CATEGORIES

THE US CAVALRY

Several of this year’s Tour de France favourites are drawing on the support of good old Uncle Sam in their quest for yellow. Paul Knott gets to know the helpers from the home of the brave

ALPECIN'S WONDERFUL WILD CARD WEEK

Two-stage wins and six days in yellow was quite a return for Alpecin-Fenix, a team that began at the very bottom rung of Belgian cycling in 2008 but showed it can compete with and beat the world’s best in the Tour’s opening week

All hail the king of the sprinters

Cavendish’s peers and rivals pay tribute to the sprinter as he takes his Tour-winning total to 32

Is Tubeless Really Ready For The Road?

Self-sealing tyre tech has failed to gain traction in the road market – Stefan Abram finds out why

TOUR IN REVIEW

An action-packed Grand Départ has laid the foundations for a classic edition of the Tour

THE HUB

All the news you might have missed from the last seven days

RHIANNA PARRIS-SMITH ‘ONE TARGET DOWN, PLENTY MORE TO GO!'

My goal for the past month was to break 12.3 seconds for the flying 200m outdoors – and good news, I achieved it! At the SES Sprinters League at Herne Hill Velodrome on 5 June, I got my time down to 12.1 seconds. Though the time was good, my racing wasn’t brilliant – I’m still trying to get to grips with gearing and tactics. To cut myself some slack, I’m still very inexperienced compared to most of those I’m racing against, so these races are a valuable learning experience. Hopefully, the times will keep coming down; my goal is 11.8 seconds by the end of the year.

CAV'S ROAD BACK TO THE TOUR

After three seasons blighted by illness and injury, Mark Cavendish surprised everyone by gaining selection for the Tour de France. Peter Cossins investigates his climb back to the sport’s summit

As La Course ends, top women relish 2022 Tour prospects

New eight-day race fuels hopes of a full three-week Tour

Anything you can do…

Mathieu van der Poel snatches yellow from Julian Alaphilippe on dramatic opening weekend

ANDY LEWIS ‘SLAMMED AND READY TO SMASH IT!'

The big changes for me this month are positional. On 10 June, I went for a bike-fit at Bike Loft in St Albans, and the changes made were the opposite to what I’d expected. I’d assumed that my 56cm frame was one size too big for me and that I’d need all the contact points brought closer together. But no! Fitter Simon Barnes asked how I was feeling on the bike and when I described the tension in my shoulders, he responded: “OK, I am going to do one thing”. With that, he slammed the stem, lowering it by 20mm. To my surprise, it felt better. He fitted a 10mm-shorter stem and it felt comfier still.

A SENSATIONAL GENERATION

Well, we had it all didn’t we? The predictability of the favourites living up to our expectations and the inevitable crashes, but with everything turned up to 11.

Cav Returns To The Tour De France

Manxman gets called up for another (final?) bite at La Grande Boucle, writes Vern Pitt

Thomas targets Tour and Olympics double

Tokyo TT and road race for 2018 Tour champ

TOUR DE FITNESS 21 WAYS TO MAINTAIN YOUR FORM THROUGHOUT LA GRANDE BOUCLE

Don’t let your fitness take a back seat to watching the Tour. Chris Marshall-Bell has a motivational tip for every stage

La Course by Le Tour de France

Brest, Saturday 26 June, 108km

Pinarello launches new flagship Dogma F

New top race bike will be used by Ineos from the Tour de France onwards

SIDE STEPPING THE SOPHOMORE SLUMP

Last year Tadej Pogačar pulled off one of the most dramatic Tour de France wins in memory. But few have been able to back up their first victory. CW investigates if the Slovenian youngster can do the impossible – again

Cycling 19 November, 1983

Elliott turns pro but traditional time trials still rule

STRENGTH & DEPTH

For the first time Ineos Grenadiers are taking three Grand Tour winners to the Tour de France. CW asks, despite having won seven of the last 11 Tours, is this the British squad’s strongest Tour team ever?

Ribble-Weldtite dominate National TTT podium

Simmonds and CAMS-Basso team take women’s title

I love time trialling when it's a family affair

Last week would have been Nationals week, which meant I had to do something to counter the fear of missing out whilst the rest of Europe battled it out for national TT stripes. So what better than to ride the Georgetown TT, Glasgow?

LAKE SIDE RETREAT

In the latest in a series on the best UK riding destinations, Vern Pitt explores the challenging climbs of the south-west Lake District

Tour of Britain 1954

As picture researcher, I occasionally stumble across something in our archive that is like gold dust to me. Pre-lockdown I found a couple of small boxes containing 20, 3x4 inch, glass-plate negatives, ‘Ilford H.P.3 Plate’, marked ‘Tour of Britain’. Each in an individual sleeve, some had riders’ names written on them and I could work out with an old start-sheet that the year was 1954.

Material gain

Should we be blown away by the new McLaren skinsuit? Simon Smythe went to the Silverstone wind tunnel to find out

TOUR DE WEIRD

The world’s biggest race has a brilliant habit of throwing up some odd scenarios. Chris Marshall-Bell counts down the best eight

Dr Hutch

Careful deliberations have led the Doc to conclude that anyone beyond the age of 25 should not be winning bicycle races

GB celebrates record medal haul at para-Worlds

British team claims six world titles and 11 medals, writes Vern Pitt

Day and Hall take honours in Hemel Hempstead

Young bloods look to level up after A41 wins

Carapaz eyes Tour title after Suisse win

On form Ecuadorian holds on in tight final stage of Swiss tour