Rest in Peace, Dutchman Harm Ottenbros who died recently at 78 years-of-age. The man was best known for his world professional road race championship title in 1969; but sadly his win has been added to the list of ‘unworthy’ world champions along with the likes of Benoni Beheyt, Luc Leblanc and Laurent Brochard.

The Race Across America (RAAM) fascinates and repels at the same time. An epic event launched in 1982, the route currently runs from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland, a distance of roughly 4,800 kms (3,000 miles). The race is not divided into stages but rather it is up to individual racers or team members how far they will ride each day, checking in at 55 stations along the way. It puts extraordinary demands on participants, whether riders or support crew, and this is superbly…

Our world of cycling offers so much variety, from commuting, singletracking, bikepacking or, if you have an amazing sense of balance, you can impress by riding indoors in circles during the UCI Art Cycling Championships. There are all kinds of different cycling events to watch and, as a new documentary on GCN+ reveals, you can be a bicycle collector in a completely unique style.

Everyone's favourite dysfunctional team returns to you-are-there video as Season 2 of “The Least Expected Day,” a very intimate portrait of Movistar, the World Tour professional cycling team that just can't seem to get it together, streams worldwide on Netflix.

The Amstel Gold Race normally signals the start of the Ardennes Classics and the climbers come out of the woodwork. Raced over the hills, dales, and forests of south eastern Holland, the course selects its own worthy winner. Twenty-seven years ago it was Mauro Gianetti who was making the news.

Cycling offers a grand buffet of disciplines, from the narrow specialities of track racing to the diversity needed for the open road, mountains or the looney antics of cyclocross. The origins, history and present state of road racing are nicely summarized in author Chris Sidwells' book, “The Call of the Road: The History of Cycle Road Racing.”

The Giro d'Italia has been won more than once by 22 riders, but only eight of riders have managed to win consecutive races. In the postwar period, only Coppi, Merckx and Indurain have managed. Oh, and a somewhat lesser figure-Franco Balmamion, who is the subject of a beautiful book from Rapha Editions that is as much a loving ode to cycling fandom and Italian quirkiness as it is about Balmamion.

It's Gent - Wevelgem 1974; you've made it over the savage Kemmel climb twice with the lead group and survived hanging on the back of an Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck driven purge on the run-in; there are 17 guys left, so maybe you would settle for a top ten? Not if your name is Barry Hoban and you feel that the 'over-drive' is in your legs.

I connected with a source in Russia who agreed to answer questions about life in his country since Ukraine was invaded. They agreed to answer my questions only with complete anonymity.