Tour de France 2019: Stage 12 – Simon Yates sprints for the stage, Alaphilippe holds yellow
Stage 12 of the Tour de France saw the GC favourites take the day off, allowing Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) to … Continue reading
Tour de France 2019: Stage 11 – Caleb Ewan gets his Tour stage by a whisker
On a quiet day for the GC, perhaps in anticipation for the mountains tomorrow, Stage 11 of Tour de France … Continue reading
Tour Tweets of the Week : Sacre bleu! Cor blimey! Holy cow!
Has this first week of the Tour de France been one of the most exciting in soooo many years, or … Continue reading
Tour de France 2019: Stage 10 – Van Aert wins as winds blow apart GC battle
A long, largely downhill, though lumpy stage into the beautiful city of Albi saw Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) take the … Continue reading
VeloVoices Podcast 141: It’s the Tour Jim, but not as we know it
Kathi, Midge and Euan sit down and chew over the first week of 2019’s Tour de France. They discuss the heroes and … Continue reading
Tour de France 2019: Stage 9 — Impey plays it cool for his first Tour victory
Bastille Day. The sun shone. The crowds came out to fete both a Frenchman in the mailllot jaune and a … Continue reading
Tour de France 2019: Stage 8 — De Gendt storms to the win while Alaphilippe prises back the yellow with panache
What. A. Stage. So often grand tour racing seduces us with a promising parcours and riders full of intent. So often we’re let down as teams play it safe and we’re left with a race as predictable as a superhero movie at the local multiplex.
But not today! Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) took a superb solo win in Saint-Etienne, holding off a fast-charging Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep). The dashing Frenchman retakes the maillot jaune for Bastille Day, while Pinot has done his chances no harm whatsoever climbing to third on GC.
Tour de France 2019: Stage 7 — Groenewegen Wins the Snooziest Stage
As the Tour de France’s first true “transitional” stage this year, stage 7 marked the longest stage of the 2019 edition at a monstrous 231 kilometres. If you are reading this write-up because other previous engagements prevented you from watching live or you simply fell asleep during the stage, count yourself lucky. As I write this, I’m left questioning myself on why I woke up with 100km from the finish. It truly was one of those stages where one could’ve turned on the television with 2km to go and not missed a thing. With that said, please do keep reading, because I promise I’ve gone to great lengths to make this worth something.
The English Cyclist : For the data-driven design lover
As the season progresses and cycling fans hear the siren call of the Tour de France, our minds, hearts and wallets turn once again to … groovy cycling posters. To kick July off, I had a chat with Rob Millington, the designer behind The English Cyclist. And we’ll be running a competition to win one of his posters through Twitter during the Tour so #StayAlert!
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
To many of us, the Grubers’ work really epitomises the Belgian Cobbled Classics. If you haven’t seen their gallery for Cannondale-Garmin, go now!
http://slipstreamsports.com/2015/03/30/gallery-gent-wevelgem-gruber-images/
“We’ve tried to go down roads and go through places that are far more interesting than the number of watts we’re putting out and the speed we’re averaging.” Gus Morton
The Australian cycling site, Cycling Tips, just goes from strength to strength in my book. Up on the site now is Thereabouts, a 45-minute documentary made with Gus and Lachlan Morton about their experience riding from Port Macquarie to Uluru – riding over 2,000km in just 12 days. Why did they do it? To reconnect with the reasons why they started riding in the first place. Click here to read more about their story.
Read about it, watch it, get inspired by it.
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.
Want your own kit or need something special for your cycling club? Contact G4 who provide a custom service!
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
