Author: Henri Giroud

Fifty years of pro cycling journalism and television commentary. It gets easier after the first forty years.

Well, the tweet is WRONG: Blazing Saddles, a unique cycling, music and food festival set at Daley Ranch in Escondido, will launch this fall from October 15 – 17, 2021. Blazing Saddles will bring together an eclectic mix of food, drink, music and cycling unlike anything Southern California has ever seen. “The festival was conceived during the downtime of Covid, when the riddle was posed: In 2000, if Coachella and Sea Otter Bike Festival had a lovechild, what would it be like today?” says Monuments of Cycling CEO, Michael Marckx. “It will be a festival to showcase Southern California’s thriving…

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Prologue Festival Elsy Jacobs got underway this evening with a fast blast around the streets of Cessange for a two kilometre long prologue, which featured a mixed bag of a parcours; with some technical sections, powerful straights and short, punchy climbs. First down the ramp for Team DSM was Canadian TT champion Leah Kirchmann, who stormed around the course, setting the timing sheets alight to move into the hot seat with a time of three minutes and 15 seconds. Juliette Labous, Wilma Olausson and Esmée Peperkamp followed for the team, all producing good rides over the testing course. It was…

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Highlights Report Geraint Thomas led home a superb INEOS Grenadiers 1-2 at Tour de Romandie as Richie Porte moved up to second with an impressive time trial performance on the final stage Thomas put in a measured ride in Fribourg to overhaul leader Mike Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) and secure the overall victory from his teammate by 33 seconds. Starting the day in sixth, Porte put in a strong performance in changeable conditions to move up to second overall and secure back-to-back World Tour stage race second places. Thomas finished third on the final stage, not pushing for the stage…

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Highlights Results Stage 1Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-up Nation4:58:352Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team0:00:173Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers0:00:214Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Team BikeExchange0:00:345Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep0:00:376Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers0:00:427Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech8Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious0:00:529Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team0:01:5710Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM Overall 1Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-up Nation17:37:352Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers0:00:113Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team0:00:214Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team0:00:335Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers0:00:366Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep0:00:457Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech0:00:488Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Team BikeExchange0:00:499Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious0:01:0410Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM0:01:58

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A member of Deceuninck – Quick-Step since 2018, Kasper Asgreen has inked a deal that will keep him with the Wolfpack for three more years. Since turning pro, the Dane clocked up eight wins, becoming something of a specialist in the cobbled Classics. After a breakthrough victory at last year’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, he continued to hit new heights this season, riding to the prestigious double of E3 Harelbeke and Ronde van Vlaanderen and thus becoming one of the few riders in history to win both races in the same year. “Staying here was a no-brainer for me. Deceuninck – Quick-Step is the most…

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Highlights Report The Movistar Team savoured again the joy of success at the UCI WorldTour with the same rider who had conquered, back in 2020 at La Vuelta, the latest victory to date for the Telefónica-backed squad in cycling’s top tier: Marc Soler. The Catalan showed again his quality on day three of the 2021 Tour de Romandie, over a circuit in Estavayer (168km) with two Cat-3 climbs, the last of which witnessed the unstoppable final attack, under pouring rain, from the Vilanova native 10km before the end, which also gave him the yellow jersey as GC leader. The Blue squad shone during the…

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Posted by Colin Reuter The recent passage of 3 anti-trans bills in Arkansas — SB354, HB1570 and SB289 — are an affront on human rights. These laws harm children and communities, go against accepted medical advice, and NEBRA stands firmly against these laws, any like them, and the hate that they represent. Kids deserve to be kids, people deserve to be who they are. Trans rights are human rights. Community and inclusion are an integral part of sports and competition. We believe that all athletes regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity are and should be welcome to compete and play.…

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Highlights Report After missing out on the win with a second-place finish on Stage 1, Sonny Colbrelli showed his strength by getting over the final climb and sprinted to victory. The second stage started in La Neuveville, taking on 3,435m over six categorised climbs, finishing in Saint-Imier across 165.7 kilometres. An early breakaway formed, including Pernsteiner and five other riders who managed to take a gap of nearly three minutes. With 20 kilometres remaining, the group were all brought back together. Pernsteiner was able to hold on after being in the breakaway to work for Sonny. The team worked together with our GC riders Jack Haig…

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