Cycling Weekly

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Why can’t we win on the cobbles?Is it time that Britain had a pro team dedicated to winning Paris-Roubaix? Nine years of Team Sky and we still don’t have a British rider making a concerted challenge for the top spot in the sport’s most beautiful, inspiring (and ludicrous) race.It’s not through lack of talent; Ian Stannard was third in 2016, Luke Rowe eighth in 2015 and Geraint Thomas is one of four British winners of the junior race.When Sky came in to the sport many laughed when they said they wanted to win the Tour with a British rider. Six Tour wins later, with three different riders, and that initial derision has segued into complaints about Sky dominance killing the event.This is about focus, not ability. The Tour is the…

gilbert’s heart of stone

At only the third time of trying, Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-Quick Step) claimed top spot at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, outsprinting breakaway rival Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) in the Roubaix velodrome.The victory put the Belgian one step closer to winning all five Monuments, with Milan-San Remo the only one that’s eluded him. The Italian race is one of the top-ranked events he has had the most starts in, 15, alongside Liège-Bastogne-Liège.At 36, time is running out for Gilbert to fulfil his dream, but he showed on Sunday that he still has the drive, the tactical nous and the physical potential to run out the victor over San Remo’s capi-peppered finale. He has come close in the past, with third place in 2008 and 2011, but recent years have seen him well out of…

no luck for the brits

It was a frustrating day out for the British contingent, with Team Sky’s hoped-for challenge for the win never materialising.Belgian rider Dylan Van Baarle was Sky’s best finisher, registering 21st place after being near the front for much of the race, which Sky directeur sportif and former winner Servais Knaven called “one of the toughest editions in years”.Luke Rowe, for whom — along with team-mate Ian Stannard — this race has always been near the top of their bucket list, led the British challenge, racing alongside Van Baarle. However, a mechanical on A the tough Camphin-en-Pevèle sector saw him taken well out of the running, to eventually finish 32nd.A dropped chain ended Luke Rowe’s hopesStannard was well back in 82nd while the only other British finisher, Owain Doull, was 95th.“Me…

townsend strikes gold at the klondike gp

SWpix.comTownsend triumphed on the Klondike’s punchy parcoursRory Townsend (Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes) drew first blood in the National Road Series, sprinting to victory in the East Cleveland Klondike Grand Prix in North Yorkshire on Sunday.The 23-year-old from Surrey took a narrow victory at the end of the tough 105-mile race, holding off breakaway rivals Scott Thwaites (Vitus Pro Cycling) and reigning national champion Connor Swift (Madison-Genesis) for the win.Meanwhile, in the earlier Women’s Road Series event on the same course, Anna Henderson (Brother UK-Tifosi) took a sprint win by just inches from queen of the mountains Joscelin Lowden (Brother UK-Fusion), while Leah Dixon (Brother UK-Tifosi) won a sprint for third, 1.41 behind.Townsend, who showed his form two weeks previously with third spot in the UCI 1.1 Classic Loire Atlantique,…

sam walsham, 19

Club CyclisteVilleneuve St.Germain SoissonsAisne, Soissons,FranceYour first year abroad?My first full year. I raced in Belgium for a month last year and did a few trips to France. I’ve been here since January 20 and the team has done a lot of work to make sure everyone’s settled in well.What type of rider are you?I like Classic-style races. I race aggressively and like to get into breakaways. I’m not one to sit in the bunch waiting for the sprint at the end. Here, there’s a strong emphasis on team work and everyone’s organised, which I like.What’s your team like?All they want to see is progression from their riders. They expect results from me but they also understand it’s my first year. They want to see consistency and I want to consistently…

thomas still playing catch-up at basque tour

Although the days are long gone when the likes of Sean Kelly would ride the Tour of Flanders, then gallop south to tackle the Tour of the Basque Country, before returning north for Paris-Roubaix, the Spanish stage race remains a barometer of form among the peloton’s stage racing big hitters. Six days of typically frantic action revealed that Astana are still the team to beat, thanks to Ion Izagirre’s all-out attack on the final day that pushed Bora’s Emanuel Buchmann out of top spot and gave the Kazakh outfit their eighth stage race victory of 2019.Itzulia, to use its Basque name, also underlined that Sky’s Geraint Thomas still has some way to go before he gains the condition that enabled him to win the Tour de France last season. The…