(countdown beeping)
- Welcome to another edition of GCN's Racing Show,
with news and results from the pro peloton,
including transfers, the Tour of Hainan,
more cyclocross, the 2019 Tour de France route.
But firstly though, Wiggins and Armstrong.
Bradley Wiggins is set to publish a book this week,
detailing 21 of his cycling icons,
one of whom is Lance Armstrong.
Now, Wiggins has been quoted in the press as saying
that Lance "is the perfect winner" of the Tour de France,
a position he justifies by saying that he embodies
the ideals of the founder of the Tour de France,
that is, a super athlete who could overcome
everyone and everything.
Well, I mean, he did, but at what cost?
You can kind of see Wiggins' logic,
but a lot has changed since the 19th century.
And furthermore, Desgrange, the founder,
was a stickler for the rules, remember,
going so far as disqualifying Eugene Christophe
in 1919 for outside assistance,
which amounted to someone pumping the bellows
whilst he re-welded his own forks during the race.
So one might think that Desgrange
wouldn't look too kindly on, well,
much of the '90s peloton, Lance included.
But what do you think though?
Has Wiggins got a point?
Let us know in the comments section
whilst we crack on with the rest of the news.
The route of the 2019 Tour de France
was announced last week,
and it looks like one for the climbers.
Three summit finishes at over 2000 meters
bring an ability to cope with altitude into the mix
of necessary skills required by the contenders.
The route also has a record number of classified mountains,
although with more tricky Cat 2s and Cat 1s
than the biggest all-category ascents.
Fewer kilometers of time trials,
though there are two short individual ones,
and a short team time trial complete the mix.
So it looks like the organizers, A.S.O,
have done what they can to create an unpredictable race,
something clearly high on their agenda,
as race director Christian Prudhomme
even reaffirmed his call for a ban on power meters.
Unfortunately, it's out of his hands.
But his voice does now lead a sizable chorus,
ourselves here at GCN included.
Now, what is undeniably upsetting though
about A.S.O.'s announcements is that La Course,
the women's race they host, remains just one day.
This time it takes place on the same course
as the 27-kilometer men's individual time trial,
only with five laps instead of one.
Now, given the success of La Course
over the years, particularly last year,
you do have to wonder why this is the case.
Now, if you've been watching our live coverage
of this year's Tour of Hainan over on Facebook,
then you will know that it has proven to be
a strong showing for Italian riders so far,
with five of the first seven stages being shared out
amongst Jakub Mareczko, Manuel Belletti,
Andrea Guardini, and Marco Benfatto.
However, the general classification
is still an extremely close affair,
with less than a minute encompassing the top 21 riders
ahead of the final two stages.
Now additionally, one of the most interesting
observations from that race is that of prize money.
A total pot of $350,000 is a significant opportunity
for teams to target this time of the season.
And you would have thought it should be
a nice boost going to the off season.
Now staying with road racing, it looks as if change
is afoot among the ranks of Team Sunweb,
as last week saw further departures,
in the way of coaches Morten Bennekou and Adriaan Helmantel.
This follows in the wake of Edward Theuns
terminating his contract early,
Simon Geschke ending his 10-year association with the team,
and Grand Tour veteran Laurens ten Dam
moving onwards as well.
So could so much change prove detrimental
for the ambitions of team leader Tom Dumoulin,
especially with the Tour de France course looking
less appealing with each glance of the par core?
In a world of high-profile, high-value signings,
team structure is often overlooked
as one of the keys of success.
So hopefully this doesn't rock the boat too much for them.
Perhaps the biggest transfer of last week was the departure
of Fernando Gaviria from Quick-Step Floors,
the Colombian choosing to end his contract a year early
in order to make the move to Team UAE Emirates.
Another coup for them came this week as well
by securing the prized signature
of 20-year old Belgian rider, Jasper Philipsen,
who's finally been bagged by a team
after much interest from the top ranks.
He is undeniably an exciting talent
who's previously finished runner-up
at the under-23 Tour of Flanders,
fourth at the under-23 Paris-Roubaix,
and secured stage wins at the under-23 Giro d'Italia.
He is, of course, another graduate
of the Axeon Hagens Berman squad,
overseen by former professional, Axel Merckx.
And he's sure to be one to follow
as he joins the ranks of the World Tour.
Now whilst in the process of recovering
from Epstein-Barr Virus,
Mark Cavendish has announced that he's chosen to extend
his contract with Team Dimension Data,
as has his long-time lieutenant, Bernie Eisel,
who's been task with helping to bring through
the next generation of riders.
In the world of cyclocross, at the weekend we witnessed
another dominant performance by Mathieu van der Poel,
to secure his third victory
at the 2018 Superprestige Series,
beating arch-rival Wout van Aert into second place,
once again after forcing a gap early on.
Toon Aerts followed home in third place on the day.
And in the women's race, Marianne Vos returned to
the top spot with a polished performance,
executing her attack perfectly to beat runners-up
Annemarie Worst and Kim van de Steene.
The weekend also saw the first round of the Soudal Classics,
raising the curtain upon the five-race series at Neerpelt.
with at thrilling contest which proved to be
an unpredictable affair in the men's race for once.
A group of favorites emerged at the front.
And when Vantornout caused a gap
to emerge amongst the group,
Laurens Sweeck did not hesitate to take advantage.
Having accelerated hard to cement his gap,
he did not let up for the rest of the race,
his strong showing securing him top spot by 13 seconds,
his third consecutive Neerpelt victory.
In the women's race, Denise Betsema took the victory
from Ceylin Alvarado, and Laura Verdonschot in third.
Now something which has had plenty of us
debating the answer to is this insightful thread
from Daniel Friebe last week on Twitter.
He said the last 10 years has seen
a relatively consistent number of riders racing
for over 14,000 kilometers at UCI .1 rank races per season.
However, that's changing.
This season concluded with only
a single rider having achieved it,
that breakaway specialist, Alessandro de Marchi.
A result of larger teams,
perhaps training programs, or just a freak event?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments section down below.
Right, that is all for this week.
Do make sure you stay tuned
to our Facebook page for live racing.
We've got more cyclocross and also the Saitama Criterium
to round out the road season.
For another video now though,
why not take a lesson from Emma in how to test your bike
or your position scientifically.
We're taking notes as well.