With the 15th stage of the 2024 Tour de France over, UAE Team Emirates came through the two Pyrenean stages with flying colours, dominating the weekend, winning stages and reinforcing Tadej Pogacar's lead in the general classification.One of the Slovenian rider's loyal lieutenants is Joo Almeida,...

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CyclistLove, sweat and gears at the 1985 Tour de FranceThe two young women shook the rain from their tracksuit tops as they entered the bar. The crowded room barely gave them a second glance. It was the middle of July and the Tour de France was in town.The surrounding mountains had soaked up the warmth of the day and now a cold drizzle splintered the night. One of the women immediately spotted who she was looking for an older, well-groomed gentleman at the bar while the other found the payphone and dug out a sheet of paper and a handful of coins from the VC Fontainebleau musette she was carrying. She scanned the list of hotels and found the one she wanted. She then punched in the number and began rehearsing in her head the French phrases she would need to be put through to the correct room.Her companion, meanwhile, was leant over the bar scrutinising a map with the man. He was saying something and pointing to the numbers on a page of his notebook. A loud cheer went up as the TV news showed Frenchman Frdric Vichot winning that afternoons stage of the Tour in Toulouse.The woman at the payphone was finally connected: Martin? Its Catherine. How did it go today?From her happy demeanour it was obvious to any onlookers that she was speaking to her boyfriend. But their conversation was anything but romantic.Sprockets, Catherine. Youll need at least a 28, said Martin. Its not just the gradient, its the distance. Youll really have to pace yourself, its like nothing youve done before.The conversation at the bar was along similar lines. Instead of the typical joshing between father and daughter, it was a cold, clinical dissection of gradients and hydration strategies. Related Posts The climbs that will decide the 2024 Tour de France Pro race history: Bernard Hinault wins a frozen Lige-Bastogne-Lige in 1980 Rise of the giant: Paying homage to a Tour legend on the Col du Tourmalet Mens Tour de France 2024: Route, how to watch and all you need to know So, I rode it this morning, Maria, said the man, whose lean, tanned frame betrayed his past as a successful ex-pro and four-time participant in the Peace Race. It took me an hour and ten. Be prepared for the heat and the crowds, theres already hundreds of motorhomes parked up there.Dad, Im getting pretty used to having my bottom slapped and beer breathed all over me. I had all that in the Alps, remember?Back at the payphone, Catherine was being reminded by Martin how they had met at the previous years Olympics in Los Angeles. But not for sentimental reasons.You finished 13th then and you did your National Champions jersey proud, he said. Thats all thats expected of you now. Make Team GB proud.Her boyfriend was Martin Earley, the young Irishman who had just turned professional with the Fagor team and was riding his first Tour.Its alright for you, this is your full-time job now! she laughed. Ive got to go back to teaching PE when this is all over!She saw that Maria was kissing her father goodbye and looked at her watch.Martin, I have to go now, its almost curfew, plus Im running out of francs. Good luck tomorrow, youre doing 200 kilometres, were only doing the last 50!But thats the Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden. So make sure they put a 28 or bigger on your block. Depending on Monsieur Hinaults mood, well probably be a couple of hours behind you. Speak tomorrow night.The girls zipped up their Team GB tracksuits before running through the drizzle back to their hotel. Theyd share their newly acquired advice about gear ratios and gradients with their teammates over breakfast.After 13 stages racing on the same roads as the men, there were only four more left for the 58 remaining riders in the 1985 Tour de France Fminin.Twenty-seven-year-old Catherine Swinnerton who would give up racing the following year and marry Martin would finish 27th on GC, while 20-year-old Maria Blower whose dad, Owen, had once suffered the heartache of not being able to fulfil a late call-up to the Tour because hed lent his racing wheels to another rider would finish 22nd.But for now, both faced a restless night at the foot of the Tourmalet Related Posts The climbs that will decide the 2024 Tour de France Pro race history: Bernard Hinault wins a frozen Lige-Bastogne-Lige in 1980 Rise of the giant: Paying homage to a Tour legend on the Col du Tourmalet Mens Tour de France 2024: Route, how to watch and all you need to know This article originally appeared in issue 154 of Cyclist magazine. Click here to subscribeThe post Love, sweat and gears at the 1985 Tour de France appeared first on Cyclist.

CyclistPro Log: Tour de France crisp man arrested, Elisa Longo Borghini wins Giro dItalia Women, Josh Tarling extends with Ineos GrenadiersWelcome back to another edition of Pro Log.The Tour de France is on the second rest day before the final slog to Nice. Tadej Pogaar (UAE Team Emirates) continues to wear the yellow jersey and has a lead of 3min 09sec over closest competitor Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) fought off stiff competition from Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) to win the Giro dItalia Women by 21 seconds as Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) won the final stage of the race from the breakaway. Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) completed the podium in third overall and won the queen stage on Blockhaus.Marlen Reusser (SD Worx-Protime) has revealed she will miss the Olympics due to a post-infectious syndrome. The Swiss rider, who won a silver medal at the last Olympic Games in the individual time-trial, will now aim to rest and recover before the World Championships in Zurich in September.Tadej Pogaar leads the Tour de FranceA.S.O./Charly LopezTadej Pogaar continues to dominate the Tour de France in his quest to win the maillot jaune for the first time since 2021. He looks in good shape to do so, winning back-to-back mountain stages with hors categorie summit finishes at the end of the second week.Vingegaard continues to fight, however, consistently the second-place finisher to Pogaar, and even managing to out-sprint the Slovenian on Stage 11. On that same day, Primo Rogli (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) crashed in the final kilometres, followed by another crash the next day, which would prove too much and he abandoned the Tour the following day. Elsewhere, the sprinters faced an uphill struggle to finish within the time limit on Stage 15. Riders had to scale four Category 1 climbs in the Pyrenees before the final test of the Plateau de Beille in the time limit. A gruppetto of the last men on the road formed early in the stage and persisted to the finish line. Mark Cavendish was shepherded by his Astana Qazaqstan teammates Davide Ballerini, Alexey Lutsenko and Cees Bol, while Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) and Arnaud Dmare (ArkaB&B Hotels) were a further minute behind, 52 minutes down on Pogaar.Unfortunately the final man on the road, Bram Welten (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), finished almost four minutes outside of the time cut and was forced to leave the Tour on his debut. Related Posts Cyclists Tour de France predictions 2024 The climbs that will decide the 2024 Tour de France How to watch the Tour de France 2024 Mens Tour de France 2024: Route, how to watch and all you need to know Spectator arrested at Tour de FranceA man who threw crisps in the faces of Pogaar and Vingegaard at the Tour was arrested for aggravated violence while in a drunk state and has since been released from jail with no charges filed. The spectator was captured on TV cameras on Stage 14 as the race scaled Pla dAdet. We have information that the Gendarmerie have already found and arrested the man who did this act and spent the last night in jail. We thank the Gendarmerie for their fast great work, and this is a sign not to do this to the cyclist. Please be responsible and respect the riders. https://t.co/n9zqBwgbWs Adam Hansen (@HansenAdam) July 14, 2024 Adam Hansen, president of the riders union, released a statement on X to state it would be seeking further legal action.Elisa Longo Borghini victorious at Giro dItalia WomenLa PresseElisa Longo Borghini (Lidl Trek) has won her first maglia rosa after beating Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) by 21 seconds at the Giro dItalia Women. Longo Borghini led the race from the individual time-trial on Stage 1 and never relinquished her advantage. Kopecky climbed up to second overall after Stage 3 and her sprint victory on Stage 5 helped close the deficit.It all came down to a thrilling final day. Kopecky sat just one second behind Longo Borghini on GC. On a stage won by Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) of Mauritius in a three-up sprint from the breakaway, Longo Borghini was able to power ahead of Kopecky in the final kilometre and finish 20 seconds ahead of her rival. The victory sealed Italys first maglia rosa since Fabiana Luperini in 2008.Results powered by FirstCycling.comAfter the final stage, Longo Borghini said, People were doubting, they were like Oh, Kopecky will outsprint you. I just wanted to cross the line with the maglia rosa and to show everybody I was the strongest and that Lidl-Trek is the strongest team. I like the adrenaline when its about one second; I like the head-to-head fight and I like to fight until the end.When I see the finish line I just see red, like a bull, and I want to go straight to it. Today I really wanted to give it back to Kopecky I was nervous in a very good way and I was like, Im going to crack you, no matter what.Josh Tarling extends with Ineos GrenadiersJosh Tarling 2027We're thrilled to announce that Josh will race as a Grenadier until the end of 2027 after signing a new multi-year deal pic.twitter.com/4u2dYRhZgl INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) July 15, 2024 British National Time-Trial Champion Josh Tarling has signed a contract extension with Ineos Grenadiers that will keep him at the team through to the end of 2027. 20-year-old Tarling, who turned professional with the team in 2023, has excelled in time-trialling, winning National and European titles for Great Britain. Last year he finished third at the World Championships behind Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) and Filippo Ganna (Italy).His first WorldTour win on the road came at the Renewi Tour in 2023, when he beat Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) by 14 seconds in the 13.6km time-trial. He equalled the record for being the youngest winner of a WorldTour race in the process, matching Evenepoel (at the Clsica San Sebastin in 2019) as being 19 years and 190 days old at the time of his success.Tarling is hoping for a podium for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.See you next week. Related Posts Cyclists Tour de France predictions 2024 The climbs that will decide the 2024 Tour de France How to watch the Tour de France 2024 Mens Tour de France 2024: Route, how to watch and all you need to know The post Pro Log: Tour de France crisp man arrested, Elisa Longo Borghini wins Giro dItalia Women, Josh Tarling extends with Ineos Grenadiers appeared first on Cyclist.

At the 2024 Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard is without his trusty lieutenant of past Grand Tours, Sepp Kuss. After being forced out of the Tour with a positive Covid test, the American is now back on his bike at altitude, training alongside some Team Visma | Lease a Bike teammates with the Vuelta a...

CyclistThe winners and losers of the second week of the Tour de France 2024After a blistering first week of history-making, French breakaways and early-race GC splits, the 2024 Tour de France has marinated into its second week. Now 15 stages in, the race pauses to allow the riders to rest up before one final push to the line in Nice.On its second rest day, Tadej Pogaar leads the overall classification with a 3:09 advantage over Jonas Vingegaard and a 5:19 buffer to Remco Evenepoel in third. Biniam Girmay continues to wear the green jersey, Tadej Pogaar is in the polka-dots (although, this will be worn in lieu by Jonas Vingegaard), and Remco Evenepoel has a firm grip on the white jersey.Lets look back on Stages 10 to 15 and draw some conclusions about the race. Who excelled in the middle section of the race, and who was left disappointed last week?Winner: Tadej Pogaar A.S.O./Charly LopezOf course, Tadej Pogaar leads this list. At the end of the first week, Pogaar had already prepared us for an impending GC strike in the mountains after having won the first mountain stage in Valloire.In the second week, though, Pogaar has risen to the top of the GC standings with a three-minute gap to Jonas Vingegaard and a five-minute lead over Remco Evenepoel. Along the way, he claimed two stage wins and came close to another at Le Lioran on Stage 11.There is no doubt that Pogaar is the strongest rider in the race. He has smashed climbing records (more on that to come) and dismantled the opposition with ease.It would take a miracle comeback for anyone to overtake the Slovenian in his quest for a historic Giro-Tour double.Look out for Tadejs race-leading Colnago V4Rs Related Posts The winners and losers of the first week of the Tour de France 2024 Cyclists Tour de France predictions 2024 The climbs that will decide the 2024 Tour de France How to watch the Tour de France 2024 Mens Tour de France 2024: Route, how to watch and all you need to know Winner: Jasper PhilipsenA.S.O./Billy CeustersThe most improved rider of the week is undoubtedly Jasper Philipsen. After a disappointing first week, Jasper made it onto the losers section of last weeks review. Since then, he has improved greatly and has two stage wins to show for it.The first of these wins came in Saint-Amand-Montrond courtesy of a perfect leadout from Mathieu van der Poel. After a low-key first week, the two finally managed to break through the sprinting chaos. Similarly on Stage 13 in Pau, Philipsens kick was unmatched by his rivals, paving the way to another stage win.Although Philipsen does not top the green jersey rankings, he has made some inroads in that classification. The Belgian fastman now sits 86 points behind Biniam Girmay. To overhaul this deficit, his Alpecin-Deceuninck team will need to keep a tight leash in the breakaway during the remaining sprinting days and hope Girmay suffers some bad luck.Check out Jasper Philipsens unreleased Canyon Aeroad he won two stages on boardWinner: Climbing recordsA.S.O./Charly LopezWhatever you think about climbing records, the Pyrenean KOMs have received a right hammering this weekend.On Stage 15s summit finish to Plateau de Beille, Pogaar smashed the time of Marco Pantani up the climb by 5min 47sec. Twitter user NaichacaCycling has calculated an estimated watts per kilo of6.98 for this effort. For those unenlightened, 7W/kg is considered an all-time performance. On a climb of Plateau de Beilles length, Pogaars effort sits among the greatest of all time.The day before at Pla dAdet, this calculation produced a watts per kilo score of 6.85. Pogaars 27min 50sec climb is two minutes faster than the time of Lance Armstrong in 2001, and far faster than any recent attempts on the climb. With such records, we have some confidence in saying that we are in a golden era of cycling performance.Winner: Soudal-QuickStepA.S.O./Billy CeustersSoudal-QuickStep usually target the sprints at the Tour de France, but in 2024, the Belgian team have been leaving their mark in the GC.After a solid week of racing, Remco Evenepoel has made substantial progress on his podium bid. The Belgian leader has placed himself solidly as the third-best rider in the race, now with a five-minute buffer to both Pogaar in the lead and Joo Almeida in fourth.Elsewhere, Mikel Landa is back to his best. At Plateau de Beille, Landa performed above expectations to claim fourth place on the stage. That enabled the Basque rider to jump up to fifth in the overall standings, an improvement of three places from the first rest day.Winner: The super-domestiquesA.S.O./Charly LopezThe top ten of this years Tour de France features fewer teams than normal. This is due to the rise of the super-domestiques.Apart from the aforementioned Mikel Landa, two teammates have stood out during this second week: Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates). Both riders suffered disappointing opening weeks. Yates sat in 12th at the last rest day and Jorgenson was in 10th. Through the second week, both have moved up the pecking order despite supporting their respective team leaders. Yates gained some time back after a solid ride to Le Lioran, but made his most significant GC advances in the Pyrenees. Altogether, this has moved Yates, last years third-place finisher into seventh overall.Jorgenson, on the other hand, has become Visma-Lease a Bikes most reliable domestique in the mountains. Without Sepp Kuss, the Idaho-raised rider has yo-yoed on the fringes of top ten. In spite of the stacked startlist of out-and-out leaders, the super-domestiques have proven a steady force within the top ten of GC in this latter half of the Tour.Loser: Primo RogliA.S.O./Charly LopezIt wouldnt be a Rogli Tour de France without a little bit of rough and tumble. Yes, there are no prizes for guessing that the Slovenian would feature on this list. Battered and bruised already, Rogli was handed a killer blow in the second week of racing. Out of the Tour for the third time in a row, it hurts to say that Rogli was a write-off in the second week.His woes began on Stage 11 where he crashed on a hairpin with only a couple of kilometres to go. Able to finish the stage, we were led to believe that this was an innocent spell of typical Rogli clumsiness. However, the following day, Rogli would crash more heavily in a mass pileup during the approach to the sprint finale. His teammates would help to chase on, but the injuries picked up would be too severe for his Tour to continue.Red Bull-Bora-Hangrohe narrowly escaped another inclusion in the losers section this week. The teams two top guns in the GC Rogli and Vlasov have been forced to abandon, and stage-hunting fortunes have not blossomed so far.Loser: The breakawayA.S.O./Billy CeustersUsually, the second week is prime breakaway territory. With the GC battle settled down, the escapees often make it all the way. However, the breakaways were far from lucky in the second week of racing of the 2024 Tour de France.EF Education-EasyPost punched above their weight in the mountain breakaways, courtesy of Richard Carapaz and Ben Healy, and the more GC-bare squads have been in search of a vital win. Despite their efforts, no breakaway went all the way during the second week of racing. The GC favourites scooped up all the mountain stages and the sprinters swept up all the flat stages on offer.With one week left, itll be up to UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike as to whether the breakaways will succeed.Loser: GC tensionA.S.O./Billy CeustersFor the first time since the Vingegaard-Pogaar rivalry emerged in 2022, the GC tension between the two leaders seems to have fizzled out by the end of the second week. Despite the presence of Remco Evenepoel and Primo Rogli at this years Tour, the GC fight has been seemingly decided much sooner than before.Pogacars attacks on the Plateau de Beille look at have put any GC tension to bed. To add, Pogaar has won all three high mountain stages so far (Stages 4, 14 and 15). He has proved that he is the strongest climber by far at this Tour de France. Similarly, UAE Team Emirates have proved that they are the strongest team in the mountains, even if Juan Ayuso abandoned halfway through the second week.The only wobble so far came in the Massif Central where Jonas Vingegaard outgunned Pogaar in a final sprint to the line. However, since then, Pogaar has gained two minutes on the Dane, extending his lead out to a mammoth 3min 9sec in the GC. It will take a big effort from Visma-Lease a Bike to overturn that deficit.Losers: Crashes and IllnessANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty ImagesThe 2024 Tour de France was largely unaffected by crashes and illness during its first week. However, this luck ran out during the second bloc of racing.Crashes have reared their ugly head this week. Primo Rogli is the most high-profile casualty, while Bahrains Pello Bilbao and Fred Wright abandoned and timed out of the race respectively. In the sprint finale to Stage 13, Amaury Capiot and Maxim van Gils collided, causing a mass pileup against the barriers. Capiot eventually exited the race after trying to remain in the fight the day after.The Tour de France has also been a hive of illness over the week. Juan Ayuso contracted Covid early in the week, forcing him to abandon. Likewise, Geraint Thomas has confirmed that he is struggling with Covid after his teammate Tom Pidcock was sent home after testing positive. Stage 9 winner Anthony Turgis has confirmed his Covid diagnosis and Cavendishs leadout man Michael Mrkv also retired from the Tour following a Covid diagnosis.The Ineos leader Carlos Rodrguez described Covid as the invisible rival. Fingers crossed no other favourites fall ill in the final week of racing. In response, the Tour has reintroduced mask-wearing rules for race organisers, media and guests.Losers: The crisps manA.S.O.After Stage 14s summit finish to Pla dAdet, a new villain emerged at the Tour de France: crisps man.With a Breton flag draped around his neck, this spectator waved his bag of crisps in the way of both Tadej Pogaar and Jonas Vingegaard on the slopes of the Pyrenean mountain. Little did the spectator know that he was caught in HD on the TV broadcast.Le Parisien reported thatthe man was arrested for aggravated violence and faced questioning on Sunday.Witnesses on the climb say that the spectator was caught by police shortly after the lead riders came past.The vandal was met with widespread negative reporting online and on social media. There was quite a bit of booing and someone was throwing chips, I heard also they threw the chips at Tadej and thats strange to do, Jonas Vingegaard recounts.We hope that fewer snacks will be thrown on the riders during the final week of the race. Related Posts The winners and losers of the first week of the Tour de France 2024 Cyclists Tour de France predictions 2024 The climbs that will decide the 2024 Tour de France How to watch the Tour de France 2024 Mens Tour de France 2024: Route, how to watch and all you need to know The post The winners and losers of the second week of the Tour de France 2024 appeared first on Cyclist.

For the INEOS Grenadiers, the 2024 Tour de France has been something of a disappointment. Tom Pidcock was forced to abandon due to Covid, Geraint Thomas has also tested positive but continues with lesser legs and on Sunday's stage 15, team leader Carlos Rodriguez saw his podium hopes ride up the roa...

Every cyclist needs a complete guide to stretching, to prevent cycling knee and hip pain, and injuries in general. This post explains why cyclists need to stretch, describes the focus areas that cyclists need to prioritize, and introduces you to the most important stretches you need to do to prevent pain. Cycling knee and hip pain in particular is a major concern for many cyclists. The stretches in this post are an easy way to prevent cycling knee pain and hip pain. We also include some basic exercises, if you want to be even more proactive! This post also includes two videos to show you how easy these moves actually are.The post Complete Guide to Stretching for Cyclists appeared first on Average Joe Cyclist.

INEOS Grenadiers is currently in a bit of a pickle. Team leaderCarlos Rodriguezis still in contention for a top 5 result in the GC, however the rest of the team is in the corner where the blows are falling. Last hit came when Egan Bernal, fighting with a cold, had to completely give up to on his G...

Tadej Pogacar's victory gesture on top of the Plateau de Beille may well have been well thought out. The Slovenian yellow jersey contender showed off his watch worth around 340,000 euros.The 25-year-old superstar pounded his chest like a superhero and then clenched both fists. On one of Pogi's wrist...