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Doug Report Daily Cycling News Archive

Cyclocross LIVE stream - 2014 UCI Cyclocross World Cup at Heusden-Zolder.

Coming up LIVE Friday: UCI Cyclocross World Cup at Heusden-Zolder LIVE online.  Details to come.

Coming up LIVE Sunday: Superprestige Cyclocross at Diegem LIVE online.  Details to come.

Moser: Wiggins can set close to 56km for the Hour Record.

Francesco Moser thinks Bradley Wiggins is capable of setting a new Hour Record close to 56km, far beyond the current record of 51.852km set by Matthias Brändle.

Moser used disc wheels and aero bars, combined with the benefits of altitude and reported (then-legal) blood doping to beat Eddy Merckx's Hour Record in 1984. He set a distance of 51.151km, which went untouched until Graeme Obree used his innovative aero position to set 51.596 in 1993.

The Christmas Quiz.

"Here’s a selection of questions to test your memory and knowledge of pro cycling, ranging from geography to history, family to money, tech to trivia.

Some are easy, some just can’t be googled and for one or two maybe there’s just no correct answer. "

2014-15 Races & Results.

Santos Tour Down Under 2015 - Jan 18-25 (Stages),

Dubai Tour 2015 - Feb 4-7 (Stages),

Giro d'Italia 2015 - May 9-31 (Stages),

Tour de France 2015 - July 4-26 (Stages),

UCI Road World Championship 2014 - Sept 20-27 (Results),

Vuelta a España 2014 - Aug 23-Sept 14 (Results),

Tour de France 2014  - July 5-27 (Results),

Giro d'Italia 2014 - May 9 - June 1 (Results),

More ...

 (cyclingnews.com)

"The perfect test": Alex Dowsett's coach talks about his hour record attempt.

“Alex has got a very good attitude and it’s a cliché but he has the passion for it. He’s a time triallist through and through. It’s the perfect test for him.”

Alex Dowsett could, in February next year, become the first Brit to break the hour record since Chris Boardman in 2000 and Mark Walker at least is in little doubt as to whether the man he coaches can do just that.

Walker combines his role as course manager for Writtle College’s foundation degree in cycling performance with work as Dowsett’s one-to-one coach – as well as working with the likes of British cyclo-cross champion Helen Wyman.

2014 Women’s Stage Racer of the Year: Marianne Vos.

A look at Marianne Vos’ results from her 2014 campaign can’t be done quickly. Though she didn’t win the world road championship, her results throughout the season were incredibly consistent. In what could be characterized as a slightly off year for the undisputed star of the women’s peloton, she still remained nearly unbeatable at stage races.

Vos won the Women’s Tour overall while taking three stages of the British race. She finished second in Emakumeen Euskal Bira and won three stages there, too. Vos won the women’s Giro d’Italia, along with four stages at the most prestigious women’s stage race on the calendar. It marked her third overall win at the event.

British Riders of the Year 2014 number 5: Chris Froome.

Everyone expected Chris Froome and Alberto Contador to go head-to-head in this year’s Tour de France. Froome’s crash the day the Tour returned to France after the three-day Grand Départ in England meant that the showdown was postponed until the Vuelta a España.

It could be argued that neither rider was at 100 per cent in Spain — after Contador crashed out of the Tour with a fractured tibia — but it was nevertheless an intriguing battle as both riders sought to squeeze as much as they could out of their recovering bodies.

Five Ways Cycling Makes You Happier, Smarter, and Sexier.

"You already know cycling is great for your physical fitness. But did you know it also has profound effects on your brain? We did some digging and chatted with experts to find out exactly how."

Taylor Phinney Interview.

Nibali reveals contents of Vinokourov's letter.

Cancellara has big hopes for 2015.

Fabian Cancellara is tanned, rested, and ready. After what he described as a season full of “ups and downs,” the veteran Swiss star is already thinking ahead.

Cancellara is home for the holidays, but a busy team training camp along the Spanish coast earlier this month left him eager and motivated for the season ahead.

“My batteries are charged,” he said in an interview on the team’s website. “Everything is on schedule.”

Cancellara, 33, was once again a force to be reckoned with in the classics this year, winning Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) and notching podiums at Milano-Sanremo (second) and Paris-Roubaix (third). But the rest of the season, by his own admission, was less than expected, especially without a stage win at the Tour de France or a rainbow jersey in the UCI Road World Championships, where he was 11th.

News shorts: Solovey signs for Astana-Acca Due O, Roompot secure Classics invitations.

Katusha names Tour Down Under team, Guimiard quits role at French Federation.

You know you’re a cyclist when…

"What marks you out as part of the cycling fraternity? We suggest 75 qualifying criteria. Which apply to you?

The rituals, foibles, opinions and general peculiarities of the cyclist might seem outlandish — or just downright weird — to the casual observer. But these are the things that unite us. Who hasn’t absent-mindedly nodded at a fellow rider while driving their car? And who among us can honestly claim they’ve never been caught checking their tanlines in the mirror?

Yes, we’re a bit strange, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Cycling Weekly presents a celebration of our collective idiosyncrasies, with invaluable input from both readers and pro cyclists on what it is that make us uniquely, well, similar."

2014 Time Trialists of the Year: Martin and Brennauer.

Tony Martin doesn’t want to be known only as a time trial specialist. But that’s just what he is. He’s the most successful modern time trialist since Fabian Cancellara, having eclipsed the Swiss time machine in 2011, when he won his first of three consecutive world time trial titles.

In 2014, Martin was all but untouchable against the clock. After a slow start in the spring, he won nearly every major time trial he started, from the Vuelta al País Vasco in April through the Vuelta a España in September. Chris Froome nipped him by less than one second at the Tour de Romandie, but otherwise, Martin ruled with an iron fist.

There’s another German powerhouse against the clock, and her name is Lisa Brennauer. In a breakout 2014 season with Specialized-lululemon, the 26-year-old won every time trial she started.

Unfortunately for women’s cycling, there are simply not that many time trials across the calendar. Most stage races last a week, and many do not feature races against the clock. But when there were, Brennauer was without rival in 2014.

How do top riders celebrate Christmas?

Marianne Vos: "My first cyclo-cross race this season is on Boxing Day in Zolder, Belgium, so on Christmas Day I will go and see the venue, which is near my home in the south of Holland. The next day, I’ll be racing, so my Christmas meal will be pasta, for sure. There will be no Christmas cake but I will be with my family, so we can enjoy Christmas together and have a relaxing time."

The Better BMC.

"We like the $12,000 BMC teammachine SLR01—but we love the $2,300 SLR03 version.

By any of the standards I typically use to evaluate a bike, the $12,000 SLR01, equipped with Dura-Ace Di2, was excellent. It did everything right and nothing wrong. Yet I couldn't pinpoint any standout traits. So when the time came to review BMC's less-expensive Teammachine SLR03 105, I expected a similarly uninspring ride.

Happily, I was wrong. Even as a gear snob who loves superlight bikes, I find the SLR03105 to be far more entertaining than its pro-team predecessor. And, it's $9,700 cheaper."

2014 Cyclingnews Reader Poll: Nys voted best cyclo-cross rider.

Although his recent string of race results may not show his true abilities, our readers still think he's the best: Belgian Sven Nys has claimed the title of Best Cyclo-cross Racer of the Year for the 13th time in the history of the Cyclingnews Reader Poll.

Nys, twice the UCI Cyclo-cross World Champion, and with 285 victories next to his name has been the undisputed best 'cross racer for more than a decade, and although he is now 38 years old, he still manages to contend for the win on a regular basis.

PEZ: Daily Distractions.

(pezcyclingnews.com)

Ask a Mechanic: Using grease vs. thread locker.

Offseason Capsule: Cannondale-Slipstream's Evolution Continues.

With a new name and a host of new riders for 2015, change is in the air for Jonathan Vaughter's venerable Slipstream franchise. For the most part, though, new additions should only further his master plan.

From its beginnings in 2007 the Garmin franchise's identity has been almost indistinguishable from its founder and director's mission. After a professional career, during which he used performance enhancing drugs occasionally and with public regret, Jonathan Vaughters sought to prove that cycling could be cleanly competed at the highest levels.

Beginning as a junior development team in Colorado in 2003, the organization became a Professional Continental level team in 2007 and immediately began making its name as an unusually vocal proponent of a new approach to racing. The team was among the first to have stricter internal testing protocols than the governing bodies of the sport applied to the sport writ large and Vaughters has been a leading voice in the call for reform of both testing and sanctioning of doping offenses. Garmin has been a second chance home for repentant dopers, most vocally David Miller but also including Thomas Dekker for the past two seasons.

For love or for data?

Used to be, guys had to fix their own forks with a hammer and forge, and those riders later drank beers stolen from cafes along the way, passing a church key and bottles among themselves.

Used to be, guys would ride two stages in one day, punch striking railroad workers in their screaming faces, then drink wine. And then attack. While wearing wool shirts.

The Tourmalet was included in the Tour de France in 1910 after the man who went to scout it got lost in the snow, fell into a stream, was rescued, and eventually made it down (with help). The telegram he sent out afterward read: “Crossed Tourmalet stop. Very good road stop. Perfectly feasible.”

Perfectly feasible!

On The Road With BMC.

"The pre-Christmas training camp/team presentation/media day in Spain is getting very popular. This will be my third in a couple of weeks. BMC know how to look after you though, top hotel, top food and top riders to interview. An all-round top day on the road.

I know I’ve said it before, but it’s always a pleasure to receive an invite to spend the day with a ProTour team. This time it was from BMC, they always take over the Marriott La Sella Golf Resort near the coastal town of Denia. To say it’s a nice hotel would be doing it a big disservice; the added bonus was the lunch invite."

12 Days of Dig: Day 11.

"Today we bring you three jerseys a bit off the beaten path. You won’t see these on the World Tour, but chances are you’ll find plenty of features, style and quality those of us that pay retail for our gear can get behind. This is Day 11 of the 12 Days of Dig. Enjoy."

Your heroes and villains of 2014: Cycling Weekly reader poll results.

"The 2014 Cycling Weekly Reader Poll is our biggest yet, with the highest number of votes of any we’ve run so far. We’ve painstakingly sifted through the results, analysed the data and can report that there are several major surprises and a few upsets.

For a start, there’s a new name at the top of the Villain of the Year leaderboard for the first time since we started running our annual poll…"

Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 9.0 SL.

Canyon designed its original Aeroad aero road bike with the primary goal of minimising frontal area, but has now thrown the full gamut of tech R&D tools at the wholly revamped second-generation Aeroad CF SLX.

The German consumer-direct outfit says this new version is considerably faster over a wider range of conditions, and also lighter. And now we've taken delivery of the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2-equipped Aeroad CF SLX 9.0 SL model, we can confirm that it looks fantastic too.

Video: Jumps, flips and more on a road bike.