreOk, we're not claiming to be experts here or anything - we've not gone head to head with Mark Beaumont round the world or just returned from a 5 year stint alongside Super Cycling Man or anything. No. We just did our first bike packing adventure along the south coast of England, which is pretty tame, I admit. But we did learn a few things along the way, useful tips for genteel explorers cycling a few hundred miles to visit family and camping along the way, sort of thing.
Read MoreAs dawn breaks over the city of Pau I wake up with eager anticipation and look out across rooftops to the peaks of the Pyrenees that loom over this town. After two flat stages this is where the Tour will be headed tomorrow, promising a tussle among the GC contenders at last. I imagine the likes of Quintana and Aru licking their lips at the prospect of finally having an opportunity to challenge Froome for yellow. But they'll have to wait: today is another long, flat stage.
Read MoreIt’s an oft-quoted fact that the Tour de France is the biggest sporting show on earth. TV Audience figures are hard to quantify but they vary from the modest 1.5 billion to a bullish 4 billion people watching at least a few minutes of the three week race.
And it’s from the TV compound at the finish area of each stage that the race is broadcast to 190 different countries. The logistical miracle of packing up, transporting this whole village and setting it all up again some 200 kilometres away on a daily basis is astounding.
Read More“I always heed the words of the Queen Mother: never turn down the chance of a cup of tea or a pee.” It’s the first of many golden nuggets of advice, quips and bon mots from my avuncular host behind the scenes of the Tour de France 2017. It is of course none other than the Eurosport commentator, Carlton Kirby, as he shimmies his way into the urinoir outside the commentary box in Bergerac for a quick one before he takes up his post.
Stage 10 and 11 of this year’s Tour may have been two pan flat stages that featured hours of televised chateaux, vineyards and fields of sunflowers with little else to entertain the viewer. But for me they were a dream come true when, for two whole days, I had unfettered access to the behind scenes goings on of Le Tour.
Read MoreFor a sport whose (male) participants shave their legs, wear tight, revealing clothing and are constantly obsessed with their weight, you would have thought that there would be more openly gay cyclists or at least a greater understanding, tolerance and discussion of LGBT issues.
Yesterday’s announcement from Philippa York (formerly the hugely successful TdF cyclist Robert Millar) that she is to join ITV4’s Tour de France commentary team as her ‘new’ self could well presage a sea change in outlook from a largely traditional and backward looking culture that has been the norm in cycling.
Read MoreAs Eurosport’s main man Carlton Kirby prepared for his three week stint commentating on the Tour de France, he interrupted his packing to give us a few last minute tips on what to expect. It’s shaping up to be an unpredictable one with a route that is a little lighter on the climbs than in recent years and the main contenders showing variable form. Here are some of Carlton’s thoughts.
Read MoreOur friends at GCN did a quick survey of the pro riders' favourite jerseys a few months ago. While one or two actually chose their own kit (Mentjes?) the guys showed pretty good taste with Greipel going for Indurain's Banesto jersey and Dumoulin opting for the classic Molteni. We had some fun choosing our own Top Ten, trying to spread them out over the last six decades. Apologies for the 80s bias, a giveaway about our age here. Let us know what you think!
Read More“Whoever invented the bicycle deserves the thanks of humanity.”
Lord Charles Beresford
Next week , on 12th June, we will be celebrating 200 years since the first documented journey by bicycle. In that time we have seen it develop from something that resembled a balance bike to the state of the art modern machines we know and love today.
The humble bicycle was a simple invention that still conjures up complex and powerful emotions and has moved some of our great thinkers from Einstein to Roland Barthes to philosophise over it. Meanwhile its impact on society has been enormous. What is it about the bike that stirs these feelings and thoughts and what does the future hold in store for it?
Read MoreAs Tom Dumoulin lost two minutes of his lead in the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday as a result of a mistimed ‘comfort break’, fans and commentators were up in arms about the fact that his rivals took advantage of him being caught short. To many it seemed that the likes of Nibali, Zakarin and Quintana were breaking some of the age-old unwritten rules of professional cycling - that you don’t exploit a rider’s mechanical (or other) misfortune, especially when they’re wearing the leader’s jersey.
Read MoreA high performance car brand and the emissions-free pursuit of cycling may seem like strange bedfellows. But in recent years Maserati, the luxury sports car manufacturer, has been sponsoring high profile cycling events like the Tour de Yorkshire, the prestigious Rouleur Classic and the vintage cycling festival, Eroica Britannia. It even has a former professional bike racer, David Millar, as an ambassador. We spoke to Peter Denton, general manager of Maserati Northern Europe, to find out why.
Read MoreWhat’s your favourite Grand Tour? Is it the glitz, glamour and massive publicity machine of the Tour de France? Perhaps you prefer the more informal Vuelta? For many a fan, and for many a professional rider, it’s the romance of the Maglia Rosa of the Giro d’Italia, not the Maillot Jaune, which gets the heart beating faster and the hairs to prick up on the back of the neck.
The Maglia Rosa: just the sound of it whisks you back to those heroic days of Coppi, Bartali, merino wool jerseys and gravelled roads. Classic, elegant, skinny steel bikes from Bianchi, De Rosa and Pinarello. The beautiful pink jersey named after that classic pink newspaper, La Gazetta dello Sport.
Read MoreAs a regular visitor to Mallorca, you can't help but notice there's been an absolute sea change in recent years. Every time I return there are noticably more cyclists on the roads and now the local bakery has turned into a bike hire and equipment store. This year, however, the trickle seems to have become a flood - cyclists not only outnumber cars by quite a large percentage - but going for a ride is more akin to taking part in a sportive! Stopping at a garage near the infamous Sa Colobra climb there wasn't a car in sight, and instead of customers topping up with fuel there were over a hundred cyclists rehydrating and regrouping.
Read MoreThis month has brought unexpected warmth and not the April showers we’re used to in the UK. But, as cyclists, it’s the unexpected that we should be on the look out for. On our recent trip to Mallorca, riders from all over northern Europe taught us a thing or two about layering – or the art of being prepared.
Read MoreAs this Sunday sees the 115th edition of Paris - Roubaix we bring you an extract of Max Leonard's piece from issue 5 of Avaunt which uncovers the story of how the most infamous race on the professional cycling calendar gained its nickname ‘The Hell of the North.' He traces the history of the race from the first edition in 1896, across the battle-scarred landscape of northern France, to the present day.
Read MoreTo get a real taste of this weekend’s 101st edition of the Tour of Flanders you could do worse than checking out this great 15 minute film “Ronde Van Paterberg.” The Paterberg is one of the key climbs of this famous race, topping out at a wincing, cobbled 18%. The documentary is told purely from the spectators’ point of view as they watch the peloton tackle this often dramatic part of the race.
Read MoreOn the day of this year’s first Monument, Milan-San Remo, Gareth Llewhellin and Ride Velo are pleased to bring to you a series of limited edition and signed prints of the five most important one-day races of the calendar.
Gareth’s new image for Milan-San Remo is inspired by the freezing conditions and heavy snowfall of the 2013 edition when only half the field finished. At one point the organisers neutralised the race and riders were ordered to board team buses and transported to a restart point.
Read MoreThe Monuments, the oldest, hardest and most prestigious one-day events of the Classics start tomorrow with La Primavera, the epic race from Milan to San Remo. Here’s Ride Velo’s guide to those one day races to look forward to, not just this weekend, but over the next few weeks.
Think of the Spring Classics and you think of frites, ridiculously strong beer brewed by monks, cobbles and the likes of Sean Kelly spattered in mud and relishing the brutality of it all. These are the longest races of the calendar and spring sunshine can turn to rain, sleet or even snow, turning rough roads and cobbles into a slippery mess the more delicate riders dread.
Read MoreTomorrow sees the 52nd edition of the Tirreno-Adriatico, a seven-stage race in Italy, sometimes known as ‘The Race of the Two Seas’. Drawing a high quality field, it has arguably become more prestigious than Paris-Nice which started at the weekend. We spoke to Eurosport’s Carlton Kirby who will be commentating on it to find out who the favourites are and why he’d rather be in Italy than France this week.
Read More
