Cycling Weekly March 17, 2022

With nearly 30 years of serious(ish) cycling in my legs and head, I’m still getting wiser and smarter with every passing season. At least that’s what I like to think. The fact is every year I still make a complete howler and it’s often on my first long ride of the year. It happened again recently when doing a recce of the new RideLondon route. Many of the roads in and out of London are unrideable on a normal day, so we started at the southern tip of Epping Forest. Our ride began in slightly damp conditions, but with full winter kit on, and a following photographer, we were confident for the 68 miles ahead. By the time we got to Felsted, we were soaked through, and very cold indeed. With 60 miles in…

Jonas Vingegaard seemingly spoke for the entire pro peloton when he remarked that he “didn’t even think about following” Tadej Pogačar as he launched a blistering attack to seal Slovenia’s dominance of the early season stage races at the weekend. The Jumbo-Visma rider, who finished Tirreno-Adriatico in second place nearly two minutes down on his UAE rival, expressed the bewilderment all Pogačar’s rivals must feel seeing him clip off the front of the leading group of favourites with ease on the race’s queen stage. Vingegaard told CW sister publication Cyclingnews.com the Tour de France champion was simply “in a league of his own”. The only crumb of comfort for those hoping to usurp Pogačar’s place at the head of cycling’s table was that he’d later remark that he was merely very near…

Speaking in a rainy Nice on Sunday, Ethan Hayter still seemed upbeat about his first experience of a WorldTour stage race, declaring it “not bad” for a debut. The Ineos Grenadiers rider might have won the Tour of Norway, and finished second at the Tour of Britain, last year, but Paris-Nice is his first experience of stage racing at the highest level. Despite suffering with a cold and stomach issues, the 23-year-old finished ninth on the punchy finish in Dun-le-Palestel on stage three. He also impressed on the stage four time trial, beating many more experienced riders to take sixth. Reflecting on the step up in demand that the race represented for him, Hayter said: “Obviously it’s faster, and there’s a few different things when the level is so high, it’s quite interesting.…

Proving he is much more than a social media cyclist, Cameron Jeffers won the prestigious Eddie Soens Memorial at Aintree Racecourse on Saturday. The 25-year-old from near Wigan is not known as a pure sprinter, but showed a fast turn of speed in a bunch finish in Merseyside. “I made a name for myself through my YouTube channel,” said the Ribble Weldtite rider who has around 126,000 followers online. “Every now and again I do get a dig that I’m only on a professional team because of my profile. If you’ve got two similar cyclists in terms of their physical ability a lot of the time a team is going to pick the person who has a bigger social profile. “At the end of the day cycling is a business and you are…

Dutch sprint superstar Lorena Wiebes outpaced her rivals to take the win at Ronde van Drenthe in the Netherlands’ far north-east on Saturday. Once again, the 22-year-old benefited from excellent teamwork, her DSM squad bringing back a late move after she had been caught out by a late puncture. Wiebes was left to position herself on world champion Elisa Balsamo’s wheel before opening her sprint with 150m remaining, beating the Trek-Segafredo rider into second place. After winning Strade Bianche last week, Belgian champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) also suffered a late puncture but managed to sprint to third. It was a day of attacking racing, countless small groups going clear, with all four ascents of the VAMberg double punch climb producing breaks, including a four-woman group that was only caught inside the final…

Cycling is mourning the death of former national road champion and Tour de France finisher Colin Lewis, who died earlier this month after battling cancer. He was 79. Born in Caerphilly, Wales in 1942, Lewis relocated to Devon at a young age. After a successful racing career he remained heavily involved in grass-roots cycling in various roles until only a few years ago. Lewis always extolled the merits of the West Country, saying that it was hard not to become strong on the bike when training in such hilly terrain. Beginning his racing career with Mid-Devon CC, Lewis’s ability was quickly apparent, and he was winning races from the very start of admission to the senior ranks. In 1963, still an amateur, Lewis rode the Milk Race, taking consistently high placings throughout, a…