While it was one of the shortest stages of the 2021 race, Stage 5 of the Haute Route Alps was a real beauty. The peloton rode from Alpe d’Huez to Serre Chevalier over 86 km through the Alps. After the long climb to Col du Lautaret, the Col du Granon’s breathtaking ascent was a true battle of will. Antonio Garnero topped the mens results to take the GC lead. Luise Valentin extended her women’s GC lead with another stage win.
Author: Henri Giroud
Henri Giroud
Fifty years of pro cycling journalism and television commentary. It gets easier after the first forty years.
The 2021 time trial for the Haute Route Alps was one for the history books, with riders climbing the 21 famous hairpins from Bourg d’Oisans to Alpe d’Huez in a brutal uphill sprint. Leaving the ramped startline in intervals, riders climbed 1130 m over the 15.5-kilometre course. Antonio Garnero topped the mens results with a lightning-fast time of 43:51. Luise Valentin extended her women’s GC lead with the fastest time of the day.
Mt. Washington was shrouded in clouds during the early morning hours of Saturday, August 21, 2021 when riders who were registered for the 48th Annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb (MWARBH) gathered in the field at the base of the Auto Road. The weather forecast was all over the place saying in and out of the clouds, possible showers, chance of thunderstorms, and, to top it off, Henri, a hurricane, was on the way to hit New England. The base was hazy, hot and humid and the summit was in and out of the clouds as 196 of the…
Today 450 riders took on the toughest ever stage of the Haute Route Alps, riding 182 km from Tignes to Alpe d’Huez in a course for the ages. The Queen Stage of 2021 brought together a formidable and awe-inspiring collection of legendary climbs with 4,700 m+ of elevation gain. Brazilian rider Antonio Garnero beat Frenchman Loic Ruffaut to the finish line for the men’s stage win. British rider Luise Valentin beat Lisa Bowyer to the finish line to take the women’s stage win.
Race report by Joanne Clarke and XTERRA Germany. In the women’s race, a group of four exited the water together, with Loanne Duvoisin reaching transition first, closely followed by Sandra Mairhofer (ITA), Solenne Billouin (FRA) and Jindrinska Zemanova (CZE).It was all change on the bike course, with Solenne Billouin taking the lead and holding onto her position for the first two las. Matilde Bolzan (ITA) was the star of the show on the bike however, riding into the lead and putting on a spectacle for the fans as she flew over the jumps and traversed the technical sections with ease. The…
Zwift, the online global fitness platform, has today announced the return of Zwift Academy. Zwift Academy community training program, perhaps best known for its talent ID program that has helped nine riders graduate to professional cycling teams, is also Zwift’s biggest and most inclusive training program. With enrollment open from today, school officially starts on August 30th when the Zwift Academy Road training program gets underway. Zwifters must complete a series of 6 workouts, 2 recovery rides, and new for this year, 2 benchmarking rides – the Baseline Ride and the Finish Line Ride. These two rides will provide Zwifters…
Report written by Pannonian Challenge 2021 The long-awaited 22nd edition of the Pannonian Challenge took place in Osijek, Croatia from the 11th of August to the 15th of August. This festival of extreme sports and urban culture has become one of the most important sporting events not only in Croatia, but in the whole region, thanks to its audience and fans. Adrenaline, breaking one’s own boundaries, good fun, synergy of sports and culture are only a few of its characteristics. Skate Park is reserved for the sports program of the competition, where the Inline, Scooter, Skate and BMX riders showed…
Despite the big stress for all riders at the closing circuit of stage four of the Ladies Tour of Norway (UCI Women’s WorldTour) in Halden, Annemiek van Vleuten and the Movistar Team were able to confirm their third women’s stagerace success of 2021 – and they did so in style. Barbara Guarischi, Aude Biannic, Gloria Rodríguez, Leah Thomas and Sheyla Gutiérrez took care with precision and and strength of the Olympic champion during the 141km final route from Drøbak to Halden, more importantly into a final loop where crashes and splits led the Telefónica-backed squad to take themselves to the front and follow every…