Author: Harold Dalton

Ostend is about to host the 2021 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships (January 30-31), an event that promises to be a spectacular first at the Belgian ‘Queen of Beaches’. The current coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancellation of the Junior races but four rainbow jerseys will be up for grabs across the weekend as women and men from the Elite and Under 23 categories get ready for battle. They will face a 2,900m circuit connecting the beach and the Wellington hippodrome. The two sectors will be linked by an impressive bridge which features a 21% gradient. This unique course is…

Well Phil. A precursor to Derailed, or at least that’s what one of our readers said when they dropped a batch of Well Phil zines off with us to prove that… um… maybe to prove that what we were doing wasn’t new. Well Phil was one of the best indie zines of its era. Period. It was voted eighth best in the country despite its rather niche subject matter, and rightly so. It had cartoons, humor, and long form articles. Sure beats what Cycling Weekly had to offer, and coincidentally the comic apparently didn’t like Well Phil very much. We…

We met the UAE Tour with our usual brand of jaded nihilism healthy skepticism when they announced that the race was going ahead but couldn’t share the route or any more details. And we were probably justified: this race was the first to be disrupted by Covid-19 last year, and easily the most nightmarish in the way it played out. Well, now they’ve revealed the route. Plus the sponsors and jerseys, but nobody cares about those. The race will take place between February 21 and 27, with all the WorldTeams in attendance, including 2020 Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar.…

We were just going to mention this in the race preview, but even Cycling Weekly have covered it now. Plus it’s nice to have a “race not canceled” update to counteract the endless stream of postponements. So: the UCI has confirmed that the 2021 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, scheduled for 30 and 31 January and taking place in Ostend (Belgium), remains on the race calendar “following the introduction of additional measures.” Those measures are a reduction of the number of accredited persons and “toughening of sanitary regulations.” That last one sounds like they’re making people flush the toilet after they…

Chute! Chute des… uh, actually a lot of races. But the GP Denain and Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia are the two latest to fall by the wayside. Both are, optimistically, anticipating a slot later in the calendar. That’s not too likely to work out for them, but let’s cross our fingers and hope. First here’s what Vuelta a Murcia has to say: You probably don’t need Google Translate for this one. “La situación sanitaria … Covid 19 … posponer la organización de la Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia” In honesty, we don’t expect this race…

Tara Gins was due to begin work as a directeur sportif for an unspecified male Under-23 and Elite team. However, the deal was called off, citing an ‘inappropriate’ photoshoot. “I had a verbal agreement to start at a team. I was looking forward to that tremendously. It’s what I like to do. I want to learn and be in the follow car,” Gins says. “But now apparently someone has made an issue of a picture in a booklet of me. I don’t mind now that the deal was called off. It’s better that way. I don’t want to work with…

The NBC Sports Network will disappear into the ether at the end of 2021. The channel was originally called the Outdoor Life Network, before changing its name to Versus, and then to NBCSN. Now, after 25 years, the home of the Tour de France in the US is officially shutting its doors. What does this mean for the Tour de France? Well, nobody is sure. NBC’s new streaming network, Peacock, seems like a good home for it. NBC also frequently use their other channels for major sporting events like the NHL and Premier League, and have already signaled their intent…

Tom Dumoulin has announced his decision to take a break from his professional cycling career. The 2017 Giro d’Italia and World Time Trial Champion has consulted with his team and both parties have agreed on an unpaid leave for an indefinite period, starting immediately. Predictably, but somehow still a bit surprisingly, Jumbo Visma have already uploaded a video about it. It’s eight minutes long, so if you watch the entire thing then you’re probably better informed about the situation than anybody who’s written about it. Especially us, we only did thirty seconds. The 30 year old says that he’s long…