VideoNEW
Podcasts
Blogs
Tough calls loom for Evans and Wiggins
Choices, choices. Team Sky's always had them, BMC's suddenly been gifted them, and some teams are bereft of them. They do, however, make for interesting dynamics in every team as the Giro d'Italia heats up, and the Tour de France looms, writes Al Hinds.
I've been surprised, to say the least, at what the Giro has thrown up so far. Not the displays of animated racing, nor the wet and wild descents, the crash-marred sprints, or the tifosi packing the roadsides. No, the Giro was always going to be an excellent race, an excellent spectacle. It always is.
But what appeared an almost predestined podium, when the Giro arrived at Brescia, has become far from it with still more than a week to race. I'll put my hand up and say I had Wiggins pencilled in for a place near the top of the dais, and, if things went well, his name engraved on that eye-catching trophy.
Fairytale ride
Mustafa Sayar's overall win at the Presidential Tour of Turkey is either a sporting fairytale or something far more insidious, writes Al Hinds.
There was a rarefied atmosphere ahead of this year’s Presidential Tour of Turkey. The confession of Lance Armstrong, the fallout from the USADA investigation, the ongoing inquiries in Italy have all made cycling observers hyper sensitive to even a sniff of the unbelievable or the incredible.
Turkey however had even more reason to feel the heat of critical eyes. Last year, lest we forget, a 34-year-old Bulgarian, Ivailo Gabrovski, raised eyebrows at the Tour when he rode clear of the field on Stage 3 to Elmali, seven kilometres from the finish, arriving home a minute and a half ahead of the next best on the stage, Astana's Alexandr Dyachenko.
La Revolucion Colombiana
Carlos Betancur's blazing attack on the early part of the Mur de Huy at Fleche Wallone was just the latest chapter in a resurgence in Colombian cycling that looks set to define the next decade, writes Al Hinds.
panache (n)
1. A flamboyant confidence of style or manner. (Oxford)
2. (Alt.) The Colombian style of riding. Gutsy. Beautiful to watch. Epitomised by the feats of Lucho Herrera in the 1980s.
Can Evans rise above?
Calls for Cadel Evans to be dumped as BMC's Tour de France leader may be premature, but the 2011 champion is certainly walking on the precipice after the best part of 12 months riding in the shadow of young American talent Tejay van Garderen.
"There is some short-term memory from the media, I had a virus last year and I still was seventh in the Tour de France... I did actually win the Tour once before (in 2011). That does sort of proves that I can do it (again)."
So said Evans in an interview with Reuters journalist Julien Pretot after the finish of the Criterium International on Sunday.
Five takeaways from San Remo
Freezing cold temperatures, snow, an unscheduled bus trip and Peter Sagan not winning, were not outcomes scripted for the 2013 edition of Milan-San Remo - but it was a race which more than lived up to its status as one of cycling's oldest monuments. A bleary-eyed Al Hinds takes a look at some of the takeaways from the first major classic of the year.
1. The San Remo hoodoo fells Sagan
Milan-San Remo's curse of the race favourite lives on. Philippe Gilbert started at short odds in 2011, Fabian Cancellara's name was on everybody's lips last year, and few would have looked past Peter Sagan taking out La Primavera in the race's 104th edition. None of them won.
The latest on cycling central
Opinion
