Putting the Jumbo-Visma Grand Tour Sweep into context

Jumbo Visma's clean sweep of the 2023 Vuelta podium has had people questioning just how dominant they are, as you'd rightly do after they were able to effectively able to choose the winner of the race, and maag. Surely they must have broken loads of records in becoming the first team to win all three...

Who had gotten closest to the Giro-Tour-Vuelta sweep?

Now that GC Kuss has delivered, Jumbo-Visma has achieved what hasn't been done in the 73 years it has been possible (remember the Vuelta is considerably younger than the other Grand Tours, and had more breaks than the other races) and won the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in the same...

Is the Tour de France getting closer?

Up until the Col de la Loze stage, the 2023 Tour de France seemed on track to be one of the closest ever. The gap between Tadej Pogacar and eventual winner Jonas Vingegaard had been measured in a few seconds, rather than the minutes we're often used to, and there was discussion about the race...

Defending the Crown: Retaining a Grand Tour Title.

As the Vuelta approaches, and we digest the news that no one has now officially defended their Tour de France title for 20 years (or 10 if you're not into rewriting history), it's worth a look to see just how often riders actually manage to defend a title. At first thought, the answer would seem...

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...

When Cycling Karma Strikes

People in sport, as in life, cheat. It is an unfortunate fact that this is the case, but luckily, there is something in the cosmos that occasionally seems to balance out the actions of naughty riders. At least, this is what four seasons of My Name is Earl taught me - do good and you...

Every Route and Winner of the Tour de France, 1903-2013

I admit, this took a while. But I've complied all 100 routes of the Tour de France from 1903 to 2013 as well as every winner from the same period into two, admittedly quite large, images. I advise you click on them to view them properly and have a better look - they should be...