The 2010s are over and we’ve been made well aware of the hungry twenty-somethings ready to devour every race for the next ten years. The end of the decade felt timely with a number of big-name riders misfiring over the last few years or, in some cases, coming up short in fascinating cross-generational duals. 2019
It’s time for the fifth annual Just Pro Cycling Pub Quiz, which I do purely for the love of pro cycling and not at all for the wonderful spike in website views. How well do you know the 2019 season? It’s tough this year… There aren’t enough pro cycling quizzes, trivia and games on the
Following the sudden rise of Tadej Pogacar and Egan Bernal, it feels like Astana’s Miguel Angel Lopez was “the next big thing” for all of five minutes. The buzz around Lopez did, in fact, last well over eighteen months; roughly starting mid-way through his breakout Vuelta Espana in 2017 and following him round during a
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
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.
