Other sports don't get a mention
Vuelta O’Clock. It’s always difficult to know exactly what to expect in Spain, but this year we don’t even have Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali or Simon Yates to throw our money at. The Giro Champion – Richard Carapaz – is also absent after an eleventh hour crash and subsequent withdrawal. Moreover, we’ve all been wrestling
Bad contracts, loss of confidence, terrible luck, or just a mid-career crisis. There’s plenty of reasons why talented riders’ careers stall. Here’s seven riders who used to have the cycling world excited, but now struggle for space on any website. Ruben Fernandez It might be a little harsh to accuse former Vuelta race leader Ruben
Shortly after this photo was captured, Marianne Vos admitted that she had forgotten what it felt like to be the World Champion. The Dutch superstar had previously snatched a road World Title in 2006 at the age of 19, despite eligibility for the junior race. A young Vos had chased down first Nicola Cooke and
Julian Alaphilippe was never supposed to be the saviour of French stage racing. He is destined to wear Rainbow stripes, dominate the Mur, and stack up an enviable Monument record, perhaps even completing an unprecedented full set. It was last year that we realised just how good he was at riding uphill fast and outfoxing
Last Thursday, Alaphilippe was found guilty of doping after failing a test which showed traces of the drug “winning La Fleche and a Pau time trial in the same year”. He requested a b-sample, but unfortunately this showed an illegally high level of the facial hair growth aid “hanging with the big boys on the
Even the hardiest of ‘Gardenites’ will accept that Tejay van Garderen will never win a Grand Tour. In fact – in the most cynical of company – suggesting van Garderen could ride to even a stealthy top five will be met with hilarity. He cracks far too often and can’t string together enough good days.
Egan Bernal is the Tour de France favourite and – at 2/1 – he could be huge value. He’s the best pure climber at a Tour crafted for pure climbers. He’s riding for the team who has delivered six of the last seven victories and who – debuting the Ineos guise – can boast one
As a result of an increased workload away from Just Pro Cycling (in the real world), I decided against daily previews for La Grand Boucle. I also decided to move away from a traditional chunk-by-chunk preview extravaganza in favour of this post; twenty one wild predictions for each Tour de France stage…made far, far too
