Foldable Bikes Party

Wednesday, 3 July 2019

Tour de France 2019: Julian Alaphilippe expects to be treated 'differently'

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Julian Alaphilippe says he will be a marked man at the Tour de France as he looks to replicate his successes of a year ago.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/48847381

Tuesday, 2 July 2019

8 conclusions from US Pro Road Championships

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The city of Knoxville, Tennessee put on a stellar USA Cycling Pro Road Championships for the third year in a row and will continue as host for two more years. The Great Smoky Mountains foothills provide just the right amount of climbing and flat roads, while the heat and humidity tip the balances in favour of the most prepared athletes. The end result was six deserving champions and exciting, unpredictable racing that highlighted some amazing athletic performances. Cyclingnews came to eight conclusions from the event.

1. Stephen Bassett deserves a pro contract

Hometown rider Stephen Bassett was an unexpected presence on the final men's road race podium in second behind winner Alex Howes and showed that he has what it takes to go pedal stroke for pedal stroke against WorldTour riders like winner Alex Howes (EF Education First) and third-placed Neilson Powless (Jumbo-Visma). He had a pro contract with Silber in 2018 until the team folded, and was not selected to continue when Floyd's took over the organisation. Landis and Gord Fraser should be kicking themselves right now for letting this one slip.

Bassett won two stages and the overall at the Joe Martin Stage Race, a stage at the Redlands Classic and the Winston Salem Criterium this year, clearly demonstrating that he had done his homework over the winter. Racing with the local elite First Internet Bank squad, Bassett had the advantage of a full feed zone support crew: "I think we had six in the feed zone for five riders. I took an ice sock every lap. 15 ice socks over four and a half hours makes a pretty massive difference," he told Cyclingnews.

The 24-year-old showed impressive determination hitting out early in the sprint - it really looked as if he'd won it but just ran out of gas ahead of the last turn and was overtaken by Howes. That level of grit certainly deserves a pro contract, but Bassett doesn't have anything solid in the works. Will his performance at nationals help?

2. Howes is better than ever

Alex Howes has always been a good one-day racer and it's surprising he hasn't won a national title before now: he was on the podium or just shy of it in 2013, 2014 and agonizingly won the sprint for second behind Greg Daniel in 2016 in Winston Salem. To finally step on top of the podium was an emotional moment, not just for Howes but for the whole crowd who bore witness to the sheer joy of the moment.

"I was in a pretty dark place this time last year," Howes said on his EF Education First team site. "I was struggling with an undiagnosed [hyper-]thyroid, fighting my body, thinking of hanging it up. I was depressed and scared, wasting away. To come back and win the jersey a year later? This is bliss. Pure satisfaction."

3. Powless shows his class

4. Winder is one tough cookie

5. Keep the Hagens Berman-Supermint band together

6. Evergreen Neben

7. Garrison a rider for the future

8. Emma White is a star in the making

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/8-conclusions-from-us-pro-road-championships

Snubbed for Tour de France: Is this the end for Mark Cavendish?

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In the end - and at the 11th hour - Team Dimension Data decided to ignore reputation and leave Mark Cavendish out of this year’s Tour de France. Their talisman, a rider who has amassed 30 Tour stage wins in a long and glittering career, will sit on the sofa this July for the first time in over a decade. Only time will tell if team owner Doug Ryder has made the right decision.

Of little dispute is that, despite aging legs, a lack of form, and unpredictability in terms of surviving the mountains, Cavendish remains a box office name.

His participation even at the Grand Départ would have generated headlines, not just in the United Kingdom but across the cycling world. The Brussels fanfare and the comparisons to Eddy Merckx’s stage win record would have seen to that.

Instead, Ryder has seemingly decided to shun a freebie of press coverage and base his decision over Cavendish on purely racing aspects - facts, rather than impressions, as football manager Rafa Benitez might call them. Ryder certainly has evidence to back his call. He will point to a dossier of evidence that pinpoints a rider’s decline and lack of results. However, whatever metrics Ryder has used to justify his decision have not been implemented across the rest of the team.

Last year, at the age of 33, Cavendish was afforded a stay of execution with a one-year deal that was only hammered out after Ryder had spent most of the team’s budget on the 2018 Amstel Gold Race podium. The team certainly needed reinvigorating and, with a 12-month extended tenure, Cavendish was given the chance to prove that his 2017 and 2018 health problems were behind him.

However, despite declaring he was over his bout of Epstein Barr Virus at May’s Tour of California, the results never came. He failed to contest a single sprint in the Golden State before quitting on the final day. He then suffered through the Tour of Slovenia without ever breaking into the top 50. The race had plenty of challenging climbs, and to some within Dimension Data, the sprinter looked to be on track. But cycling is very much a market built on results, and recent results are the most sought-after currency.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/snubbed-for-tour-de-france-is-this-the-end-for-mark-cavendish

Giro Rosa: Niewiadoma's 10 riders to watch

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The 2019 Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile (also known as the Giro Rosa) will mark the next round of the Women's WorldTour, held from July 5-14 in northern Italy. It will be one of the toughest editions as this year's race will feature summit finishes on the Passo Gavia and at Malga Montasio, while there will also be an uphill time trial and a tough hilltop finale to the concluding stage in Udine.

In the latest of our 'countdown' features ahead of the Giro Rosa, Cyclingnews enlisted the help of Canyon-SRAM's all-rounder Kasia Niewiadoma to select the top 10 riders to watch for this year's race.

Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott)

Annemiek van Vleuten, the time trial world champion, played a dominant role in the 2018 Giro Rosa, winning three stages and the overall title by more than four minutes over runner-up Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and 6:30 ahead of her teammate Amanda Spratt. This year, Van Vleuten won Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and then has spent time training at altitude in Tenerife and on the Passo Gavia in Italy, specifically to prepare to win a second overall title at the Giro Rosa.

Niewiadoma says: "She is an incredible climber. In the last two years, she has made huge progress to the point where, in my opinion, she is unbeatable when climbs are longer than 10km.

"She knows how to prepare for a race like the Giro Rosa. She spends a lot of time at altitude. Once she knows what she wants, she can deliver. Her attacks are extremely brutal. She attacks when everyone is already over the limit, and then she continues riding super hard and steady. That makes her an incredible climber.

"In my opinion, she is the woman to win the Giro Rosa. There might even be a big gap between her and second place."

Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans)

Omer Shapira (Canyon-SRAM)

Liane Lippert (Sunweb)

Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott)

Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv)

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla)

Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo)

Sofia Bertizzolo (Team Virtu)

Editor's pick: Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM)

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/giro-rosa-niewiadomas-10-riders-to-watch

RBC Gran Fondo Whistler: The Ride of Your Life, the Vacation of a Lifetime

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For the uninitiated, a Gran Fondo is a long-distance road-cycling event that started in Italy in the 1970’s and has since become highlights of road-racing calendars the world over. And it just so happens that one of the most spectacular Gran Fondos in North America, if not the world, takes place in the Pacific Northwest at the RBC GranFondo Whistler.

On September 7, riders of all levels and abilities will line up in Vancouver’s picturesque Stanley Park and make the 122 km trek up the world famous Sea-to-Sky highway and into Whistler’s world-famous alpine village. With the turquoise blue waters of Howe Sound to the left side and the very foot of the towering Cascade Mountain Range to the right, this “big ride” offers the quintessential Canadian West Coast experience. No wonder then it has been voted North America’s Best Gran Fondo two years running and will host the UCI World Gran Fondo Championships in 2020. In fact, if you want to compete in those championships, you need to qualify at this year’s event.

However, even if championship podiums aren’t exactly in your sights, the unsurpassed natural beauty of these vacation-ready destinations should be firmly so.

Gear up for the ride by spending a few nights in Vancouver, a vibrant cosmopolitan city on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. From one of many hotel options among diverse neighbourhoods, you are always mere steps from an award-winning culinary scene showcasing modern and classic tastes from around the world, urban trails and parks to explore along the beach and into old growth forests – not to mention the high class shopping to be had at low prices thanks to the favourable exchange rate. The whole family will love climbing into an aqua-taxi to cross False Creek to the artisan haven of Granville Island Market, or onto a quick shuttle straight from your hotel up to the breathtaking Capilano Suspension Bridge.

Once your race is ridden, reward yourself with an extended stay in Whistler, North America’s number one mountain resort. After all, you’ve come so far, and worked so hard, it would be a crime against outdoor enthusiasts everywhere to leave without experiencing the wealth of adventure Whistler offers. Unleash your inner-Superman on a high-flying zip-line tour through the trees, or trade in your pedals for a hand-throttle on an ATV adventure into Whistler’s epic backcountry. Or, if the fondo was enough heart pounding excitement for you, slow it right down at the gorgeous Scandinave Spa and its open air baths and fireside hammocks.

Whether you’re on a solo adventure, or you’ve packed your support team with you, you’re sure to find the perfect accommodations for any budget. And now thanks to exclusive offers available only to RBC Gran Fondo Whistler riders, it’s even easier to stay and save. Find incredible hotel deals, discounts on Vancouver attractions, and even a chance to win your race registration at [LINK].

See you at the Gran Fondo!

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/rbc-gran-fondo-whistler-the-ride-of-your-life-the-vacation-of-a-lifetime

Merckx, Hinault, Froome: What happens when the Tour de France favourite doesn't start?

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Chris Froome’s crash while warming up for a time trial in the Critérium du Dauphiné in mid-June could turn out to be the defining event of the 2019 race season.

It has not merely thrown the four-time Tour de France winner’s racing future into question – no matter how intense his desire and motivation, now matter how fervently you may wish him well, the seriousness of his injuries will make a return to his old self extremely difficult. In the blinking of an eye, the 2019 Tour completely changed its complexion.

Such is the power that a multiple Tour winner exerts over the race that all of a sudden there is more than a glimmer of hope for pretty much any of the wealth of riders who have found the Briton and his team unbreakable over the years.

No disrespect to Froome's Team Ineos teammate and 2018 Tour winner Geraint Thomas, but history shows that it’s a different matter coming back to the Tour after win number one compared to after win number three.

There are two historical precedents for the situation as the build-up to this Tour begins. In 1976, Eddy Merckx completed the Giro d’Italia with a boil in a delicate place. He could have pulled out of the Giro, had the boil lanced and then gone for another win in the Tour. Instead, Merckx being Merckx, he opted to finish the Giro for his Italian sponsor, Molteni. It seems incredible now, but with their star unable to ride the Tour, Molteni simply pulled the whole team.

Seven years later, Bernard Hinault won the Vuelta a España in spite of a nagging pain in the tendon behind his knee in the final week. A more conservative individual might have pulled out a couple of days from the end; Hinault being Hinault, he kept going. His withdrawal from the Tour was announced only on June 18.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/merckx-hinault-froome-what-happens-when-the-tour-de-france-favourite-doesnt-start

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