Tweets of the Week : Tour of Britain edition
This last week saw a lot of great racing in the Tour of Britain – as well as a few … Continue reading
Vuelta Tweets of the Week : Roglic’s reign in Spain
Our last Vuelta outing of 2021 made all the more sparkly by contributions from the Twitterstream. Another big shoutout to … Continue reading
VeloVoices Podcast 183: Champoussin is like Animal from the Muppets!
Kathi, Midge, Luke, and Euan come together to pick over the final week of the Vuelta a Espana and the other cycling action. … Continue reading
Vuelta a Espana 2021 : Stage 21 – Roglic win the stage and the whole damn race
Primoz Rogic (Jumbo Visma) won the final stage of Vuelta a Espana 2021 and sealed the deal on his overall … Continue reading
Vuelta a Espana 2021 : Stage 20 – Champoussin steals a stage stacked with drama
From fairly ho-hum to one of the most bonkers endings ever (on so many levels), Stage 20 of Vuelta a … Continue reading
Vuelta a Espana 2021 : Stage 19 – King Cort rules; Roglic still supreme
Today was the day where, if he hadn’t already at this Vuelta a Espana, Magnus Cort Nielsen cemented himself as … Continue reading
Vuelta a Espana 2021 : Stage 18 – Superman conquers the Gamoniteiru, Roglic stays cool and calm in red
Miguel Angel Lopez finally brought Movistar their Grand Tour victory on Stage 18 of La Vuelta. The Colombian broke clear of the creme de le creme of the GC contenders and rode through the mist to raise his fist at the summit of the Vuelta’s latest fearsome climb. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) cemented his red jersey ambitions with a second place, scampering away from Enric Mas (Movistar) and Egan Bernal in final metres. The blue polka dots stay with Team DSM but switch to the shoulder of Michael Storer after another amazing raid of a ride.
Vuelta a Espana 2021 : Stage 17 – Bernal and Roglic put on a show, Roglic takes red
Stage 17 was the first of a pair of HC summit finishes in this final week of Vuelta 2021 and it absolutely was *not* a day the break was going to take the stage. Except that, as usual, the Vuelta turned the tables on us. Because someone from a break *did* win the stage and even went into the red jersey. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) attacked out of the GC group on the ascent of the penultimate climb, with only Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) for company about 60km from the finish, and rode off in seek of glory. But no matter how much it rained (and it poured), how much Bernal tested Roglic on the long, treacherous descent (and he did and it was), or how much he must have been willing himself to stay in front of the Slovenian powerhouse, when the elastic snapped about 8km from the summit of the Covadonga, it was Bernal on the wrong end.
Vuelta a Espana 2021 : Stage 16 – Jakobsen takes the sprint, Odd still in red
As the Vuelta a Espana headed into its third and final week, Stage 16 was seen as one of the final opportunities for the sprinters and their teams. With Alpecin’s Jasper Philipsen leaving the race last week, the out-and-out favourite for today’s stage was current green jersey wearer, Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep). However, with over 1,200 metres of climbing and some wind in play on parts of the route, other teams (well, UAE Team Emirates) put Jakobsen and The Wolfpack to the test. A ferociously fast stage did see Jakobsen distanced at one point, however some solid teamwork saw the man in green make it back to the bunch way before the finale, where, as predicted, he blew his competition away to take a powerful victory. Jordi Meeus (Bora-hansgrohe) and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) rounded out the podium, with Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty) remaining in red for another day. Continue reading
Videos
Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Garmin) delivered for the team at this year’s Giro d’Italia with a popular solo win on stage four. Called up only a fortnight before the start, he hadn’t specifically trained for the race, which leaves us wondering whether he might have bettered his overall 31st place if he’d targetted this race. Keeping the pink glow going, he looks back at his first Grand Tour.
Created in 1993 to enable amateur cyclists to personally experience a stage of each year’s Tour de France, L’Etape de Tour is THE cyclosportive. This year’s event takes place on Sunday 19th July over 142km from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire.
All places are taken for this year’s Etape (unless you get a place with a tour operator or through a charity). Places go fast as soon as registration opens so if you want to get a jump on proceedings for next year, take a minute to register with ASO Challenges. Registration details are here. Also, follow l’Etape on Twitter and Facebook for news all year round.
Links: Official website
Images
Stage 13, the longest of this year’s Vuelta, came down to a messy, chaotic sprint and a beautiful win by Deceuninck QuickStep’s Florian Senechal. The Frenchman gave it everything to deny Matteo Trentin (UAE-Team Emirates) after teammate, and red hot favourite for victory, Fabio Jakobsen found himself out of position on the run to the line. The red jersey stays on the shoulders of Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) and everyone else remains as they were on the GC, prior to the climbing action this weekend.
I cannot imagine riding a bike, at speed, in 41°C heat, on slippery tarmac, due possibly to dirt, grease or olives, for hours. But that’s what the peloton did today in Stage 12 of this year’s Vuelta. But as yesterday, the race caught fire in the last kilometre and, again, it was EF’s Magnus Cort who showed he was on the form of his life as he took to the front in the final 800m. But this time, there was no Roglic and Mas chasing him, and he took a MAJESTIC win half a wheel ahead of Andrea Bagioli (DQS), with Michael Matthews (BEX) in third. The red jersey stayed with Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) and the GC hasn’t been stirred at all and all the jerseys stay put.
Asides
All of the history and excitement of the world’s most famous one-day bicycle race in one coffee-table book. Paris-Roubaix: A Journey Through Hell is an essential read for anyone interested in this spectacular race.
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http://www.calameo.com/read/003111411e32746b42755
Links
It was a stage of action and drama at Tour Down Under. The GC leaders battled for bonus seconds. A first WorldTour victory went to Jasper Philipsen after Caleb Ewan was relegated for head butting. Race leader Patrick Bevin was involved in a crash and had to chase to get back with the peloton.
Quotes
“Riders like me and Cancellara don’t think about the points, just the win.”
Vincenzo Nibali bemoans the lack of fierce joy in the riders of the peloton, many of whom he believes play it safe and ride just for points, not the win.
Read his straight-talking interview on Velonews.
When asked what animal he would like to be, Bernie Eisel answered ‘My cat. She has the best life you can imagine!’
I happen to know that there are a whole lotta ladies out there who would kill to be Bernie’s cat. I’ll leave that there …
The face a million women love (Image: Team Sky)
Here is Team Sky’s 20 Questions to the Ladies Favourite