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 Photo:
Peter Sagan Tinkoff Saxo)
(Sadhbh O'Shea).
Tinkoff-Saxo
are heading into Sunday's Tour of Flanders all-in behind leader Peter Sagan, who the
team says is benefiting from continually improving form as the Classics
season hits full stride.
Sagan took his first win for Tinkoff-Saxo during the penultimate stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in March, but he has failed to crack a podium since in the traditional build-up to the Classics. He was fourth in the bunch kick at Milan-San Remo, and then he mysteriously dropped from the lead trio of E3Harelbeke in the final kilometers, eventually fading to 30th. Most recently he was 10th at Gent-Wevelgem. April
2, 2015 (cyclingnews.com)
 Bradley
Wiggins (Team Sky)
(Bettini Photo).
Bradley Wiggins won
his last ever time trial in Team Sky colors, with an aggressive,
powerful ride during the 14.2km final stage at the Three Days of De
Panne.
Triple stage winner Alexander Kristoff won overall, after favorite Stijn Devolder failed to snatch victory from the Norwegian. Kristoff was 18 seconds slower than Wiggins but one second faster than the Belgian and so Devolder finished 23 seconds down in the final overall classification. Wiggins storming up the classification to take third place at 42 seconds. Kristoff struggled to understand he had won overall immediately after finishing his time trial but was all smiles on the podium, knowing his form is excellent as Sunday’s Tour of Flanders approaches. April
2, 2015 (cyclingnews.com)
 Photo:
Who won? It was a close call
(Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com).
Alexander Kristoff
took his third sprint win and strengthened his overall lead in the
morning road race at the Three Days of De Panne in a very close sprint
with Andre Greipel.
The Norwegian duelled with Andrea Guardini before accelerating to the line but Greipel was on his wheel and had the acceleration to come up along side him. Both riders threw their bikes at the line and seemed to hit the line at the same time. However the race officials ruled that Kristoff won the stage. Greipel was second, with Sacha Modolo third and Guardini fourth. April
2, 2015 (cyclingnews.com)
 Photo:
Stage 5 is the copy of Stage 17 in the Tour de France.
More than the race resembles a mini-Tour de France, this race as an
Alpine dress-rehearsal for the Tour, complete with an identical
mountain stage and a comparable team time trial. Here’s a look at the
stages and what to expect along the way.
April
2, 2015 (inrng.com)
2014-15
Races &
Results.
Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde - Mar 31-Apr 2 (Stages & Results), Tour of Flanders - Apr 5 (Start List), Giro d'Italia 2015 - May 9-31 (Stages), Tour de France 2015 - July 4-26 (Stages), Vuelta a España 2015 - Aug 22-Sept 13 (Stages), UCI Road World Championship 2015 - Sept 20-27 (Stages), Gent - Wevelgem - Mar 29 (Results), Gent - Wevelgem Women - Mar 29 (Results), Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - Mar 23-29 (Results), E3 Harelbeke - Mar 27 (Results), Tour de Taiwan - Mar 21-25 (Results), Milan San Remo - Mar 22 (Results), Nokere Koerse - Mar 18 (Results), Tirreno-Adriatico - Mar 11-17 (Results), UCI Track World Championships - Feb 18-22 (Results), UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships - Jan 31-Feb 1 (Results).  Photo:
George climbs the iconic Koppenberg – a key climb in the Tour of
Flanders (Pic: Daniel Loots).
This
Sunday, the Koppenberg will transform from a non-descript cobbled farm
track in rural Flanders into the center of the cycling universe, when
the 99th edition of the Ronde van Vlaanderen rolls out and tackles the
22 per cent cobbled wall on a 264.2km route with 19 Hellingen from
Bruges to Oudenaarde, the Flemish town within a short ride of the
majority of cobbled climbs.
he Tour of Flanders and, on the following Sunday, Paris-Roubaix, form the most exciting eight days on the cycling calendar. Two of the greatest one-day prizes in the sport and the climax of the cobbled Classics campaign. April
2, 2015 (roadcyclinguk.com)
 Photo:
Fabian
Cancellara won the 2014 Ronde van Vlaanderen. Due to injury,however, he
will not be able to defend his title.
Sunday's Tour
of Flanders departs Brugge at 10:15am CET (4:15am U.S. Eastern) and
isexpected at the finish at Oudenaarde at around 4:47pm CET (10:47am
U.S.Eastern, 7:47am Pacific).
Tour of Flanders live streaming video should get underway at around *9:30am CET (*3:30am U.S. Eastern, 12:30am Pacific). April
2, 2015
(cyclingfans.com)
 Photo:
Jivr
Image Credit: Paul Sawers/VentureBeat.
Commuters
the world over face the perennial problem of how to optimize their
journey to work: What time should I leave? Is the connection running on
time? Will bad weather mean the train’s too full? Am I better off just
taking the car?
One solution for many workers is to travel by bike — it’s easier to create a consistent travel time for starters, with traffic, weather, and other unforseen delays having minimal impact for nimble two-wheeled travelers. It’s estimated that at least 200,000 people cycle through New York alone each and every day, a figure similar to London, which is testament to the practicalities of bikes when traversing large conurbations. April
2, 2015 (venturebeat.com)
Alexander Kristoff
won stage two of the Driedaagse De Panne after a high-speed sprint in
Koksijde. The Norwegian extend his overall race lead after also winning
the opening stage.
The final kilometers of the 217km stage was a battle between the sprinters’ lead-out trains, with Team Sky, Lampre-Merida and Katusha fighting for position in the narrow roads and final turns. Kristoff launched his sprint early in the long finishing straight but had the speed and power to hold off his rivals. April
1, 2015 (cyclingnews.com)
Easter
Sunday, the one day of the year that the ‘n+1 rule’ of bike ownership
can be applied to the consumption of chocolate eggs and it’s time for
the big one, Ronde van Vlaanderen.
April
1, 2015 (velofocus.com)
|  The Pinarello Dogma K8-S frame
has rear suspension that relies on the bike's flexing seat stays and an
elastomer rear shock. Photo: Team Sky.
This
Sunday, at Ronde van Vlaanderen, Team Sky will be aboard a new
Pinarello Dogma, the K8-S, which team leader Bradley Wiggins says
is “game-changing,” thanks to its rear suspension.
In partnership with the team’s car sponsor, Jaguar, Pinarello developed the new model with flat, flexible seat stays to allow the carbon fiber frame to flex and compress the small shock located on the seat stays. It is said to have 10mm of travel with the elastomer-based shock. Pinarello claims the frame will weigh 990 grams. The Dogma F8 weighs 860g. Pinarello claims the new frame reduces vibration by 50 percent, although its unclear how, exactly, that data was measured. April
2, 2015 (velonews.com)
 Photo:
Horner leads the Airgas-Safeway team on a training ride. And perhaps
sharing some knowledge.
(Marco Quezada).
A
recent invitation to the Tour d'Azerbaïdjan in May will fill the hole
left in Airgas-Safeway's race calendar that opened when the US
Continental team missed out on an invitation to the Tour of California.
Team principle Chris Johnson told Cyclingnews this week that team leader Chris Horner will target the general classification at the five-day UCI 2.1 race scheduled for May 6-10. April
2, 2015 (cyclingnews.com)
 Photo:
The cobbles and climbs in the early kilometres really shouldn’t trouble
any of those looking to win.
As
much of Flanders wakes weary from overdoing it at the Ronde van
Vlaanderen, there’s no chance of spending the day lounging about on the
sofa for the women’s peloton, it’s race day again! This time for Grand
Prix Dottignies.
Nestled on the border between Walloon-Flanders border just outside of Roubaix, the town of Dottignies plays host to the third round of the Lotto Cycling Cup. There’s cobbles and climbs but this is really a day for the sprinters to shine. 6th April 125 km Dottignies, Belgium. April
2, 2015 (velofocus.com)
 Tejay
van Garderen hopes luck will be on his side this season. Photo: Tim De
Waele | TDWsport.com.
When
Tejay van Garderen crossed
the La Molina finish line in stage 4 of the Volta a Catalunya last
week, he threw up both hands in a victory celebration, understandably
elated.
The result came on the heels of a very difficult stage 3; unfortunately for van Garderen, the impressive display ahead of every other top climber in the race on La Molina would not help him much in the general classification, as he had crashed and went sailing over a guardrail and into the bushes on the previous stage, ultimately finishing the day nearly 16 minutes behind the leaders. April
2, 2015 (velonews.com)
 Photo:
Renaat Schotte speaking to Tom Boonen in Compiegne before
Paris-Roubaix. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media |
brakethroughmedia.com (File).
It
was a cold, blustery morning before the start of stage 2 at the Three
Days of De Panne, and Renaat
Schotte was dressed as you would expect him to be.
As Sporza’s in-race reporter during the spring classics, Schotte was decked out in motorcycle gear, with his helmet in hand, ready for the day’s battle across the wind and the cobblestones that accent the territory of west Flanders. As he did every morning, he was interviewing key riders before the start of the stage, getting a feel for the action, and updating on any breaking news. A long fixture on the racing circuit, the 46-year-old is well-liked by riders. Bradley Wiggins stopped by for a chat before the riders clipped into their pedals. And then it was off to the races. April
2, 2015 (velonews.com)
 Photo:
How you can improve your climbing and, ultimately, use your climbing
skills to great effect while racing..
Climbing.
Some love it, some hate it. More often than not a rider’s attitude
towards climbing correlates with their bodyweight. The bottom line is
that climbing is generally dictated by watts per kilo. Simply put: to
climb faster, you need to put out more power, or weigh less. Or both.
There are a myriad of strategies that can be enacted with coaches, physiologists and nutritionists until you’re light and strong enough to leave all your mates behind. But bike races are not raced in a lab. April
2, 2015 (cyclingtips.com.au)
 Photo:
The team standings podium at Barry-Roubaix. Looks like the team will
have to find an inventive way to part that beautiful trophy up. ©
Rachel Reitz.
"Hastings,
Michigan once again played host to 3000+ racers on a cold but clear
seventh edition of Barry-Roubaix on Saturday.
There were fears a few weeks ago that snow or ice might be the norm, but instead racers were greeted with 18-degree temperatures and gravels roads that were nearly as smooth and concrete. Having put a few riders in the top 10 last year, my fellow WASlab teammates and I were sure to be marked men, but all the region’s fastest, along with some national talent had made the trip for the early season test. The gun went off and we proceeded through town in a nearly neutral fashion before tackling the first dirt section on Yeckley Rd, a mere 2-miles into the race." April
2, 2015 (cxmagazine.com)
 Photo:
Matt Brammeier (MTN-Qhubeka) goes solo
(Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com).. Matt Brammeier is hopeful that MTN–Qhubeka can turn their spring Classics campaign around in the final few cobbled races. The Professional Continental squad has struggled for results in the cobbled classics and lost Edvald Boasson Hagen to a broken collarbone in a fall at Gent-Wevelgem. However the South African team have at least tried to animate several races in the past few weeks with Brammeier himself on the attack at several stages in the Three Days of De Panne. April
2, 2015 (cyclingnews.com)
 | April
2,
2015
 The
fate of Astana's WorldTour license is still undecided, as the team met
with the UCI License Commission on Thursday. Photo: Tim De Waele |
TDWsport.com (File).
Under-fire
cycling outfit Astana met with International Cycling Union (UCI)
officials on Thursday to plead its case for a WorldTour racing license.
The UCI called for Astana’s license to be revoked over concerns about the Kazakh team’s practices regarding doping. Should Astana lose its license, reigning Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali might lose the chance to defend his title in July. Last year, five riders with either the professional WorldTour squad or the Kazakh team’s Continental affiliate failed doping tests. April
2, 2015 (velonews.com)
 Photo:
My first bike race was a Revolution. It was in front of 6000 people on
a velodrome. I was 15.
"The
first time I pinned on a number was for a cyclocross race in 2007 when
I was 26. I was visiting my sister in San Francisco, and she was like
“Awww, this is great. I signed you up for a cyclocross race. Buy these
clipless pedals.” So I did. It was my first time in clipless pedals, my
first time doing cyclocross and my first race.
The best part was that when the race started and everyone just jumped off the line, I was like: “Whoa! Why are we starting so fast? What’s the hurry?” It was great. I was awful. I crashed numerous times. When I was done, I was like “Oh. That was fun. I should go buy a bike.” April
2, 2015 (cyclingtips.com.au)
 Lars
Boom won the cobbled stage 5 at the Tour de France last summer.
Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com. Ask
Lars Boom about
his victory at the Tour de France last summer over the cobblestones,
and a big Dutch grin creases across his face.
“That was a great moment, one of the best of my career,” Boom told VeloNews. “Can I repeat that on Paris-Roubaix? I hope so, I hope so, that would be nice!” The 29-year-old Dutchman enters the northern classics as a favorite with an asterisk. His dramatic victory in stage 5 of last year’s Tour confirmed Boom in the big leagues. After winning the world cyclocross title in 2008, the wins haven’t come as fast and often as many had hoped when he switched to the road with Rabobank in 2009. He notched a few victories, including the overall titles at the 2009 Tour of Belgium, the 2011 Tour of Britain, and the 2012 Eneco Tour, but his stage win under extreme conditions over the cobblestones in what’s fast becoming a mythical stage shot him back into the stratosphere. And it helped him sign a big-money, two-year transfer from Belkin to Astana. April
2, 2015 (velonews.com)
 Photo:
John Degenkolb reacts after winning the 2015 Milan-San Remo.
(Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com). Amid
the elation of his Milan-San Remo victory, John Degenkolb
appeared in something of a dream-like state when asked to describe his
winning sprint on the Via Roma, admitting that he could scarcely recall
the final two kilometers of the race. On beginning his cobbled classics
campaign at E3 Harelbeke a week later, however, he was brought – rather
too literally – back down to earth. Welcome to Belgium.
The German was among the fallers in the early crash that ended Fabian Cancellara’s spring prematurely and he was still feeling the effects of the incident when he lined out at the windswept Gent-Wevelgem two days later. Speaking to Cyclingnews as he travelled from his home in Frankfurt back to Belgium on Wednesday evening, Degenkolb was confident that his injuries will not affect him this weekend at the Tour of Flanders. April
2, 2015 (cyclingnews.com)
 Photo:
Bradley Wiggins praises Geraint Thomas's versatility, "he can do
anything", but says he needs to specialize.
Bradley Wiggins has
selected Geraint Thomas
to lead Team Sky’s next wave. Thomas
is preparing to win the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, while Wiggins has only
four race days left with Sky before he leaves the team for good.
Wiggins will support Thomas for the Tour of Flanders and will see the favor returned in his last race for Sky, next Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix (April 12). Welshman Thomas, 28, has already won the Volta ao Algarve stage race this year and netted a big one, Belgium’s E3 Harelbeke one-day classic on Friday. April
2, 2015 (cyclingweekly.co.uk)
 Photo:
Contemplating The Meaning of Bike.
"I
am turning 45 this year. While I wouldn’t say that number, in and of
itself, is intimidating or particularly important, it comes during a
period of upheaval that I couldn’t have anticipated.
I have changed jobs and sold my home. I have exchanged a forever marriage for an unknown quantity of new experiences. I am asking questions about topics I thought I understood and as anyone who has done this knows, the Still Strong voice, the Buddha Nature reminds me there is no reason to look for answers beyond my tiny, formidable consciousness. The jaded me always wondered if perhaps supermarket kind-smilers and sweet, oddball hippy ladies were sniffing around the truth but the bad-ass me knew that there was another path that didn’t require me to feel concerned about uncomfortable things." April
2, 2015 (redkiteprayer.com)
April
1,
2015
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