Sheltering from the rainstorm atop Arcalis last Sunday, many GC contenders would have immediately switched their focus to Mont Ventoux. A rest day would follow Tom Dumoulin’s superb victory, before a departure out of the Pyrenees on Tuesday and one for the sprinters the following afternoon.
Author: MikeFranchetti
Part 1 of this list concluded with Marco Pantani’s destruction of Jan Ullrich in 1998. With the turn of the decade came a whole host of iconic moments and increased media coverage. Sadly, the whole era is tarnished by doping revelations but the protagonists still took part in some fierce battles. Immediately post-Armstrong we saw
Selecting the ‘best’ Tour de France stages requires consideration of a variety of factors. Firstly there’s race impact with a GC-shaping stage far more likely to leave a mark in the history books. Any stage with enough time gaps to leave viewers doing mental gymnastics to figure out the state of the classification will always
Even for a Giro-lover like me, there’s something about the Tour de France which takes pro cycling to a whole new stage. From a commercial point of view, the Tour secures more mainstream media attention than any other event on the calendar. From a cycling front, the race is the high point of the season
Swiss cycling has a lot to be proud about. At nine stages long they have the longest home tour outside of the Grand siblings, another successful World Tour race in the Tour of Romandie, a handful of Grand Tour successes including back-to-back Tour de France wins from Ferdinand Kubler and Hugo Koblet, a famous podium sweep in the
Twelve months ago Lotto NL-Jumbo’s Dylan Groenewegen was scarcely a blip on pro cycling’s radar. His Rompoot team would frequently miss out on the highest level events and the Dutchman was left to try his hand in races such as Etoile de Besseges, Bayern Rundfahrt and the World Ports Classic.
There were plenty of big rides at this year’s Giro d’Italia as the race lived up to its billing as one of the best races on the calendar. There were eight Maglia Rosa wearers, seven bunch sprints, six days of Dumoulin, five summit finishes, four German winners, three near-misses for Kruijswijk, two more wins for
Steven Kruijswijk’s series of good days – really good days – have left him three minutes clear at the top of the GC. His climbing has been superb and he has tackled each of Italy’s obstacles with a calmness and ease. It’s difficult to imagine him cracking and he has refused to be shaken under
Just Pro Cycling 