SWITZERLAND’ S GINO MÄDER HAD A BREAKTHROUGH YEAR IN 2021, WITH A STAGE WIN AT THE GIRO. HOWEVER, IT WAS HIS FIFTH PLACE AT THE VUELT A WHICH REALLY CAPTIVATED THE ATTENTION.  PROCYCLING FOLLOWED HIM THROUGH THE SPANISH GRAND TOUR Procycling / December 2021  #53 Writer: Kate Wagner Images: Cor Vos.  Long before he would take a bow, clad in the white jersey, on the podium in the shadow of the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela, long before he would rise in clever, frenetic fashion to fifth on GC in the Vuelta a España, Gino Mäder rolled to a halt at the foot of a different cathedral in Burgos, the evening light pooling shadows in its high-Gothic tendrils and spirals. Big disc wheel slowing, whomp, whomp, whomp, he stopped when called and coughed into his fist from the dry heat. “You cut your hair,” I observed. We had never spoken before, and this was an easy opener, the absence of Mäder’s familiar head of afro-like curls. He laughed. “I had to do something to help with th...

https://procyclinguk.com/womens-strade-bianche-2022-race-preview/ Mathew Mitchell March 2, 2022 -  Women's Cycling Women's Strade Bianche 2022 Race History Strade Bianche will once again be the first Women’s WorldTour race of the season. Last year’s race saw SD Worx take control of an élite group. With Chantal van den Broek-Blaak matching an attack by Elisa Longo Borghini , she was able to just sit on until the ascent into Siena. Naturally, that tired out Longo Borghini and Van den Broek-Blaak was able to put more power down and take the victory. After 2020’s rescheduled race was held in the scorching heat, the 2021 race was a return to normal March conditions . This year, there is rain forecast for the day before but the race itself should be dry. We have had a wet Strade Bianche not too long ago, back in 2018 where Anna van der Breggen was the victor . If the gravel doesn’t dry by Saturday it will be a wet crunchy sludge. That could swing the race advantage to the strongest r...

The Netherlands is first and foremost a cycling country, so it’s no surprise that it has produced some of the greatest riders of all time, and the current world-beating generation of female athletes. Procycling looks into the roots of Dutch cycling culture, to find the reasons for its continuing success WRITER Thomas Olsthoorn  PROCYCLING UK - Issue 287, November 2021 There was a beautiful moment during the closing ceremony of the recent Vuelta a España. Fabio Jakobsen stepped onto the podium, before the impressive façade of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Bike in hand, his machine sprayed the same colour as the jersey that hung over his shoulder. The Dutch sprinter had won the green jersey and he received loud applause from the gathered fans. His confirmation as the best sprinter in the Vuelta came 396 days after his terrible crash at the Tour de Pologne in August 2020 . Jakobsen narrowly escaped death, and after a rehabilitation process that took months, he first got ba...

Tadej Pogačar crushed the opposition to win his second Tour de France at the age of 22. Procycling looks at the inexorable rise of the young Slovenian and the likelihood of a long period of domination WRITER Kate Wagner Procycling UK - Issue 285, September 2021 The first time I saw Tadej Pogacar at the grand départ in Brest; I recall how he rolled onto the stage to great fanfare, though not as great a fanfare as the Breton riders, of course. Even then, I had to remind myself that off the bike, Pogacar’s probably a normal 22-year old kid, liking memes, spending his time in WhatsApp chats and hanging out with his girlfriend. But when he’s on a bike, he’s someone - something - else entirely. I settled on the analogy of royalty pretty early on in my writing about him because I felt it fitted. As he stood there on a stage occupied by breakdancing French children not too long ago, his eyes peered out at all of us, his face the picture of relaxation, an easiness further cemented by the gentle...

After the strongest spring of any defending Tour de France champion in four decades, Tadej Pogačar has every right to feel confident for July. He will start the 2021 race as the favourite, and he has looked imperious in most of his races. But what makes the young Slovenian tick? Writer Alasdair Fotheringham Procycling UK - Issue 283, July 2021 Two seasons have almost passed since a slight and sodden figure clad in the white, red and green of UAE Emirates pedalled his way past crunchy clumps of fallen hailstones from the afternoon’s thunderstorms in the high sierras of Andorra, en route to a breakthrough win in a grand tour. The first week of the 2019 Vuelta a España had been quiet for Tadej Pogacar, but on a short, intense stage when the race crossed the border for a 100km mountain trek through the Pyrenean principality, the young Slovenian crashed heavily in the freak rain and hail showers that battered the hour-long, 25km grind up to the summit finish of Cortal d’Encamp, and another ...