Cycling Weekly April 14, 2022

After my recent bout of Covid I’ve been reading up on getting back to training. Although for me it just felt like a heavy cold – anecdotal evidence suggests everyone suffers with slightly different symptoms – it did linger on and I wanted to make sure my return to riding was sensible. Not jumping straight back on my turbo for a hard session. There was an interesting article on the British Medical Journal website, but it was definitely not aimed at athletes. And I refer to myself very loosely as an athlete. Most studies they referenced looked at those who had been hospitalised with the virus, and throughout it referred to high levels of inactivity in the general public. It did state that a person’s fitness baseline should be considered if advising…

“Sooner or later the victory will come” Former world champion Michał Kwiatkowski delivered a reminder of his class as a rider, after an 18 month-long winless streak, with the narrowest of victories at Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. It was a case of another Amstel Gold, another photo finish involving an Ineos Grenadiers rider. Last year, Tom Pidcock was narrowly judged to have been beaten by Wout van Aert on the finish line at Valkenburg, something that is still contentious. In 2022, Michał Kwiatkowski was initially told that it would be another second place for Ineos, with Benoît Cosnefroy declared the winner. However, seconds later, the decision was reversed once the finish line photos were looked at closely, with Kwiatkowski beating the Frenchman by a matter of centimetres. Meanwhile the AG2R Citroën camp looked like…

Marta Cavalli said she attacked over the top of the Cauberg, the winning move of the Amstel Gold Race, because she had “nothing to lose”. The Italian won her first Women’s WorldTour race in Valkenburg on Sunday, attacking a group of eight women which had emerged at the top of the Cauberg, and then riding solo for the final 1.8km to win by a very narrow margin. Speaking shortly after her triumph, the FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope rider said it was an “incredible feeling” to win the Dutch Classic, and that she had planned to attack at that moment. “I can’t believe it,” she said. “I have to thank my sports director in the car because in the last 50km I had a nice feeling. I felt a bit tired; when we arrived at…

The International Olympic Committee has been criticised for failing to provide cycling with a clear direction on the inclusion of transgendered women, after British Cycling suspended its policy – adopted in January this year – last week. BC’s decision to effectively close the door on trans women entering the sport came a week after the UCI had said it was not able to sanction young trans woman Emily Bridges riding in the British National Championships omnium race. British Cycling said its board of directors had voted for an “immediate suspension” of the policy “pending a full review, which will be initiated in the coming weeks”. The decision was made due to a difference in the licensing procedures between BC and the UCI, which would allow trans women to race at home while their…

Dani Martínez delivered a message to his anticipated Tour de France rivals after his Tour of the Basque Country victory that he can still improve ahead of his bid to win the yellow jersey. The Ineos Grenadier overturned a twosecond deficit to Remco Evenepoel on the final stage of the race to claim his second ever WorldTour stage race triumph. It came 20 months after his maiden one at the 2020 Critérium du Dauphiné. It was, however, the 25-year-old’s first for Ineos, the team that he is expecting to lead at July’s Tour alongside Adam Yates and Geraint Thomas. Speaking after his win in what is commonly referred to as the hardest week-long stage race in the world, Martínez said: “I feel good and for the Tour de France I still have a…

How’s France? This is my fourth year and it feels like home. The training around here is magnificent – it’s a dream to be in the Rhône Alpes with so many long climbs and beautiful scenery. I’m progressing with the language too and can hold my own. What have you learned? Too much to say. I was tactically unaware when I came here in 2019 and would ride myself to death in a lot of races. It was a big jump from junior level. I’ve learned that the bad days give you the good days in the future and that you can’t be flying all the time. What do you need to improve? My motivation to train can sometimes be lacking, so a big focus is not to get distracted. The last few months I’ve…