07.00, Saturday, San Remo - a dream come true. I've been to, I can't remember how many Tours, a clutch of Vueltas and Giros, but there's something special about wakening-up here. The Via Roma is just two streets away and the Poggio is a five minute drive - all those boyhood hours spent staring at pictures of Eddy Merckx notching-up his seven wins - and here I am.
We didn't get to very many races in 2020 due of course to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the clear memory of this year is of everyone simply trying to do their best to get through this awful situation. Even when riders were locked-down they were finding ingenious ways and methods to keep fit and maintain that hard-won condition, but with constant uncertainty around dates for a return to competition, it was a difficult balancing act.
Chorges...this must be the place; Andrei Greipel’s pedalling back to his hotel, the road’s blocked with cars, buses and civilians. Yes, it’s the finish of the 32 kilometre mountain time trial – trouble is that we want to be at the start and the satnav is routing us through the finish area.
It’s almost nine years since Harry Tanfield first appeared in our pages; March 2014 - he’d just finished third to Evan Oliphant in the Gordon Arms hilly time trial in the Scottish Borders. Since those simple days of amateur time tests he’s been around the block a bit, riding in the WorldTour and domestically, but for 2023 Harry has a new team - "Tour de Tietema-Unibet".
Michael Nicholson's (Dooleys) first '50' was a 1:51 and it took him to the Scottish title on a wind swept Saturday night along the banks of the Cromarty Firth. We thought we'd better have a word with the man.
One of the names missing from Gila (one of the big US early season races) is that of Bissell’s, 21 year-old Paddy Bevin. The New Zealander preferring to keep closer to sea level as he starts his build up for the Tour of California.
Fietsenphotography's John Young has supplied us with lots of great images from the Six Day season this winter, and it's been great to focus on some racing, rather than all the other stories which mire the sport's image.
John's photos have illustrated our recent Diary pieces from Denmark, but we have lots left that we haven't used, we're sure you'll enjoy looking through them to get the flavour of the final Six of the season.