by Simon Crisp
So I bought some Campagnolo Record EPS. To cut a long story short, I should point out, as I feel obliged to justify the expense, that I got it significantly cheaper then the around £2800 asking price, having had it shipped from Colorado by the very pleasant guys at Planet Cyclery (http://www.planetcyclery.com/) which essentially meant... Continue Reading →
The Belgian Champions jersey could be claimed quite legitimately to hold a curse. This striking image above would be cited as evidence for this. From the 2009 Paris-Tours, it shows a moment in time that captures what at the time was a seemingly seismic shift in the influence of riders over a nation. Two Belgians,... Continue Reading →
This Christmas season, cyclists are blessed with a huge array of cycling literature to ask Father Christmas for, which is a marked change from previous years. If you're a particular afectionado of Bradley Wiggins or Team Sky, you're exceptionally well catered for - as Wiggins' win at the Tour de France has heralded a huge... Continue Reading →
2012 was the year where stage races came to dominated by one discipline: the time trial. It is telling that the majority of the races deemed to be the best of the year lacked a time trial being the deciding factor of the race, or at least not having such a massive influence on the... Continue Reading →
The Classics of 2012 wheren't to wheel out the old cliche, a vintage year, especially in the context of the excellent 2011 season that saw, especially in the Spring, a remarkable variety and surprise injected into the events. 2011 was also a year where 4 riders who had never won a Monument before took their... Continue Reading →
Unless you aren't a fan of Sven Nys, Cyclo-cross has been great fun this year, with none of the long solo breaks that made last year odd, and lots of duels, thrills, spills and exciting action to make it a cracking season finished off by the Kannibal. The sand, mud and more mud have been... Continue Reading →
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela UCI Ranking: 4 (ProCont) Major Results: Giro d'Italia stages x 2 (Ferrari, Rubiano), Memorial Marco Pantani (Felline), Italian national champs (Pellizotti), Tour de Langwaki (Serpa Perez) Victories: 18 Report card: The team with the patchwork quilt of a team kit thanks to the insistence on using lots of small sponsors had... Continue Reading →
Lotto-Belisol UCI Ranking: 11 Major Results: Tour de France stages x3, Tour down Under stages x3, (Greipel), 4th Tour de France (Van den Broeck), Paris-Nice stage (Meersman) Victories: 27 Report card: Oddly, Lotto, once the bitter rivals of OPQS in the cobbled classics, seem to have neglected their home races, leaving Lars Bak to batter... Continue Reading →
AG2R La ModialeUCI Ranking: 17Major Results: Stage, Tour of California (Georges)Victories: 4Report card: Another poor year for the AG2R boys, who once again banked on plucky stage wins from their batallions of break away specialists, but drumming up few returns. Sylvain Georges ar the Tour of California was a high point, but aside from that,... Continue Reading →
I recently read an article, by someone who obviously knew nothing about cycling, that claimed the green points jersey of the Tour de France was one of the quote 'Worst Sports Trophies to receive' on the grounds that if you won it, you had failed to reach the big prize, and had failed. Apparently the... Continue Reading →
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