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.
Author: Henri Giroud
Henri Giroud
Fifty years of pro cycling journalism and television commentary. It gets easier after the first forty years.
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…
Remco Evenepoel delivered another massive show of strength on the demanding roads to Vejle, which once again took in a series of short but hard climbs, pitching up to 15%, that reduced the peloton until the moment only 30-odd riders were still part of it with 50 kilometers to go. Deceuninck – Quick-Step had Evenepoel, Olympic Champion Michael Mørkøv and Jannik Steimle in that group, and it was the 21-year-old winner of the Belgium Tour that attacked, drawing with him four other riders. It was a short-lived action, due to the lack of collaboration, but Remco kept on trying and his powerful…
UAE Team Emirates continue to strengthen their squad. Three new signings follow the high profile João Almeida addition. Marc Soler will join the team next season. Soler’s palmares highlights his impressive record in stage racing: winning the overall at Paris Nice in 2018 along with stage wins in major World Tour races such as the Vuelta España in 2020 and a recent impressive solo victory at this years edition of the Tour de Romandie. stage wins in major World Tour races such as the Vuelta España in 2020 and a recent impressive solo victory at this years edition of the…
João Almeida has agreed terms to join UAE Team Emirates starting from 2022 season as part of a five year deal which will see him in the UAE colours through to 2026. The 23 year old from Caldas de Rainha has had a strong and consistent 2021 with a top-10 finish in every stage race he has competed in this season (all World Tour level) , with a notable third-place podium finish at the UAE Tour and 6th place at the Giro d’Italia. Almeida is also the current time trial champion of Portugal and represented his nation at the Olympics…