Procyclingの January 2018 の目次

For my editorial in our Giro preview edition in spring 2017, I thought out loud about Nairo Quintana’s attempt at winning both the Giro and the Tour. It was seen as a risky project, though I thought his chances were greater than zero, in spite of many believing that the feat was impossible. Events proved the pessimists right – Quintana stumbled at the first hurdle. A narrow second place in Italy was followed by capitulation at the Tour: 12th place. The Giro- Tour double attempt was dead. Long live the Giro-Tour double attempt, then, as Chris Froome has decided that a fifth Tour win alone won’t satisfy his ambition, and will try to win the pink jersey as well in 2018. Something else I said in spring: “if anybody else…

Simon Yates will start the Giro d’Italia next year. All being well – both for Yates and the Giro – the journey will start in Jerusalem. They will transfer to Sicily, cross the Strait of Messina and begin the long trek up the boot for the final, critical third in the Italian Alps. It’ll be Yates’s debut at the Italian grand tour. After that, he will skip the Tour de France and rise again for the Vuelta a España. It is the schedule he planned to race last year until Esteban Chaves’s problematic knee meant Orica-Scott drafted him into Tour team. Yates, you’ll remember, sparkled at his third Tour. He took the white jersey at the summit of La Planche des Belles Filles. But he refused to race defensively. On…

This was the ninth time I’ve walked down the steps of a plane to photograph the Tour of Rwanda. Since the very first time, I have felt a special attraction for this wonderful country, which is so beautiful yet has been hit by such immense suffering. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to tell the story of both the race and the incredible transformation and growth of Rwanda, which has shown great strength in recovering from the 1994 genocide. The hardest thing about shooting the race is getting across both the sporting aspect and the beauty of the landscape of the country of a thousand hills. Some things are the same every year - the children’s smiles; the huge crowds who line the roads, sometimes quiet and sometimes…

For someone who entered their first full season in Europe with the sole aim of learning the ropes, Coryn Rivera exceeded all expectations. In fact, a case could be made that the Californian was the revelation of the women’s pro peloton in 2017. Wins in Trofeo Alfredo Binda and the Tour of Flanders were buttressed with a string of notable rides in the Ardennes. As if becoming the first American –male or female– to win Flanders wasn’t enough, another triumph at the RideLondon Classique was followed by gold with Team Sunweb in the team time trial at the World Championships in Bergen. It was a highly impressive campaign, but those who were surprised by Rivera’s rookie season in Europe should have seen the signs. Having dominated the domestic scene from…

SIMON YATES Procycling's deputy editor Sam Dansie went to see the 2017 Tour de France white jersey winner to talk about his plans for 2018 and his huge ambitions. Read Sam's interview with Simon Yates on page 36. RIGOBERTO URÁN The Colombian all-rounder rode to a career-best second place in the Tour de France in 2017. Patrick Fletcher interviewed him in Japan to find out how his relaxed approach has paid dividends. See page 50. TOUR OF RWANDA Italian cycling photographer Mjrka Boensch Bees went to the Tour of Rwanda and found a fascinating, colourful, beautiful and atmospheric race. He shares his best images from this amazing race, starting page 60.…

Can Chris Froome do the Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double? It’s a fair guess that the Briton’s progress will occupy racing’s news cycle for the first half of 2018 until we find out whether he can, or can’t. The Sky leader’s announcement he would take on the challenge provoked astonishment that he would jeopardise his chance to turn the Fab Four of quintuple Tour winners into the Famous Five. Some predicted pride before an anticipated fall; others felt a rumoured hefty appearance fee had turned his head – though the Giro boss flatly denied there had been a sweetener. It was a late change of course for Sky and Froome: up until a couple of weeks before the news broke, it hadn’t been considered an option. But the way the…

JAI HINDLEY Finished second at last year's Herald Sun Tour and looked impressive climbing alongside Chris Froome and Esteban Chavez. Was top-five at the Tour de l’Avenir in 2016 and won a Baby Giro stage. Signed to Team Sunweb in 2018. LUCAS HAMILTON Second at the Baby Giro, fourth at the Tour de l’Avenir and third at the U23 Liège decorated this Australian climber’s palmarès. It was enough to ensure the WorldTour Mitchelton-Scott signed Hamilton for the next three years. MICHAEL STORER The 20-year-old was described as a complete rider by Sunweb’s coach when they signed him, with a good time trial and climbing prowess to boot. He claimed a string of top 10s at the Herald Sun Tour, Giro Valle d’Aosta and Tour de l’Avenir.…

It’s daunting entering into a new team like UAE especially when it’s long been established It’s hard to believe but I am now into double figures for the number of seasons I’ve spent as a professional cyclist. I guess that means I can be called experienced, or perhaps old, but it also means I’ve seen many of my peers from my formative years retire, and the thing they all say they miss is the team atmosphere. Being away with the lads on a race - there are the laughs and stupid stories, the mutual hatred of a certain rider who had done something idiotic that day, the shared euphoria of winning, the pain of defeat and camaraderie of purely surviving. Interestingly they don’t seem to miss the long hours of…

2010 Aged 18, Yates joins the British Cycling Academy programme, and shortly after wins the junior track world championships madison title with fellow Brit Dan McLay. 2011 Yates wins a stage at the prestigious Tour de l’Avenir. Other winners during that edition included Warren Barguil and Romain Bardet, while Yates’s future team-mate Esteban Chaves won overall. 2013 At his first senior track world championships in Minsk, 20-year-old Yates wins the points race gold medal. He secures his rainbow jersey by perfectly timing the final sprint. 2013 Yates wins back-to-back mountain stages at the Tour de l’Avenir on his way to finishing 10th overall. He scored a one-two with brother Adam on stage five, before another win in Morzine. 2013 Takes his first professional victory on the climb to Haytor in…

Día por día. Not even Rigoberto Urán’s Latin American Spanish make interesting three of the most mundane words in professional cycling. Day by day. A phrase that has become so widespread in press conferences and mixed zones the world over, but one that says so little. You get the sense, however, that Urán actually means it. “For me, there is no past, there is no future, only the present,” he tells Procycling in a hotel meeting room in Japan. Urán drives his point home with a smile: “There is only today, right here, right now.” The words ‘día por día’ passed his lips countless times in July as he made his way to second place at the Tour de France. Having last graced a grand tour podium at the 2014…

In June 1865, a converted tea clipper with the name ‘Mimosa’ set sail from Wales to Patagonia with the country’s first ever Argentina-bound emigrants. The aim of the 154 individuals on the ship was to create a Welsh-speaking community in as isolated a region as possible, thereby ensuring their language and by extension, their own culture, would survive the steady encroachment of English on their home soil. Adults paid 12 pounds a berth and children went half price on the Mimosa’s 7,000-mile journey to create “a little Wales beyond Wales,” as it was enthusiastically called by its founder, one Reverend Michael Jones, whose shock of flowing white hair and huge, unkempt, beard would have done credit to an Old Testament prophet. When the emigrants discovered Patagonia was not, as previously…

WINS Stage, Tour Féminin en Limousin 2011 Stage, Joe Martin Stage Race 2015, 2016 (3) Stage, Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt 2015, 2016 Stage, Tour de San Luis 2016 Joe Martin Stage Race 2016 Trofeo Alfredo Binda 2017 Tour of Flanders 2017 Stage, Tour of California 2017 Prudential RideLondon Classique 2017 SECONDS Stage, Joe Martin Stage Race 2015, 2016 Pan American Championships road race 2015 National Championships road race 2015, 2016, 2017 GP San Luis 2016 Stage, Tour of California 2016, 2017 Tour de Yorkshire 2017 Stage, Giro d’Italia Femminile 2017 Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta 2017 THIRDS Stage, Tour Féminin en Limousin 2010, 2011 Stage, Joe Martin Stage Race 2015 Winston Salem Cycling Classic 2016 Stage, Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt 2016 Gent-Wevelgem 2017 Stage, Giro d’Italia Femminile 2017 Stage, Lotto Belgium Tour…

SPECIFICATION Weight: 6.83kg (size XL, no pedals) Frame: Carbon with elastomer rear damper Fork: Carbon Groupset: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 Crankset: Dura-Ace Di2, 52/33 Cassette: Dura-Ace Di2, 11-30 Brakes: Shimano Dura Ace BR-9100 Wheels: Mavic Kysrium Pro Carbon SLC Tyres: Mavic WTS Yksion Griplink and powerlink 25c Handlebar/Stem Zipp Contour SL carbon bar, Zipp SL Speed carbon stem Seatpost: Carbon SP110 Saddle: Fizik Aliante R3 Kium saddle Price: £9,000 (as tested) www.lapierre-bikes.co.uk You might not think of Groupama-FDJ as specialists in Paris-Roubaix. The team formerly known as FDJ spent the 2000s mainly targeting Tour de France stage wins, and in the last five years has evolved into a grand tour, GC-focused squad, with Thibaut Pinot achieving top-five finishes at the Giro d’Italia and Tour. But look further back, and the team…

HARDEST INTERVAL 40s hard 20s recovery x 8"10 times, but I also invented a Flèche Wallonne session, where I find a steep hill and sprint for as long as I can WORST HUNGER FLAT I’m good at eating enough now but every year when starting back training it seems inevitable the fuel will run out at least once CHANGE ON A NEW TEAM New equipment, particularly the saddle. UAE use Prologo and there are so many options to find the right fit and position. It’s a minefield WORST WEATHER Volta a Catalunya in 2012. Four degrees and raining at 400m altitude, then three 2000m climbs. Half the peloton quit HARDEST CLIMB A tie between Angliru and Zoncolan. Angliru has varying gradients and is steeper. Zoncolan is relentless and neverending…

When Bernard Hinault crossed the finish line in Torino on the last day of the 1982 Giro d’Italia, having won the individual time trial and secured his second overall victory, the sweat had barely dried on his brow before he quickly switched his attention to the Tour de France. Just 27 days separated the end of the Giro and the start of the Tour in Basel, and with a potential double now on the cards Hinault wanted to leave nothing to chance. Yet rather than go home, put his feet up and rest, the Frenchman had other ideas to hone his preparation for the Tour. Three days after completing a gruelling three-week jaunt around Italy, he hotfooted it across Europe for the five-stage Tour of Luxembourg – which he also…

Conventional wisdom has it that Greg LeMond is the father of the modern trend for specialisation in cycling. It’s even used as a stick with which to beat him. Before the threetime Tour winner started focusing his season on July, the story goes, the champions rode to win from March to October. Grand tour specialists rode, and won, the Classics; Classics specialists rode, and won, grand tours. Then LeMond came along, started peaking for the Tour, and changed cycling forever. “Total bullshit,” LeMond tells Procycling. “People forget that I was almost killed in a hunting accident.” LeMond was a far more accomplished one-day rider than his reputation suggests. His two Worlds wins are evidence that there was more to him than dieselpowered Tour yellow jerseys, but before the hunting accident…

Kruisstraat, a suburban main road dragging up out of the city of Ronse in south west Belgium, sits on the south-facing flank of the Flemish Ardennes. It forms part of the N60, which runs north and south between Gent and the Franco-Belgian border just west of Mons – the next town up the N60 from Ronse is Oudenaarde, the current location of the finish of the Tour of Flanders. For the most part, Kruisstraat is a very average Belgian road. It’s wide – space, of course, for bike lines on both sides – well-surfaced, and busy, with traffic jams at rush hour. There’s actually a rat run, which the locals use as a short cut to avoid the jams – Oudestraat, Old Street, which cuts from about halfway up and…