Tabla de contenidos para April 2020 en Procycling

EDWARD PICKERING EDITOR Sometimes the news is so bad it’s hard to process. When we heard that Ineos DS Nicolas Portal had died at the age of 40 from a heart attack, it was almost impossible to believe. And it’s a mark of the shock at how tragically young he was, and the respect with which he was held in cycling, that tributes came pouring in. Portal was the unsung hero of Team Ineos. He was in the team car for all of their Tour wins from 2013 on; also for Chris Froome’s spectacular 2018 Giro win. Just on a sporting level, he was up there with the most successful managers of all time. But that’s not the primary reason for which cycling remembers him. Universally, the sporting tributes from…

It will take time to fully comprehend what happened at the UAE Tour and decompress from the experience of being quarantined with the threat of coronavirus hanging over my head. At the time of writing, I was waiting for a rebooked flight to Australia having spent 72-odd hours in the confines of mostly my room in the media hotel on lockdown in Abu Dhabi. I only spent one additional day in the UAE, but it felt like an eternity. The five out of seven stages of the race that actually took place are a faded and distant memory. When we got an email on Thursday night, after stage 5, from a race coordinator telling us not to leave the hotel grounds, by request of local authorities, I had no idea…

A stana have switched bike sponsors for 2020, following three years with Argon 18, and will spend the year riding Wilier Triestina’s bikes. As a Vuelta King of the Mountains and a stage winner at both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, Omar Fraile is more at home in the mountains than in the flat sprints, and his Wilier 0 SLR is an all-rounder to suit his talents. According to the manufacturers, the 0 SLR is based around a concept of integration and weight saving. Disc brakes, hidden cables and a very aero cockpit keep the bike at the very cutting edge of aero gains for an all-purpose machine; light weight means that Fraile’s climbing ambitions can be easily met. Corima wheels and Dura Ace throughout are consistent with…

weather affects all of our training. Fortunately, despite what you may think, the weather in Andorra is mostly good and I can generally plan my training around the forecast. If it snows it’s normally for only one or two days maximum and then it’s clear. Clearly though, I still have a home trainer set up in my basement for when I can’t get outside, and you will often see me cruising around Watopia (Zwift-land for the non initiated). However, when I want to get a hard session in, I hit the gym. I do squats with a free bar and then a one-legged leg press. Don’t dip down too low. Keep the exercise pedal-actionspecific and concentrate on high repetitions with an explosive action. I generally do three sets of 3…

We’ve only just reached March and it feels like there’s been enough drama to fill a season already. I write this diary at what feels like a watershed moment for at least the next couple months, maybe longer. Strade Bianche was supposed to be in a few days’ time, but it’s officially off. There’s a lot of speculation that Milan-San Remo, Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice could also be taken off the calendar. It’s a difficult predicament to be in and of course because of my position I’ll no doubt have some bias too. Regardless, I can only hope what happened in the UAE Tour doesn’t repeat elsewhere. It was of course not an easy situation to manage and I can only respect the authorities’ actions to try and stop the spread…

OUDE KWAREMONT Length: 2,200m Average gradient: 4% Steepest stretch: 11.6% The Oude Kwaremont is currently the defining climb of the Tour of Flanders. Since 2012, the route has been based on circuits incorporating the Kwaremont. For the 2020 route, it’s the first climb tackled, after 117km, then the 10th after 211km and the 16th (of 17) at 250km. It’s an anomaly among Ronde climbs - most are short, steep and punchy, but the Kwaremont is a longer test - there’s a steep section at the bottom, while the top is draggy and shallow. The Oude Kwaremont has featured in the race more times than any other climb - a total of 62 times, while its ‘sister’ climb, the Nieuwe Kwaremont, which was used before it was paved over, is in…

The Ardèche classics are something of a family affair. Races with the feeling of a Belgian classic but on French soil… big name riders included, lighter on the crowds - which actually makes you feel like you’re in on a well-kept secret. As with all race coverage you’re at the mercy of the elements for visibility and whether you are going for grit and grimace or beautiful landscapes and sunshine. It was the former in Ardèche, as the wind, rain and cold made it a tough day in the saddle. The steepest ascent, the Val d’Enfer, was daunting just going up in the car. The weather was atrocious but a decent amount of fans sent waves of encouragement that were visibly empowering the riders to get up the hill. All…

Back in 2015, Sir Dave Brailsford ventured to San Francisco in search of what many termed Marginal Gains 2.0. The Team Sky principal visited 20 tech companies, testing a wide range of products in search of the next cutting edge. One image stood out in start-up city: the sight of Brailsford playing darts with electrodes clamped to his skull. “It’s a form of cranial stimulation,” he said. “The military have been using it for their snipers to reduce the time it takes to learn a skill.” And did it work for Brailsford’s arrows? “Well, I went from being sh*t to less sh*t,” he said. Sky, now Ineos, didn’t pursue transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in search of better performance on the bike. But Bahrain-Merida (now Bahrain-McLaren) did. At the 2018…

Unsurprisngly, considering the season starts in the southern hemisphere, the Australian riders continue to hold the lead for most victories, with Lucy Kennedy picking up another at the Herald Sun Tour. Leah Thomas' stage win at Valenciana adds to US compatriot Ruth Winder's wins last month, while Lucy van der Haar got the ball rolling in the Middle East for Great Britain WOMEN’S WINS BY RIDER 2 AMANDA SPRATT MITCHELTON-SCOTT 2 RUTH WINDER TREK-SEGAFREDO 2 NIAMH FISHER-BLACK BIGLA-KATUSHA BEST DOMESTIQUE Sarah Roy put Annemiek van Vleuten into position for her winning attack on the Muur at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Over the bridge into Geraardsbergen, Roy surged from mid-group with Van Vleuten in her wheel, to the front. When she attacked, it was from the front, thanks to Roy's work. SARAH…

Where last year he did not touch any alcohol from January 1 to Paris-Roubaix, this year the French wine lover enjoyed one glass of oaky wine from his private collection every night. Where last year he weighed everything he put in his mouth - he even counted the number of almonds he was allowed to eat - now he enjoys an occasional doughnut while training and doesn’t worry about the calories. Where he was 77.5kg last year, right now he weighs 80kg and still looks like a skinny, but strong athlete. Where last year he opened his Strava app every day to see how his competitors trained that day, now he closes his laptop after uploading his training ride and enjoys life after a good training day. Where last year…

3.10 The goal Chloé Dygert Owen has set herself in the individual pursuit. It’s a time that would take three seconds off her own world’s best. The American set two new world records at the Track World Championships in Berlin, lowering the IP from 3.20.060 to 3.16.937, as she won her third world title. “I have my loyalties to this team and it feels like home after 10 years of being here. But… I need to get something signed before we carry on” Out-of-contract Chris Froome is still unsure whether his future beyond 2020 lies with Team Ineos, where he’s raced since 2010, or elsewhere. 12 weeks André Greipel is facing three months away from racing after undergoing surgery on a fractured shoulder caused by a training crash. The German…

We know Seb’s grandfather and father. They, like our club, have a huge cycling history. Seb joined our club five years ago in the knowledge we had a Continental Team pathway for development to bigger things. Seb had a great year last year with no major results, but he gained greatly in his maturity and really enjoyed hanging out with the boys in a relaxed atmosphere. We know Seb as a great climber but his previous results also indicate his ability in a time trial, so obviously Seb has the ability to be a great stage race rider in the future. We are extremely pleased for Seb with the results he’s achieved. We knew all along that he had the ability to succeed. He just had to reset after a…

Normally I would stay racing with Caleb but we made a decision that I was not following Caleb to the UAE Tour because of the Track Worlds, which were being held in my hometown of Berlin this month and are also the last qualification run towards the Olympics. The team put me out to race Algarve before, instead. The idea in Algarve was just to have some hard racing days, quality racing, and it actually was. It was my first time there but I heard it was a nice race, good but hard, and even the flat stages had some ups and downs. In the end, we still got easily more than 2,000 climbing metres whereas in the UAE it’s more flat during the main part of the stage. John…

Mads Pedersen is describing the final kilometre of the 2019 World Championships road race, upon Procycling’s request, and he’s back in the moment. The final, frenetic kilometres of a spectacularly wet and gruelling day saw him weighing up the options against Italy’s Matteo Trentin and Switzerland’s Stefan Küng. Küng, you might think, would be less of a worry than the fast-finishing Trentin, who has won bunch sprints in the past, and had ridden a flawless race up to that point. “I was 100 per cent sure that Matteo Trentin would beat me in the sprint,” Pedersen says of his Italian rival, who eventually had to settle for the silver medal. “That’s also why I took the lead. Plus there was still a small chance for me to win the race,…

■Number of riders age 25 and under TREK-SEGAFREDO’S MOST PROLIFIC RIDERS 21 GIACOMO NIZZOLO 2011-2018 27 FABIAN CANCELLARA 2011-2016 11 MADS PEDERSEN 2017-PRESENT BEST GRAND TOUR GC RESULTS Since the team was formed in 2011, what are Trek’s best results in the three grand tours? BAUKE MOLLEMA 201 9 ANDY SCHLECK 201 1 CHRIS HORNER 201 3 MAJOR WINS TREK-SEGAFREDO The majority of Trek’s victories have been stage wins - they have 77, despite not ever really having a prolific sprinter on their roster. Trek consistently wins at grand tours, too, and 2016 is their only season without picking up a stage at one.…

There was something artistic about that image of Philippe Gilbert, wearing the skin-tight colours of his national flag as literally as a human being can, dismounting his bike and raising it to the heavens as he walked beneath the finish arch of the Tour of Flanders in Oudenaarde in 2017. This was a moment he and the experts thought may never come, and he chose to extend it liberally, freezeframing the elation for seconds longer than was his right. The timelessness of the art, though, as with the layered detail of a Bruegel peasant scene, came with the double-take, the secondary viewing. There was poignancy, dissonance, even a modest repulsion, in watching Gilbert, awash with the emotion of a lifetime’s dream fulfilled, hold something of the air of a stranger…

Perhaps the most impressive exploit in A Sunday in Hell, Jørgen Leth’s celebrated documentary of the 1976 Paris-Roubaix, turns out not to be the winning move in the race. Francesco Moser has missed the decisive attack by Roger de Vlaeminck and Walter Godefroot on the lengthy stretch of cobbles around the village of Bachy, and makes a huge effort to bridge to the duo, who have escaped with Hennie Kuiper and Marc Demeyer. Behind, Freddy Maertens has fallen off and Eddy Merckx is nowhere to be seen. It’s a key moment. Through the dust clouds, Moser appears in his red, green and white Italian national champion’s jersey, churning a huge gear to fly between two other men who can also sense that it is now or never. The late Raymond…

The view from the window of our team’s AirBnB is of a smelly field in Belgium, and I’m watching the rain come down sideways in a fashion that makes me feel like I’m at home. The leafless trees are swaying in such a way that tells me the first spring classic of my career tomorrow will be a brutal one, and my weather apps are confirming this is true. Our last races in Australia were just over three weeks ago yet they feel like last season already - my tan lines are fading with each delightful Belgian waffle I scarf down. I’ve raced here before. I am not a stranger to these sorts of conditions, and yet I feel a bit scared of what tomorrow will bring. These are races…

Good things come to those who wait. Or so Sep Vanmarcke has to keep telling himself. EF Pro Cycling’s Flandrian is consistent, reliable and for almost a decade now, has always been touted as a favourite for every spring classics campaign. This season will be no different. He has the credentials, he almost always has the form, but he just can’t seem to get a break. The stats bear out his racing pedigree but they also reveal the numerous ‘what-might-havebeen’ moments. Second in Gent-Wevelgem in 2010, second in Paris-Roubaix in 2013, third in the Tour of Flanders in 2014 and 2016 and fourth that year in Paris-Roubaix. Those are just the highlights. His is an epic hard luck story, crammed with disappointments. Of course, he’s a pro, he’s only 31,…

The Tour of Flanders is one of my favourite races. It used to finish in Ninove but I’m happy it’s in Oudenaarde, the town where I was born. The classics are my main goals. The races have the most history and the winners are all big champions. When you are young you always remember the good riders who were winning. The amount of fans is huge and that gives you a lot of adrenaline. Adrenaline is a good painkiller - you can go a little harder than other races because you know you are in the biggest race and everybody is watching you. There is only one Tour of Flanders each year so you give everything to that race. It still hurts, but you can go further. Knowing the region…

How long have you been racing together for? SHANE ARCHBOLD: Six years. What were your first impressions of each other? SAM BENNETT: I didn’t like him! Nah, I’m joking. Actually, the first year in An Post we didn’t talk much. ARCHBOLD: We lived together but we didn’t speak so much, Sam didn’t speak so much. BENNETT: I never speak so much. ARCHBOLD: We were racing together in the same team, but we weren’t necessarily racing together so much. When did you start working together in terms of the sprints? BENNETT: It was kind of my last year there [at An Post], 2013 wasn’t it? And then we started preparing for races more as a lead-out combo. The main one was the Tour of Britain at the end of the year…

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What form of misconduct is irredeemable? Cheating? Physically lashing out at a rival? How about racial abuse? Gianni Moscon’s first in what is now a long list of transgressions was also the most inexcusable, and the one that should have seen him sacked by Team Sky. Any other employee who committed the same offence - Moscon used a racial slur against Kévin Reza at the Tour of Romandie - in their workplace would be dismissed. Moscon wasn’t even taken out of the race by his team. He was sent on a diversity awareness course and suspended for six weeks. Not long after, FDJ’s Sébastian Reichenbach accused him of causing a crash that left him with a broken elbow and hip (he was later cleared due to lack of evidence). He…

ONE-DAY RACES WINS UP TO MARCH 1 OHN and Kuurne kicked off 'Opening Weekend' but we've also seen Clasica Almeria, Trofeo Laigueglia, the Faun-Ardeche/Drome Classics and Le Samyn. And already, Quick Step are out on top as the best one-day team Deceuninck-Quick Step. 6 Trek-Segafredo. 4 Bora-Hansgrohe. 2 EF Pro Cycling. 2 Ag2r La Mondiale. 1 Mitchelton-Scott. 1 Movistar. 1 STAGE RACE WINS Nairo Quintana's move to French squad Arkea this year could prove a stroke of genius, as he kicked off 2020 with back-to-back GC victories in the Tour de La Provence and Tour du Haut Var, to give his ProConti team an early lead at the top of the stage racing table MEN’S WINS BY RIDER 4 TADEJ POGAĈAR UAE EMIRATES 5REMCO EVENEPOEL DECEUNINCK-QUICK STEP 4NAIRO QUINTANA ARKÉA…

ALASDAIR FOTHERINGHAM CYCLING WRITER WHY I LOVE… VOLTA A CATALUNYA 23-29 March | Spain | 2.UWT The Volta a Catalunya is cycling’s wacky grandma - cutting a venerable figure as it celebrates its 100th edition this year, but with an off-the-wall personality and zero respect for modern-day fads. A stupidly steep uphill finish, ma-am? None of those, thank you. A trendy ‘nailbiting finale’? Not when the race leaves the Pyrenees on stage 4, meaning the GC is decided halfway through. Changes are permitted (shock), but usually slowly, like this year’s time trial - back for the first time since 1996. Plus, the occasional Pyrenean blizzard adds that unpredictable cussedness senior citizens sometimes have. For all her quirkiness, Catalunya is well-loved and adventurous - it’s the one race where the Giro…