Author: Harold Dalton

Today we remember Marco Pantani, who died 17 years ago on February 14, 2004. Here are a few of the times we’ve mentioned him on the site. Marco Pantani: The Greatest Climber. Ask anybody to name their top five favorite climbers, and you’re sure to get a thoughtful list of their favorites. The man on the street will give a considered response featuring terms like “grimpeur,” “scalatore,” and “Froomey, mate, innit.” But one thing these lists will all have in common is that they’ll include Marco Pantani. The diminutive climber is widely considered one of the greatest climbers ever to…

Remember Sodisp? They launched their Covid-inspired virtual challenge platform early into the pandemic last year, only to have the sport’s various national federations almost immediately ban the type of activity they promoted. A former Derailed contributor was so outraged by their platform that she almost came out of retirement to write some fresh libel for us. She’d probably been drinking when she suggested that though, because Sodisp just felt more unnecessary than outrageous to the rest of us. Anyway. At the time, we thought the new rules about virtual challenges were sure to be the end of Sodisp. But alas,…

How do culturally constructed female roles and external threats in public space play a part in the disproportionate number of female cyclist deaths from large vehicles in London from 1999 to 2014? Spatial Modality It is not the aim of this paper to argue that cyclist behavior is the cause for any recurring pattern of road incidents. Indeed, much of contemporary road danger reduction campaigning is built on the firm belief that environments are constructed in such a way to privilege particular road usages while excluding others (Uteng 2009; also Davis 1993, pp. 37-40). As such, this paper analyzes how…

It’s 2021 and we’re at a bike race. It sounds like a fantasy until you remember that some countries are quite capable of not letting the virus spread through their populations like wildfire. The only thing the Aussie government lets spread like wildfire is… wildfire. Yes, it’s the Australian Road Nationals. With no spectators, of course, but that’s about the best-case scenario right now. Although the weather was drizzly, which is an affront to everything that Australia is supposed to stand for. Ballarat hosted the race this year, slamming in all kinds of disciplines like crit champs and whatnot. We…

It’s one of the more baffling pieces of press outreach we’ve received. It starts “Exclusive! T-Mobile Reveals Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton Origin Story.” And frankly, we’re not sure it’s even an exclusive since it’s apparently something that was in a Super Bowl ad last night. But we’re sharing it because it’s from T-Mobile, and we can only assume that they’re testing the waters for relaunching their legendary cycling team. Actually, they probably just reached out because we mentioned T-Mobile on this site and their keyword scraper picked it up. Either that or they think we’re popular TV celebrity gossip show…

The Amstel Gold Race didn’t happen last year. Its traditional slot in the calendar was swallowed whole by the emerging Covid-19 crisis, and its rescheduled October 11th date coincided with a resurgence of the disease in the Netherlands. The rescheduled date is pertinent, because in order to make it happen, the organizers had to plan for holding the race on a short, closed circuit. Those plans were in vain… or not, as luck would have it: this year’s race will use the same closed circuit in order to ensure the race can take place on its scheduled April 18th date.…

Some real infectious enthusiasm here from Julien Bernard. Incredible stuff. And to think this is after they asked him to smile. He’s holding the Wahoo Elemnt Roam—no, we’re not doing their stupid capitalization—because Trek-Segafredo’s 43 riders are now contractually-obliged to race and train with the Elemnt Roam bike computer and Tickr heart-rate monitor. Trek-Segafredo’s Technical Manager, Matt Shriver, has this to say: “When we began testing the Wahoo cycling computers for racing and training, we quickly realized the advantages. Setting up out of the box is a breeze using the riders’ smartphone and the Wahoo Elemnt app. Within minutes you…

June 2, 2007  Even in a small, friendly community like the British pro peloton, it can be hard being new. There’s a story going around I’ve heard three or four times now, about a rider who was riding a race right up at the front, maybe sixth in line, so in a position to take turns driving the peloton, but at this point kind of enveloped with other riders overlapping his back wheel on either side. He’s riding along and he starts to not feel that great. He’s got gas, his stomach’s making rumbling sounds. So he’s there, and he…