Innholdsfortegnelse for January 30, 2025 i Cycling Weekly

When was the last time you did an FTP test? If you’re anything like me, I’m guessing it was a little while ago. I haven’t done one in a couple of years, and happily admit I’d now go to great lengths to avoid doing one again. But for many people they are an essential part of their riding. An excellent measure of your fitness and a great yardstick with which to set or adapt your training. Turn to page 46 for more on the four different tests you can try. There was a time when I was a lot more keen to do ramp tests, as we called them before FTP was a wellknown acronym. When studying Sports Science at Bangor University we had weekly lab sessions when one of…

After a near-perfect Tour Down Under which saw three stage wins for the second consecutive year, Sam Welsford is hoping to get to the Tour de France and target an opening stage yellow jersey. “Everyone’s dream is to win a stage [of a Grand Tour], but for me, the Tour is something I really want to do. It has some good sprints, and stage one being a sprint, I have got my eye on it. So we’ll have to see what happens,” Welsford said after he won the points jersey last week. The Australian won the opening two stages, and then returned to winning ways on the final day. The calibre of sprinters might not have been the highest Down Under - Welsford beat riders like Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and…

A few weeks ago, I joked with friends that I am often humbled by cycling being on the same TV channel as ski jumping and curling. No offence to winter sports fans, but surely we’re not that niche, I laughed. Why can’t we be on a par with the biggest sports in the world? Well, my dream has now come true. But perhaps I should have been more careful about what I wished for. Last week, I was invited to a special presentation at WBD’s central London office, in which the company revealed its vision for the future of its cycling coverage. Thirty-six years after its launch, Eurosport will be no more in the UK, the bosses said, and cycling will be shown on TNT Sports. There was no mention…

British Cycling announced its team for the 2025 Cyclo-cross World Championships and no Elite Women have been selected. The Elite Women’s Cyclo-cross Worlds has been held since 2000 and every year BC has selected at least one rider to represent GB. We have two riders, Anna Kay, capable of a top 10 in the World Championship, and Xan Crees, who’s capable of a top 20 – she already has a top 20 in a World Cup this year. British Cycling will hide behind funding, however there is regulation in their own selection policy that means funding is a non-issue. They can select riders and ask them to fund themselves. With the race in northern France it wouldn’t have been prohibitively expensive to fund their travel and accommodation.…

Lake suggests that the CX146 has been developed for damp weather on chillier spring and autumn days when summer race shoes just won’t cut it. To me, this suggests a slight lack of ultimate warmth but a higher level of pedalling performance than most ‘winter’ boots. However, the brand also suggests a temperature rating of -4°C that, let’s face it, should cover most sensible riding conditions. There is a Henry Ford-esque choice when it comes to colour, although you can opt for regular or wide-width fittings, and Lake recommends sizing up 1-1.5 sizes above your normal fit. Full sizes from 36 to 50 are available. Construction The upper is made from a waterresistant Clarino microfibre that looks a lot like leather, giving the boots a slightly old-school vibe, backed up…

If you could race in one place for the rest of your life, where would it be? Girona – it really is the best place in the world for cycling. Favourite warm-up music? The Spotify playlist ‘Songs to Sing in the Shower’ – feel-good music. Favourite post-race treat? Chocolate brownie. Biggest inspiration? My husband, Carl [Pasio, a semi-pro triathlete]. He identified my talent and was the one who believed in me. Funniest team-mate? Carlee Taylor. I raced with her at Lotto Belisol. She’s retired now but she was so funny. Favourite training ride? A loop towards the Pyrenees [from Girona], passing Beget and Camprodon. Dream race to win? Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and Flèche Wallonne.…

In common with most riders who’ve ever trained with any purpose, I’ve always kept track of a couple of subjective scores along with the more objective training data. These have always been a simple “How did you feel?” and “How hard did the effort feel?” They are scored from 0-10, 10 being “best” or “hardest”. As a coach, I’ve always set some store by these numbers. They’re a godsend if you want to spot overtraining early rather than just wait for the client to drop dead. I have, however, a confession. Anyone who might have tried to use the numbers I’ve carefully recorded for well over 20 years as a coaching aid would have a problem. Under, “How did you feel?” I have never recorded a number other than seven.…

One thing the far-flung WorldTour races have in common seems to be a penchant for the after-party. China in October was awash with wild nights out as all riders headed into the off-season after the Tour of Chongming Island. As I write this, I’m sitting on the periphery of the Tour Down Under equivalent. Watching bike riders party is always entertaining. After the Tokyo Olympics, a colleague and I looked on from a balcony as the athletes let loose down below after a long, Covid-hit five-year cycle. We watched with concern as a group of GB cyclists awkwardly sidled over to a frankly wild rabble of international athletes who had just demolished a red telephone box outside the British Olympic Association block. Any post-race party is a mix of those…

Caleb Ewan signs for Ineos Grenadiers Caleb Ewan has signed for Ineos Grenadiers from Jayco-Alula, bringing an end to the mystery of the Australian sprinter’s whereabouts. The 30-year-old, a five-time Tour de France stage winner, was thought to have a contract for 2025 with Jayco, but was then left off the squad’s website. Wmncycling on Instagram “A thousand-yard stare from Zoe Bäckstedt after yet another mudfest” 10 The number of months former French pro Marion Sicot received as a suspended sentence last week after being found guilty of the import and possession of doping products. She tested positive for EPO in 2019. Barclay Academy The Pedal Club last week launched the John Barclay Academy in honour of their former member. The academy will continue Barclay’s decades long tradition of taking…

BEST IN SHOW Our overall winner for 2025 • WINNER: JAYCO-ALULA Jayco-Alula have never been particularly cool. They’ve been successful, they are very Australian, but there has been something missing from the team. A collaboration with homegrown clothing company MAAP, one of the coolest cycling brands, then, goes some way to mitigate that. The kit itself does something quite hard in the world of cycling: it stands out. The purple is inspired, and unique – in the men’s peloton, anyway. It’ll be paired with grey shorts to add a bit more spice to a largely black and navy bunch. AB • RUNNER-UP: FD3-SUEZ Crowned the best kit by CW last year, the FDJ-Suez kit for 2025 is much the same, and it’s still so classy. Without trying particularly hard, the…

In the autumn of 2015, Will Bjergfelt was hit by a car while training in Bristol. “My tibia and fibula were so fractured, with three plates and 20 screws keeping everything together, that it wasn’t until Christmas that doctors confirmed they wouldn’t be amputating my right leg,” he said. “I was told I would never walk properly again, never ride a bike again, and certainly never race again.” Since then, though, Bjergfelt has become a para-cycling world champion in the C5 category, representing both GB and Xavier Disley’s Aerocoach team. “When Xav had his accident, I told him that if he didn’t recover, he would qualify for the C5 category,” says the 46-year-old. “He mulled it over, as there was a lot to take in – you never expect to…

Tom Pidcock’s offseason move to the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team certainly raised a few eyebrows. By ending his contract with Ineos early and opting to join a second-tier outfit, he’s unlikely to appear in all of this season’s big races. The 25-year-old, however, seems far less concerned than his doubters. “From my heart, from the first meeting, I decided I was coming here,” he said. “My head was debating for a long time, but the thing about here is the belief in me, that shared vision of success and freedom and being able to race my bike.” And what a bike it is. The Scott Addict RC Ultimate launched as the lightest race model around, weighing as little as 5.9kg in some guises. While Pidcock’s machine needs to meet the…

They were the top ranked WorldTour team with a total of 81 race victories, 40 of which were at WT level. Tadej Pogačar was of course the main protagonist, but the Italian-based team also delivered wins courtesy of Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso, Marc Hirschi and others. Now you can add Jhonatan Narvaéz to the list. The Ecuadorian joined UAE from Ineos Grenadiers over the winter and started winning immediately, suggesting that once again UAE will be the team to beat. After finishing second at the Tour Down Under last year, just nine seconds behind Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech), it was Narvaéz’s turn to put his stamp on January, and win his first race in new colours. This time, the Ecuadorian won by nine seconds. The victory was built, as it…

In her second race for her new team, Movistar’s Marlen Reusser won the Trofeo Palma Femina on Sunday, outsprinting Mavi García (Spain) after the pair escaped from the bunch on the penultimate climb, the Coll de Sa Creu. Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) was third, beating Thalita de Jong (Human Powered Health). Also winning early for his new team was Marc Hirschi (Tudor), who triumphed at the Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 1969 - Gran Premi València. He beat Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) and António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). The Trofeo Marratxi-Felanitx, the opening race of the women’s elite European season, was won by Lotta Henttala (EF Education-Oatly) who outsprinted Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) in Felanitx. Meanwhile, António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates) won the Gran Premio…

Who have you learned the most from about racing? This might sound controversial, but I learned the most from Thomas Campana [Moolman-Pasio’s DS at Cervélo-Bigla from 2016 to 2018]. Being half-German and half-Italian, he had that mixture of precision and emotion, and the emotion is why there were problems with him [Campana was accused of bullying and mistreating female riders]. He could see that I was open to his ideas, and I suppose that’s why we worked well together. How did you prepare for the Paris Olympics after breaking your back? I crashed at the Volta Catalunya and broke my T10 vertebra. I had to wear a back brace the whole time, but after one week I was on the indoor trainer. During the race, the cobbles were taxing and…

Hillingdon Slipstreamers Spring Series 1 Where: Hayes, Greater London When: Saturday, 8 February The first of a series of six youth races throughout February and March to take place at the Hillingdon Circuit in West London. With races for U8s, U10s, U12s, U14 and U16s, it’s the perfect way for a child to give racing a go. Tickets start at £10. Ely & District ‘Hardriders’ 25 Where: Cambridgeshire When: Sunday, 9 February The TT season opens with this Hardriders event in Cambridgeshire, organised by Ely & District CC, sponsored by B&T Motors. The course runs over the fens, so expect flat and fast, with some A-roads and B-roads in the mix. Tickets are £18, available through the CTT.…

A message from Mike Larson – who says he’s “long retired from anything as stupid as cycling”. Dear Doc – Back in the 1970s, time triallists were all convinced that the key secret to a fast bike was a very short wheelbase. I had a frame built that was as short as possible – never mind my feet, there was crank overlap. As it was fixed-wheel, I couldn’t do corners. If I had to ride to and from the race HQ, at any junctions I had to get off, pick the bike up and get back on, pointing the way I wanted to go. If the turn roundabout was any smaller than a full dualcarriageway wide, I had to ride my other bike. On one occasion I misjudged it and…