Lidl-Trek's impressive form and Mathieu van der Poel's explosive start to the Classics season could make for quite the contest this weekend

...and if that's too expensive, Italy's female Olympic team will be riding the new Bolide HR C at the Olympics in Paris, which costs less than half the 3D version at a mere €12,500 for the frameset

Cyclist Win a short break in Wales and a Restrap bikepacking bundle worth over £640 Cyclist has teamed up with Visit Wales to give you a chance to win a £300 gift voucher for The Plough Rhosmaen, a charming four-star boutique hotel with an award-winning restaurant in the beautiful Tywi Valley in Carmarthenshire, West Wales. Your Bed and Breakfast stay in a superior room for two nights includes a dining allocation of £50 towards an evening dinner. Restrap is including a 22-litre Rolltop Backpack, a Large Pannier and a 4.5-litre Saddle Pack worth over £340 to make your pedalling easy.    • Click here to enter the competition Related Posts Why Wales is one of the world’s best cycling destinations The legal bit: Open to UK residents only, entries must be received by 23:59 on 5th May 2024. This competition is being sponsored by Visit Wales . The winner will be selected at random and notified by email by the 10th of May, if you don’t respond by the 17th of May your prize will be forfeited and another correct entrant will be drawn at random and contacted. Note we do not sell, rent or share your data with third parties without your consent. Metropolis respects the privacy of every person for whom we have personal data. The group privacy and cookies policy can be viewed here. Should you consent to being contacted by Visit Wales you agree your data can be provided to them at which time Visit Wales will contact you to confirm. Their privacy notice can be viewed here. Advance booking via The Plough Rhosmaen is necessary when using this gift voucher. If you win you will need to call 01558 823431 to make your reservation.     The voucher will cover Bed & Breakfast in a superior room for 2 nights and a dining allocation of £50 for one night evening dinner at The Plough Rhosmaen, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire SA19 6NP. On booking you will need to quote your voucher number as reference.     On arrival, please present your voucher to a member of the team. (You can either present a printed version of your voucher, or show us your voucher via your phone or tablet)     Vouchers are non-refundable and no refund will be given for part-use. Vouchers are valid for 12 months from date of issue.  The post Win a short break in Wales and a Restrap bikepacking bundle worth over £640 appeared first on Cyclist.

Egan Bernal was already active early on at the Volta a Catalunya, putting himself in fourth in the overall standings, as he took maximum bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint on the opening stage of the race, with him looking to contest the general classification later on in the week.However, the...

“They weren't able to find my address [to send a notice] but they found my bank account very quickly to block €400,” said the 23-year-old student

Cyclist The people behind a WorldTour team #3: The soigneur ‘When I tell people at home I’m involved in cycling, they say, “Ah, keirin?” I’m like, “No, road cycling.” And they look perplexed.’ Takuya Sakamoto has been a soigneur – the great multi-taskers of any cycling team – for American WorldTour team EF Education-EasyPost since 2021 and has worked in cycling since 2015, a career path that he admits is unusual for a young man from Japan. ‘I never thought I’d leave Japan and work in Europe,’ he says. ‘Certainly not in cycling.’ In Japan, track-based keirin racing is big business thanks to the fact that it’s one of only four sports in Japan that the public can legally gamble on, but road racing has struggled to gain traction. ‘It might seem odd that road cycling’s not more popular when a bike company the size of Shimano is from Japan, but there’s a good reason for that. We have problems with the police.’ It seems that the Japanese public has a low tolerance for cyclists and, in a sentiment that will resonate with British cyclists, a Covid-fuelled rise in bicycle use hasn’t gone down well at all. A Japan Bicycle Promotion Institute survey suggests 71.8% of pedestrians and 88.1% of motorists have ‘felt annoyed or in danger due to cyclists’. Bike-related incidents are on the rise in Tokyo, and revised traffic laws mean cyclists found guilty of tailgating face fines of up to ¥50,000 (£265) or even three months’ incarceration. Big in Japan ‘I was at university when I came across cycling and joined the club where we competed in both track and road. Before I signed up, the only thing I knew about the sport was the Tour de France.’ He didn’t make the big time as a rider, but his introduction to the WorldTour arrived thanks to one of Japan’s largest construction companies. ‘Nippo had been involved in cycling for many years,’ he says. ‘When I was at university, Nippo started to look for staff for a new venture.’ That ‘venture’ was the Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizanè Pro team, which lasted from 2015 to 2019 and billed itself as the world’s first Japanese-Italian professional cycling team. Its aim was to strengthen the pathway for riders from East Asia to make it on the global stage and was bankrolled by Nippo, which developed an affinity with cycling when it became involved in the building of velodromes. Giro d’Italia and three-time Il Lombardia victor Damiano Cunego headed up the project, which racked up 47 victories during its five-year reign. ‘That was my first role as a soigneur,’ says Sakamoto. When the team folded in 2019, Nippo took over sponsorship of French pro team Delko One Provence from 2020. ‘I followed, but only for one year as in 2021 I moved to EF.’ Rice, race, rub ‘Every day at a Grand Tour is different, but I always start work around two hours before we leave the hotel for the day, waking around 7am. I have breakfast, make bottles for the riders and prepare lunch for the staff. This is mainly sandwiches. I’ll also make snacks for the riders including rice cakes. ‘I enjoy cooking and experiment with different flavours of rice cake, so one day I might add coconut, another orange. There are many things you can do with a rice cake.’ At a Grand Tour, such as the Giro d’Italia that Sakamoto covered in 2023, the team has six soigneurs. ‘Four follow the race and the other two head straight to the next hotel,’ he says. ‘If you go to the hotel, you’ll carry the suitcases in and maybe do some washing. If you’re “in” the race, you’ll drive ahead to the feed zone. We’ll always find a spot on a slight incline so the riders are moving more slowly when we hand out the musettes.’ To stave off monotony, soigneur roles alternate each week between the race and the hotel. Once all the soigneurs are back at the hotel, what happens next depends on the riders. ‘We always massage but if it’s a mountain stage and the riders have to descend afterwards to the team bus before hitting the hotel, we’ll have time for things like cleaning the cars. ‘As for massage, it’s normally two riders per soigneur depending on how many riders are still racing. We’ll massage for one hour per rider. At Nippo it was 30 minutes per rider because of resources but there are more of us here. It’s tiring, especially if a rider has endured a tough mountain stage as their legs are very hard. ‘I tend to use baby or coconut oil for the legs and massage cream for the back and shoulders, though I might mix a little oil in with the cream too, as it can be a little dry without. Every soigneur has a different way.’ It’s then shower, dinner – ‘with a glass or two of wine if we win a stage’ – and bed at 10pm. Then the alarm goes off to start another long day. ‘But I love it,’ says Sakamoto, ‘especially the Italian races and the Giro dell’Emilia in particular, as that’s the region where I lived with Nippo.’ Sakamoto’s 2024 season started with the Tour of Colombia in February, then back to Spain for a few days before flying out to the UAE Tour. ‘It’s then back to Italy for Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo and the Giro. For me, this is the dream job.’ • This article originally appeared in issue 150 of Cyclist magazine. Click here to subscribe The post The people behind a WorldTour team #3: The soigneur appeared first on Cyclist.

Arnaud De Lie has been having a very difficult start to the season, and is going through the first major setback of his young career. Lotto Dstny have decided to take him out of racing for the time being which means he will not make his debut at the Tour of Flanders. This is the result of several se...

Cyclist Pro Log: Is there anything Tadej Pogačar can’t do? Welcome back to another edition of Pro Log. As you can guess from the title, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has dominated headlines recently, winning the Volta a Catalunya with four stage victories, the points jersey and mountains jersey to boot. But it’s not just his victories, it’s the manner in which he claimed them that is so impressive. More on that soon. At Brugge-De Panne, both Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won through bunch sprints. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) soloed to the E3 Saxo Bank Classic victory, with Jasper Stuyven (Lidk-Trek) and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) finishing over a minute and a half down. Yesterday, at Gent-Wevelgem, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) edged out Balsamo in a photo finish while Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) beat Van der Poel to the line. Related Posts Cycling spring Classics 2024: Race dates, Monuments, cobbles and live TV guide Tadej Pogačar continues to be a problem for the peloton Tadej Pogačar can do it all. Solo victories, mountaintop wins and now… bunch sprints. At least that was the case during the 145.5km final stage of the Volta a Catalunya. It wasn’t a straightforward sprint day however, with six ascents of the Alt del Castell de Montjuïc paining the legs, but a bunch would contest a fast-paced finish. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) tried to break away in the final 2.5km, but couldn’t distance the rest, being caught just after the flamme rouge. What can't Tadej Pogacar do!? We are running out of words to describe this man! The Slovenian wins the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya in a bunch sprint to win his fourth stage of the event! #VoltaaCatalunya | @TamauPogi | @TeamEmiratesUAE pic.twitter.com/peCUOCJQtW— Eurosport (@eurosport) March 24, 2024 This marked Pogačar’s fourth win of the stage race. He won Stage 2, 3 and 6 via a breakaway, his longest coming on the sixth day at 30km solo. His Stage 7 victory is probably the most audacious. After the week he’s had, of course Pogačar would be there to contest the sprint. Sure, it was ahead of Dorian Godon (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), but the point stands. He’s always there or thereabouts. Like an annoying, talented gnat. Salute to Mathieu van der Poel The E3 Saxo Bank Classic scales climbs used in the upcoming Tour of Flanders, although reverses the ascents of the Paterberg/Oude Kwaremont combination. It was on the Paterberg that Van der Poel made his move, going over the top solo and distancing the field. But whilst this was happening, main rival Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), who won the race in 2022 and 2023, crashed on the Paterberg. He came back hard, distancing the group to try and catch Van der Poel alone, but could never reel him back in. He was caught by Jasper Stuyven, the Lidl-Trek rider finishing just ahead of him in second. Let’s hope that with a winner in Van der Poel, they can advertise the race without ridiculous posters next season. A photo finish at Gent-Wevelgem It was a close call at the women’s Gent-Wevelgem. Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) tried to stage a last-ditch breakaway inside the last 3km but was caught just 500m short. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) then led out teammate Lorena Wiebes, who was sprinting side-by-side against Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) for an exciting photo finish in the women’s race. Wiebes would win just ahead of Balsamo with Chiara Consonni third for UAE Team ADQ. Meanwhile Lidl-Trek played it perfectly for the men’s Gent-Wevelgem, Jonathan Milan trying his hand at attacking with teammates Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven in a chasing group. When Milan was caught, Pedersen attacked and Milan resurged to follow followed, resulting in a four-man group containing Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ). Approaching the finish, only Pedersen and Van der Poel remained in front. The pair faced one another in a long sprint, Pedersen winning the day and Van der Poel sitting up in the last 50m. Behind, Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) won the bunch sprint for the last spot on the podium. See you next week. The post Pro Log: Is there anything Tadej Pogačar can’t do? appeared first on Cyclist.

On the opening stage of the 2024 Volta a Catalunya, there was possible more to lose than to gain for Team Visma | Lease a Bike duo, Sepp Kuss and Cian Uijtdebroeks. Thankfully, they made it through the day unscathed. “It was still quite a tough day. This way we could make a nice living. As a team we...

Tadej Pogacar was the favourite to take victory on the opening stage of the 2024 Volta a Catalunya. After a late attack from Israel - Premier Tech's Nick Schultz however, the Slovenian was forced to settle for second place. "I really enjoyed the day to be honest, it was a hard day in the saddle with...