Friday, March 29, 2024

Monthly Archives: August, 2019

GP de Saint-Dié and Bigger Thighs; James McKay Blog

Grand Prix de Saint-Dié-des-Vosges My latest antics in the gym meant that my quads have got too big for my (non-cycling) shorts, which resulted...

FSA K-Force WE makes history at the Vuelta a España

Full Speed Ahead, the fourth electronic road groupset producer in the world, has just debuted its electronic wireless FSA K-Force WE groupset in a three-week Grand Tour with a historical triumph on Stage 5 of La Vuelta a España.

La Vuelta 2019 – Stage 4; Angel Madrazo flies to El Puig

As a wise man once said; “all good things must come to an end,” and the salida of Stage Four was our last couple of hours on the 2019 Vuelta. We’d planned a certain ‘shape’ of piece, which finished with a fantastic win for Angel Madrazo, but events of that stage and Thursday’s Stage Six rather over took our plans as abandons dominated the news.

La Vuelta 2019 – Stage 3; Ibi > Alicante, Sam Bennett Storms In

Stage Three heads back into the hills; Ibi to Alicante over 188 kilometres, not as tough as Stage Two but with two third cat. climbs, the Puertos de Biar and Tibo – due to the geography of the stage we chose the latter.

La Vuelta 2019 – Stage 2; Nairo Quintana Escapes into Calpe

Today’s stage started in Benidorm, not beside the sea but on the north side of town, away from the football strip clad, burnt red, stag and hen madness and the karaoke bars. We caught the action at three spots before Nairo Quintana stormed into Calpe for a tremendous win.

La Vuelta 2019 – Stage 1; Salinas de Torrevieja > Torrevieja TTT

VeloVeritas is back at a Grand Tour, La Vuelta 2019. This year it kicks off with a super-fast team test around the salt lagoons of Torrevieja before heading straight into the mountains on stage two - no 'easing in' to this race. Martin and Ed have taken advantage of the hospitality of VV amigo and local resident, Al Hamilton - formerly of the Dear Green Place that is Glasgow - to catch the primero quatro tappas.

Graham Kemp – National 24 Hour TT Champion 2019

We spoke to Graham Kemp (Team Bottrill) who recorded 544.32 miles to win the national 24 hour championship, eclipsing Andy Wilkinson’s 2011 total of 541.17 miles.

My pal Yordan Andreev is a National Champ! And other stories – James McKay Blog

My flatmate and team pocket-rocket Yordan Andreev returned from Bulgaria in July with some extremely defined tan-lines and a national title! He had won the national road race and podiumed in a 2.2 stage race in Macedonia. Clearly on good form and high spirits, I was hoping some of that might rub off on me; my morale was the lowest it’d been this year and performances weren’t anything to shout about...

Felice Gimondi

Felice Gimondi, Grand Tour conqueror, Classics winner, ‘chronoman’ of quality, stylist, gentleman and all-time great, rest in peace sir.

La Vuelta 2010, Stage 16 – VV Selects

The Vuelta starts in a few day's time and so in this week's 'VV Selects' we look back at our last day covering the race nine years ago, when the stage began in Gijón. We conducted the now-popular 'chat at the team buses' to hear some thoughts from DS's Gert-Jan Theunisse, Dimitri Konyshev, Hendrik Redant and Rik Van Slycke, and various riders such as on-form Carlos Barredo, Greg Van Avermaet and the late Wouter Weylandt.

Andrew Underwood – Scottish 100 Mile TT Champion 2019

There’s been a ‘changing of the guard’ in Scottish middle distance time trialling in 2019; Iain Macleod [Aberdeen Wheelers] in the '50' and now the ‘100’ with Andrew Underwood [Carse of Gowrie Velo] topping the podium he stood on a lower step of last year.

The First Women’s Tour of Scotland – from the roadside

The first Women's Tour of Scotland had some great racing, a wonderful parcours and somewhat mixed fortunes, suffering a cancelled stage and lots of rain and wind. Still, it's Scotland in August and not unexpected. Ed and Martin took in the action from the roadside.

Marcin Bialoblocki – Adds the 100 Mile TT Comp. Record to the List!

This year Marcin Bialoblocki has turned his attention to the 100 mile TT distance, winning the national title before setting out specifically to break competition record in Norfolk, last Sunday, bringing the record close to the scarcely believable 3 hours 10 minutes barrier with a 3:13:37 ride; that’s 31 miles per hour average on a course with 42 roundabouts.