Giro d’Italia Routing Data 1909-2013

Here is the data I've produced for use in my university dissertation. It's essentially away of seeing where the Giro d'Italia visited each year, and was produced by taking every route from its inception in 1909 till 2013, the most recent route we have, and taking the start and finish towns and charting them. For...

What we learnt from Milan-sanremo

Talk about entertainment. Milan-sanremo was a cacophany of what makes cycling such a brilliant sport to follow. The race went through just about every iteration possible in terms of racing, including the tactically interesting 'half time' forced by the reason this Sanremo will be remembered for a long time - the weather. The appalling conditions,...

Milan-SanRemo – Who is going to Win?

For the first time on a Sunday, this weekend will see the first Monument of the year in the 298km Milan-sanremo. Sanremo is always a great spectacle, often beginning in a dull, drizzly Milan and finding its way over 7 or so hours to the glittering Mediterranean coast. On the sporting side, its exciting for...

Tick off or Repeat? The Evolution of Targeting Races

First off, I'll admit this was originally going to be a piece called 'How to beat Team Sky', where I would have belittled the opposition of the British superteam for being unable to defeat Richie Porte at Paris-Nice and at Tirreno-Adriatico given Chris Froome's seemingly inevitable victory. Luckily, Nibali, Sagan, Rodriguez and co turned up...

Has the Tour de France ever had a podium of previous winners?

Tirreno-Adriatico recently posted the following image of its glorious ensemble of star riders whom they have managed to attract to the race: The palmares of  these seven men stand at 2 Milan-Sanremo's, 2 Paris-Roubaix's, a Tour of Flanders, a Giro d'Lombardia, 2 Fleche Wallone's, 4 World Time Trial Championships, 2 World Championships, 3 Tour de...

The 2013 Tour de France Jersey

Today, the 2013 Tour de France leader's yellow jersey was unvelied, oddly with little fanfare compared to the Giro's very social media driven campaigns to show off their creations. Now, once I've got uni finals and the like out the way, there is going to be an absolute barrage of Centenary Tour related articles on...

How changing a chain almost cost me £258

I have never been a particularity huge fan of bike shops. Well, perhaps I should rephrase. I love bike shops - it's the old cliche of an Aladdin's cave of technology and trinkets, of soft curves and harsh, striking aerodynamic forms all with price tags to make you grown. Yet still, you can lust after...