Cycling Weekly

start line 02.07

In the weeks following the death of American George Floyd and the gathering momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement a lot of people, businesses and sports have taken a long hard look at themselves. And that includes us. You don’t have to spend long watching or reading about bike racing to see that it’s not a very diverse sport. While we’re focused on getting magazines on the shelves, British Cycling is focused on administering the sport and winning medals, manufacturers on selling their kit and clubs on providing for their members, it can be hard to not only to find the time, but the drive and knowhow to really change the things we do and the way we work. After all, we’re all creatures of habit and change can be daunting. But…

pro cycling seeks clarity on coronavirus measures

With the resumption of professional racing less than four weeks away there still remains vast swathes of questions over how teams, staff and riders will be kept safe under the UCI’s coronavirus protocols. Last month the UCI unveiled its coronavirus measures, which included teams forming ‘bubbles’ and daily testing of riders (see box). However, Ronny Lauke, team principal of Canyon-SRAM, speaking to CW over a week after the 13-page document was published, said there were still a lot of questions to be answered. “What type of test is required? Because there’s several different ones that are valid and have a scientific proof that they are working, so which one to go towards? Which kind of test is accepted?” Lauke said. He pointed out that some tests were €40 and others were €200 and…

cw5000 july challenges

The sun’s out, the days are long, some cafes are open for takeaway drinks and we can ride in small groups again, albeit with some challenging restrictions. But if this isn’t reason to celebrate with some big rides and get our mileage up, then we don’t know what is. So after a few months of more socially responsible challenges it’s time to release the shackles and enjoy our riding as we did before. Congratulations to everyone who has already hit the 5,000-mile mark. Check out our CW5000 finishers club page on www.cyclingweekly.com. If you’ve completed the distance send us a screen grab of your preferred route-logging software and we’ll add you to the list. Ride to the coast There’s something about a ride to the coast that is ingrained in a rider’s psyche.…

cw5000 rider profile

CORINNE BLACK Corinne Black hit 5,000 miles back on 13 May, a period when she was riding exclusively on the turbo during the early phase of the coronvirus pandemic. “I’m asthmatic and on two inhalers so I shielded for 12 weeks. I started to think, what can I do to give back to those still out there working?” she says. “So I decided on cycling the Tour de France distance over 21 consecutive days on Zwift for the NHS. I ended up cycling 2,218 miles in 125 hours and 20 minutes.” With a brother and sister both working for the NHS, raising money for them was a no-brainer. She ended up raising £1,656 over what she described as “the hardest 21 days of my life!” Not that she is any stranger to big…

opinion

ABBY MAE PARKINSON Back to racing, hopefully not back to crashing At last we have a race programme and it looks like the season will commence on 1 August with Strade Bianche. It’s definitely one of my favourite races – the last time I rode, it snowed. Global warming is an unpredictable phenomenon but I doubt it’s going to snow this time and it will be interesting to see how Italy in mid-summer affects the race. The Giro Rosa is also back on the calendar – usually starting at the beginning of July, this classic 10-day Grand Tour is wholly overshadowed by the Tour de France. This year it starts on 19 September, the penultimate day of the men’s Tour, so hopefully all those suffering post-Tour blues will tune in for their daily…

the hub

Pogačar beats Roglič to Slovenian time trial title Racing at the only National Championships happening at its allotted time, Tadej Pogačar beat Primož Roglič to defend his Slovenian TT title. The UAE Team Emirates rider rode the 15.7km course in a time of 31.10, nine seconds faster than Roglič, with Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) third. Last week Roglič beat Pogačar to the 2020 Slovenian road race title. 60 ….per cent rise in bike sales during lockdown, according to figures compiled by the Bicycle Association (BA). The sale of bikes costing between £400 and £1,000 more than doubled in April 2020 compared to the same period last year but the sale of bikes costing more than £3,000 dropped. That was a turnaround from bike sales being down four per cent by value and eight per…