Cycling Weekly

He’s only gone and done it again. I’m not sure what there is left to say about Mark Cavendish that hasn’t already been said, but I’ll give it a go. You could be impressed by the exquisite timing he and his three-man leadout train showed in the last kilometre to win last Sunday. You could be impressed by the length of his sprint – almost 300 metres, apparently. You could be impressed by the way he cleverly stopped Fernando Gaviria getting past him against the barriers without ever putting him in danger, or the fact that no one else could get past him on the other side either. But perhaps what impresses me most is that he’s still doing this at the age of 36. Fifteen years on from his debut with…

As Mark Cavendish crossed the line and raised his arms in celebration on Sunday, he was marking his spectacular start to the Giro d’Italia. But equally he could have been celebrating the fact that he and his compatriots had dominated proceedings in Hungary. Cavendish’s 16th Giro stage win, which he is returning to after nine years away, came just 24 hours after fellow Brit Simon Yates stormed to victory in stage two’s punchy individual time trial. In the process the BikeExchange-Jayco rider launched himself to the top of the GC favourites’ list. Yates was just three seconds faster than pink jersey wearer Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) over the 9.2km course. As a consequence he sat second overall in the race headed for its native Italy on Monday, with five seconds separating…

It is always heartening to hear top sports people take a stand on human rights issues. As the Giro got under way in Hungary, where there has been recent legislation banning information on LGBT issues in schools and there are ongoing concerns about a raft of human rights, I was drawn to this quote: “Everyone should have the right to choose what they do with their bodies. We can’t let that choice be taken away.” Only those words were from Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton about the leaked US Supreme Court ruling restricting access to abortion, not from any of the nearly 200 riders at the Giro in Hungary. Indeed, as I and my CW colleagues asked repeatedly in five virtual team press conferences how comfortable riders felt racing in a country…

STAGE 1 CHILLED If you raced the Tour de France, for example, you expect a very nervous first stage. And this was very different. It was one of the most relaxed starts to a Grand Tour I’ve ever done, we were just cruising along. My finish line was at 5.7km to go where we hit the climb, my only job was to position Giacomo Nizzolo for that. STAGE 2 KING OF THE MOUNTAINS It was my room-mate Matthias Brändle who said, “Two years ago on the opening stage you went for the KOM points and got the jersey for a day, why don’t you try again?” I figured I had nothing to lose. I did a recon in the morning and did the final corner before the climb a few times so as to go…

Continuing their track record of developing talent, Trinity Racing’s latest recruit powered up Michaelgate to win the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix on Sunday. Nineteen-year-old Luke Lamperti rose to fame when he won the United States National Criterium Championships last year. In his second year with the British development team, the American led a reduced bunch into Michaelgate for the 13th and final time after more than 100 miles of racing, before charging to victory. “I just went as hard as I could from the bottom, there wasn’t much in the way of tactics,” said Lamperti. “I just went as hard as I could from the bottom” “It’s good to come here with a British team and show the guys what I can do.” With the breakaway kept on a short leash all day, the Lincoln…

Vendée U Vendée, France Where do you live? In a huge château in the middle of town that also doubles as the team’s and TotalEnergie’s service course, so it’s always bustling, especially when there are camps, because all the dorm rooms are full. Myself and Ben Peatfield have our own rooms here, and we often do odd jobs for the mechanics to earn a few euros. How’s your French? When I came to the first training camp in November, the only word I knew was bonjour. I’ve found it’s quicker to learn by talking to people, rather than doing school-type stuff. What type of rider are you? I’m definitely into the Classics; I like bad weather, crosswinds, and super-hard racing with not so much climbing. If there’s a reduced group contesting the sprint, that’s for me. How’s…