Road World Championships 2018: Spain's Alejandro Valverde heads sprint finish to win world crown

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Watch highlights from the Road World Championships as Alejandro Valverde wins his first title aged 38, having previously finished on the podium a record six times.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45701078

World Road Championships: Spain's Alejandro Valverde edges sprint finish to win men's race

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Spain's Alejandro Valverde edges a sprint finish to win the men's race at the Road World Championships.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45699992

A Sunday in Holl: Steep final climb to decide men's Worlds – Preview

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Each national team has been carefully selected; the riders have all arrived in Innsbruck; the last reconnaissance rides have been completed, and the granny gears have been chosen. Now the best climbers and Grand Tour contenders in the men's professional peloton have only to be strong enough to survive the 258.5km of hilly racing and then conquer the final, steep 2.9km Höttinger Höll. Whoever leads, alone, over the top of the last climb, or wins a small group sprint in central Innsbruck, will inherit Peter Sagan's rainbow jersey.

Sunday's race is expected to be one of the hardest and most selective World Championships for years, with only the 1995 event at altitude in Colombia – won by Spain's Abraham Olano ahead of compatriot Miguel Indurain and Italy's Marco Pantani – and perhaps Sallanches, France, in 1980, when Frenchman Bernard Hinault won alone after over 6,000 metres of climbing, considered harder.

This year's race includes 4,681 metres of climbing, sparking comparisons with Liège-Bastogne-Liège or Il Lombardia.

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The riders face seven long hours in the saddle, with three distinct parts to the course, starting early on Sunday morning in the small town of Kufstein, east of Innsbruck.

French national coach Cyril Guimard compared it to a hard-to-digest three-course meal: the long day starts with the 85km run along the valley and the 2.8km Gramartboden climb, followed by the six laps of the 23.9km Olympic circuit that includes the gradual 7.9km to Igls before the fast descent to the centre of Innsbruck and the finish area.

Too hard for Sagan, perfect for Alaphilippe, Valverde and Yates

The juniors, under-23 men and elite women raced on the same circuit and strangely only the elite men's race has an extra sting in the tail with the climb of Höttinger Höll. It comes after 250km of racing. Its dominance in the finale and its 25 per cent sections could spark the decisive attack from a single rider or small group, or inspire a very aggressive race beforehand.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/a-sunday-in-holl-steep-final-climb-to-decide-mens-worlds-preview

'A perfect ride' - Anna Van der Breggen wins World Championships

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Watch highlights from Anna van der Breggen's 'perfect ride' as she wins her first road World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45692644

World Road Championships: Anna van der Breggen takes dominant gold in women's race

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Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands takes a crushing victory in the women's race at the Road World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45693981

World champion Sagan extends Bora-Hansgrohe deal

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Defending world road race champion Peter Sagan extends his contract with the Bora-Hansgrohe team.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45690889

World Championships: Which is the best national jersey? - Poll

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The UCI Road World Championships are one of the few occasions elite cyclists swap out their trade team jerseys for their national colours, a special occasion even for some of the most successful cyclists in the sport.

Below we take a look at some of the best jerseys from as far back as 1986 to some from more recent editions.

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Many nations will retain an iconic design year-on-year, with Belgium's Driekleur tricot rarely moving away from the baby blue main body.

Click through the gallery above for a closer look at each jersey and vote for your favourite from the grid below. Let us know in the comments below if we've missed any of your favourites.

 

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/world-championships-which-is-the-best-national-jersey-poll

Jingle Cross: From grassroots to World Cup

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Round 2 of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup is ready to smash through the fields of Iowa City Saturday afternoon when Jingle Cross rolls out with the world's best riders competing for series points.

Two world champions will toe the start line at the Iowa City Fairgrounds on Saturday, going up against some of the best Europe has to offer and a cadre of Americans hoping to crack into the upper echelons of the unique discipline.

But it wasn't always this way in the race named 'Jingle Cross' because it used to take place around the Holidays. Back in 2004, a surgeon at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital and some of his friends thought it would be a kick to put on a local cyclo-cross race in the cross-country field behind his house.

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Coming from a cross-country running background of his own, race founder and director John Meehan thought it would be a good idea to start all 66 riders in the one race of the day shoulder to shoulder on a single start line. It was a classic rookie mistake.

"It was December and the wind was like a 30-mile-an-hour headwind," Meehan recently recalled for Cyclingnews. "So everyone was going downhill at about 3 mph into this ridiculously strong headwind, going nowhere all in one line. That was the very first one in 2004. It was just me and a bunch of friends and one girl doing registration in a tent that kept blowing over in a field."

It was an inauspicious beginning, for sure, but Meehan already had ideas about taking his race to another level. The week before his inaugural event, Meehan travelled to Portland, Oregon, to see the thriving Cross Crusade and the US national championships. He was impressed.

More than a cyclo-cross race

One more rung to climb

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/jingle-cross-from-grassroots-to-world-cup

World Championships: 10 riders to watch in the elite women's road race – Video

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Saturday will see the penultimate event of the 2018 UCI Road World Championships with the elite women's road race, with no shortage of credible contenders for the rainbow jersey. 

Although some were disappointed the organisers didn't include the Höll climb that is set to be decisive in the men's race on Sunday, the 156.2km course features 2,413 metres of climbing, with three laps of the Olympic circuit.

The Dutch pulled off a clean sweep of the podium in the mid-week time trial and they once again hold the keys to the race. Annemiek van Vleuten, the dominant rider in the women's peloton this year, and Anna van der Breggen, the most successful one-day rider in recent years, are both big favourites, but Chantal Blaak showed 12 months ago that the rest of the field can't afford to simply focus on just one or two Dutchwomen. 

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Even if they do not have the strength in depth as the Dutch, there are others who are strong contenders for the title, including Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Poland), Amanda Spratt (Australia), and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (South Africa). 

For a full rundown of Cyclingnews' top 10 contenders for the rainbow jersey, hit play on the video above.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/world-championships-10-riders-to-watch-in-the-elite-womens-road-race-video

Sophie Wright: From two heart operations to the World Championships

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After two heart operations which left career in the balance, British cyclist Sophie Wright takes part in Saturday' World Road Championships.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45680120

Evenepoel shows true depth of his talent with chase and solo victory

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Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel overcame a mid-race crash, a slow wheel change, a long chase and even racing with number 13 on his back, to win the junior men’s road race world title at the UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck.

No one has ever won both the junior men’s time trial world title and then a few days later the junior road race world title. No one has certainly ever done it in such spectacular fashion after losing more than two minutes in a crash. And no one, not even a young Eddy Merckx, showed the same talents and such apparent maturity at just 18 years of age.

Evenepoel is naturally confident, yet he was also keen to celebrate his world title with his Belgian teammates at McDonalds on Sunday night. He cheekily rubbed his chin as a symbol of a goat’s beard before reaching the finish of the race and holding up his bike at the finish line. He was imitating soccer stars Lionel Messi and Christian Ronaldo who have teased each other about being the G.O.A.T (Greatest of all time).

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He seemed full of bravado but was more modest post-race and revealed that was simply a gesture to a friend watching on television.

“I’m not a champion, I’m still a junior. Real champions are the best amongst the pros. I’ve still got a long way to go,” Evenepoel said as he reflected on what he had achieved and how his life will change as a Belgian double world champion.

“The real legends are guys like Eddy Merckx and Alberto Contador. I prepared for this as professionally as possible, but it was far from perfect. I’m a world champion now, but I’m not a champion for life. I’m not the new Merckx. I’m haven't won a world title as a professional rider and I haven't won the Tour de France. I’m far from being the new Merckx, I’m only the new Remco Evenepoel.”

Learning from the 'big boys' at Quick-Step Floors

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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/evenepoel-shows-true-depth-of-his-talent-with-chase-and-solo-victory

'This course is made for the Yates brothers'

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British former Olympic cycling champion Chris Boardman previews the UCI Road World Championship road races.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45664377

UCI Road World Championships: Elite men road race start list

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UCI Road World Championships: Elite women road race start list

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UCI Road World Championships: U23 men road race start list

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UCI Road World Championships: Junior men road race start list

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World Championships: 10 riders to watch in the elite men's road race – Video

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This Sunday's elite men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships will bring the curtain down on what's already been a hugely exciting and enjoyable week in Innsbruck, Austria.

With the elite women's road race taking place on Saturday, Sunday's race then brings proceedings to a close, and it's really anyone's guess which rider will stand on top of the podium in the rainbow jersey come Sunday evening.

Anyone's guess, but Cyclingnews will give it a go. Here, then, in the video above, are our 10 riders most likely to pull on the rainbow jersey.

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France's Julian Alaphilippe would certainly be a hugely popular winner in Innsbruck this weekend. The 26-year-old can boast taking two Tour de France stage wins, victory at the Clasica San Sebastian, a stage and the overall at the Tour of Britain, and then a stage and the overall again at the Tour of Slovakia in the past couple of months alone.

The polka-dot jersey he won at the Tour, meanwhile, suggests that the climbs on the Austrian course shouldn't pose him too many problems, either.

Alaphilippe also has a strong teammate in Romain Bardet, who appears to be coming into form nicely in time for the Worlds. A mention, too, for a third member of the French national team, Thibaut Pinot, who won two mountain stages at the recent Vuelta a España.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/world-championships-10-riders-to-watch-in-the-elite-mens-road-race-video

Rohan Dennis: World title four years in the making

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Rohan Dennis was reluctant to call himself the favourite for the elite men's individual time trial at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships because he was afraid that saying those words out loud would somehow ruin his chances of capturing the rainbow jersey.

"Don't say that I'm the favourite," the Australian told Cyclingnews after warming up on the course last Saturday. "If we say that I'm the favourite, I'll lose."

The superstition that he had about time trials and the World Championships was ingrained in him due to the fact that he's been a top contender in the discipline over the last four seasons, but had never even stood on the podium in the elite men's event until he secured the world title in Innsbruck, Austria, on Wednesday.

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"I've never won a world title, and I haven't been on the podium, either – mostly because of luck issues: mechanicals, crashes, bikes breaking. It's those issues that have caused me not to be on the podium," he said earlier in the week.

Outside of the World Championships, Dennis' palmarès included individual time trial victories in stages at the Tour de France in 2015, and at both the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España this year.

He's won time-trial stages at the Tour of California, USA Pro Challenge, Eneco Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour de Suisse and the Abu Dhabi Tour, along with three elite national titles, and he briefly held the World Hour Record. This year, he won six individual time trials. 

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/rohan-dennis-world-title-four-years-in-the-making

Like the pages of a book - A postcard from the 1996 Worlds

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I can't breathe. I can't lift my eyes from the ground, and I can't hear anything but the clicks of the camera. It's as though the operator is so close he's inside my head. Click, click, click. All I want is for the noise to stop, the space to clear and for the race to start. But, to be honest, I don't really want to race. I just want to lose the television crew and photographer who have come all this way just to watch me take part in a junior provincial race. They're here for me. They're here for my name. They're here because I'm Eddy Merckx's son and the embarrassment from the attention is so intense that I want the ground to swallow me.

Finally, we can race.

It wasn't easy growing up with the Merckx name but I had a wonderful childhood and fantastic parents. There was never any undue pressure and, as a child of the 1980s, I would often come home from school and flick through our VHS collection and watch tapes of my dad racing.

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There was always one cassette that drew my gaze the most, with its all-black casing and a thin blue sticker on the side that read in my mum's faint blue handwriting: 'Montreal Worlds, 74'. That was the year my dad won, of course, and I must have watched that tape a thousand times, and to the point where it almost wore through. And even though I knew the ending, knew the outcome to the very second, to the very gesture of his celebration, I would still watch it again and again. And if I was alone – and I probably was after the first 500 viewings – then I'd raise my hands as he won.

We weren't the sort of family that kept loads of trophies on display. Our house was modest in that sense, but while we had some memorabilia and jerseys in the attic, what I really remember were the VHS tapes and how my fingers would delicately trace over their sleeves as if they were prizes in themselves.

I grew up reading about my dad but, when I watched him, it was somehow different. It's hard to explain, but when I was reading about the 'Great Eddy Merckx', it was always someone else's words, someone else's story. But when I watched those tapes, it was all about Dad and me. The man and father that I know. And it didn't matter that I knew the outcome, that he'd cross the line first and raise his hands. It didn't matter because he kept on winning each time.

As I became older, I took up soccer, and I reached a decent level with Anderlecht, but by the time I was 15, cycling had begun to draw me closer

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/like-the-pages-of-a-book-a-postcard-from-the-1996-worlds

2019 Road World Championships: Yorkshire to host first team time trial mixed relay

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Men and women will race together for their nations for the first time in the 2019 Road World Championships in Yorkshire.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45652199

World Road Championships: Rohan Dennis wins world time trial title

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Australian Rohan Dennis wins the elite men's world time trial title in Innsbruck, Austria.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45658399

UCI Road World Championships: Elite Men ITT start list

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UCI Road World Championships: Elite Women ITT start list

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He was slow! Geraint Thomas on riding with Wales wing George North

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Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas tells the Scrum V podcast about bike rides with Wales wing George North

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/wales/45642495

World Road Championships: Annemiek van Vleuten powers to world time trial title

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Annamiek van Vleuten wins the elite women's world individual time trial for the second consecutive year.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45644674

Two-horse races? Top contenders for Worlds elite time trials

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The elite time trials are looking like the least open events of the 2018 UCI Road World Championships. On both the men's and women's sides it's difficult to escape the feeling that there are two big favourites followed by a supporting cast ostensibly fighting for bronze.

Still, the World Championships have the potential to throw up a surprise - even in the so-called 'race of truth'.

The women's time trial takes place on Tuesday on a 27.8km course from Hall-Wattens to Innsbruck, with a fairly flat opening 15km before a climb to Absam, and rolling terrain thereafter. The men's race on Wednesday is nearly twice as long, at 52.5km, and is flat for 30km before a rather more serious 5km climb and then a lengthy descent down to the final part of the course.

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Cyclingnews takes a look at the two favourites for each event, and those who might provide an upset.

Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands)

The 2017 world champion was a convincing winner 12 months ago and will once again be the favourite to take the gold medal and spend another season in the rainbow skinsuit.

Dumoulin has had an outstanding 2018 season. Though he failed to win a Grand Tour, to finish runner-up at both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France is some achievement. He has gone from limiting his losses in the mountains to being right up there day-in day-out with the best climbers in the world, and what's more, he seems to have done it without blunting his time trialling capabilities, with two big wins this year at the Giro and Tour.

Annemiek Van Vleuten (Netherlands)

Rohan Dennis (Australia)

Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands)

The outsiders

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/two-horse-races-top-contenders-for-worlds-elite-time-trials

The World Championships: Alejandro Valverde's white whale

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Alejandro Valverde is one of the favourites to win the gold medal in the men's World Championships road race on Sunday. If he does so, he will finally banish a 15-year itch and purge a long line of missed chances.

The Spaniard has finished on the Worlds podium no fewer than six occasions - more than any other rider - but has never stood on the top step.

"Cycling is unjust to Valverde, who is owed a world title at the very least," Movistar manager Eusebio Unzué said a few years back.

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The hilly nature of the Innsbruck course is well suited to Valverde who, at 38, is running out of time to plug that glaring gap on his palmares. With that, Cyclingnews takes a look back at Valverde's six Worlds medals, remembering the highs, lows, frustrations, and controversies.

Hamilton 2003

Gold: Igor Astarloa (Spain)
Silver: Alejandro Valverde (Spain)
Bronze: Peter Van Petegem (Belgium)

What a debut. Valverde's first World Championships ended with a silver medal and not a hint of disappointment about it as his own teammate Igor Astarloa won gold in a Spanish one-two.

Madrid 2005

Salzburg 2006

Valkenburg 2012

Florence 2013

Ponferrada 2014

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Mike Hall: UK cyclist died instantly in race collision, inquest told

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Mike Hall was hit by a car during a "Hunger Games on wheels" race across Australia, an inquest hears.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45622381

Annemiek Van Vleuten: The Rainbow Peak

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Annemiek Van Vleuten is the best rider in the world - leader of the UCI World Ranking and the Women's WorldTour, winner of the Giro Rosa and reigning time trial world champion - but she's not willing to stop there. A proven rider of versatility during her decade-long career, she has transformed herself into the sport's newest climbing talent with an ability to hit her best form during the spring and summer blocks of racing this season. She's aiming to have the most significant peak at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships - on the hunt for double rainbow jerseys in the elite women's time trial and the road race.

“I feel the same about both events. I want to win both events," Van Vleuten told Cyclingnews about her quest to both defend her title in the time trial and secure a first-ever gold medal in the road race.

“My focus point is to be at my best possible level at the World Championships. I'm not concerned about what event could be more important, or who my competitors are; I just want to be at my highest level - that is my focus point."

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There isn't much that can stop Van Vleuten once she sets her sights on a target. Her season to date has been the most successful of her entire career, with a first peak during the spring Classics, a second at the Giro Rosa and La Course in July, and a third, and possibly her biggest peak is planned to take shape during the next 10 days in Innsbruck, Austria.

The precision with which Van Vleuten can plan a peak is irrefutable. She broke into this season in near-perfect form, and with grit and determination that saw her sprinting to third at the Tour of Flanders despite crashing earlier in the race and dislocating her shoulder. She then muscled through the arduous cobblestones, and ups and downs of the Ardennes region of the Netherlands and Belgium to finish third at Amstel Gold Race and fourth at La Flèche Wallonne.

She arrived at the Giro Rosa in what she says has, so far, been her best-ever form. "I was intending to peak a second time, a bigger one, in July," she said.

The transformation

World Championships

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/annemiek-van-vleuten-the-rainbow-peak

Welcome to Höll: The climb that will decide the men’s World Championships road race

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The 258.5km elite men’s road race course at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck includes 4,670 metres of climbing. That places it only 10th in the UCI’s list of Worlds with the most elevation gain, over 1,000m less than the 1966 Nurbergring race in Germany. However, this year’s road race is widely being touted as the hardest World Championships ever because of the final climb of the race, the final sting in the tail: Höttinger Höll.

The climb of Höttinger Höll is only 2.9km long but has a terrible final kilometre with sections over 20 per cent and a false flat that gives little chance to recover. Whoever manages to open a gap over the top of the climb can dive down the twisting descent to the centre of Innsbruck and win the world title, perhaps alone or from a very select group.

The Höttinger Höll can be compared to the Mur de Huy climb that decides Flèche Wallonne, or the Côte de Saint-Nicolas that is often a launch pad for the winning attacks at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But it is longer, and also steepens more and more as it winds through the trees and points up towards the Karwendel Alps. The average gradient is ‘just’ 11.5 per cent but one section is at 28 per cent. 

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The Road World Championships have never ended with such a steep climb. It will be a fight against gravity and fatigue.

"There will be a group of 40 or 50 riders at the foot of the Höll climb, some will be forced to walk up the final part, while fewer than 10 will emerge and fight for the rainbow jersey down in Innsbruck, and perhaps a rider can even win alone," former Milram and RadioShack rider Thomas Rohregger predicts.

A 'three-course' race and seven hours in the saddle

Details of the ride to Höll

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UCI Road World Championships - Men's TTT Entries

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* = confirmed

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UCI Road World Championships - Women's TTT Entries

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Reversing the Curse: 5 world champions who've shone in the rainbow jersey

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You've heard of the 'curse of the rainbow jersey' – the phenomenon whereby winners of cycling's Road Race World Championships go on to have awful injury- or illness-blighted, or indeed simply unsuccessful, seasons in their beautiful white jerseys with the rainbow bands.

Surely such bad luck can be explained away by the weight of expectation heaped upon such riders after taking the sport's ultimate one-day prize.

Or, as many believe, it's simply self-inflicted as a result of perhaps celebrating their new status as champion of the world just a little too much, or committing to one too many public appearances or media demands for interviews at a time when other riders are already knuckling down to training for the season to come.

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Does the curse really exist, or can the rainbow jersey in fact bring you luck? Here are five examples of men's road race world champions who have gone on to have very successful seasons in the year after they won their rainbow jerseys.

1976 world champion Freddy Maertens' 1977 season

Freddy Maertens' Worlds road race win in Ostuni, Italy, in 1976, for which he'd started as the favourite, was the first of two world championship titles achieved by the Belgian, who won again in Prague, in the Czech Republic, in 1981.

But it was the 1976 title that paved the way to his vastly successful 1977 season in the rainbow jersey, while riding for the legendary Flandria team.

1986 world champion Moreno Argentin's 1987 season

1989 world champion Greg LeMond's 1990 season

2005 world champion Tom Boonen's 2006 season

2017 world champion Peter Sagan's 2018 season

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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/reversing-the-curse-5-world-champions-whove-shone-in-the-rainbow-jersey

Women's Tour 2019 race to feature six stages for first time

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The Women's Tour in Britain, which forms part of the UCI Women's World Tour, will increase to six stages of racing for 2019.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45604833

Sir Bradley Wiggins rules out rowing at 2020 Tokyo Olympics

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Five-time Olympic champion cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins abandons plans to compete at the 2020 Olympics as a rower.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rowing/45599203

Quiz: How well do you know the UCI Road World Championships?

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The 2018 UCI Road World Championships get underway this weekend and, in anticipation of one of the biggest events on the cycling calendar, we're testing your knowledge with this fiendish quiz. 

Innsbruck, Austria, will play host to the week-long festival of cycling in what is the the 85th edition of the Worlds.

Plenty has happened since that first edition, and we'll be stretching your knowledge of it all to its very limit. 

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Make your way through the quiz below, and for all of our build-up coverage for the 2018 Worlds, click here.

 

 

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/quiz-how-well-do-you-know-the-uci-road-world-championships

The lost boy of Verona - A postcard from the 1999 Worlds

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VDB is God.

There was a time, many years ago, when those three words were written on the signs and on the roads at every race you went to: VDB is God.

At the time, as a television journalist covering cycling, it was hard to detach yourself from the human hurricane that was Frank Vandenbroucke. In Flanders, cycling is the pulse of the people. It's bred into the consciousness, and, for the Belgians, Frank was an almost omnipotent being, blessed with talents no others had, and yet fragile enough to fall for at the same time.

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I have many memories of Frank: how he rose through the ranks as a talented child, wowed us all with that union of grace and power, and how, no matter what you predicted, Frank would always surprise you. He was like that, even when the shock of his death was announced in late 2009. At that point, we all thought he'd turned a corner, kicked the drugs and got his life back on track. Instead, Frank had one last surprise for us.

In 1999, I was at the Worlds in Verona for VTM, a Belgian television network that covered cycling on a massive scale. The Belgian cycling team that year was a Galacticos-packed squad with former world champion Johan Museeuw the road captain and Frank the real leader on the road.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/the-lost-boy-of-verona-a-postcard-from-the-1999-worlds

Callum Skinner: Wada 'brushing Russian doping under rug'

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Ignoring Russia's failure to admit to state-sponsored doping and "brushing it under the rug just stinks basically", says Scottish cyclist Callum Skinner.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/45594163

Feature: Can women race a three-week Grand Tour?

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While Simon Yates made history as one of three British riders to win all the men's three-week Grand Tours in one year, women's cycling made history in a more modest way, with the first-ever women's stage race at the Vuelta a España – all two days of it. While the mountains of Andorra, Covadonga and the Balcón de Bizkaia provided an epic stage for the men, the women got to show what they could do with a flat team time trial, followed by a sprinter's circuit race around Madrid.

Over the summer, the subject of equality in men's and women's racing has been a frequent topic, with debate continually revolving around the same themes: why isn't there a women's Tour de France? Why is it so hard to watch the Giro Rosa? Why, with the exception of the Giro's 10 days of racing, does the UCI only allow six days maximum for a women's stage race, while the minimum number of stages for a men's Grand Tour is 15?

If women's stage racing is so limited, it begs the question, can women even ride a three-week Grand Tour? And if so, why does the UCI limit women's stage racing?

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Physiology

"To me it's really obvious – there's no physiological or any other reason why women couldn't also do a three-week event," says Dr. Ross Tucker, of Science of Sport, which draws on the latest scientific research to shed light on debates and controversies within the sporting world. "Of course they are capable of it. The only barrier is a socio-cultural one." He points out that, "elite marathon runners all run 160 to 200km per week, male and female, and that's over many more weeks than three.

"Cycling seems to me to be where running was in the 1940s," he adds. He cites the famous case of the 1928 Olympics, where a number of women allegedly collapsed at the finish of the 800m running race (a myth, incidentally, that was effectively debunked in a 2012 Runner's World article). The Olympic committee used this early example of 'fake news' to limit women's track racing to distances of no more than 200m – for the next thirty years. It wasn't until 1984 that women got to run the marathon in the Olympics.

That same year saw female riders get their first Olympic road race. But while there are no longer any distance limits for female runners, who compete in ultra marathons and Iron Man triathlons, the distances for female cyclists are still severely truncated compared to men. For example, in a WorldTour stage race, the maximum distance for an individual women's stage is 160km, while for a men's stage it's 240km. The maximum average daily distance is 140km for the women and 180km for the men. Those are differences of between 22 and 33 per cent. This doesn't even take into account the other ways difficulties are removed from women's races, such as this year's controversial World Championship route in Innsbruck, where women won't be riding the notorious 'Hell Climb' that features on the last lap of the men's race.

Historic precedents

Is women's stage racing interesting?

What is the UCI's position on longer women's stage races?

Questions of economics

The campaign for a women's Tour de France

What do the riders want?

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/feature-can-women-race-a-three-week-grand-tour

US rider hits 183mph to break cycling world land speed record

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Denise Mueller-Korenek rode a custom bike at a 183.932 mph average, the take-off speed of an Airbus A340.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45572277

UCI Road World Championships 2018: BBC TV and online coverage times & GB squad

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BBC Sport coverage times for the 2018 Road World Championships featuring Great Britain's Simon Yates and Dani Rowe.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45552064

2018 Giro della Toscana - start list

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You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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The times they are a-changin' - A postcard from the 1989 Worlds

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It was 1989. It was my hometown of Chambéry, in France. It was Sean Kelly, Greg LeMond, Laurent Fignon and the French national kit with the neat Adidas trim on the sleeves, and the crest on the left breast. It was a time when national jerseys were unceremoniously decked out with trade team shorts and Fignon would ride, chest puffed out, in the tricolore and his Système U shorts. They were my hometown Worlds, and they were beautiful.

I'm not nostalgic – I never have been – but the Road World Championships in Chambéry will forever live with me. At the age of 24, I was chosen to cover the event for the first time as a young reporter for the Dauphiné Libéré newspaper. To say I was enthusiastic would have been an understatement.

The entire experience was a buzz. In the build-up to the event, the local authorities had warned people to almost stay away because they were worried about the crowds. Signs were put up nearly 100 kilometres away from the course, but the locals in the know were aware that one of cycling's most popular events was on its way, and back then the fever from the Tour de France was still high because the Worlds took place just a few weeks after LeMond had won by eight seconds on the Champs-Elysées.

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What made matters even more personal was the fact that the course, which was incredibly hard, rode right by my father's shop. He was a plumber and always supportive of my career as a writer. He and the rest of my family all turned out to watch by the roadside and there was a sense of expectancy from the French public. I really got a sense of this because I could see the excitement building as the days ticked by, while, at the same time, my friend at the time, Gilles Delion, who was even on the team, told me how difficult it was to be on the national squad.

I smile now, but I remember how Fignon had arrived before all his teammates and stayed in another hotel as he prepared for the championships. I found this out and eventually plucked up the courage to talk to him. This young reporter walked towards him in the hotel lobby, took in a deep breath, and said: "Laurent, may I ask you three questions?"

He stopped. Turned to me, gave me one look, and then just growled: "Non."

I turned away, and I remember thinking, "If this is how it's going to be, I'm not sure I'll have a long career in this game."

In the mornings, the small press corps would huddle together at the top of the climbs and watch the riders train. There would be the Russians in that intimidating red kit – the one with the CCCP initials – and there would be teams out training for the 100km team time trial with front and rear disc wheels, and the East German amateurs all in grey.

You have to remember that cycling events back then were far different to how they are now. There was no restricted access so 'going behind the scenes', as they say now, didn't really exist. Almost everything was behind the scenes, so at the top of the Montagnole, the main climb, I even managed to interview Canada's Steve Bauer during one of his training rides.

As for the French national team, they were made up of a number of factions. There were Guimard's boys on one side and the rest of the team on the other.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/the-times-they-are-a-changin-a-postcard-from-the-1989-worlds

Sir Chris Hoy hails Yates' Vuelta a Espana victory

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Sir Chris Hoy says Simon Yates' Vuelta a Espana victory is "incredible", and that British cycling fans must be "pinching themselves".

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45547585

Role model, patronne, clown: peloton bids fond farewell to Bronzini

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Has there ever been such a universally popular winner of a bike race? You only had to look at the scenes beyond the finish line on the Castellana in Madrid, as riders queued up to offer their congratulations, to get a measure of the esteem in which Cylance's Giorgia Bronzini is held by the women's peloton.

The 35-year-old Italian, making her final racing appearance before hanging up her wheels, won the road stage of the Madrid Challenge on Sunday to make it a fairytale ending to a career that has spanned more than 15 years and featured more than 80 victories – among them three world titles.

There were losers, of course, and, at the top level of the sport, it matters, but defeat seemed a little easier for everyone to swallow at the weekend.

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"It was a bit of a disappointment for me, but overall I'm really happy for Giorgia – I couldn't have wished for more today, actually," Mitchelton-Scott's Jolien D'hoore, winner of the two previous editions of the race, told Cyclingnews.

"I was hoping that she would win the race, even though I had two teammates with her there in the break. She deserves it so much. She's a true champion."

Perhaps the rider most culpable for the queue building in front of Bronzini on the Castellana was Wiggle High5's Elisa Longo Borghini.

Inspiration

A patronne and a clown

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/role-model-patronne-clown-peloton-bids-fond-farewell-to-bronzini

'I'll never be a superstar - and that's fine by me'

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Britain's Simon Yates says that despite winning the Vuelta a Espana he will never be a superstar and that he prefers it that way.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45543215

Simon Yates: British cyclist says 'it's been an unbelievable day' after winning Vuelta a Espana

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Simon Yates says "it's been an unbelievable day" after the British cyclist secured his first Grand Tour by winning the Vuelta a Espana.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45543415

Yates wins Vuelta to complete British clean sweep of Grand Tours

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Simon Yates wins the Vuelta a Espana, completing to a clean sweep of Grand Tours in 2018 by British cyclists.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45540766

How 'battle-hardened' Yates learned from bitter Giro experience

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Learning from defeat is a sporting cliche that rings true for Vuelta a Espana winner-in-waiting Simon Yates, writes Tom Fordyce.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45532947

Vuelta a Espana 2018: Simon Yates set to win his first Grand Tour

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British cyclist Simon Yates is set to win the Vuelta a Espana, his first Grand Tour, after finishing third on stage 20.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45535153

Matteo Trentin's custom-painted Scott Foil RC Disc - Gallery

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Scott have custom-painted their flagship aero frameset to celebrate Matteo Trentin's (Mitchelton-Scott) European road race championships victory last month in Glasgow.

The Scott Foil RC Disc is painted in a deep metallic blue and fades to white at the rear of the frame, features gold detailing and the European stars on the seat cluster of the frameset. Trentin also opts to have the footprints of his two sons and their names on the top tube of his bike, as well as the Italian Tricolore flag colours alongside his name.

Paired with the usual Mitchelton-Scott components, Trentin runs a full Shimano Dura-Ace R9170 groupset and wheels, which are paired with Pirelli P-Zero tyres.

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Scott's component company Syncros provides Mitchelton-Scott with saddles, handlebars and finishing kit and while some of Trentin's teammates opt for the Syncros Aero RR1.0 integrated cockpit, Trentin runs a traditional round handlebar in conjunction with the Scott Foil integrated stem.

Alongside the bike, Trentin has also been racing in his European champion's jersey and custom Scott helmet at the Vuelta a Espana.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/matteo-trentins-custom-painted-scott-foil-rc-disc-gallery

Vuelta a Espana 2018: Simon Yates increases lead after stage 19

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Simon Yates extends his lead at the Vuelta a Espana to one minute 38 seconds after finishing second in stage 19.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45526525

Para-cyclist Smith delays surgery on tumour

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Scottish Paralympian David Smith will delay surgery on a life-threatening tumour in order to continue competing.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/45524555

Andorran climbs will decide 2018 Vuelta a Espana – Preview

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It's the beginning of the end. The curtain goes up this Friday on the mountain finale of the 2018 Vuelta a España, with two very difficult – and very different – climbing stages in Andorra on the menu for the weekend.

Can Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) hold onto la roja for Britain's fifth Grand Tour in a row? Or will Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) keep on holding back the years and oust Yates from his leader's jersey for his second Vuelta a España victory? Or will any of the other challengers, starting with Spain's up-and-coming GC racer Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors), currently running these two the closest, be able to upset the Vuelta applecart completely?

The first chance to answer these questions comes on Friday in the shape of a classic 154km single-climb stage starting in Lleida, Catalonia, and culminating on the other side of the border on the Col de la Rabassa in Andorra. Stage 19 has 2,618 metres of vertical climbing, which may not sound like a lot, but on such a short stage, it means the riders are going upwards nearly all day.

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The stage's sting in the tail, the Col de la Rabassa, is officially 17km long, but in reality it starts when the riders pass through the customs post on Andorra's southern frontier at 860 metres above sea level, and doesn't stop until they reach a lung-bursting 2,025 metres above sea level at its summit.

Last used by the Vuelta a España as a summit finish in 2008, Alessandro Ballan won there alone just a few days before taking the World Championships road title, which may give Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) some ideas if he gets in an early breakaway.

Overall, though, it might be of interest that the top three riders in Madrid that year – Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and Carlos Sastre – were separated by a mere five seconds at the summit of the Rabassa. Valverde, who said he forgot to eat that day, blew badly and lost nearly four minutes. But with advantages being so narrow on the 2018 GC, and only two more stages remaining in the Vuelta this year – and not 14 left, like there were back in 2008 – there is far less likely to be a repeat of the stalemate of a decade ago.

Saturday's short-but-intense finale

The fatigue factor

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/andorran-climbs-will-decide-2018-vuelta-a-espana-preview

3T Strada Due – first look

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This article first appeared on BikeRadar.

Just over a year after 3T's disc-only, 1X-only bike was launched, the forward-thinking company headed up by Cervélo founder Gerard Vroomen announced they would be producing a 2X version of the bike back in July.

UK-distributor of the brand Saddleback has one of the first full builds of the bike on display at their in-house show this week.

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• 3T breaks its tradition with Strada Due
• 3T Strada first ride review
• 1x drivetrains in the pro peloton? I’m sceptical

Painted in what is a very attractive campovolo grey, the frameset is paired with a full Shimano Dura-Ace R9170 groupset with finishing components also from 3T.

The 3T Strada made headlines when launched, with critics arguing a 1X drivetrain isn't suitable for road riding and a disc brake-only bike is limiting consumer choice. Since the launch of the bike, however, new aero bikes from Specialized, BMC and Cannondale have all been released as disc-only and with the 3T Strada Due now offering the use of a front derailleur, the bike is now not as unusual as it was on its debut.

 

Full Specification

• Frame: 3T Strada Due
• Fork: 3T Fundi aero
• Front brake: Shimano Dura-Ace R9120, 160mm rotor
• Rear brake: Shimano Dura-Ace R9120, 160mm rotor
• Brake/shift levers: Shimano Dura-Ace R9170
• Front derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace R9150
• Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace R9150
• Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100
• Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100
• Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100
• Wheelset: 3T Discus C60
• Tyres: Pirelli P-Zero Velo
• Handlebars: 3T Superergo
• Stem: 3T Apto
• Seat post: 3T Strada
• Bottle cages: 3T 

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/3t-strada-due-first-look

Tour Cycliste Feminin International de l'Ardeche 2018 - Start list

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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-cycliste-feminin-international-de-lardeche-2018-start-list

Cyclingnews' guide to 2018-2019 UCI Women's Teams - Transfers

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It's that time of year when riders and teams are sorting out contracts that will decide who will race for which team in 2019. Teams are hiring fresh talent, while riders are either set to stay with their current programmes or look for opportunities elsewhere.

There will be some changes to the rider/team market as Wiggle High5 and UnitedHealthcare are set to fold, and new teams Trek Factory Racing and One Pro Cycling open up rosters. Cyclingnews has put together a 2018-2019 transfer chart so that you can easily keep track of where each rider will be racing next season.

Arguably the biggest signing is that of former world champion Lizzie Deignan to the new Trek Factory Racing team from Boels Dolmans.

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Deignan won't start racing until later in the 2019 season, as she's currently away from competition expecting her first child in September, but the new team will also include Lotta Lepistö, who moves from Cervelo Bigla, and Ellen van Dijk and Ruth Winder, who both come across from Sunweb.

Another former world champion – Marianne Vos – will lead the new women's CCC-sponsored team, although it's a continuation of her current Waowdeals setup rather than a move, and will retain a number of the squad's current riders, including Britain's Dani Rowe and Sabrina Stultiens of the Netherlands, as well as having signed Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio from Cervelo Bigla.

While Wiggle High5 will no longer exist, a number of the team's riders have found places elsewhere for next year, including Emilia Fahlin, who moves to FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope, and Lucy Garner, who has a spot with Hitec Products-Birk Sport in 2019.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/cyclingnews-guide-to-2018-2019-uci-womens-teams-transfers

Vuelta a Espana 2018: Britain's Simon Yates maintains 25-second overall lead

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Britain's Simon Yates maintains his overall classification lead of 25 seconds at the Vuelta a Espana as Jelle Wallays wins the 18th stage.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45514864

Dawid Godziek land's first quadruple tail whip on a mountain bike

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Watch Polish rider Dawid Godziek land the world's first quadruple tail whip on a mountain bike.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45514844

Rachel Atherton's fifth mountain bike world title from her own point of view

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Watch Rachel Atherton win her fifth women's downhill title at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Switzerland from her perspective.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45514842

'I was more scared of being alone than of not walking' - Vogel on her crash & her future

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Double Olympic cycling champion Kristina Vogel on coming to terms with the crash that has left her paralysed.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45503798

Vuelta a Espana 2018: Simon Yates maintains overall classification lead

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Great Britain's Simon Yates maintains his overall lead at the Vuelta a Espana as Canada's Michael Woods wins stage 17.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45498330

Tears won't help and I want to give something back, says paralysed Vogel

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World and Olympic champion Kristina Vogel, who was paralysed in a training crash in June, says she wants to "give something back" to cycling.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45498324

Road World Championships: Simon & Adam Yates lead British team as Thomas & Froome miss out

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Vuelta a Espana leader Simon Yates and his twin brother Adam to lead Britain's men's team at the Road World Championships, but Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome will not be taking part.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45497084

All to play for – Vuelta a Espana GC analysis

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It's hard to escape a sense of déja-vu in the final week of this Vuelta a España. Mitchelton-Scott's Simon Yates is the convincing leader of a Grand Tour going into the final five stages, while Movistar have two cards without a clear indication they know how to play them. How it unfolds from here, though, is anyone's guess.

Tuesday's stage 16 time trial, in the absence of specialists such as Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin, didn't produce huge swings in the general classification but, nevertheless, in the space of 32 undulating kilometres in the Cantabrian hinterland, we saw more significant gaps than in all the previous mountain stages combined.

It has been that sort of Vuelta so far – a cagey affair – but there's plenty of room for it to burst into life between here and Madrid on Sunday.

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The headline on Tuesday was that Yates not only limited his losses but actually gained time on his direct rivals, putting seven seconds into Movistar's Alejandro Valverde, 42 into the Spaniard's teammate Nairo Quintana, and 52 into Astana's Miguel Angel Lopez.

Yates now leads the race by 33 seconds from Valverde and, given he has already won a mountain stage and conceded precious little ground to any of his adversaries, is the favourite in the eyes of most.

The big question surrounding Yates is whether he can hold on, with three crucial mountain stages to come in the final five days. His dramatic, late Giro d'Italia collapse continues to haunt him, and there will be no definitive answers until the very top of the final climb up the Coll de la Gallina on Saturday afternoon.

Movistar maintain double-pronged attack

Kruijswijk and Mas enter the fray

Talking tactics

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/all-to-play-for-vuelta-a-espana-gc-analysis

2018 Grand Prix de Wallonie start list

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You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

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Vuelta a Espana: Britain's Simon Yates increases lead as Rohan Dennis wins time trial

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Britain's Simon Yates increases his lead at the Vuelta a Espana as Australian Rohan Dennis earns a convincing individual time trial win.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45488602

Tour of Britain 2018: Julian Alaphilippe seals victory as Caleb Ewan wins final stage

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French rider Julian Alaphilippe wins the Tour of Britain as Australian Caleb Ewan takes sprint victory on Sunday's final stage.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45466154

Vuelta a Espana: Simon Yates increases his lead as Thibaut Pinot wins stage 15

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Britain's Simon Yates increases his Vuelta a Espana lead as Thibaut Pinot claims a summit victory on stage 15.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45466458

Geraint Thomas: Tour de France champion signs new Team Sky contract

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Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas signs a new three-year contract with Team Sky.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45146191

Britain's Rachel Atherton wins record fifth world downhill mountain biking title

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Britain's Rachel Atherton wins a record fifth women's downhill mountain bike world championship with a dominant performance in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45465738

Briton Atherton wins fifth mountain bike world title

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Great Britain's Rachel Atherton wins the women's downhill final at the mountain bike World Championships in Switzerland to secure the title for a fifth time.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45465073

Yates moves back into Vuelta lead with summit win

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Britain's Simon Yates retakes the leader's red jersey with victory on the summit finish of stage 14 of the Vuelta a Espana.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45460633

Tour of Britain 2018: Team Sky's Ian Stannard claims victory on penultimate stage

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Team Sky's Ian Stannard claims a solo win on the Tour of Britain's penultimate stage as Julian Alaphilippe protects his overall lead.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45460409

Van Avermaet: Everyone has to step up next year – even me

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Call it destiny, call it fate, call it a right of passage, but next season Greg Van Avermaet will command an entire squad for the first time in his illustrious career. The 33-year-old Belgian will lead the charge for the as-yet-unnamed merger between his current BMC Racing team and Pro Continental outfit CCC Sprandi Polkowice, whose main sponsor will headline the new team.

And with the team's aspirations limited to the Classics, Van Avermaet's role will be central to the team's success.

"I think the most important thing is that we create a team around me, and everyone has to step up – even me. I have to do better than before, and that has to be the motivation," Van Avermaet told Cyclingnews in Canada ahead of Friday's GP Cycliste de Québec and Sunday's GP Cycliste de Montréal.

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The nucleus of the team will be formed around Van Avermaet after several of BMC Racing's stage-race riders departed in the summer. The late arrival of a sponsor and the promise of a secure pay-cheque enticed the likes of Richie Porte, Rohan Dennis and Damiano Caruso to pastures new, while Stefan Küng and a volley of stage-race specialists also jumped ship.

In their place, the BMC Racing management have scoured the market for bargains and replacements. Patrick Bevin, Alessandro De Marchi, and Michael Schär are among those who've been retained, while Serge Pauwels and Guillaume Van Keirsbulck were picked up from rival teams.

"Those are the circumstances," said Van Avermaet. "A sponsor came pretty late, which wasn’t good to build a WorldTour team around, but I think that the Classics team is really strong.

Hitting the ground running

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Rodriguez wins stage 13 as Yates cuts Herrada's lead

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Oscar Rodriguez produces a stunning final climb to win stage 13 of the Vuelta a Espana as Simon Yates halves Jesus Herrada's overall lead.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45452302

Alaphilippe takes Tour of Britain lead as Poels wins stage six

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Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe takes the overall lead of the Tour of Britain as he finishes second to Team Sky's Wout Poels on stage six.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45446715

Double Olympic champion Vogel 'can't walk any more'

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Olympic champion Kristina Vogel says she "can't walk any more" after sustaining a serious spinal injury in a crash in June.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/45451442

Vuelta a Espana's triple-whammy summit finishes could decide GC – Preview

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And so it begins. The 2018 Vuelta a Espana’s main GC mountains battle gets underway with a vengeance on Friday, with three successive summit finishes over the weekend, starting with the ultra-steep Camperona, continuing with the almost equally hard and unprecedented Praeres on Saturday, and finishing on Sunday with one of its most emblematic ascents, the Lagos de Covadonga.

In two recent editions, the Vuelta has combined the Camperona and Covadonga in quick succession: in 2014 Ryder Hesejdaal took his last pro win on the Camperona, and Poland’s Przemeslav Niemiec (UAE Team Emirates) took his greatest victory to date on the Lagos the next day.

In 2016, Sergey Lagutin (Gazprom-Rusvelo) ground his way up to another career-defining win on the Camperona, and then, after a much easier uphill stage to the Alto de Naranco [won by Team Sky's David De La Cruz - ed.], 24 hours later a certain Nairo Quintana (Movistar) won on the Lagos de Covadonga ahead of Sky's Chris Froome. Two weeks later, the overall Vuelta win was taken by the Colombian, too, all of which just confirms how big a role the Lagos de Covadonga traditionally plays year after year in the Vuelta a España.

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This time the trilogy of climbing stages in the back end of the Vuelta's second week looks to be even harder than in 2016, given that sandwiched between the Camperona and the Covadonga is a new ascent – the summit finish of Praeres. Just 4km long and situated in the bucolic pasturelands and valleys of Asturias, Praeres has been dubbed the 'mini Angliru' by no less a climbing legend than Pedro Delgado. The Vuelta peloton cannot say, then, that they have not been warned.

Ryder Hesjedal climbs La Camperona in 2014 (Bettini Photo)

La Camperona

First off, though, is La Camperona. One of the mountains that marks the northern edge of the plateau of Castille could not be more different in terms of terrain to both Praeres and Covadonga. At 8.3km, and towering above the former mining town of Sabero, La Camperona is little more than a narrow strip of tarmac winding its way up to the top of a high, bleak mountain pass, where a few hundred metres after the finish, it stops – a true road to nowhere.

Praeres

Lagos de Covadonga

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