Entries Tagged 'procycling' ↓

After the relative success of the Tour de France visiting London, the Tour boss suggested that the Tour may return to London before, the Olympic games. In this interview, Christian Prudhomme, suggested that the Tour may return to London quite soon. Despite, the difficulties of the Tour in recent years, the Tour is receiving requests from as far as field as Qatar, Japan, Estonia and Portugal.

I think it is a good idea to try and make the Tour an International event. Mind you, it would be a pretty long transfer from Japan to Marseille.

The financial power of the Tour is revealed in figures by Transport for London, suggesting that the Tour encouraged spending of £8million and generated an extra £35million of media coverage.

The main benefit of the Tour coming to London is that it helps give a boost to the often maligned cycling culture.

Tour de France in London 2007 

Professional cycling has more than its fair share of disputes and debates within its own ranks. The current big issue is between the UCI and the organisers of other big races like the Tour de France.

ASO (Amaury Sports Organisation) who organise races like the Tour de France and Paris-Nice, want to be able to have the freedom to select and invite teams to their races. The UCI wants all these races to be incorporated into their ProTour, this would give the UCI the final say in which teams are allowed to enter.

Recently, ASO announced that Astana would not be invited to this year’s tour after a string of negative dope tests, including Alexandre Vinokourov. ASO argue they want the Tour de France to have a clean image and banning teams with a bad history of doping is essential for people to believe in the integrity of the Tour.

Continue reading →

I recently read this article about Greg LeMond and his hopes for the future of procycling

“Cycling is falling apart at the seams,” LeMond said. “It could take years to revive. I think it can, but only through drastic changes.”

I thought it was a fair assessment. True, cycling has been through some very turbulent  times, with many of the top riders being implicated in doping scandals. However, the difference is that now cycling is actually trying to stop doping. In the past, it was all too common for the UCI and ‘cycling authorities’ to sweep the issue under the carpet. Furthermore, anyone who spoke out against doping was immediately sidelined and forced out of the peloton.

To get an insight into the mindset of professional cycling and doping, I recommend reading Paul Kimmage’s Rough Ride. Since his retirement, in the late 80s, I think the doping scene got even worse. If you have the stomach try reading Wily Voets ‘Breaking the Chain’ about the Festina era.

However, my feeling is that there are more ‘clean cyclists’ now than at any other time in the history of procycling. There is increasing evidence that teams and sponsors will not tolerate doping scandals. In the past it was argued doping was encouraged by sponsors eager for victories. But, now sponsors are realising that professional cycling can all to easily lead to negative advertising. (Personally, I couldn’t buy a Festina watch, without the constant reminder of the doping scandal)

Continue reading →

One of the earliest French cycle races was Paris-Rouen, first started in 1869. However, cycling was still a relatively new sport when the Tour began in 1903. In 1891, 3 Newspaper men, Richard Lesclide, Maurice Martin and Pierre Giffard started 2 important races, Paris-Brest-Paris and Paris-Bordeaux. There was a certain idealism attached to cycling. The bike offered social mobility for all social classes; it was also hope an interest in cycling could help promote the infant French cycling industry. However, their main reason was commercial - a good bike race was helpful in selling papers.

Giffard went on to establish his own cycling paper Le Velo. However, during the Dreyfus affair, Giffard wrote articles supporting Dreyfus and denouncing the industrialists who supported his imprisonment. Unfortunately, these industrialists were big sponsors of the paper, so they withdrew and gave their funding to a new paper - L’Auto-Velo. This new paper (printed on yellow sheets) was managed by Henri Desgrange. For 2 years there followed a bitter battle between the 2 newspapers, both struggled with circulations of about 25,000. Organising big races was often their best marketing plan. Of the two, Desgrange had perhaps the greatest appetite for hard work and initiative, he was also keen to defeat the rival newspaper. Continue reading →

The Tour of Flanders or ‘The Ronde’ as it is known in Belgium is the most prestigious one day classic in Belgium. It is particularly important for the Flemish speaking population, who are proud of their separate identity, language and culture.

Route of the Tour of Flanders

The Race starts in the medieval town of Bruges before turning towards the coast, passing through towns such as Wenduine and Ostend. The race then heads inwards towards the Flemish Ardennes a series of sharp and biting hills.

Old Kwaremont Climb

A significant part of the race is on the hill called, Old Kwaremont. It is a long, narrow and windswept cobbled climb which takes the race to a tiny hamlet, usually packed out on race day.

Koppenberg Climb

The Koppenberg is a notorious one in four, 25% climb - 400 metres of a cobbled climb. It was first used in 1976 and achieved legendary status as the great Eddy Merckx was forced to walk up the climb. It was abandoned as unsafe in 1987, when the Dane, Jesper Skibby, fell off narrowly avoiding being run over by a car. However, in the late 1990s the climb was resurfaced and thus was able to be reinstated into the route. Continue reading →

The World Cup has been held in many different guises since the turn of the century. Officially introduced in 1989, it is a way of rewarding the most consistent one day classic winners.

1989 Sean Kelly (Irl)
1990 Gianni Bugno (Ita)
1991 Maurizio Fondriest (Ita)
1992 Olaf Ludwig (Ger)
1993 Maurizio Fondriest (Ita)
1994 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Continue reading →

Despite breaks for the two world wars the Tour de France has been held every year since 1903. It is not the oldest cycling race. But, it is the oldest and most prestigious stage race. All the great names of professional cycling can be found in the list of Tour de France winners. 5 Cyclists have the privilege of winning the Tour 5, or more times.

• Jaques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernaud Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong (7 times)

• 1903 Maurice Garin (France)
• 1904 Henri Cornet (France)
• 1905 Louis Trousselier (France)
• 1906 Rene Pottier (France)
• 1907 Lucien Petit-Breton (France)
• 1908 Petit-Breton
• 1909 Francois Faber (Luxembourg)
• 1910 Octave Lapize (France)
• Continue reading →

1984 Seán Kelly
1985 Seán Kelly
1986 Seán Kelly
1987 Seán Kelly
1988 Seán Kelly
1989 Laurent Fignon System U
1990 Gianni Bugno Chateau D’Ax
1991 Gianni Bugno Gatorade
1992 Miguel Indurain Banesto
1993 Miguel Indurain Banesto
1994 Tony Rominger Mapei Continue reading →

A difficult of professional cycling is working out who is the best cyclist. There are many different ways of measuring the best cyclists

1. Tour de France winner

Especially in the era of Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France gained in prestige. It is by far the most popular and internationally viewed cycling race. It is only really the Tour de France which touches the imagination of the non cycling population. Lance Armstrong was undoubtedly the best cyclist, even though he rarely won any other race. The Tour de France can be viewed as the premier cycling race and thus the winner is the year’s best cyclist. Certainly no one would dispute Lance Armstrong was the best cyclist during his Tour domination. See: List of Tour de France Winners

2. UCI World Rankings

This is based on the ATP tennis rankings. Devised by Jean Marie Leblance, this gives points to winners and placings. Points are calculated depending on the toughness and prestige of the race. See: UCI World Rankings

3. UCI World Cup.

This is a competition for one day classic races. It is decided on points from a series of 12 one day races throughout the year. Including the 5 monuments of cycling:
Milan San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris Roubaix, Liege Bastogne Liege and the Giro di Lombardia

4. Velo Magazines Velodor Mondial

An election by Italian journalist of this year’s best cyclist.