Author: Henri Giroud

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

On 3 July 2021, the Tour de France will venture farther north than ever before when it reaches the 70-kilometre mark in the second Danish stage, from Roskilde to Nyborg. The profiles of the first three stages were unveiled this morning in Vejle, another town that will host the 108th edition of the race. The show will get on the road in the capital of the country, Copenhagen, which is known as the most cycling-friendly city on Earth. The Tour de France has explored all sorts of coasts, from beaches, harbours and cliffs to rocky inlets, dykes and bays. In…

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Polish road race champion Michał Paluta will make his CCC Team debut at Etoile de Bessèges, the five-stage race commencing on 5 February.  With a solid roster, including sprinters Jakub Mareczko and Jonas Koch, and two Polish debutants, Kamil Małecki and Paluta, the team will aim for a strong start to the season, Sports Director Fabio Baldato, who won this race in 2003, said. “When you look at the route of Etoile de Bessèges, you will see that our fastest guys, Mareczko and Koch, will definitely have the opportunity to show off. That’s why we are bringing a young but…

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“We were always in the right moves. Collectively, we started the race exactly the way we wanted. We were in control. I attacked on the ridge road after Quentin Jaurégui and François Bidard set me up. Behind, the race was really heating up. I knew I had very good legs, and behind us we had Clément Venturini, able to control the situation in the pack. We had a lot of cards to play, so we might as well take the brakes off the race. I was maybe more concerned about Tom Devriendt than anyone. He’s a friend of Oliver’s (Naesen),…

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Catalan completes 70km breakaway against big rivals, beats Mühlberger (BOH) into tough final slopes in Port d’Andratx; Blues with a double podium as Davide Villella takes 3rd A sound display, yet another one in the lasf few years, of top class rewarded Marc Soler (Movistar Team) on Saturday with the second win of his career and the Blues’ maiden victory in 2020 at the Trofeo Pollença – Port d’Andratx (168km), crowning a long breakaway – one of his signature moves – with a solo victory in his first multi-day competition of the year. More than three years after his first pro success at the…

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With cyclocross World Championship races this weekend, we caught up with two-time world champ Sven Nys to get an inside look at what he’s anticipating at the competition. Sven is easily one of the best cyclocross riders of all time and the current manager of Telenet-Baloise Lions. The Lions have strong contenders for both women’s and men’s elite categories and Sven’s own son, Thibau Nys, is a favorite for the juniors’ category. Here’s what Sven had to say about this year’s CX battles for the prestigious title of world champion. As the World Cup schedule comes to an end, how did Telenet-Baloise…

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Vasil Kiryienka has today announced his retirement from professional cycling, following medical advice regarding a cardiac issue. The 38 year-old Belarusian, who joined Team Sky in 2013, missed the start of last season owing to a cardiac anomaly, only to return to competitive racing at the Tour de Romandie in 2019 – the team’s first race as Team INEOS. He went on to enjoy success at the European Games time trial in his home country of Belarus, before rounding off the year at the Vuelta a Espana, his 11th and final Grand Tour race with the team.Kiryienka said: “It’s a really…

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult1Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal3:24:542Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo0:00:033Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team0:00:044Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ0:00:075Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb6Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates7Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team8Rohan Dennis (Aus) Team Ineos9Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos10Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott0:00:2311Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott0:00:2612Dylan Sunderland (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling13Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren14Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Astana Pro Team15Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren16Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates0:00:2917Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis Solutions Credits18Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates19Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep20Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott21Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates22Neilson Powless (USA) EF Pro Cycling23Pavel Sivakov…

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