VeloNews September/October 2018

BLAZING SADDLES Towering rocks and burned trees frame the men’s peloton as it climbs toward Brian Head Resort above Cedar City, Utah, during stage 1 of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. Travis McCabe won the stage in a sprint finish in Cedar City. Nikon D4; 24-120mm f/40 lens; 1/1000 sec. at f/4.0; ISO 200 4 Total stage victories by McCabe at the Tour of Utah, the most in race history 3 Stage wins in 2018 by the race’s overall winner, Sepp Kuss 72,000 Approximate acres burned in the 2017 Brian Head wildfire…

IF YOU PICKED UP your local newspaper on August 16, you may have read an editorial defending the free press. More than 350 newspapers across the country wrote columns praising the work of independent journalists as a response to the growing cries of “fake news” by our nation’s politicians. I’m not writing today to argue politics or the merits of our country’s leaders. I am, however, inspired to defend the work of independent reporters within the cycling landscape. In case you missed the news, independent journalists are rapidly disappearing from our sport’s media-scape. This summer one of my favorite magazines, Bicycling, let go of several talented contract writers amid a round of restructuring by its new owner, the Hearst company. In July, the website BikeRadar.com closed its U.S. editorial offices, laying…

In the not-so distant past, American cyclocross fans hoping to watch the sport’s European stars had just two options. One was to seek out sketchy, low-quality internet feeds that were—let’s be honest—almost certainly illegal. The other was to buy a ticket to Belgium and watch the race in person. Today, things are very different. The United States hosted the UCI cyclocross world championships in 2015, and each year at least one round of the UCI World Cup is staged on American soil. Live feeds of the European action are beamed across the internet on reliable feeds. Americans have more access to the sport’s top level than ever before. The pathway that brought American ’cross to where it is today made a few stops—in Las Vegas, Louisville, and Iowa City. And now it…

“To be a climber, you have to be a nerd riding to watts, but to ride [on the pavé] you have to be sort of an artist with good bike skills.” — Quick-Step sport director BRIAN HOLM, before the Tour’s stage 9, which took in several pavé sectors on its way to Roubaix “I’d rather be on the podium getting booed than sat on the bus and being cheered.” — GERAINT THOMAS (Team Sky), after being booed on the podium following his win atop Alpe d’Huez 1 “He'll feel the same inside but people's perception of him will change. Everything will be different from now on.” — BRADLEY WIGGINS, on how Geraint Thomas’s life will change as a Tour champion “There’s really no better feeling in the world than just kind of dancing on the pedals…

PRIMOZ ROGLIC 2 Complete seasons racing at the WorldTour level 3 Grand tour starts: 2016 Giro d’Italia where he placed 58th; 2017 Tour de France, 38th; 2018 Tour de France, 4th 50 Percentage of Roglic’s WorldTour stage wins that have come in time trials 600 Length, in feet, of Roglic’s personal best distance during his previous career as a ski jumper. He was the junior world champion in 2007. 11 Slovenian riders at the WorldTour level. Roglic is the only one on the LottoNL-Jumbo team. Seven race for Bahrain-Merida. CHRIS GRAYTHEN/GETTY IMAGES (3); TIM DE WAELE/GETTY IMAGES…

This August Danny Pate ended his professional road racing career nearly two decades after his splashy entry to the pro ranks. In September 1998, Pate won the world title in the U23 time trial, a feat that no American had accomplished beforehand (and only Taylor Phinney has completed since). Pate signed his first pro contract with Italy’s Saeco team. He departed after just one season and returned to race in the domestic peloton. For years, American fans wondered if Pate would get a chance to compete in Europe again. The opportunity came in 2008 when Garmin-Chipotle was invited to the Tour de France. Pate nearly won a stage, and the result set him up for a long career in the WorldTour, where he rode for Garmin, HTC-Highroad, and Team Sky. Pate closed…