Giro D’Italia 2016: The Shark has pearly teeth
It was always going to be about the third week and that pair of stages in the Alps. With the race heading over the border into France and Steven Kruiswickj sitting pretty in pink, an open, aggressive – if somewhat unexceptional race – was coming to the boil nicely. Kruiswickj would be the first Dutch […]
Giro D’Italia 2016: Week 2 – “Age and Treachery”
“Age and treachery” said il Campianissimo Fausto Coppi “will overcome youth and skill.” Or, as P.J. O’Rourke put it “age and guile beat youth, innocence and a bad haircut.” Not in this Giro they don’t – because this week has been all about the young guns sticking it to the established stars of the peloton. […]
Giro d’Italia 2016: The Giro Multiverse
I’m not a Giro snob. The Tour de France was my Grand Tour entry drug of choice and it still hold pole position in my heart however bloated it becomes. Yes, the Giro is arguably tougher/more interesting/prettier (delete as appropriate) but it has never quite captured me in the way the French race does. Maybe […]
Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2016: Sometimes it snows in April
I have a confession to make. I respect Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but I don’t love it. Not like I love the armadillo backed roads of the cobbled classics. She’s a venerable old lady, the oldest of the five Monuments of cycling, dating all the way back to 1892 when Belgian Leon Houa won the first amateur edition. […]
Amstel Gold Race 2016: The Little Team That Could
It was always going to be a big ask for Amstel Gold Race to match the heroics and sheer drama of the Cobbled Classics. The last time we’d see a Cancellara charge on the pavé – check. Sagan finally landing a monument, and in the Rainbow Stripes – natch. The plucky journeyman finally having his […]