Tabla de contenidos para March 2019 en Procycling

EDITOR When does a series of seemingly unrelated events become a trend? I asked myself this question when looking at a few of the more unusual transfers that took place between the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Niki Terpstra, the double monument winner and this magazine’s cover star, made the unusual journey from Quick-Step Floors (Deceuninck, as it is now known) to Direct Energie. He’s gone from the most successful team of 2018, with whom he won some of the biggest classics in the world, to a ProConti-level team more famous for their presence in ‘TV breaks’ at the Tour de France than for winning big races. And he’s not the only one. André Greipel, 11 times a Tour stage winner, left Lotto Soudal for ProConti Arkéa-Samsic. There are all kinds…

BJORG LAMBRECHT The 21-year-old, now with Lotto Soudal, bested Brit James Knox in a tight sprint in Liège’s outdoor velodrome to take the victory in 2017. GUILLAUME MARTIN Third in the youth classification at the Tour de France last year, the 25-year-old climber won the 2015 race. A pro contract with Wanty-Groupe Gobert followed. MICHAEL VALGREN The Dane won back-to-back editions in 2012 and 2013. Landed his first big classics wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Amstel Gold last year.…

So, 12 months with George and Emilia talking to you all about our life in the WorldTour this year. If it’s an exciting read then it means it’s an exciting year which can only be a good thing for us all! My 2019 campaign kicked off in Australia. Marco Haller, my ‘on the road girlfriend, Chanel’ if you like, and I hatched a plan to head there earlier to acclimatise. Down Under is known for kicking the season off, but also for its extreme heat. It’s common to see temperatures in excess of 40°C, and our Wahoos/Garmin/SRM etc can clock 50 plus in the middle of a sweaty peloton riding slowly up a hill with no breeze under the searing sun. In 2012 the heat crippled me to the point…

Nearly 20 years ago, when Niki Terpstra was a teenager at school in Beverwijk, a city in the north of the Netherlands on the west coast, the first subject he dropped was French. Fast forward two decades and Terpstra has spent the winter of 2018 driving around in his car with a French language tuition CD playing. He’s about to join his new team, Direct Energie, and speaking and understanding the language has just become crucial. He laughs wryly when he tells Procycling the story. He must wish now that he hadn’t given the subject up so quickly. “The guys from the Classics, they are happy and the whole team wants to make a step forward. They say they already feel the difference” Terpstra’s move from Quick-Step Floors after eight…

1st National Championships road race, 2018 GP Industria & Artigianato, 2018 GP Industria & Artigianato, 2018 Sun Hung Kai Properties Hong Kong Challenge, 2017 Deutschland Tour, 2018 BinckBankTour, 2018 Deutschland Tour, 2018 Tour of Austria, 2018 Giro d’Italia, 2018 Vuelta a España, 2017 Tour of Hainan, 2016 2nd National Championships ITT, 2016 Deutschland Tour, 2018 (2) Tour of Austria, 2018 Tour of Slovenia, 2018 3rd National Championships road race, 2017 Tour of Slovenia, 2018 Tour of Hainan, 2016 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, 2018 4th National Championship ITT, 2013 National Championship road race 2013 BinckBank Tour, 2018 Tour of Austria, 2018 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, 2018 Vuelta a España, 2017 Tour Cycliste International La Provence, 2017 5th National Championships road race, 2015 National Championships ITT, 2014 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, 2018…

On September 5 1982, I cycled from North Devon to a friend’s house south of Exeter to watch the World Championships professional road race on his parent’s television. We didn’t have a telly in our house, and, anyway, I needed the training. Then I rode home again. If memory serves me correctly my school friend and I did a little loop before going to watch the cycling on Grandstand, because we wanted to top 100 miles for the day. You tell the kids of today that, and they won’t believe you. Thirty-seven years later, Britain will again host the Worlds road race in Harrogate, Yorkshire, in a radically changed cycling environment. It’s easy to forget quite how cut off from the European cycling mainstream the UK once was; this is…

When Greg Van Avermaet was asked about leading the UCI’s new ‘One Day Race World Ranking’, the Belgian’s response was: “What exactly are you talking about?” The new regulations were supposed to make it easier and simpler to track rider performances throughout the season, but the memo clearly hadn’t got all the way around. The new point scoring system was nestled among a host of other changes the UCI unveiled for 2019. The ‘WorldTour’ ranking has been scrapped, leaving a refined version of the World Ranking. Additional ‘One-day’ and ‘Stage race’ rankings have been created, meaning riders who regularly race against each other will now be comparable. Perhaps the reason Van Avermaet was so confused was the fact he hadn’t actually raced yet when he was told he was already…

NIKI TERPSTRA The two-time monument winner talks to Sophie Hurcom about his surprise transfer and his straight-talking reputation. See page 38 IN PICTURES: MALLORCA The European cycling season gets underway at the four Mallorca Challenge one-day races. Pete Goding was there to capture the action, on page 58 CYCLING IN GAZA Flavia Cappellini travels to the war-torn Gaza Strip to speak to Alaa al-Dali who dreams of making it as a paralympian. See page 90…

Starting on 1 March, any rider who fails the tramadol test will be immediately disqualified from the race and, if they ride for a UCI-registered team, ordered to pay a CHF5,000 fine. If a rider fails the test a second time, they will be disqualified and given a five-month suspension. Teams will also face hefty sanctions. If two riders from the same team fail the tramadol test in a 12-month period, the team will be fined CHF10,000. A third offence in the same 12-month window will be punished with a team-wide suspension of between one month and a year, which will be decided by the UCI Disciplinary Commission. The post-race test will be carried out by taking a small sample of blood from a rider's fingertip.…

UAE EMIRATES Remember that feeling when you used to go back to school after the summer holidays having not picked up a pen for six weeks and felt incapable of writing a legible sentence? Or you get cramps in your hand after a few paragraphs? Well, we are back to racing season and despite the weeks of hard training, the feeling of riding in a compact peloton and the high-speed jostle for position always feel alien. Although, and perhaps the shorter off season has helped, I seem to get back into the groove a bit easier these days. It isn’t just technique that you lose. I don’t think there is any rider who can truly train harder than they race. Being pushed to the limit by others always seems to…

Hi everyone! I know I got a super nice introduction last month, but it’s hard not to touch on that a little, to feel that I’m kicking things off in the right order! I’m a hands-down sports nerd. I just love sport, and always have. At 14 I even did an internship at the local newspaper’s sport pages. I guess I didn’t stick to writing, so have patience with me here… but sport did stick. I come from Sweden where we have both summers and winters – and a lot of nature. I was brought up to go out on the weekends. In winter: cross-country skiing excursions, with hot chocolate at the midway point; sledging; ice-skating. Summer: playing games in the backyard or going to the forest to pick mushrooms.…

2007 Turns pro with German team Milram. Races Paris-Roubaix for the first time, after getting a late call-up when a number of his team-mates are injured in a crash at Gent-Wevelgem days before. 2008 Finishes 14th at the Tour of Flanders on his debut, in the bunch sprint behind Stijn Devolder, who takes a solo victory. In the group with him are future teammates Philippe Gilbert and Tom Boonen. 2009 A strong spring lands him a top 10 at Het Nieuwsblad and top 20 at Roubaix. Gets his just rewards for repeatedly going on the attack, when he wins a stage of the Dauphine from a breakaway. 2010 Wins the Dutch national road title by outsmarting almost the entire Rabobank team. Follows it with a solo victory at Sparkassen Giro,…

1st Tour de l’Ain 2013 Drôme Classic 2014 Stage, Critérium du Dauphiné 2015 Stage, Tour de France 2015, 2016, 2017 Classic d’Ardèche 2018 2nd Stage, Tour de l’Ain 2012, 2013, 2014 Stage, Volta a Catalunya 2014 Tour de l’Ain 2014 Stage, Critérium du Dauphiné 2014, 2016 Stage, Tour of Oman 2016 Tour of Oman 2016 Critérium du Dauphiné 2016 Tour de France 2016 Giro dell’Emilia 2016 Stage, Vuelta al País Vasco 2017 Strade Bianche 2018 Tour du Finistère 2018 Giro della Toscana 2018 World Championships road race 2018 3rd Classic Sud Ardèche 2013 Stage, Tour de l’Ain 2013 Stage, Ruta del Sol 2015 Stage, Tour de Romandie 2015 Stage, Tour de France 2015 (2), 2017, 2018 (2) Stage, Tour of Oman 2016 Stage, Volta a Catalunya 2016 Stage, Giro del…

1984-1986 KWANTUM HALLEN-DECOSOL-YOKO In’ 84 Jacques Hanegraaf takes the team’s first big win at Amstel Gold. At the Tour, Raas wins in Bordeaux 1987 SUPERCONFEX-KWANTUM HALLEN-YOKO-COLNAGO The team wins five Tour stages with four different riders, including two for JP Van Poppel in Epinay and Avignon. Jelle Nijdam. Nico Verhoeven and Rolf Golz are the others 1988-9 SUPERCONFEX-YOKO Van Poppel appears at the end of racing’s first sprint train and wins four Tour de France stages. Van Hooydonck wins the 1989 Ronde 1990-1992 BUCKLER-COLNAGO-DECCA In 1990, the team win three Tour stages; in ’91 Edwig Van Hooydonck wins Flanders and Maassen takes Amstel 1993-1994 WORDPERFECT-COLNAGO-DECCA The lean years: Nijdam’s Tour stage win in ’91 is the last until 1995. Eric Vanderaerden wins De Panne in 1993 1995 NOVELL SOFTWARE-DECCA Djamolidine…

1st National Championships road race 2016, 2012 Giro del Trentino Alto Adige 2015 Santos Tour Down Under 2017, 2018, 2019 Emakumeen Bira 2018 Tour de Feminin-O Cenu Ceskéno Švycarska 2011 Santos Tour Down Under 2019, 2018 Giro d’Italia Femminile 2018 Emakumeen Bira 2018, 2017 Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt de Frauen 2016 Tour de Feminin-O Cenu Ceskéno Švycarska 2011 2nd National Championships road race 2019, 2017 World Championships road race 2018 Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2018 Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt de Frauen 2016 Giro d’Italia Femminile 2017 Ladies Tour of Norway 2015 Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt de Frauen (2) 2015 3rd Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2019 Amstel Gold 2018 7-Dorpenomloop Aalburg 2012 Giro d’Italia Femminile 2018 Ladies Tour of Norway 2015 Giro d’Italia Femminile 2018 Santos Tour Down Under 2018 Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt de Frauen…

1 ALEJANDRO VALVERDE Points: 4,026 Movistar, Age: 38 Valverde gets points for third at the Trofeo de Tramuntana 2 ELIA VIVIANI Points: 3,166 Deceuninck-Quick Step, Age: 30 300 points for winning the Cadel Evans GORR, 70 from the TDU 3 SIMON YATES Points: 3,157 Mitchelton-Scott, Age: 26 Carries points from winning the 2018 Vuelta and Giro stages 4 PETER SAGAN Points: 3,100 Bora-Hansgrohe, Age: 29 95 points for TDU stage win, plus two podium finishes there 5 JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE Points: 2,850.12 Deceuninck-Quick Step, Age: 26 Two stages and second on GC in Argentina earn 119 points 6 GERAINT THOMAS Points: 2,777.25 Team Sky, Age: 32 More than half of his points come from winning the Tour 7 GREG VAN AVERMAET Points: 2,727.47 CCC Team, Age: 33 No 2019 points yet,…

OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBLAD EDITOR 2 March | Belgium | 1.UWT One score years it has been that the season has started in Australia in January. But while I enjoy the TDU and the Mediterranean races of February, I never feel that the season is truly up and running until the Saturday of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. It’s a typically inconsistent vagary of cycling fandom that a pair of races (KBK is held the next day) is widely known and marketed as ‘Opening Weekend’, and takes place six weeks into the season. What can I say? That’s cycling. Omloop is the first race of the year where I really get the impression nobody has their eye on anything further down the line. The Med races are sharpeners; Omloop is a bona fide…

The Tour Down Under, the first WorldTour race of 2019, just finished in Australia and I had the fortunate position to be there working for the organisation and as a part of the Channel 7 TV crew. Looking back at the result, it was a wonderful display of teamwork and loyalty from Mitchelton-Scott. And it was more proof to me that good things happen to good people. I can hardly imagine a winner more deserving then Daryl Impey. Years and years of loyal service in the team to several leaders and sprinters and now, for the second time in a row, he got the best possible start to the season with the overall win. Daryl is not only a very good bike rider but also just a great guy, so…

DEPUTY EDITOR Iljo Keisse’s awful decision to simulate sex with an unidentified waitress as she posed for a photo with Deceuninck-Quick Step riders at the Vuelta a San Juan shows that some quarters of cycling still think demeaning women is okay. Hopefully that will change now. For his boorishness, Keisse had to explain himself at a police station, was fined and was ejected from the race. He apologised for his “stupid moment”. But what was even more indictable was the reaction of his team boss, Patrick Lefevere. Rather than dressing down his rider and reminding Keisse of his responsibilities, he threatened to withdraw the squad from the race and suggested the waitress was motivated by money. Then, mysteriously, two of the team’s riders missed podium duties because they didn’t “feel…

Last year, in the run-up to the Tour de France, Cannondale released the latest iteration of its SystemSix, which it first released in 2007. More than a decade on, the latest version, ridden by Alberto Bettiol at the Tour Down Under, geeks out on aerodynamics. When the new bike was released, Cannondale claimed – as most brands tend to when they launch a new high-end model in this segment – it was the fastest UCI-legal road bike in the world. The American brand said the bike was “built on a sixpart foundation – frame, fork, seatpost, bar, stem and wheels that all work together as a system.” See what they did there with the name? And indeed, the bike is cutting edge in aero terms: it has an extremely neat…

My second year as a professional hadn’t started amazingly well, but before Catalunya – the last year it was held in May was in 2009 – I had managed a solid training block and was feeling good. Racing on home roads from my base in Girona, and for a young, fun Garmin-Slipstream team, we entered the race just to see what we could get out of it. I never could have imagined that I would come close to two stage victories and finish second on GC. It turned out to be the first of my many second places behind a certain Alejandro Valverde. It’s hard to believe that it is 10 years ago, but my memories are still vivid. The first tough stage finished in Pobla de Lillet with short,…

If my Year 12 English teacher knew I had signed up to write a column, she would be surprised that I sat down long enough to put 500 words together on a page once a month for a year. It seems easy to give an optimistic insight into the cycling world now, sitting here in the New Zealand summer surrounded by friends and whanau (family), but I’m curious what will come out after a week of racing from Paris to Nice in 3°C with rain and getting chopped up by Frenchies. The November edition may just be the ramblings of a madman. The start of the year in the Southern Hemisphere has its own distinct flavour. It’s the same obstacles and challenges each year, but they’re pretty unique. For a…

A flight to Mallorca for the first races of the season makes a change from my recent New Year pilgrimages to the same place for Sky’s training camps. This time there’s no frenzied scramble to get one of Sky’s grand tour winners, but a more relaxed ambiance. My introduction to the press room is just as laid back as they hand me a road book and a ‘Prensa’ sticker for my car. The only info I am given is: ‘Don’t break the rules.’ For what it’s worth, the rules are all in Spanish, and my Spanish is weaker than a Happy Shopper teabag. The next day, the American Rally-UHC team ask me to take some photos and I grab a ride with team director Pat McCarty. The roads are noticeably…

OCTOBER 2012 On 19 October, Rabobank says it will stop sponsoring elite men’s racing after 16 years. In December, Richard Plugge is named team manager JANUARY 2013 Tom-Jelte Slagter wins Blanco’s first races: a stage and the overall at the Tour Down Under. The team wins 38 races in 2013 JUNE 2013 Belkin, takes over the team sponsorship for two and a half years. At the Tour, Bauke Mollema finishes sixth AUGUST 2013 As a member of the Movement for Credible Cycling, Belkin withdraws its rider Theo Bos on the eve of the Vuelta for low cortisol levels JUNE 2014 Belkin announce it will stop sponsoring the squad at the end of the season owing to a change in global marketing strategy JULY 2014 Lars Boom wins a legendary Tour…

A GLITTERING STARTLIST UAE TOUR 24 Feb-2 Mar | UAE | 2.UWT The inaugural UAE Tour, formed after the Abu Dhabi and Dubai Tours merged, has drawn a star-studded startlist, with Froome, Nibali, Valverde and Dumoulin among the GC challengers, and Viviani and Kittel among the sprinters. Visiting all seven Emirate states, the race opens with a team time trial, ends with a sprint in Dubai and has three summit finishes sandwiched in the middle: at Jebel Hafeet, Hatta Dam and Jebel Jais. A TASTE OF COBBLES KUURNE-BRUSSELS-KUURNE 3 March | Belgium | 1.HC The smaller sibling to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad the day before and the second of the opening classics weekender, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne is traditionally a race for the sprinters. But whether that is still entirely the case, though, is…