Author: Harold Dalton

The best rider in the world right now, Wout van Aert, has renewed his contract with Team Jumbo Visma after weeks of speculation that a move to Team INEOS was imminent. Van Aert’s contract was due to expire, and speculation was rife about his future, even hinting at an early exit. However, rumors of his move to INEOS now appear to have been exaggerated as a bargaining chip. With football super-agent Jorge Mendes moving into the peloton, expect to see more of this nonsense from here on out. The Belgian’s contract now runs through 2024, which is somewhat optimistic given…

Every Revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind. That’s actually a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, but it’s true. Revolution didn’t spring up overnight, and it didn’t just exist as a way to make some money on ticket sales. Way back in the old days of the mid-2000s, Manchester had a world-class velodrome. It was the only world-class velodrome in England, no matter what the penny farthing riders will tell you about Herne Hill. Great Britain also had world-class track riders. Nicole Cooke excepted, the track was the only domain in which Great Britain was dominating the cycling…

The iconic yellow Mavic neutral service cars are no more. Let’s shed a neutral tear together, and think of all the funny times they accidentally knocked riders off or gave them comedically small bikes. Shimano will be taking over neutral support at the Tour and all other ASO events. The Japanese component maker already provides support at ASO’s Vuelta a Espana, so they do have form here. “We have complete trust in the Shimano team to deliver a professional service towards teams and riders, as they have been doing for much of their 100-year history,” said Thierry Gouvenou, ASO’s heading…

A decade ago at EuroBike, I got stuck sat next to an e-bike entrepreneur on the two hour shuttle from Zurich to Friedrichshafen. He talked endlessly about how the future of cycling was the emerging e-bike technology that he’d brought with him, how it was going to make him a billionaire, how it was going to reinvent everything from cities to… um… well, I kind of tuned out. He was so enthused to have a journalist’s ear that he invited me for exclusive test rides of his entire line, and exclusive inside access to learn everything about e-bike technology. He…

Hyland’s has announced a new series of cycling videos featuring some of the most beautiful and challenging routes in the United States. Hyland’s claims that the Great Rides Powered by Hyland’s series will “give cyclists the seminal, must-do ride at any destination.” And so far, it’s looking pretty good. The first four episodes of Great Rides include the red sandstone cliffs of Utah, the arid Cuyamaca Mountains of southern California, the breathtaking Sonoran Desert in Arizona, and one of our regular rides: the Lincoln Gap loop in Vermont. Why are Hyland’s doing this? Well, because they offer a wide array…

UAE Team Emirates have confirmed to us the first hint at what their plans are for the 2021 grand tours. And, to be honest, they’re not exactly shocking. In the Giro d’Italia, they’ll be taking former Italian national champion Davide Formolo, plus Brandon McNulty and Fernando Gaviria. That combo has to be good for at least a stage win, right? Moving into July, Tadej Pogačar will attempt to defend his 2020 Tour de France victory. New signing Marc Hirshi—a signing Mauro Gianetti has described as the biggest and most impactful of the off-season—will primarily target stage victories while doing his…

Three Bora-Hansgrohe riders have been taken to hospital in Italy following an incident in which a driver crossed the center line and crashed into the team’s training ride. Seven riders were involved in the incident, and Wilco Kelderman, Rüdiger Selig, and Andreas Schillinger were sufficiently injured that they needed to go to hospital. Kelderman, third in the 2020 Giro d’Italia, sustained a concussion and fractured vertebrae. Rüdi Selig was diagnosed with a concussion. Schillinger sustained broken vertebrae in the cervical and thoracic spine. Which sounds particularly nasty. Unofficial reports describe a Mercedes SUV ignoring a stop sign and pulling out…

It’s another race cancelation. Kind of. The UCI Cross Worlds are canceled due to Covid… but only the Junior races. Why? Don’t know, really. Maybe young people are especially vulnerable to the disease. It’s not a huge surprise, since it’s been happening throughout the cyclo-cross season. Still, sucks for the kids. In a statement that’s presumably not intended to be quite as bristling with sarcasm as it seems, the UCI told us: “The competent authorities of Belgium have confirmed that both the Elite and Under 23 races for men and women at the 2021 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships can go…