Monday, January 20, 2025

Tag: French Single Day Races

Stuart Balfour – Young Scot Victorious in the GP Plouay

Up there on the list of ‘cult’ races is the GP Plouay, now known as the Bretagne Classic Ouest France; not a race that’s high in the cycling public’s consciousness outside of Brittany but always hard fought on a tough parcours by a quality field since 1931. This year the winner was Belgian hard man Oliver Naesen (AG2R) who shrugged off the rain and took the laurels.

14th International Critérium de Levallois 2010

It was a typical cold grey Scottish autumn day for the 14th International Critérium de Levallois - even though we were in Paris.

At Random

Bernard Thévenet – the Man who Ended Eddy Merckx’s Reign at the Tour de France

By the mid-70’s Belgian, Eddy Merckx was well established as the “Cannibal”, an insatiable creature for whom only victory satisfied the hunger. In 1975 a handsome, smiling Frenchman ended Merckx’s reign of fear in one of the all-time great Tours. Bernard Thevenet is older now, but still handsome and affable, he took time-out from his role as “chef de piste” at the Grenoble Six Day race a year or two ago to talk to VeloVeritas. The interview was conducted in his office, he brought his chair round the desk so there were no barriers between us; I couldn’t help but notice that he had his shoes off…

“The Cycling Professor” by Marco Pinotti

Italian professional Marco Pinotti's new book, "The Cycling Professor" isn't so much a classic biography as a collection of anecdotes and experiences.