For many cycling fans, bicycling racing begins and ends with the Tour de France, but bicycle races, like the cyclists, come in many styles beyond the Grand Tours. An argument can be made that it is in the one day races, the so-called Classics, where the glory of the metier is truly found. The greatest must be the five races known collectively as The Monuments.
Sadly Brian Robinson passed away in October 2022. Brian was a pioneer for the 'British Legion' of professional cyclist who followed him across the English Channel to try their hand in the continental peloton. Brian stood on the 3rd step of the 1957 Milan-Sanremo, Ed Hood spoke to Brian about 'la Classicissima'.
PEZ's Nick O’Brien was live and in-color at the 96th la Primavera - Milan-Sanremo 2005. Now over 100 years old, the race has changed with modern times, but as Nick discovered while riding the final “capi”, dueling mano-a-mano for sprint-line glory with a roadside adversary never gets old.
It is said that people travel to see the world, or to run away from something behind them, and in his entertaining book, “The Buddha and the Bee,” author Cory Mortensen discovers that perhaps his reason for wanting to ride his bicycle from Minnesota to California was not really what he first intended.
Aerodynamics have been in the news again this week with Visma | Lease a Bike's new time trial helmet, the Giro Aerohead 2.0. It caused quite a stir on Monday when the rider's of the Dutch team used it in Tirreno-Adriatico's stage 1 time trial. This gives us the opportunity to look back at Ed Hood's take on the aerodynamic question a few years ago.
The Visma | Lease a Bike team riders had a new time trial helmet for Monday's stage 1, race against the clock, in the Italian stage race, the Tirreno-Adriatico. The Aerohead 2.0 made by Giro has a 'futuristic', some might say ugly, design. Maybe it is aerodynamic, but for sure it has caused a lot of comments, not all good.
Watching a recent YouTube video posted by Precision Fuel and Hydration, a company that supplies products to the Lotto Dstny pro cycling team as well as to athletes in other sports, having scales at the buffet at the training camp is a done thing. It reflects part of a very scientific and rather demanding approach to managing fuel intake for the riders.
ROADSIDE: Our PEZ-Man in Italy, Alessandro Federico, wasn't going to miss the 2021 Strade Bianche, but no race accreditation and the worry of being stopped by the police added new challenges. But 'Race Chasing' is Ale's speciality, if anyone could do it... Ale - Il campione race chaser.