Author: Harold Dalton

A New York man is the lead plaintiff in a class-action suit against Trek’s WaveCel helmets, which takes umbrage with the endless big-budget marketing campaign about a technology that would change the sport forever, only for Trek to reveal a boring helmet at the end of it. Oh wait, that actually is sort of the gist, kind of. The class-action suit argues that WaveCel helmet technology was “touted by the defendant as the most significant advancement in cycling in the last 30 years when it was released in early 2019.” Trek had claimed that WaveCel was “up to” 48 times…

Excitement and the unexpected are not intrinsically linked. Which is good news, because there were no surprises at all in the Belgian national cyclocross championships. In the Elite Women’s race, Sanne Cant won her twelfth straight national championship. Twelve. 12. In a row. What the fuck. 1Sanne Cant (Bel) Iko – Crelan0:48:392Lotte Kopecky (Bel) LIV Racing0:00:223Alicia Franck (Bel) Proximus – Alphamotorhomes – Doltcini Ct0:01:38 And in the men’s race, Wout van Aert mostly cruised to his fourth national championship win. Although Toon Aerts made the final results look fairly close, Wout van Aert was alone for the majority of the…

Predictably, Clément Venturini has won the 2020-21 French Cyclocross Championships. We say ‘predictably’ because he also won it last year. And the year before. And in 2016-17. He was the Junior World Champion for cyclo-cross too, if you think it’s just France having a weak field. Here’s what he told us, via his AG2R-Citroen team: “It was quite a race, unlike last year there were quite a few twists and turns. I knew Joshua (Dubau) would be a tough customer and he showed it today. When he came back I didn’t lose sight of the fact that I was there…

Just as soon as it started, the Marc Hirschi madness is over: UAE Team Emirates has announced the signing of Marc Hirschi for the 2021 season. The 22 year old from Bern, Switzerland had a breakthrough season in the pro ranks in 2020 with highlights including a stunning solo stage win in the Tour de France, victory at Flèche Wallone, second place at Liege-Bastogne-Liege and a bronze medal at the World Championships. Hirschi will join the team at their pre-season camp in UAE. Marc Hirschi : “Firstly, I’d like to thank my previous team for everything they’ve done for me over…

In our favorite cycling story of the young year so far, Riccardo Ricco–the man who so badly botched a self-administered blood transfusion the day his doping ban ended that he ended up in a coma–has come out against the Covid-19 vaccine. In a now-hidden Facebook post, Ricco argued “I do what I want with my body. Nobody can make me do something that if it were to have a negative effect on my body, I would be the only one that would lose.” Which, you know, seems like a historic U-turn from the Ricco we all know and love (?).…

The UAE Team Emirates cycling team has now officially received the vaccine for Covid-19. A total of 27 riders, including the Tour de France 2020 winner Tadej Pogačar, plus 32 staff have now received the vaccine. That’s good news for the sport of cycling. And it’s good news for public health. But it’s kinda bad news if you believe the vaccine should be distributed based on need rather than status. The Abu Dhabi based team (ok, they probably don’t spend much time in Abu Dhabi) was always first in line to receive vaccines from the UAE’s supply due to its…

You’d think Marc Hirschi’s 2020 season would have teams doing anything to have him on board. He picked up a stage win at the Tour, as well as fan attention for his breathless attacking, and also won the Fleche Wallonne. He also finished second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and third at the World Championships. It was quite something. But surprisingly, Team DSM — formerly Team Sunweb — terminated his contract with immediate effect, a year before it was due to expire. The reason? Well, uh. They don’t say. When we asked, they just told us, quite agonizingly, that “it has been agreed…

It’s that time of year. The UCI has published its latest Yearbook, “Cycling 2020.” We suppose calling it Cycling 2077 would’ve been confusing. Cycling 2020 is a coffee table photo book that reflects “this unusual year which nevertheless produced intense sporting moments, by paying tribute both to the athletes and the beauty of our sport.” Thematically, it’s quite predictable. While some events were canceled and the sport struggled for a while, major events did eventually resume and culminated in an excellent racing season. The UCI is rather proud that eSports flourished in the new climate and people began using bicycles…