Foldable Bikes Party

Tuesday, 2 July 2019

Tour de France 2019: Mark Cavendish not selected for Team Dimension Data

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Mark Cavendish will not ride in this year's Tour de France after Team Dimension Data leave him out of the squad.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/48838998

Monday, 1 July 2019

Specialized road bikes 2019: range, details, pricing and specifications

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Joining Cannondale and Trek in the holy trinity of American bike brands is Specialized — a brand that has become a major force in the global cycling industry since bursting onto the scene in 1974.

After initially selling imported Italian components, founder Mike Sinyard began producing Specialized’s own parts before turning its focus to bicycles in 1981 with the Sequoia and Allez models, monikers that have become synonymous with the brand.

Forty years on and Specialized continues to be a dominant player in the highly contested retail and professional cycling spaces. A veritable industry pioneer, Specialized is one of a handful of manufacturers that produces its own line of equipment and components including tyres, saddles, shoes, helmets and even power meters.

Over and above its sponsorship of professional mountain biking and triathlon teams, the Morgan Hill-based company is better known for its presence in the road peloton. Here, teams such as Deceuninck-QuickStep, Bora-hansgrohe and Boels-Dolmans play a vital role, not only in a marketing sense but also in terms of stress-testing the equipment to continually improve the recipe with pro rider insight and feedback.

On paper it’s hard to ignore the facts — Specialized’s road bikes have been on the winning end of nearly every major race over the past three years including the World Championships, the Classics and stage wins at every Grand Tour, with their most recent Grand Tour victory coming courtesy of Vincenzo Nibali’s 2016 Giro d’Italia.

Specialized’s road bike range explained

Specialized’s range of bicycles differs in geometry, material and function. As such, the model line-up caters for a diverse cycling demographic including men and women, professionals and amateurs, as well as adventure/gravel riders.

Specialized road bikes you can buy today

Specialized Roubaix

Price: Starting at US$2700/ £2600/ AU$4000
Brake: Disc
Frame: Carbon
Type: Endurance
Sizes (cm): 44-61 (unisex)
Weight: 8.47kg (Roubaix Comp 56cm)

Specialized S-Works Roubaix
Specialized Roubaix Pro
Specialized Roubaix Expert
Specialized Roubaix Comp
Specialized Roubaix Sport

Specialized Tarmac

Price: Starting at US$2700 / £2350 / AU$3500
Brake: Disc/rim
Frame: Carbon
Type: Climbing
Sizes (cm): 49, 52, 54, 56, 58, 61 (men); 44, 49, 52, 54, 56 (women)
E-Bike: No
Weight: 8.04kg (Tarmac Comp 56cm)

Specialized S-Works Tarmac
Specialized Tarmac Pro
Specialized Tarmac Expert Disc/rim
Specialized Tarmac Comp Disc/rim
Specialized Tarmac Sport

Specialized Venge

Price: Starting at US$8020 / £6500 / AU$9400
Brake: Disc
Frame: Carbon
Type: Aero
Sizes (cm): 49, 52, 54, 56, 58, 61 (men)
E-Bike: No
Weight: 7.42kg (Venge Pro 56cm)

Specialized S-Works Venge eTap
Specialized S-Works Venge
Specialized Venge Pro eTap
Specialized Venge Pro

Specialized Allez

Price: Starting at US$1000 / £850 / AU$1300
Brake: Disc/rim
Frame: Aluminium
Type: Criterium/ all rounder
Sizes (cm): 49, 52, 54, 56, 58, 61 (men)
E-Bike: No
Weight: 8.2kg (Allez Sprint Comp 56cm)

Specialized Allez Sprint Comp Disc
Specialized Allez Sprint Comp
Specialized Allez Elite
Specialized Allez Sport
Specialized Allez

Specialized Shiv TT

Price: Starting at US$3700 / £2600 / AU$4000
Brake: Disc/rim
Frame: Carbon
Type: Time trial
Sizes: XS, S, M, L,
E-Bike: No
Weight: 8.81kg (Shiv Elite Medium)

Specialized S-Works Shiv Disc
Specialized Shiv Elite (Discontinued in UK)
Specialized S-Works Shiv Module

Specialized Diverge

Price: Starting at US$1900 / £1600 / AU$2400
Brake: Disc
Frame: Carbon, aluminium
Type: Gravel
Sizes (cm): 48, 52, 54, 56, 58, 61, 64 (men); 44, 48, 52, 54, 56 (women)
E-Bike: No
Weight: 8.66kg (Diverge Expert X1 56cm)

Specialized S-Works Diverge
Specialized Diverge Expert X1
Specialized Diverge Comp
Specialized Diverge Sport
Specialized Diverge Elite
Specialized Diverge E5 Comp
Specialized Diverge E5 Elite
Specialized Diverge E5

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/specialized-road-bikes-2019-range-details-pricing-and-specifications

Tour de France 2019 start list

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You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-de-france-2019-start-list

2019 Tour de France: Cyclingnews' countdown collection

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The 2019 Tour de France is almost upon us and, as ever, Cyclingnews is counting down the days with a series of special features to build up to the Grand Départ on Saturday, July 6. Links to all these features can be found below.

We'll update this page with all the features as they go up, so keep it bookmarked and you won't miss a thing.

With 10 days to go, the countdown kicked off on Wednesday with The Essential Guide - our bumper preview of the 106th edition of La Grande Boucle. We set the scene, analyse the route, contenders and potential storylines, plus there's a breakdown of every stage, team, and jersey in the race.

-10 Tour de France 2019: The Essential Guide

On Thursday, we wound the clock back 20 years, to the so-called 'Tour of Renewal' that followed the Festina affair and the scandal of the previous year's Tour. As veteran cycling journalist Jean-François Quénet recalls, declarations of renewal were little more than a farce, as doping positives were covered up, clean riders were vilified, and speeds were faster than ever.

- 9 1999 Tour de France: The farce of renewal

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) has not targeted overall success at the Tour de France since 2016. In this special feature, Philippa York tries to unberstands his chances and his psyche.

-8 A complex character: Thibaut Pinot returns to the Tour de France

With the world’s eyes on the Tour de France, it’s a good time to launch new bikes and equipment in the hope the pro riders and teams use it on the way to victory. In this feature we take a look at what we expect to see on the roads of France over the next few weeks, plus what bikes and components each team will be riding.

-7 All the gear: Tour de France 2019 tech preview

-6 The high life: The evolution of the pre-Tour de France altitude camp

-5 Tour de France 2019: The ambush stages

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/2019-tour-de-france-cyclingnews-countdown-collection

Tatiana Guderzo: A quiet contender for the Giro Rosa

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When we think of the Giro Rosa, and its long and illustrious 30-year history, we immediately recollect the iconic champions: Fabiana Luperini, Nicole Brandlë, Mara Abbott and Marianne Vos, and more recently look to the Dutch duo Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten. Yet when the celebratory pink confetti settled after each of those accomplishments, year-after-year during the last decade, there has been one person who has been the staple of Italy's most iconic women's stage race – Tatiana Guderzo.

It's easy to overlook Guderzo, who races for BePink, as a potential contender for the overall title at this year's Giro Rosa. The upcoming parcours is touted as the toughest in the event's history with the inclusion of a summit finish on the daunting Passo Gavia as the focal point.

The mountainous route that spans northern Italy is well-suited to the world's best climbers, and although she is a strong climber in her own right, she is not usually part of that small and exclusive club. The obvious front-runners for this year's race are defending champion Van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott), and her compatriot and rival Van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans), along with Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv), Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott), Katie Hall (Boels Dolmans), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).

Even among the Italians, Guderzo is often eclipsed by her compatriots Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), and maybe even Erica Magnaldi (WNT-Rotor) and the rising talent Sofia Bertizzolo (Virtu).

But Guderzo is a consistent performer at the Giro Rosa and her results speak for themselves. A closer analysis of her performances show that Guderzo has competed in the Giro Rosa on 13 occasions. Of those, she has placed in the top-10 overall nine times, and of those, she has stood on the overall podium twice. She has also earned the event's best young rider award and was three times the event's top Italian rider.

A bid for the overall victory might be a stretch for Guderzo, but she is a solid contender for stage wins and has a stated goal of wearing the coveted maglia rosa. To count Guderzo out, even as a dark-horse contender, would be a mistake.

Retirement after Tokyo Olympic Games

Thinking to the future

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tatiana-guderzo-a-quiet-contender-for-the-giro-rosa

Greg LeMond: I don't think Quintana will ever win the Tour de France

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Cyclingnews caught up with three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond at the USA Cycling Pro Road Championships in Tennessee, where LeMond and his wife Kathy have recently made a new home, to find out what he thinks about the upcoming Tour de France and who he considers to be the favourites to win the overall.

Now that Team Ineos have lost Chris Froome to a terrible crash during the Criterium du Dauphine, the British team will be supporting co-leaders in defending champion Geraint Thomas and its star young rider Egan Bernal. LeMond knows a thing or two about racing the Tour de France as part of a two-pronged strategy, having shared leadership with both Laurent Fignon and Bernard Hinault in his day.

Whereas Movistar last year had a trio of leaders and came up short of the podium, last season Team Sky put both Thomas and Froome in the top three - it's always a gamble spreading a team's resources, even more so now that Grand Tour teams are only eight riders. But LeMond thinks Team Ineos have the discipline to make co-leadership work.

"I think [dual leadership] takes the pressure off, actually, if you have a smart director." LeMond tells Cyclingnews.

"Thomas won it last year - but it's not like he's a three-time Tour champion. It's like Fignon and I - I could have done the Tour that year when he won it [1984 -ed]. But I decided Worlds was my objective that year. It was awkward, and I didn't really race as well as I could have. I got sick in the beginning, so it didn't end up being a conflict.

"With a good director you can use that to your advantage. Somebody has to be willing to sacrifice themselves, it might be Geraint Thomas, it might be Bernal. If you don't have Froome there, I think you're better off having a couple guys there who are really good, who can play off each other.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/greg-lemond-i-dont-think-quintana-will-ever-win-the-tour-de-france

Tour de France 2019: The ambush stages

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On any Tour de France route, there a number of stages that are clear-cut crucial days in the battle for the yellow jersey – summit finishes, for example, or individual time trials. However, the Tour de France, no matter how much of a pattern it has fallen into in recent years under Team Sky's control, always has the potential for surprise, and the race can be shaped at almost any point on any of the 21 stages.

The saying goes that there are points in the Tour where the race might be won, but could well be lost, and this year's route features much terrain that lives up to that old adage.

Away from the high-altitude climbs of the Pyrenees and Alps, we have rugged 'medium mountain' stages in France's lesser-known ranges, the Vosges and the Massif Central. Then there's the wind, which can single-handedly turn the flattest of stages into the most dramatic of spectacles. There are a couple of stages in the south in the second week that look particularly susceptible to echelons if the wind is blowing from the right direction at the right strength.

So while the yellow jersey hopefuls will have to be at their best on the high-mountain summit finishes, they'll have to be on high alert – and well supported – at almost every juncture of the race.

We've picked out five stages that don't necessarily appear to be pivotal GC days on paper, but which have the potential to see this year's Tour de France burst into life.

Stage 3 - July 8: Binche to Épernay, 215km

Every year, Tour boss Christian Prudhomme and the race director Thierry Gouvenou include a stage or two in northern or western France running across open country where the wind could be a significant factor. Generally, the weather is so benign in these regions in July that the potential sting is nullified, but once in a while the wind does have an impact. If it is blowing in the opening days of the race, this stage, which already has an intriguing finale, could be very complicated indeed.

Stage 5 - July 10: St Dié des Vosges to Colmar, 175.5km

Stage 8 - July 13: Mâcon to St Étienne, 200km

Stage 11 - July 17: Albi to Toulouse, 167km

Stage 16 - July 23: Nîmes to Nîmes, 200km

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-de-france-2019-the-ambush-stages