Are there any governing bodies in world sport that get a good rep? FIFA's corruption is the subject of films and documentaries, the FIA run accused of fiddling their competitions for better Netflix drama, the RFU are suggested to be fiddling whilst the sport burns around them, with World Rugby ignoring massive concussion problems, and... Continue Reading →
100 Days to Paris – How Cycling’s Olympic Champions showed off their success
With 100 days to go until the Paris Olympics begins, possibly in the Seine, possibly not, here's some nostalgia as we look back at the male winners of the professional era of the Olympic Games Road and Time Trial races, and how they celebrated their triumph with liberal application of the colour gold. The Olympics... Continue Reading →
Monument Ages – Is Pogacar on track to conquer Merckx?
At the start of the Volta a Catalunya this year, a race he went on to dominate with the overall, four stage wins, the points and mountains competitions all coming home with the Slovenian, Tadej Pogacar was asked whether he was thinking about his place in cycling history. "Yeah," he replied, "Now I have arrived... Continue Reading →
Pogacar’s One Week Stage Race Chase
Having already signalled his intent to, as borrowed from Philippe Gilbert, "Strive for Five" and win all five monuments across his career, Tadej Pogacar has signalled a new goal - triumphing in all seven of the top level week long stage races. He hasn't signalled his desire to win all three Grand Tours yet, but... Continue Reading →
A brief history of Time Trial helmets
A giant yellow M&M, a shark's head, Darth Vader's visor - just some of the interpretations of the new Jumbo-Vis-sorry, Visma-Lease a Bike (that's going to take a while) helmet from Giro, the 39 year old American company who produced what is officially known as the Aerohead II. Within a week, they'd redefined what people... Continue Reading →
Adventures in local newsletters
Where I live, in Northumberland in North East England, the powers that be have decided, in the last year, to build a new cycle route from the town towards the nearby Metro station, with £815,000 of funding from the Transforming Cities Fund, £500,000 from Transport North East, and a mere £50,000 contribution from the county... Continue Reading →
Breakaway! The longest solo breaks of recent years
One day into Tadej Pogacar’s season, and already the commentators are rolling out the “we’ve run out of superlatives” cliché, having watched the Slovenian ride away with 80km to go at Strade Bianche, surpassing his previous record of 49km on his prior triumph. Whilst Pog’s victory was all the more impressive due to his literal... Continue Reading →
Who has spent the least time in the Tour de France malliot jaune?
We all know the big stats - that Eddy Merckx leads the way with having recorded 111 stages in the Tour de France leader's jersey, the malliot jaune. We know that Lance Armstrong would be second on 83 stages if he hadn't been expunged from the official records, and that his place is instead inhabited... Continue Reading →
Loops and Transfers: The Increasing Fragmentation of the Grand Tours
Comparing the maps of the modern and early Tours de France show an impressive disparity. Those early 20th century routes are essentially full laps of France, taking in the edges of the hexagon and starting and finishing each of the mammoth stages in the same host cities. The Tour Started and finished in the capital Paris... Continue Reading →
The Scrabble Test – are team names getting longer and more complex?
If you're a cycling commentator, things are about to get more complex in 2024. It's going to tricky enough remembering to call Jumbo-Visma Visma-Lease-a-bike, and then you've got to remember that the long time Arkea-Samsic are now Arkea-B&B Hotels. Then, when you've strained your gray matter not to mess those up, you've got to wrap... Continue Reading →