Tag: Chinese Races

It's a long way from Copenhagen to Sanremo. Last autumn we saw Saxo Bank's Michael Mørkøv ride the classic 'sit in and sprint' race in the Copenhagen Worlds netting 18th and best home rider among the absolute cream of world cycling.

"Ooooohhhhhhh!" The moan echoes around the bar; these boys are aficionados, they all know that solid Astana Dane, Michael Valgren Andersen isn't coming back - he timed his jump to perfection, there was that fatal second or two of hesitation among the frozen men behind him and he was gone, en route to win Het Nieuwsblad 2018.

With Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling rider Cameron Jeffers recently taking the first big road event of the season – The Eddie Soens Memorial Handicap at Aintree we thought it might be a good time to catch up with some of the names on the team who caught our eye – a young Scot entering the pro ranks, a man continuing on his comeback trail and a man with World Tour T-shirts to his name…

‘Back in the day’ when he was World Team Sprint Champion and a silver medallist in the World Individual Sprint Championship we used to speak to Scottish fast man Craig Maclean on a regular basis. Since then he’s gone on to be a successful tandem pilot on the paralympic scene and, he’s gone into coaching – as well as ‘playing in the band.’ High times VeloVeritas ‘had a word.’

Giro or not, we had to do our final catch up with a man who doesn't just talk about racing - he's in the saddle, jousting with old war horses like Kirsipuu and Eeckhout; Rab Wardell. As we approached the Monte Petrano climb, yesterday I caught up with Rab, back in the Old Country, via the wonders of digital technology.

In part one of the interview respected and award-winning Irish journalist David Walsh discussed his interest in Lance Armstrong's motivation, his willingness to take part in a lobby of Irish cycling clubs to call for an EGM so that Pat McQuaid's nomination for a third term as UCI President was not backed, and recounted some startling stories including Johan Bruyneel shooting up with cortisone just for fun. Here in part two Walsh tells us about his time spent with Team Sky during their training blocks in Tenerife, what's happening with the action group "Change Cycling Now" and exactly what he thinks about Garmin rider Dan Martin's win in Liège last Sunday...