There was a road race at Istanbul Park (the Formula 1 track) last week. It was quite a short race (just 42.4K), so I knew it would be fast and furious.
Around 100 riders were at the start line. A few of them were pros, some of them were amateurs and some of them including me were age group racers.
Team Cannondale’s clothing sponsor Sugoi launched a custom Peter Sagan jersey for the upcoming Tour of California. Peter Sagan himself also helped the jersey’s design.
The custom-built jersey has a Slovakian flag and colors on both sides (Peter Sagan is the current Slovakian road champion). Green is the dominant color and there are two red “Hulk” eyes in the back of the jersey.
Today it was the last stage of the Tour of Turkey 2014 (Istanbul-Istanbul), the 50th edition of the race. I went to watch the stage.
Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) won the Paris-Roubaix 2014, the “queen of the classics” with a late attack on an elite group containing all the favorites in the last ten kilometer. John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) finished in second, big pre-race favorite Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) finished in third.
An anonymous but very beautiful photo… One of the best cycling-related photos, which contains no bike.
Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) won the Tour of Flanders 2014 (Ronde van Vlaanderen) spectacularly. This is his third (second consecutive) Tour of Flanders victory – so he joined the “Lions of Flanders” who won this monumental classic three times in history.
If you watch Jørgen Leth’s great documentary about the 1973 Giro d’Italia, “Stars and Water Carriers” (Stjernerne
On one of the early climbs of the day, Eddy Merckx escaped bringing Spanish climber José Manuel Fuente (KAS) and the young Italian Giovanni Battaglin (Jollj Ceramica) along for company. Foolishly, Fuente took his pulls with the powerful Belgian and after having burned his matches, was spit out the back.
The advertisement of Greg LeMond’s 1989 Tour de France winner Bottecchia (in Italian). A beautiful and extraordinary bike. LeMond was racing for the AD Renting-W-Cup-Bottecchia team.
During the 1980s and at the beginning of the ’90s, the size of the front wheels of the time-trial bikes was 650c, unlike today’s bicycles.
The final stage of this year’s Italian Grand Tour, Giro d’Italia 2014 stage 21 is a 172 km flat stage from Gemona Del Friuli to Trieste.
And Monte Zoncolan is back! Giro d’Italia 2014 stage 20 is a 167 km high mountain stage from Maniago to Monte Zoncolan.