Author: Harold Dalton

Highlights Report The dream began five short years ago with a small continental team run by former-owner Ran Margaliot, and today it reached this new, incredible milestone: Alex Dowsett won Israel Cycling Academy’s first WorldTour stage in a Grand Tour. Together with teammate Matthias Brändle he got in the breakaway of the day. Together with Matthias he was dropped on one of the climbs, and together with him he came back to the front. “Matthias and I never stopped believing,” said Dowsett. “Having two in the break of six was essential,” the British ITT-champion said. When they returned to the…

Paris-Roubaix. It’s the best day of the year. And because it’s 2020, we don’t get it. Covid again. Bet it fucking rains on 25 October, when it was scheduled to take place. The race will return on April 11, 2021. Unless Covid is still a thing. Here’s what they say: At the request of the Préfet du Nord, Préfet des Hauts de France and following the Health Minister Olivier Véran’s announcement yesterday, that placed the Lille Metropolitan area on maximum alert, the 118th edition of Paris-Roubaix (UCI WorldTour) and the 1st edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes (UCI Women’s WorldTour), originally scheduled…

Former Team Sky and British Cycling doctor Dr Richard Freeman had his much-anticipated hearing in front of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester today. Here are some highlights. “I have regrets” When asked whether he covered up ordering Testogel, Freeman answered with a single word: “Yes.” He was then asked whether he knew the difference between right and wrong when he ordered banned Testogel as a Team Sky and British Cycling doctor. “Yes. I knew I was not telling the truth. Being honest is one of my core values […] Things just snowballed. I have regrets.” “When I gave…

The Giro is nearly here. We’ve already shared INEOS’s team, who are our favorites to win the overall (though far from our favorites in the other sense of the word). Now it’s time for some more. AG2R La Mondiale “We’ll arrive at the start of this autumnal Giro d’Italia with desire and determination. We will trust in the younger riders like Jaakko Hänninen and Aurélien Paret-Peintre, who will both celebrate their first participation in a Grand Tour. The latter will start off without being under any pressure, but will have the ambition to aim for the best possible overall classification.…

Ah, the Natchez Trace 444. It’s a race we all know and love. Or it is now that I’ve just learned it exists. It’s a qualifier for the Race Across America, and the 444 in its name refers to the distance of 444 miles that it takes in as it travels the length of the Natchez Trace Parkway from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS. The parkway travels through three states and roughly follows the “Old Natchez Trace,” a historic travel corridor, which, according to the National Parks Service, takes you on a journey through 10,000 years of history, from American…

In the latest bad, but nevertheless completely unsurprising, news from a 2020 that appears systematically designed to destroy us all, the remainder of the 2020 USA Cycling National Championships have been canceled. Guess why? Yeah, you knew. While Europe is successfully hosting grand tours, COVID-19 is still wrecking shit in the USA. That means no cyclocross nationals, which was kind of the last bastion of civilization. Uh, at least for US cycling fans. USA Cycling tells us “After months of planning and seeking alternatives to hold a safe and successful Cyclocross Nationals, USA Cycling is announcing today the cancellation of…

At the start of the Tour, we picked seven riders who’d play a part in the overall story of the race. Here’s our retrospective look at their performances. Hey, how did Nairo get on this list? Egan Bernal A flash in the pan? Well, that might be harsh. Still, INEOS banked on the Colombian being the future of grand tours for a generation, but the rider that actually showed up never looked fully on pace. Eventually he began to drop time. Soon he was hemorrhaging it. After losing seven minutes to Roglic to end his Tour hopes, and then almost…

Listen on Anchor.fm Welcome to Tour de France Stage Zero, part three. We’re going to chat about what’s happened in the past week, and give our predictions for the final week. The government has banned gatherings of more than six people, which spells bad news for the Jumbo Visma team on literally every mountain in this year’s tour. It also means that one of our listeners is going to have to wait ten minutes before hitting play. Pandemic jokes in September. Good lord. What Happened Stage 10 – Sam Bennett Cries The first stage back, Stage 10, was a flat…