Foldable Bikes Party

Tuesday, 6 November 2018

Top 10 sprinters of 2018

https://ift.tt/2Qozyis

Cyclingnews has closely examined the performances of the sprinters over the 2018 season, looking at not just the number of victories but the quality of the races won, the number of placings and overall consistency, and picked the 10 best sprinters of the year. Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) came away as the clear winner after a stellar season that brought in 18 victories, including four stages of the Giro d'Italia and three at the Vuelta a España.

About the ranking: Cyclingnews looked only at top-three finishes, weighting the Grand Tour stages and Monuments at 200, 100 and 60 points for first, second and third, respectively. Other WorldTour races were awarded 100, 60, 30 for the top three. Hors categorie event podium finishes were given 70, 35, and 21 points, while category 1 races earned podium finishers 40, 20 and 12 points. Riders were ranked by quantity of placings, quality of placings, and a combination of both to find the overall best sprinter. While breakaway race wins were counted, time trials and placings in general or other classifications were not.

1. Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors)

The Italian was by far and away the stand-out sprinter of the season, racking up the most victories of any rider with 18 individual race wins plus the Giro d'Italia points classification and the overall Dubai Tour. From his Tour Down Under stage to the last stage of the Vuelta, Viviani was a consistent performer for his new team and earned himself a fresh new look in June when he claimed the Italian road title.

It wasn't all success, as Viviani had several painful defeats, namely to Peter Sagan in Gent-Wevelgem and a frustrating Milan-San Remo, where he was Quick-Step's best finisher in 19th.

Viviani benefited from the confidence and support of his Quick-Step Floors teammates to have his "best season ever", their train only coming seriously unglued on one occasion - when they botched a roundabout on stage 6 of the Vuelta a España and Nacer Bouhanni claimed the win. All this came in addition to Viviani's team pursuit title at the European Track Championships and his silver in the Omnium. It will be hard to top a year like that.

Elia Viviani celebrates his victory

2. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe)

3. Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe)

4. Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo)

5. Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe)

6. Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors)

7. Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ)

8. Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott)

9. Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal)

10. Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates)

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/top-10-sprinters-of-2018

Geraint Thomas: 'It takes a bit longer to buy a pint of milk now'

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Geraint Thomas says since winning the 2018 Tour de France, he receives a lot more public attention.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/cycling/46107411

Monday, 5 November 2018

Geraint Thomas targeting Tour de France victory despite Froome rivalry

https://ift.tt/2SNFnaT

Geraint Thomas enjoyed the final days of his Tour de France celebrations at the Saitama criterium in Japan at the weekend but admitted he is keen to get back into a more normal cyclist's routine and start preparing for 2019 and a shot at a second Tour de France victory.

The Welshman understandably wanted to savour his first-ever Tour de France success but the desire for a second victory is growing as he becomes fatigued by the celebrations.

That desire could put him on a collision course with Chris Froome for leadership at Team Sky next July but Thomas is convinced the two Team Sky leaders can find a gentleman's agreement that means the road and the racing will decide who perhaps pulls on the yellow jersey in Paris next July.

"I've enjoyed it all but now I just want to get training again. Even my wife Sara has said: 'I'm looking forward to when you're back on your bike and in a routine.' I'm craving that now," Thomas explained to a select group of media, including Cyclingnews, in Saitama, admitting he has not done any structured training since the Tour of Britain in early September.

"It's still a bit of a whirlwind, really. I haven't really stopped. I've not been anywhere for more than four or five days. It's been good but hectic."

Thomas had to squeeze into his Tour de France yellow jersey for the racing in Saitama, while other Grand Tour riders such as world champion Alejandro Valverde and Vincenzo Nibali looked skinny in comparison. Thomas finished second to Valverde in Sunday's exhibition criterium, while on Saturday he enjoyed a baseball lesson on stage, rode in a kids' race, and signed hundreds of autographs for the friendly and enthusiastic Japanese fans.

'It still seems funny when I think: I've won the Tour'

A clash of Tour de France ambitions

It's not about power meters or money

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/geraint-thomas-targeting-tour-de-france-victory-despite-froome-rivalry

Saturday, 3 November 2018

'Unbelievable' that Wiggins described Armstrong as 'perfect' Tour de France rider

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

UCI president David Lappartient says it is "unbelievable" that Sir Bradley Wiggins has described Lance Armstrong as the "perfect" Tour de France rider.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/46082219

Thursday, 1 November 2018

'I'm not asking anyone to agree with me' - Wiggins on why he considers Armstrong an icon

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Sir Bradley Wiggins explains why drugs cheat Lance Armstrong features in his new book on cycling icons and admits "not everyone is going to like" his choice.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/46051098

Floyd Landis: Redemption and the pursuit of closure

https://ift.tt/2RscrUe

It's a Sunday morning in the small mountain town of Leadville, Colorado, and Floyd Landis is holding what could only loosely be described as a business meeting.

Sitting on a couch, with his four-year-old daughter to his right and an employee, introduced to me as Wolfman, to his left, Landis debates the merits of a potential deal. Child now in lap, ideas flowing steadily, this is Floyd Landis the doting father and Floyd Landis the successful businessman rolled into one.

If the image comes as a shock, that's because it should. After all, four years ago Landis was sleeping in a friend's guest house just outside of New York. He was virtually penniless, almost all his friends had drifted away, and his life, by his own admission, lacked purpose. He was lost.

Leadville lies in the heart of the Rockies, where the Arkansas River runs and the snow-crested peaks stretch far into the horizon. In the 1930s, the town was a hub for mining silver but, since the drop in price the industry dried up, and the population now hangs at just over 2,000 inhabitants. A quaint town, sitting at over 10,000ft, it bursts into life during the summer thanks to a string of sporting events but, with no ski resort, retains a certain beauty and solitude that is missing from the more established communities of Aspen and Boulder.

Landis owns several properties within the town. There is the dispensary where his staff sell CBD-based products and legal marijuana, a showroom in which we're currently sitting, and two other buildings that he, his family, and close associates such as Wolfman occupy when they're splitting time between Colorado and New York. Outside of Leadville, Landis owns three outlets in the Portland area. His business isn't just legit – it's thriving.

After the meeting is adjourned, I ask Landis if he has finally landed on his feet. Our last face-to-face had been at a NYVelocity.com event back in 2011, a year or so after he had hit send on a volley of emails that would obliterate the façade that existed around a generation of riders and expose what USADA would claim at the time was "the most sophisticated doping programme ever seen". To think, marijuana wasn't even legal in Colorado when USADA came up with that line.

Losing time

The unresolved

Armstrong's money, Floyd's fairness fund

The future

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/floyd-landis-redemption-and-the-pursuit-of-closure

Giro d'Italia 2019: 5 key stages

https://ift.tt/2RscrUe

Following the presentation of the 2019 Giro d'Italia route in Milan on Wednesday, you can be certain that those top-name riders who already know they're likely to be taking part next May will be scurrying to reconnoitre some of the key climbs and stages on which they're hoping to be able to distance their rivals.

We detail five of the most important stages of a race that seemingly has it all, from the fast and flat opening week for the sprinters to the five summit finishes that come in the latter half of the race, with all of that punctuated by three individual time trial stages, totalling 58.5 kilometres against the clock: the opening stage in Bologna, stage 9 from Riccione to San Marino, and the final stage in Verona.

Race director Mauro Vegni has hinted that those riders lining up in Bologna on May 11 could include Bahrain Merida's Vincenzo Nibali – Giro winner in 2013 and 2016 – and UAE Team Emirates' Fabio Aru, who finished second at the race in 2015, and third in 2014.

Other possible starters include Team Sky's Chris Froome – the defending Giro champion – and teammate Geraint Thomas, who's talked about his "unfinished business" at the race, which was the 2018 Tour de France winner's main objective back in 2017, until a crash saw him forced to retire with a shoulder and knee injury in the second week.

Thomas and Froome would both start the 2019 Giro as firm favourites, as the relatively high number of time trial kilometres across three stages would suit them down to the ground, and possibly turn the 2019 Giro into a two-horse race – especially if 2017 Giro champion Tom Dumoulin chooses not to return to the race that he also finished second at last year.

Dumoulin and his Sunweb team suggested last month that two Grand Tours in 2018 had been a stretch for the Dutchman, and that despite also taking second place to Thomas at the Tour de France last year, the 27-year-old may go all in on the hunt for Tour victory in 2019, to the detriment of the Giro.