Jan Ullrich has revealed a reassuring private exchange with Florian Lipowitz after the crash that brought the Germans second successive Tour de France podium challenge to an abrupt end. Lipowitz underwent surgery on a broken right collarbone after sliding out during Tuesdays individual time trial...

Barefoot cycling?Sure, people do it, but is it, like, a thing?Well, it could be:Because people are now realizing the footbinding tradition that has dominated cycling for at least the last three decades (super stiff, super snug, etc.) is not optimal for performance:Not only can having stronger, more comfortable feet benefit overall health, but as founder at the eponymousPhil Burt Innovationand former Head of Physiotherapy Burt explains, getting the most out of your feet can drastically improve power output, a discovery he made ahead of the Rio Olympics.Having created custom, moulded shoes for track riders, he discovered quite amazing uplifts in power, something he put down to the fact that the foot, all of a sudden, wasnt wiggling around in the shoeComing into my own as a Fred, I always took for granted that when it came to cycling shoes, stiffer was better. No, I didnt seek out the stiffest shoe I could or anything like that, but I also didnt have to, because all of them were pretty stiff, and youd have to go out of your way to find a pair that wasnt. It was the writing of Grant Petersen that made me realize that the whole stiff shoe thing doesnt make any sense, and while I dont have time to find where exactly he explains it, I seem to recall the example that really drove it home for me was that you dont need a stiff sole to walk up a flight of stairs, so why the hell do you need one to sprint on a bicycle?Clearly more and more people are also realizing this, and its creating an exciting new business opportunity for the enterprising cordwainer:No doubt the Fred Set will soon take notice, because while they may not listen to some guy who paints his own pedals and is arguably overenthusiastic about twine, they always stand ready to Follow The Science:As a graduate student at the University of Colorado, Tripp Hurt co-authored two scientific papers on cycling shoe stiffness, examining how that stiffness affected sprint performance. The conclusion of both studies: It doesnt.Ninety-nine percent of people, (a stiff shoe) does not give any performance benefit theres no benefit, said Hurt, a former top runner whose degree is in mechanical engineering. After college he worked as a biomechanist at the Brooks running shoe brand before starting Brevay, a cycling shoe brand, with partners.Of course the most effective real world solution to harnessing the power of toe splay and maximizing your foots biomechanics while riding the bike is probably to just use flat pedals and wear sneakers. But this is cycling were talking about and sorry, thats not gonna fly. So you can expect to see a flood of $5,000 clipless finger-toe monstrosities soon:[The image above is 100% AI, because I am part of the problem.]Or, perhaps cycling shoes will evolve into ultralight Kevlar mesh ballet flats, only with cleats:[The above image is not AI, I just stole it.]At which point we have finally come full circle:[Also stolen.]Just like with tires, which started out plump:Got super skinny:And have now fattened up again, much to the delight of cycling journalists who seem to enjoy nothing more than running around race starts with measuring calipers:Oooh, this tires 31.6mm. Wait, this tires 32.3 mm! Who cares?!? It almost makes me miss the days when all they cared about was weight.Anyway, the older I get the less certain I am about anything, and this is especially true when it comes to bikes. Mostlly, Ive just learned how little I know. However, after all these years, there are three things I have come to understand about cycling, and they are:Everything comes back around eventuallyWhen something does come back around, it boomerangs with such force it quickly becomes ridiculous (to wit: how quicky we went from You know, tires should be a little wider, to 15 Reasons You Need To Buy A 32-inch Gravel Bike With 55mm Tires TodayGrant Petersen should be getting a royalty on pretty much everythingOnce you come to terms with these three things nothing else will ever surprise you.

Good morning and welcome to the liveblog of Stage 19 of the Tour de France. Today marks the long-awaited first day of the Alpine double-header, with the legendary finish atop Alpe d'Huez, and could prove to be the moment when the race's biggest questions begin to be answered. Over the next few hours...

Tadej Pogaar celebrated his fifth stage win of this years Tour de France after a record setting performance on Alpe dHuez.The Slovenian set a new record time of 35:27 up the storied climb breaking the record set by Marco Pantani in 1997.Pogaar has now racked up 26 stage wins in his career, just nine shy of Mark Cavendishs record. There had been much speculation over whether the UAE Emirates-XRG leader might be affected by stomach sickness sweeping its way through the team, but he showed no signs of that being the case as he left the GC riders in his wake on Alpe dHuezs early slopes.With just one more mountain stage left in todays race his grip on the yellow jersey now appears unassailable.It is Pogaar's first win on the storied slopes of The Alpe and just the second by any rider wearing the yellow jersey after Geraint Thomas in 2018.Until the UAE Emirates-XRG leaders unprecedented display the stage had unfolded in much the way many observers had expected, straight form the flag drop the course climbed and soon a breakaway of 41 riders formed. Both Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) competed for the king of them ountain points at the top of the second category climb. The Frenchman had started the day just one point off Tadej Pogaars lead in that competition with Carapaz a further six points back.Paret-Peintre beat the Ecuadorian to claim the maximum 5 points, while Carapaz picked up three for second.That climb was soon followed by the first cat Col du Noyer and the break built up a lead of over three minutes by its summit.There Paret-Peintre once against bested Carpaz in the sprint for the mountain points extended his gap to the Ef Education-EasyPost rider by another two points.The descent off the climb flowed into a series of flat to rolling roads before the intermediate sprint at the bottom of the penultimate climb.But as the breakaway approached the bottom of the penultimate climb Paret-Pientre was dropped leaving and opening for Carapaz to capitalize in the king of the mountains competitions. He took full advantage on the Col dOrnon taking the maximum five points on the second category climb.(Image credit: Getty Images)As the race reached the first of Alpe dHuezs famous 21 bends the front group had already been whittled down to just 13 riders. Among them was Carapaz. Before it reached its next bend Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) attacked taking a group of three other riders with him.In the GC group Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), who sat fifth on GC, both fell out of the back swiftly as the gradients hit.Soon afterward Tadej Pogaar launched an attack and bridged up UAE Emirates-XRG team-mate Adam Yates, whod spent the day in the breakaway and now proceeded to set pace for the Slovenian.Up ahead Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked, dropping Arensman and leaving a trio of Kuss, Carapaz and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) out front. However, the yellow jersey, in Yates wheel, was eating into their advantage.With 10km to go Pogaar had put 30 seconds between him and the rest of the GC pack.Just over a kilometre later Carapaz accelerated taking just Martinez with him but Kuss, riding tempo bridged back up to the front pair.With 6.7km to race Kuss made an acceleration of his own but was marked by the other two breakaway companions.Just outside of the 5km mark Carpaz went once again but again Martinez marked him and Kuss clawed his way back up to them. By now Pogaar had a lead of almost two minutes on the GC group.He was eating up the gap to the leaders too and under 4km to go banner could finally see them up ahead.Perhaps sensing the danger, Kuss attacked just before the Slovenian could make contact but a counter-attack from Carapaz was the first to finally break free.With 1.7km to go Pogaar caught Carapaz with Martinez now in his wheel and the three rode into the ski resort at the top of the mountain together. The Slovenian tried to attack them but couldnt get away.Under the flamme rouge he tried again and this time the gap began to open. Martinez attacked Carapaz in the final straight but Pogaar, making a good case to be the greatest of all time, was well out of reach. ResultsTour de France 2026, stage 19: Gap > Alpe dHuez (127km)1. Tadej Pogaar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 127.9km in 3:17:572. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +6s3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +9s4. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:145. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +2:076. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +2:297. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:418. Mathias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +2:459. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, at same time10. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +3:22General classificaion after stage 191. Tadej Pogaar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 67:53:002. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +7:113. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +9:424. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +10:065. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain-Victorious, +13:006. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+13:097. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +15:588. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +21:159. Tom Pidcock (Gbr), Pinarello Q36.5, +21:3010. Jordan Jegat (Fra) ToralEnergies, +23:21

The 2026 Tour de France classifications will shift across three weeks of racing, from the Grand Dpart in Barcelona on 4 July to the final stage in Paris on 26 July. Across time trials, sprint stages, breakaway opportunities, and the high mountains, each day can alter the shape of the race for the y...

This weeks Debrief features a deep black Surly Bridge Club, collapsible bottles from Restrap, Snow Peak's stacking mug set, a tiny inflator, reduced eeSilk pricing, new Moots apparel, fresh bikepacking videos, a few events to follow live, and more. Find it all hereThe post Friday Debrief: Squid Ink Bridge Club, Restrap Soft Flasks, Experiments in Distance, Cheaper Cane Creek, and More appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

Tadej Pogaar has set a new record of 35 minutes and 27 seconds up Alpe dHuez on stage 19 of the Tour de France, after questions were raised about the health of the champions UAE Team Emirates XRG teammates.Pogaar attacked on the first of Alpe dHuezs 21 bends and quickly began to claw back time on the breakaway, which included Sepp Kuss and Richard Carapaz, who won stage 18 and had hoped to claim king of the mountain points.After his attack, Pogaar quickly met his teammate Adam Yates who had dropped back from the breakaway. Yates had suffered from a virus earlier in the week, but plugged away and helped set the pace for Pogaar.With 9.5km to go, Pogaar left Yates and continued to chase to the lead group, which continued to pick up the pace knowing the defending champion was closing down the gap.Only Lenny Martinez could stick with Carapazs brief attack with 8.5km to go, but Kuss managed to get back to the duo as the three began to work together.Carapaz launched a second attack before Kuss unleashed a counter and the trio came back together once again.Despite their efforts, Pogaar was in formidable form. The defending champion was quickly passing riders on the road and reducing the gap to Carapaz, Kuss and Martinez, as he headed through the thick crowds.The break had 3 minutes 25 seconds over Pogaar at the start of the climb. But with 5.6km to go, the gap had dwindled to just 1 minute and 1km later it was down to 34 seconds.Carapaz and Kusss attacks, and the surge in pace made it look as if the lead group would stay away.Yet, with 4km to go, Pogaar could see the leading trio up the road, and it became only a matter of time before the Slovenian would catch them.Pogaar eventually passed Kuss and Martinez, who managed to stay on the Slovenians wheel, leaving only Carapaz in front. Pogaar caught the EF Education Easy-Post rider with 1.6km to go as the games began for the stage win.Pogaar looked as if he couldnt shake Carapaz and Martinez, but within the last kilometre he attacked and left the two riders for dust, claiming the stage and setting a new record on one of the Tours most iconic climbs.That record of 35 minutes and 27 seconds smashes the previous record, which had stood for nearly three decades. It was back in 1997 that Marco Pantani set a time of 37 minutes and 35 seconds.Pantani set his record when the official Alpe dHuez climb was slightly longer at 14.5km, whereas today it measures 13.8km.

Sprinter Mark Cavendish is the rider with the record for the most Tour de France stage wins. The Manxman took his first win in 2008 at Chateauroux riding for Team Colombia and took number 35, 16 years later in Saint Vulbas riding for XDS Astana.The record makes Cavendish the greatest sprinter in Tour de France history as the riders directly below him in the list are all GC riders until number six, Andr Darrigade, who won his stages in the late 50s and early 60s. Below him, Freddy Maertens won 15 stages and Marcel Kittel, a rival of Cavendish's for several seasons, is on 14.Part of Cavendish's success was the length of his career as a successful bunch sprinter. Darrigade won his stages over an 11 year period, while Maertens was successful over six years while Marcel Kittel packed his wins into just five years. The only rider in the list still competing is Tadej Pogaar who, after his win on Alpe d'Huez, hit 26. Whether or not he beats Cavendish would seem to depend on how long the Slovenian keeps riding as he is still only 27 years old. His 26 wins come from seven editions of the race, an average of 3.7 stage wins a year.Tour de France stage wins1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) 352. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 343. Bernhard Hinault (Fra) 284. Tadej Pogaar* (Slo) 265. Andr Leducq (Fra) 256. Andr Darrigade (Fra) 227. Nicolas Frantz (Lux) 208. Franois Faber (Lux) 199. Jean Alavoine (Fra) 17=10. Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 16=10. Ren Le Greves (Fra) 16=10. Charles Pelissier (Fra) 1613. Freddy Maertens (Bel) 1514. Marcel Kittel (Ger) 1415. Philippe Thys (Bel) 13*Rider still competingTour de France days in yellow(Image credit: Yuzuru Sunada)Tadej Pogaar is also climbing up the list riders with the most days in the yellow jersey. As he heads for a fifth win from seven attempts (that included two second places) since 2020, he has rarely been out of yellow. Although his first Tour win in 2020 resulted in just one day in yellow after he took the lead on the penultimate day with a sensational mountain time trial up La Planche de Belles Filles, which saw him snatch yellow from his countryman Primoz Rogli. 1, Eddy Merckx (Bel) 962. Bernard Hinault (Fra) 753. Tadej Pogaar* (Slo) 694. Miguel Indurain (Esp) 605. Chris Froome (GBr) 596. Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 507. Antonin Magne (Fra) 38=8. Nicolas Frantz (Fra) 37=8. Philippe Thys (Bel) 3710. Andr Leducq (Fra) 35Number of Tour de France General Classification wins =1. Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 5=1. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 5=1. Bernard Hinault (Fra) 5 =1. Miguel Indurain (Esp) 5=5. Tadej Pogaar* (Slo) 4=5. Chris Froome (GBr) 4=7. Philippe Thys (Bel) 3=7. Louison Bobet (Fra) 3=7. Greg LeMond (USA) 313 more riders have won the Tour de France twice

Stage 19 of the Tour de France ended in the worst possible way for Einer Rubio. The Movistar Team Colombian, who was delivering an outstanding ride and was on track to finish sixth on Alpe dHuez, was forced to abandon after colliding with a UAE Team Emirates-XRG car midway up the iconic French clim...

The Rockgeist BarJam Cradle is a redesign of the innovative small makers original handlebar system. Featuring aluminum arms, this addition stabilizes the bag and provides greater support. Explore all the details belowThe post The Rockgeist BarJam Cradle Is a Modular Upgrade appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.