Tag: Cycling Families

It was nice to wake up in the shadow of the Matterhorn this morning; imposing, snow capped and stunning against a picture post card blue sky. Yesterday? There's a clue in what Contador, Aru and Landa call themselves; "professional" cyclists. It's a job, a commercial enterprise, a way to make money for riders, sponsors and organisers. The way we read yesterday is that Alberto is due a big favour from Astana whilst Landa is due one from management and Aru.

VeloVeritas first got to know Neah Evans (Storey Racing Team & Scotland) at the Berlin Six Day, a year or two ago, since then she’s built an impressive track palmarès with success at national, UCI and Commonwealth levels. And now she’s added Britain’s toughest road event to her roll of honour; the CiCLE Classic at Melton Mowbray, also known as ‘The Rutland’.

Time tests, love them or hate them – but this one was a cracker. I had Evans down as winner after it became apparent that Adriano Malori was ‘just getting round’ after his crash the day before. I had it in my mind that Ulissi might do something but thought his stage 11 crash would put a lid on his ambitions. Far from it and Lampre's new star lead for a large part of the afternoon until Rigoberto Uran jarred all of our eyes open – including Ulissi’s as he sat in the ‘hot seat.’

The current flag bearer for black track cycling Nolan Hoffman, hails from South Africa - and there's irony in that, given the vile apartheid regime which ruled the country for so long.

Sorry for the radio silence recently - I went off-grid a little, needed it after the Tour Down Under, and caught up with the family in Australia. After the TDU I headed from a sunny Adelaide to rainy Cairns before leaving for my home in the Czech Republic - the place to be.

Elite Road Race World Championship 2013; Just about everyone named Rodriguez, Valverde, Nibali, Sagan, Gilbert and Cancellara as favourites – but I didn’t see one mention of Portugal’s Rui Costa’s name before the race. But he was there with the best at the death and played his hand as coolly as Paul Newman in ‘The Sting.’