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Cycling Tips Cyclists and Teams Races Tour de France

Here’s Why Supertuck Descending Technique is Banned

At stage 8 of the 2016 Tour de France, Chris Froome attacked during the descent, using the so-called “Supertuck” style. He quickly opened up a gap of a few seconds on his main general classification rivals, including Nairo Quintana. Then he tucked down onto the top tube of his bicycle and spun the 54-teeth chainring with all he had, opening up an even bigger gap in the process. Finally, he won the stage by 13 seconds over his rivals.

A lot of people were astonished at his descending technique. But, in fact, we saw it before.

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Cycling and Music, Cinema, Art Cyclists and Teams

Song for Vincenzo Nibali

Famous Turkish Jazz musician and keen cyclist Yahya Dai (a friend of mine) composed a song for the Tour de France 2014 winner Vincenzo Nibali and performed it with his daughter Damla. Enjoy.

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Women's cycling Cyclists and Teams

Colombian women’s cycling team not ashamed of their kit (video)

A Colombian women’s cycling team defend their choice of uniform which has led to criticism from the International Cycling Union president and online commentators and said they would not stop wearing flesh-colored uniforms that earned them criticism from the International Cycling Union president.

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History and Legends Cyclists and Teams Races Tour de France

Jens Voigt borrows a child’s size bike after crashing his own, Tour de France 2010

Today’s historic photo of the day is about one of the most iconic figures of cycling history – Jens Voigt. When he was riding for Saxo Bank team, he participated in the Tour de France 2010 edition as a domestique to his leaders, the Schleck brothers.

After completing his domestique duties on the mountainous stage 16, he crashed heavily on the descent of the Col de Peyresourde, and his bike became destroyed. After getting back up, he realized that all the team cars had passed and that he would not be handed a new bike. Desperate, he borrowed a bike much too small for him, from a children group’s car which was following the race. He rode on it for about 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) before reaching a policeman who had another bicycle which had been left for him by his team.

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Cyclists and Teams Races Tour de France

Quote of the day – From Cannondale’s Ted King

Cannondale’s Ted King published a new blog post on his personal website and wrote about his early exit from the Tour de France.

Ted King’s ride at the Tour de France ended abruptly on Monday as he was forced to abandon after a Stage 10 crash. He also did crash earlier in the race, once in Stage 3 and again in Stage 4, forcing him to race with tight bandages on both sides of his body. Furthermore, he fell ill on Monday, adding to his tough luck in a stage current yellow jersey holder Vincenzo Nibali called “the hardest stage I’ve ever done in a Grand Tour.”

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Races Cyclists and Teams Tour de France

Safety advice for the cycling fans, from Marcel Kittel (video)

Marcel Kittel, the sprinter of the team Giant-Shimano, in a video prepared in collaboration with the ASO (Amaury Sports Organisation – the Organizer of the Tour de France) gave the cycling fans some safety advice.

Kittel says: “Thanks for coming to the Tour to support us. Please respect the riders, protect yourself and especially your children.”

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Cyclists and Teams

What does “feeling great” mean to a cyclist?

Today’s quote is from Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton was a teammate of banned cyclist Lance Armstrong during 1999, 2000, and 2001 Tour de France where Armstrong won the Yellow jersey. He is the only American rider to win one of the Five Monuments of Cycling (Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2003). Unfortunately, he was doping when he won the race, like the vast majority of the pro peloton, in the “dark ages of cycling”.

But after reading his book, The Secret Race, I am convinced that Hamilton is a good guy. You can also read the comments about the book on amazon.

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History and Legends Cyclists and Teams

Quote of the day by Eddy Merckx

Here’s the quote of the day by Eddy Merckx: “In cycling, being sure of yourself is an almost inevitable guarantee of not winning.”

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Races Cyclists and Teams

How to watch a cycling race live? Tips from David Millar

David Millar, the 36-year-old Scottish rider of Team Garmin-Sharp gave some quick tips about how to watch a cycling race live without putting in danger both the riders and themselves. He tweeted four tips on his Twitter account, @millarmind. He said to the cycling fans that “I’ll be standing there with you soon”.

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History and Legends Cyclists and Teams Races Tour de France

Remembering Tom Simpson

In the 1967 Tour de France, Tom Simpson, one of the greatest cyclists from Great Britain, has died while climbing Mont Ventoux, the “Giant of Provence”.