Thursday, March 28, 2024

Tag: World Road Championships 2014

Ponferrada World Road Championships 2014 – Elite Men. Michal Kwiatkowski Times it Perfectly

Spanish sports paper, Mundo Deportivo says; 'El Tigre, en la Lieja-Ponferrada-Lieja' comparing the race to an Ardennes Classic. 'A complete cyclist with a brilliant future,' they say of the 24 year-old Pole Michal Kwiatkowski. Despite a tiny box on the front cover, the race gets two-and-a-half pages with nice colour pictures.

Ponferrara World Road Championships 2014 – Juniors & Women. Jonas Bokeloh & Pauline Ferrand-Prevot

I hate to keep moaning about these Worlds, but ... There's no way you can get from the two K to go sign at the foot of the final descent and up onto the climb. Barriers, tapes, police, volantarios (volunteer janitors) - grim! A man who can't walk the course ends up in too many bars.

Ponferrada World Road Championships 2014 – U23 Men, Sven Erik Bystrom Takes it Solo

Well, if there's a pizza place in Ponferrada, we can't find it. It's rude to criticise your host's abode but we're mystified by how the Worlds came to be here. The communications are terrible, it's four-and-a-half hours by road or rail out of Madrid or get transfer flights up to the North West and more driving.

Silvan Dillier – a NeoPro and an Elite World Champion!

Sometimes you can just tell a rider is a bit special, BMC's Swiss road and track man, Silvan Dillier is one such rider. We first came across him on Six Day duties, he made the podium in Gent and Zürich but was forging a name for himself in the summer, too... and now, as a first year full pro, Silvan is an Elite World Champion....

At Random

Redundancy and Happy Surprises: TdF Stage 19 (time trial)

Time trials are always difficult days at races. Firstly, the riders line up knowing their final position in the race depends on their forthcoming hour of solo work, and secondly, the logistics for the staff are super complex here at the TdF Stage 19.

Rotterdam Six Day 2011 – Day Five, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

At the Rotterdam Six Day 2011 and I'm sitting next to this chap, drinking my coffee, eating my Vacansoleil cookie and thinking; 'I should know who he is, he's the double of Ezequiel Mosquera.' Then the penny dropped; it was Old Zeke, in person, my - now tarnished - hero from the Vuelta.

Dan Patten Blog; Only a matter of time…

Time again for a Dan Patten Blogupdate as this 2012 season in Belgium continues. Yet again the consistency has continued but also now I can happily say that consistency has been rewarded with some wins.

La Vuelta a España 2014 – Stage 11; Pamplona – San Miguel de Aralar (Navarre), 151 km. Fabio Aru Shines Thru

We had a feeling that Quintana would find it very hard to continue in this Vuelta – whilst the man is hugely talented he’s not at the level he was in the Giro and to make up three minutes on Messrs. Contador, Rodriguez and Valverde was never going to be easy. His morale was in his boots anyway but then fate intervened, down he went on the stage from Pamplona and the Media can stop asking daft questions about imaginary feuds in the Movistar camp.

Our Season Opens With a Win at the Soens!

We started our racing at the weekend, with somewhat mixed results, but the highlight was certainly Cameron Jeffers fine sprint win on the Aintree Racecourse on Saturday, to take the 60th edition of the Eddie Soens Memorial. Meanwhile the other half of the team were in Holland, to take part in Sunday's Dorpenomloop Rucphen, a tough UCI 1.2 race, part of a series called the Holland Cup.

Katie Archibald – Olympic Team Pursuit Champion!

At an Edinburgh Book Festival event last week Chris Boardman was asked about his experiences commentating at the recent Olympics, and his standout moments and riders. Chris mentioned that he spent some time with one of the riders who he reckons is an amazing woman and a very interesting character. We've spoken to her enough times to agree with that and to add that she's also an incredible bike rider - and we had a feeling she'd do the business in Rio... of course, we're talking about Ms. Katie Archibald, Olympic Team Pursuit Champion.