Author: Harold Dalton

Cycling is back! Officially. The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne double is the traditional season opener, taking place every year on a weekend at the end of February or very start of March. Although both are similar races in terms of starting line-up (expect only one or two personnel changes per team over both days) and location, Omloop looks more like the Tour of Flanders while KBK is more sprint focused. The creep of new early season races over the past few years have blurred the line as to where these two races really sit as ‘season openers.’ Yet it’s…

The Dauphine is back to its best. As well as including a time-trial again (removed for the first time ever in 2020 due to shortening the race for the Covid calendar), the 2021 edition reads like a checklist of iconic climbs for French cycling nerds. The final weekend alone includes Col de Porte, Cormet de Roseland, La Plagne (penultimate stage finish and a truly, truly magnificent climb for cycling history buffs), Col des Aravis, Col de la Colombière, Col de Joux Plane, and a stage-and-race-summit-finish at Les Gets. Are we breaking our icy cool exteriors to express a tiny bit…

The 2021 Giro d’Italia has now been revealed… and the long wait disguised a surprising route choice. Here are our quick observations before we dive into the longer look: First up, there are just 38.4km of individual time-trials. But 29.4 of those are on the very final stage in Milan. Whew.There’s also gravel on the menu on Stage 11, when the race takes in 35km of loose-paved roads through Tuscany.Another surprise. Joining its frenemy grand tours, the Tour and Vuelta, the Giro has finally ceded to the idea that stages can be shorter and punchier. There are seven summit finishes.…

Do you go outside? No, us neither. Brief stroll on the beach in the snow, maybe. Solid 4k steps on the Garmin on a good day. But if you DO go outside, perhaps in summer, then there’s an exciting new opportunity to become a brand ambassador for sunscreen. Provided you embody the brand ideal of course. That ideal is… uh. ‘However You Perform.’ Not even sure how you’d embody that, so if you can figure out a way to quantify it then you’re odds-on to be accepted. Notice we haven’t said the brand name yet. That’s because it’s KINeSYS, and…

Gino Bartali is one of the greatest cyclists who ever lived. His rivalry with Fausto Coppi, himself one of the few riders who can challenge Merckx for the mantle of greatest ever, remains firmly implanted in the mythos of the tifosi. But it’s his actions off the bike—or more precisely, when not racing—that stretches his legacy far beyond mere bicycle racing. His was a career cut short by war. The Italian won the 1936 and 1937 editions of the Giro d’Italia—aged just 21 and 22 respectively—to cement his status as Italy’s number one cyclist, and then turned his sights on…

Not content with being cycling’s Covid Gound Zero in 2020, the UAE Tour is back at its bullshit for another year. Whew, that’s an opening sentence that’s seriously going to get us kicked off their press list. The Alpecin-Fenix team has withdrawn from the race due to a positive Covid test result from one member of its staff. The race organizers told us that this would “safeguard the race bubble and ensure the safe continuation of the race.” Which is probably about right. But oof. Not again. This is a high-profile exit because the team’s leader, Mathieu van der Poel,…

Pocket Outdoor Media, who you’ll probably know as the parent company for Bicycle Retailer and VeloNews, has added yet more properties to its seemingly endless series of acquisitions. The latest news is that POM has purchased Outside magazine, a purchase which came with Peloton magazine and BikeReg as free gifts. And actually a whole bunch more, with POM’s acquisitions set to “significantly expand the scope of its audience and range of services provided to customers and partners”: Outside Integrated Media, the iconic producer of award-winning adventure content and home to Outside magazine, Outside Studios, and the travel business Outside GO.Outside TV, the…

Berlin velodrome is now a Covid-19 vaccination center. That’s really the entire article, so you can close the tab now. We’ll pad it out if you choose to persevere though. Here goes. Berlin was the last Six Day before Covid killed Six Day racing off, so it’s a fitting site for a vaccination center. The velodrome will have played its part in bringing Six Days back. You can’t ride the velodrome while it’s being used for vaccinations, so Germans looking toward the Olympics have had to move to the Cottbus facility. Mucho sacrifice. Track centers, eh? Good if you like…