all words by Mike Franchetti
Here we go! I haven’t felt Giro fever this much since May 2019. The calendar was chopped up beyond recognition during the COVID-19 pandemic and – possibly due to the comparatively short turnaround – last year’s race just didn’t hit me. Egan Bernal was a brilliant winner. Damiano Caruso and Giacomo Nizzolo were hugely popular
The 2020 pro cycling season could be filled with real change. The backdrop of the sport shifted noticeably in 2019 with plenty of riders making the jump from the junior ranks, and the merry-go-round of team leaders clunking into gear during contract season. We got three debut Grand Tour winners in 2019; a feat which
The lumpy one-day classics keep coming with the calendar’s oldest Monument arriving on Sunday afternoon. Despite often falling to the bottom of the excitement rankings, it was the first one-day race I attended live and an event I’ll always look forward to. Moreover, this year I feel I can genuinely get behind four of my
Tour Talk returns! Stage 9 of this year’s Tour de France may have had more action than the previous eight combined but the resulting situation is a nicely packed top ten, albeit with a few notable absentees. There’s still plenty of racing left but here’s what we’ve had so far.
Dull Tour de France route seeks exciting rider to help deliver spectacular three-week showcase. With a surprisingly open GC race and nothing too taxing on the legs, riders should be up for the opportunity to attack, attack, attack. This year just might be the year for a genuine underdog to try something special; Chris Froome’s
Next weekend sees the return of cycling’s most famous race. The Tour de France is the race even your non-cycling friends will have a passing interest in. It’s the one that might make it on to the evening news or the back page of the paper. Nobody wants to hear that your favourite stage of
Why do I still love the Ardennes? I know Paris-Roubaix is the best classic, I know Flanders is the second best and I’m quickly beginning to think Strade Bianche is the third. Nevertheless, I always look forward to the Ardennes week. Perhaps it’s due to the Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday structure we’ve seen organisers adopt in recent years.
There are a handful of times throughout each year where cycling fans are treated to two great races a day. This season we’ll see Scheldeprijs clash with Pais Vasco, the Tour of Britain boldly take on the Vuelta Espana and, of course, a World Tour battle between Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. These are usually enjoyable occasions with deliberately spaced out
Just Pro Cycling 