VeloNews January/February 2018

Reigning world champion Wout van Aert (Crelan-Charles) climbs above Denmark’s seaside town of Bogense during the fourth round of the 2017-’18 UCI World Cup. The Danish venue will host the UCI World Championships in February 2019. Van Aert has struggled to compete with his Dutch rival Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) throughout the cyclocross season. In this image, van der Poel can be seen racing toward victory (wearing the white skinsuit of World Cup points leader). After his victory in Bogense, van der Poel was four for four in World Cup victories in the 2017-’18 season. Nikon D4S; 14-24mm f/2.8 lens; 1/500 sec. at f/4.5; ISO 500 4 Victories for Wout van Aert through Flandriencross at the end of November 15 Victories for Mathieu van der Poel through Flandriencross at the end of November 23.05 Average age…

EVERY FEW YEARS, WE here at VeloNews like to make Chris Case suffer. We ask our intrepid managing editor to subject himself to an excruciating cycling challenge in the hope that his agony sheds light on our sport. Four years ago we had Chris race his mountain bike through the Costa Rican jungle for an inside look at La Ruta de los Conquistadores race; the next year he rode 10,700 vertical feet uphill for a profile of Taiwan’s KOM Challenge. In 2015 Case attempted the hour record, detailing the training and gear that athletes now use for cycling’s most painful pursuit. In this issue Chris is again suffering for our benefit, this time to help us understand the science of climbing. Alongside our training columnist Trevor Connor and pro rider Sepp Kuss,…

Jennifer Valente won the most thrilling race of the 2017 track World Cup in Manchester— and she didn’t even know it. The finale of the women’s individual omnium at November’s World Cup came down to a duel between Valente, 22, and Katie Archibald, the reigning world champion in the event. The event is comprised of four different races—scratch, time trial, elimination, and finally a points race—each contributing to a rider’s final tally. Valente came into the points race finale trailing Archibald by a whisker. The two spent the entire race marking each other around Manchester’s famed track—Archibald won the first sprint, only to see Valente win the second. After Archibald took the next two sprints, the race came down to the final push to the line. Whichever rider crossed the line first…

“He looked like he was in Pampers. When someone has that much talent at such a young age, that means something.” — JEREMY POWERS (Aspire Racing), on the first time he watched a 12-year-old Spencer Petrov race. Petrov, now 19, races for Powers’s Aspire Racing team“This period of time has been a living hell for me and my family. At times it has felt like nothing less than a malicious witch hunt.” — BRADLEY WIGGINS, reacting via Twitter to the news that UK Anti-Doping would not charge him over a mystery package he received in 2011“Put a gun to my head and that’s what I believe.”— PHIL GAIMON, in response to the uproar caused by his new book, Draft Animals, in which he writes he believes Fabian Cancellara used mechanical…

37 Steepest gradient on Canton Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The road is the steepest officially recorded public street in the U.S. and, according to some sources, the world. 11,091 Elevation gain, in feet, of the climb of Mauna Loa, Hawaii. The top three U.S. climbs with the most gain are all in Hawaii: Haleakala (9,997 feet) and Mauna Kea (9,117 feet) are second and third. The three Hawaiian climbs are also the three longest climbs in the U.S., at 44.8, 36.5, and 34.6 miles, respectively. 14,130 Elevation attained atop Mount Evans, the highest paved road in North America. The first 13 highest climbs in the U.S. are all in Colorado. 7 Length, in miles, of a section of road on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, which averages over 10 percent gradient. Mount Equinox, in Vermont, contains a 4.6-mile…

At 40, Canadian rider Svein Tuft is one of the oldest racers in the WorldTour. He’s also perhaps the most unusual. During races, Tuft scouts out a quiet place each day to wind down. Typically this entails walking barefoot into the woods, disconnecting from the demands of professional racing, and reconnecting with the Earth. These moments help him strike a balance between the intensity of racing and the serenity of his soul. Tuft’s origin story is similarly extraordinary. In his early 20s Tuft lived what he calls a “hobo lifestyle,” exploring the wilds of the Yukon Territory and British Columbia by bicycle. Long-distance bike trips, from Alaska to the Lower 48, honed his love for everything on two wheels, and opened the door to an unlikely career racing bikes. Tuft’s exploits from…