Photo of the day - 28: More Italian cycling success, even ahead of the mighty Dutch

 

Getty Images

Continuing the theme of Italians winning things this summer, this was once again repeated at the Women's World Road Racing Championships. The noteworthy thing was that it was Elisa Balsamo who managed to outsprint Marianne Vos, the greatest female bike racer of all time. Those who have followed the season will not be surprised that Elisa was in the mix at the end, given that with her sponsored team Valcar Travel & Service she has tended to contest sprints and be in the minor placings.

But to get ahead of the great Marianne Vos was an achievement at another level. I think the difference between Marianne and Elisa was that Vos probably launched her sprint a little late, and furthermore Balsamo had a very strong cohesive lead-out team in the shape of Elisa Longo Borghini, Marta Bastianelli, Marta Cavalli and Maria-Giulia Conflonieri. Interestingly, the Dutch team was also very strong on paper. People have been talking about them for the last couple of years being a formidable team, and the team to beat.

Given that a number of these riders have been Olympic Champion or World Champion, it isn't without reason that the world is talking about the team from the Netherlands. The question isn't will they win? It's more - which one out of  Marianne Vos, Annemiek Van Vleuten, Anna van der Breggen, Demi Vollering, Amy Pieters and Ellen Van Dijk will win? 

Unfortunately, the team has lost out in recent major competitions. At the Olympics, they totally failed to spot that a relatively unknown rider from Austria (Anna Kiesenhofer) had done a breakaway off the front to win. In fact, when Annemiek Van Vleuten crossed the line in second place she did a victory salute, thinking she had won! Apparently, some members of the Dutch team new that there was already a woman ahead on the road, but this doesn't seem to have been communicated between them. (Radios weren't allowed during the race.)

Then at the World Championships communication was better, but they still didn't manage to get organised to launch Marianne into the best position at the right time for the sprint for the line. So their most decorated rider failed to catch the young speedy Italian in the home straight. 

Marianne looked extremely disappointed - more so than I have ever seen her after a race - and she was in tears on the finish line. I must say, I felt bad for her and would have like to see her win.

But I think here, it is a case of the strongest team isn't always the team that wins. What counts more is using your resources wisely and working better as a team. And I think that's where the Italians were able to make the difference. So the buzz word is "team work". And that's something that the Italians seem to excel at where the Dutch need to do better.

Photo of the day - 23: World Cycling is going to Africa

 

Riders tackling the Mur de Kigali during this year's Tour of Rwanda

It isn't just in Belgium where you get a massive enthusiastic crowd on a cobbled climb. This is the "Mur de Kigali" one of the famous climbs ridden during this year's Tour de Rwanda. Africans definitely take their cycling seriously. The event has been run as a UCI event since 2009, with Africans making the top 10, though in recent times and notably this year more European teams have taken the start line and contested the top spots. Also, the Tour du Faso, in Burkina Faso is due to take place in October. This is another big cycle race on the African cycle racing calendar and that has been a UCI event since 2005, with ASO, organisers of the Tour de France, having assisted in the running of the event.

The great news for African cycling, though is that today the UCI announced that Rwanda will be the host of the 2025 World Road Cycling Championships. This will be the first time that such a prestigious event is taking place on the African continent. A delighted Aurore Mimosa Munyangu, Minister for Sport, said that "Rwanda will commit to delivering a memorable Road World Championships".

I think this is great news, and it can only be a positive thing for cycling in Africa. I look forward to seeing more cycling events taking place there, and who knows - I may even do a few myself.  

Photo of the day - 6: Talking to Norma Gimondi about Felice

 

As part of the work that I am doing on a feature article about the Tour of Lombardy I had the pleasure of interviewing Norma Gimondi on the phone. She is the daughter of the man above, Felice Gimondi, one of Italy's greatest bike racers. 

Felice won all three of the Grand Tours (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a Espana) in the 60s and 70s, including winning the Giro three times. He also won the World Championships in 1973, and the Tour of Lombardy twice. The great man sadly passed away at the age of 76, a couple of years ago after suffering a heart attack while on holiday. 

I have good memories of interviewing Felice Gimondi in Bergamo in 2012, when I took part in the eponymous cyclosportive (Gran Fondo) held in his honour. So it was good to speak to Norma today. She had lots of stories to tell about her father's days racing, and she spoke with a lot of pride. She mentioned how much he enjoyed riding up the Madonna del Ghisallo climb, and how he got the hunger knock and left with nothing to eat he had to pick figs off the trees. She also mentioned how upset Eddy Merckx was when Felice beat him at the Tour of Lombardy. Even in 2014 at gala event, almost 50 years after the event, Eddy didn't want to be reminded of the day and refused to autograph a photo she had of her dad crossing the finish line ahead of Merckx. 

Norma said it always makes her feel happy to talk about Papa, as she calls him. Based in Bergamo, where the family is established, Norma is a lawyer by trade, and she is also vice president of the Italian Cycling Federation. For her, it is important to preserve the Gimondi name in cycling, and that is one way that she can do it - through being involved in Italian cycling. I really enjoyed my chat with Norma Gimondi, and hope I get to meet her in person in the not-distant future.

52 Cycling Voices - 25: Monica and Paola Santini

Meet the women behind one of the biggest brands in cycle wear - Monica and Paola Santini. They took over from the business their father, Pietro set up in 1965. Originally a wool factory set up by Pietro's sister in Bergamo, Signor Santini wanted to develop a business that combined the family clothing business with his passion for cycling. Since 2009 the day-to-day running of the company is managed by Monica and Paola, but Pietro still keeps his daily ritual of walking around the factory and catching up on cycling news in Gazzetta dello Sport.

I met Monica and Paola last year at the Rouleur Classic and they were quite enthusiastic about the launch of their latest kit for Trek-Segafredo, and celebrating 30 years of producing the rainbow World Champion's jersey - something we lesser mortals can even buy now. One thing that was quite apparent when speaking to the sisters is their passion for what they do, and particularly their wish to continue the family heritage of producing innovative designs for men and women. Look out for them at Rouleur Classic.

Monica (L) and Paola     (photo: Beardy MCBeard)

Monica Santini

From: Bergamo, Italy

Occupation: CEO, SMS Santini


Paola Santini

From: Bergamo, Italy

Occupation: Marketing Manager, SMS Santini

Monica

Growing up in a family like ours meant that we were immersed in cycling from a very early age as our dad used to explain all the race techniques and strategies to us. That really got me involved in cycling and I fell in love with it. 

My dad owned a team called Rossi-Santini when I was a teenager and always used to take me to see them racing.  
The first World Championships I went to were in Colorado Springs in 1986 -  Moreno Argentin won. I remember it well: I was just a teenager and my father took me along because he couldn’t speak English and needed me as his interpreter.

I was never a competitive cyclist, partly because when I was young, very few girls cycled. Nowadays I cycle at amateur level because I like it and it makes me feel good.

As a small girl I worked in the factory when I was in high school, doing little jobs like helping to lay out the fabrics. Then, when I was at university, I worked in the administration offices. I was there a lot from an early age: at everything from team presentations to official UCI dinners and meetings with sponsors. 

After I graduated, I went abroad for a while to get some experience in other fields, and after that I decided to join for good. That was in 2000 and I started out in administration. Then from 2002 to 2004, I essentially digitalised the company which didn’t had a computer system for the production side. After that I focused on developing our foreign markets and have now been CEO for 10 years. 

Monica with Pietro (L) and Alessandro Petacchi (photo: Santini)

We are an Italian company and, as such, we are very focused on design, fashion and beauty. 

In terms of the production process, I have always worked very actively with the production managers, trying to learn as much as I could from them. I love working with those very professional people.  

I remember Santini making wool jerseys very well because I have been involved in the company since I was a little girl. It was an unusual technique as the wool had to be woven and embroidered. 

Santini has been a partner of the UCI since when they approached us about making the World Champion's jersey over 30 years. We started in 1988, with the victory of Maurizio Fondriest. 

The fact that a body as important as the UCI had chosen us to make the World Champion's showed their faith in our skills. We were able to guarantee quality clothing and fast delivery times.  The first jerseys we made were wool and we had to have wool in all the - quite unusual - rainbow colours in stock.

When people talk about the World Championships, they are normally only thinking in terms of road cycling but there are many others championships: from mountain bike to lesser known ones such as cycle-ball or artistic cycling, etc. All those World Championships have their own jersey designs. For example, cycle-cross and mountain-bike champion jerseys are often cut very differently.

In terms of size, we don’t just make one jersey but the same jersey in a choice of sizes that have to reflect the size of the athletes that will win and wear them on the podium. They won’t be worn in competition so we don’t have to worry about fitting.

Although we had transitioned from wool to Lycra and polyester by the time I joined the company in 2000, the other changes in the interim have been significant too; from the fit, which has become more body-hugging, to the addition of different materials to boost stretch, for instance.  In the last few years in particular, we have been doing more and more research into treatments and fabrics: it is an ongoing process because we never want to stop innovating.  

We have been producing women-specific products for at least 20 years, and in that time have focused on driving forward with our projects with women's pro teams and athletes. Our goal since the outset has been to give women the same standard of products that we make for men, so we have never produced less technical clothing or used lower performance fabrics for women. 

Lizze by Santini and Trek-Segafredo kit

We applied the research and development processes  we use for our men’s products to our women’s clothing: we chose more body-hugging cuts designed for women’s body shapes, perhaps adding in a bit more colour and playing around a bit more with the graphics to make them more attractive to female tastes.  

What was definitely different, however, was the quantity of products: while there were a lot of men’s collections, the selection of women’s products was limited, at first. But that too has changed t in recent years. In fact, our women’s collections now mirror our men’s very accurately in both quality and quantity.

We work with the top women’s pro teams like Boels Dolmans, and pro athletes like Lizzie Deignan. Working with sports people of that level has helped us realise what we needed to do differently to suit women’s bodies and needs. In the past, we also worked with the Australian Cycling Federation in providing kit for women cyclists. 

We always organise fitting sessions with our athletes and we get them to test out all the materials they will be wearing to see if they are fine as they are or if we need to adapt them to the competitors’ bodies. 

We have been working with Lizzie Deignan in creating the Lizzie for Santini collection. I spoke to Lizzie early last year about clothes and she said she really likes Santini clothing, even before she was asked to design it. 

She was riding for Boels Dolmans at that time and we were already sponsoring the team. We liked Lizzie a lot and with everything that she does and what she represents for women’s cycling, so we approached to see if she had ever thought about doing something in the industry. She like the idea of the work that we had done previously for another big rider, Anna Meares, on her Anna collection. So we started creating the Lizzie for Santini collection.

It has been hugely important for us to work with an athlete of Lizzie’s calibre. She is very focused on detail and is very determined.  That striving for perfection is something we share and so we’re absolutely on the same wavelength.  Being able to craft our collection around the needs of an athlete of her level has been a very positive experience for us – as was the case with Anna Meares a few years ago. 

In the past, we were met with some confusion and reluctance: “What you are you doing that for?” and “Why are you making women’s products? They are no use to anyone, no one wants them. It’s a waste of time”, etc., etc. But time proved us right: now there are more and more women’s collections and products and that is because more and more women are becoming involved in this sport.   

Based on my own experience, I would say that women are able to embrace that marvellous crossover between sport and fashion in addition to being able to create groups in a less vertical way and more as a team. 

My transition to managing the company and being part of the cycling industry wasn’t so rapid that people ended up saying: “What just happened?” I worked with dad for a very long time and it was a very easy, natural transition between him and his daughters, in-house.  

After several years, he just said to us: “It is time to pass the baton”.  My father still comes to the factory every day.  The outside world didn’t immediately accept the fact that the company was being managed by two women. But despite a few difficulties, we have built up excellent business relationships. 

It is true that this is a male-dominated sector with a very low percentage of women. But I have never looked on myself as a women when I am at work. I see myself as a professional with goals and even when people reacted oddly, I never thought they were doing so because I was a woman but because they thought I was young or a bit green. The important thing is never to give in to the sceptics. 

Inside the Santini factory (photo: Beardy MCBeard)

Being a woman has never been a problem for me or limited me in anyway. In fact, it has been a plus, an advantage. 

The fact that we still have such a solid relationship with the UCI after 30 years is down to the fact that we do what we do well and with passion, and we are fast and flexible. Those are things our dad taught us and which we teach in the company.   

We have our own in-house version of the Ten Commandments written by our collaborators and listing our values and our guidelines. The first Commandment is: quality before everything. That means there is a philosophy shared by the whole company.  

I, together with my sister, Paola, manage the company and the worksforce is 97% female; it’s actually strange to say that in an industry which is male-dominated. We are rooting for women’s cycling to grow more and more and we are all bike riders ourselves. So of course it is natural to think that we want to create something that we like, and if we like it, hopefully other women will like it too. 

Paola

Dad used to take me to local races during summer. He started doing that when I was two. I liked going to watch the track racing with dad; the six-day races were my favourites as I could see the whole race and it was so much fun.

Natatlina, Pietro's sister at the original
Santini wool clothing workshop (photo: Santini)

Cycling has always been part of my life but I never raced when I was little as my dad was afraid I might get hurt. He thought swimming was a much safer sport for a girl. Now I am an amateur triathlete. I discovered triathlon six years ago and fell in love with it.

I quite literally grew up in the factory as at the time, we lived in an apartment on the top floor of the building! Dad always let us walk around the production floor and watch what all the different staff were doing. What happens here is magical for a small child. I see it now with my own kids. They think we create dreams out of colours and fabric!

As I grew up, I used to do small jobs in the office and help out whenever I could after school or during summer holidays.

I learned about the design and production process by watching and asking our designers and technicians thousands of questions. I used to ask thousands of questions when I was a child, and I still do today!

I started working in the family business in April 2009 after six years' working in London in the marketing and PR office of a fashion brand.

When we work with Lizzie Deignan she is involved in the earliest stage of the process, from when we brainstorm ideas for the design and the models in the collection. Then she receives all the photos of the developments of the prototypes and tests some of them too. Her feedback is invaluable and she loves being around fabrics and colours when we create the collection. I think she has a lot of fun.

It is very important to have women involved in the management of a clothing company. Women have a lot to give to this sport, especially in the clothing business. My father has always thought that women are very quick to understand fabrics and design. In my opinion, a woman’s life is like an endurance sport, like cycling. So we are kind of used to dealing with endurance and with the complexity that managing a company like ours involves every day.

Santini President, Pietro with Monica (L) and Paola

Dad is still our president and the symbol of our company. He comes to work every day and loves to walk around the factory to see what’s going on. He doesn’t make all the decisions anymore, but we like to get him involved and ask for his opinion.

The cycling industry has changed a lot through the years. We are no longer the only women in the business. There are still relatively few of us but our numbers are growing. I remember that at the first trade shows I did, people were looking at me and thinking “She is blonde, young and female.  What does she know about cycling?” But I have always proved them wrong and made them change their mind!

Website: www.santinicycling.com
Facebook: Santini Cycling Wear
Instagram santini_cycling

Twitter: Santini_SMS

Other Cycling Voices
Cecile Uttrup Ludwig

Giorgia Bronzini

Alex Davis

Rebecca Charlton

Jenni Gwiazdowski

Women to watch at the Road Cycling World Championships

As the UCI World Road Cycling Championships take place in Yorkshire the fight for a gold medal and the right to wear the rainbow jersey will be hotly contested.

Gone are the days when there was a clear favourite you could single out. With outstanding performances in the UCI Women's WorldTour by various women in the professional peloton it is hard to say who will win the contest in the 150km race between Bradford and Harrogate.

People describe this course as being like a Classics course such as the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race in Belgium. That means very long, with constant short, sharp hills, often in rainy weather. However, some think victory could still go to a sprinter who can handle the Classics if they have good support, since the hills are tough but may not necessarily completely separate the regular WorldTour riders. The weather will play a part in the race though, as this can be changeable, and if it's not raining it will be quite windy on the top of the Dales.

Anna van der Breggen - defending Champion

Dutch Girls (8 riders)
Everyone has been talking about the Dutch team, and it is true that with the likes of Marianne Vos, Anna van der Breggen, Annemiek Van Vleuten, Chantal Blaak - all former or current wearers of a rainbow jersey, it is reasonable to say one can't see past a rider from that team taking the top step of the podium.

Their helper riders such as Amy Pieters and Lucinda Brand also have very strong racing CVs.

However, sometimes having so many brilliant riders in one team can ironically be a problem as it then becomes difficult to devise a clear tactic, and there may even be discord among riders if one feels that she should be the lead rider for the win.

Having spoken to Marianne Vos earlier this year she said that there is no jealousy and among their team they are always glad to see a compatriot doing well, and to will always be ready to help them get the win for the Netherlands. If the Dutch do fumble their tactics on the road to Harrogate there will be a few other teams ready to capitalise on that.


The Italian Job (7 riders)

Marta Bastianelli after winning the Tour of Flanders this year

They also have a good core of riders which includes two former world champions - Tatiana Guderzo and Marta Bastianelli, who will be the lead rider.

They also have a strong climber like Soraya Paladin, who was one of only two women who managed to stay with Marianne Vos during her ride to victory at the very hilly second stage of this year's Tour de Yorkshire. And don't discount Elisa Longo Borghini, who is a phenomenally strong all-rounder.

Their joker card will likely be Letizia Paternoster if the race does come down to a sprint. The Italians have a history of being the nearly team as they haven't won the title since 2011, but they generally manage to get someone into the top 5, if not on the podium. They also have a very good team spirit among themselves.


The Young Americans (7 riders)
The Americans cannot be underestimated, and have been having a very good World Championships thanks to Chloe Dygert-Owen winning the time trial and Megan Jastrab winning the World Junior Championship. Chloe Dygert-Owen was clearly strong in the time trial, but she has also had a great season, notably when she dominated the Colorado Classic in the summer. Coryn Rivera's season has not been as glittering as in previous years mainly because she didn't feature so much in the top places during the early season races. However, she has been steadily gaining ground and so she shouldn't be ruled out of the mix, particularly because she will have support from strong riders like Katie Hall, Ruth Winder, Tayler Wiles, and Leah Thomas.


Brits at home (6 riders)

Alice (left) and Hannah Barnes - key riders in supporting Lizzie Deignan 

With a World Championships in Yorkshire passing the childhood places of Lizzie Deignan, this is going to be a massive motivation for the Team GB.

Deignan, who has shown some impressive results this year since returning from maternity leave will know these roads like the back of her hand, and will have a solid team behind her, though not necessarily with quite the might of some of the other nations.

Alice and Hannah Barnes will be key in the team, as well as Lizzy Banks, a new rider who has shown brilliant form on hilly courses - notably at the Tour de Yorkshire this year. Nikki Juniper, who does most of her racing in the UK, has extensive experience of riding hilly courses in the North of England as well as doing some classics courses in Belgium, though the question remains as to whether she will have a response to the attacks from the Dutch.

Pole Dancers (7 riders)

Katarzyna (Kasia) Niewiadoma - a punchy rider in the Classics

People don't talk so much about the Polish but this year may be the time to do so. I would say they are the dark horse in this.

Kasia Niewiadoma is a punchy rider with a very daring way of racing and can spring surprises where people may not expect it.

She has ridden well in the hilly Spring Classics races in bad weather, such as what you get in Yorkshire. The Poles may have another card to play in the shape of Malgorzata Jasinksa who is a good climber. Their lead rider will be reliant also on the likes of Anna Plichta and Marta Lach.


Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie (6 riders)
The Australians, like the Italians generally manage to get someone into the decisive final part of the race, but unlike the Azzurri, the Ozzies have never had anyone win the World Championships. Last year Amanda Spratt finished in second place on the mountainous course at Innsbruck. Maybe she could do one better on the lumpy course through the Yorkshire Dales.

The only thing is that team Australia have been slightly weakened by the loss of some good helper riders like Sarah Roy and Grace Brown. They do have Brodie Chapman, who placed second in the Colorado Classic and Chloe Hosking who won the sprint at the Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta recently. Mind you, the Australians are putting all their eggs into the Tokyo 2020 Olympics basket, so for this World Championships I wonder how hungry they will be for a win.

Dynamic Dane
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig

Great Danes (5 riders)
A very young Amalie Didericksen won in 2016 on a flat course, and she is there again this time around, though the lead rider is likely to be Cecile Uttrup Ludwig who has been a strong force over the last couple of years, but has really set the Women's WorldTour alight this year. She is as dynamic in her racing as she is in her post-race interviews!

Other people to watch
Germany's Lisa Brennauer can hold her own as a good all-round rider. We haven't seen her full potential during this year, and she has played a helper role to Kirsten Wild her Dutch team-mate in the WNT trade team. But that's not to say she doesn't have what it takes. She recently shone in the Boels Ladies Tour when she got a top 10 place. She is also the German National Road Race Champion.

South Africa's Ashleigh Moolman Pasio is a great climber and is a talented racer who has an ability to get into the mix even in situations where she has no team-mates to help her. It's a good job really, since she will only have three team-mates for today's relentlessly hilly race and it may be a big ask for them to be able to animate things at the front for her.

Cuba's Arlenis Sierra doesn't race much on this side of the Atlantic, but has shown herself to be a solid rider as part of the Astana Women's Team. She is the Pan American Games Champion and placed within the top 20 at the Tour of California.


My pick of contenders

Anna van der Breggen: defending champion and 2019 Silver Time Trial medallist  - notable wins this year: Winner, Fleche-Wallonne; Winner, Tour of California.

Marianne Vos: 2006, 2012 and 2013 Champion - notable wins this year: Winner, Trofeo Alfredo Binda; Winner, Tour de Yorkshire; La Course by the Tour de France; Ladies Tour of Norway.

AnnemiekVan Vleuten: 2019 Bronze Time Trial medallist - notable wins this year: Winner, Strade Bianche; Liege-Bastogne-Liege; Women's Tour of Italy.

Chantal Blaak: 2017 Champion - notable wins this year:Winner, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

Marta Bastianelli: 2007 Champion - notable wins this year: Winner, Women's Tour of Flanders; Winner, Ronde Van Drenthe.

Letizia Paternoster: notable wins this year: European U23 Road Race Champion.

Chloe Dygert-Owen: 2019 World Time Trial Champion - notable wins this year: Winner, Colorado Classic; Winner, Joe Martin Stage race.

Coryn Rivera: notable wins this year: Silver, USA National Championships; 2nd, Ladies Tour of Norway.

Lizzie Deignan: 2015 Champion - notable wins this year: Winner, Women's Tour.

Malgorzata Jasinksa: notable wins this year: 5th, Polish National Championships; 9th, Women's Tour.

Katarzyna Niewiadoma: notable wins this year: Winner, Amstel Gold, 2nd Women's Tour.

Amanda Spratt: notable wins this year: Winner, Tour Down Under; 2nd Trofeo Alfredo Binda; 3rd, Women's Tour of Italy.

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig: notable wins this year: Winner, Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan; 3rd, Tour of Flanders; 3rd, La Course by Le Tour de France.





 

Daily photo - 26: Gutted Colombian rider left with no support after mechanical

An emotional moment for the young Colombian rider German Dario Gomez. This was one of the big talking points of the Worlds and you had to have had a heart of stone not to have felt for this rider during the men's Junior World Championships in Yorkshire.

For young riders these championships are one of the rare opportunities to show themselves on a World Stage. It's a big big deal for them go be racing at the World Road Cycling Championships, with all its global coverage.

So when German Dario Gomez had his tyre roll off his wheel while he was up in the breakaway group and about to contest a hill it must have been annoying. But what was heartbreaking was to turn around to find there was no mechanical support available to him.

The Team Colombia support car was far back in the following convoy - 21st out of 25 - and the neutral service car failed to spot him and passed by.

The difficulty for the Colombian team is that because they had limited resources their mechanics were sharing a support car with other nations - Chile and Uruguay. That car had to stay in the vicinity of the majority of the South American riders, who were further back in the race. One of those riders crashed so the support car was held back even further.

Another issue was that in the UK because motorists drive on the left, riders who have issues and need support should move to the left.

However, everywhere else in the world traffic goes on the right, and that's where riders are automatically used to doing - which is what German did. Sadly, it meant that he wasn't seen by neutral service.

Lots of team support vehicles passed him and even those that did see him were reluctant to stop for fear of being penalised by the UCI for assisting a rider from a rival team.

So this combination of factors led to poor German Dario Gomez being left at the side of the road in a desperate situation. He first tried to fix the problem himself, and then began to walk up the road carrying his non-functioning bike. Such as shame, especially as he is a strong rider on hilly courses and could have been among the top finishers in the race.

Eventually German's team support arrived, some three minutes later and a Uruguayan guy came out to help him. The man was actually the father of one of the other competitors in the race. German managed to finish the race, coming in almost 17 minutes and 60 places behind the winner, Quinn Simmons of the USA.

This incident sparked a lot of debate about how a rider could have been deserted like that, and the Colombian Cycling Federation lodged a complaint with the UCI. While the UCI expressed their sorrow and disappointment at what happened, their explanation was that support cars had been instructed to stay well back from the riders and no overtaking was allowed for safety reasons because the riders were on the very fast descent of Kidstone Bank.

Team Colombia mechanic Fermin Gomez said that it was impossible for him to get to German Dario Gomez quickly given that they were sharing the support car with other nations. In addition, they'd had to attend to other riders' mechanical issues. Fermin felt that the UCI should put more measures in place to help riders from nations with limited support.

As for German Dario Gomez, he seemed happy to have completed the race, and despite all that happened, was upbeat on the team bus, and positive about his overall experience of the World Championships.

He said he was very happy to have had the chance to represent his country and had given 100% in his races. He described the incident as a situation where he was full of adrenaline but didn't know what to do and was just trying to do anything regardless of how futile it seemed.

German was grateful for the support and messages that he had received. I will look out for German Dario Gomez in his future races, and wish him all the best.


Related Posts
No hat-trick for Van Vleuten at the World Time Trial Championships

Colombians and cycling

Argentines and cycling

Daily photo - 19: Speaking Italian again...to Tatiana Guderzo

Tatiana Guderzo with her bronze medal at the Innsbruck World Championships last year

My foreign language skills have been put to good use in recent times, notably when doing cycle journalism and interviewing cycle racers when I interviewed cycle racing legend Jeannie Longo in French, and Movistar's Sheyla Gutierrez in Spanish. I have also interviewed people in Italian too.

Earlier this year I spoke to Marta Bastianelli at the Tour of Flanders cycle race after her victory in this cobble-stoned classic. In June I also spoke to an Italian top racer from the 1980s, Maria Canins about her cycle racing and her success during her heyday. Today I spoke to BePink's Tatiana Guderzo, the 2009 World Road Race Champion who is on her way to the championships in Yorkshire.

Speaking to all of these women was very pleasant, and I feel that making an effort to speak in their language goes some way towards helping relations and also having them open up more in our conversations. I had been a little bit nervous beforehand, but I think watching episodes of Un Posto Al Sole and following the latest love triangle of Serena, Leonardo and Filippo has been very helpful!

Tatiana came across as quite vibrant and dynamic, and was very positive about the upcoming championships. Everyone has been talking about the Dutch cycling team being the strongest. It is true that they have some very strong riders and Tatiana acknowledged that too, but she is also sure that she and her Italian team will fear no one. For the 2018 bronze medallist, it is not always the strongest team that wins. I wish her and team Italia all the best.


Related posts
Learning languages and talking Italian

Tribute to an Italian legend

52 Cycling Voices - 11: Giorgia Bronzini

Weekend at Cycle Expo Yorkshire, doing cyclocross, and running

It's official. Yorkshire is a World Champion venue when it comes to cycling. Indeed, the county will be hosting the World Road Cycling Championships in Autumn 2019. Just like when the Tour de France came to Yorkshire in 2014, Harrogate will once again be the focal town as most of the races will go through or finish in the Yorkshire spa town.

The countdown has begun, and as part of it Yorkshire hosted its first cycle show, Cycle Expo Yorkshire, at the site of the Great Yorkshire Show, in Harrogate.

Yorkshire counts down to the World Championships

I wasn't able to get up to the press and trade day, but I did go on the Saturday and Sunday, and quite a few high profile folks had turned out for the occasion, including Lizzie Deignan, fresh from having her first child; Shanaze Reade, who has come out of BMX-ing retirement to reinvent herself as a track cyclist; Canyon-Eisberg road racer Andy Tennant; Mr Yorkshire himself, Sir Gary Verity; and Ruby Isaac showing off her amazing tricks on rollers at the grand old age of 10!

I managed to get a few words with Sir Gary Verity about the expo and the upcoming World Championships. His interview now forms part of a feature I wrote for Rouleur website. Part 2 of it will come out in a few weeks. I also spoke to Lizzie Deignan for an interview feature for Rouleur.

Ruby Isaac throws a bottle to the audience while pedalling on rollers

In between interviews with the different guests and presenters I checked out the Yorkshire Event Centre, looking at what was on offer, while meeting different people. It was good to see, albeit briefly cycling presenter and author, Ned Boulting.

I also got talking to the husband of artist Lucy Pittaway, who has been the official artist for the Tour de Yorkshire for the past few years. Although she's not big on cycling, Neil is. So it was good to chat with him about the highs (literally) and lows of cyclosportives and riding events like the Etape du Tour, which he has ridden a few times. Lucy Pittaway had some lovely paintings on show, notably the one of the riders going up through Haworth, and the signature painting from this year, of the infamous Park Rash.
They are doing cycle themed calendars too, which I look forward to hanging up on my wall in 2019.

Park Rash by Lucy Pittaway

Also at the show were test tracks around the grounds to try out various types of bikes including off-road manual and electric bikes.
I didn't test out any bikes but I did ride around the grounds during a cyclocross race. It was a good call having one round of the Yorkshire Cyclocross league at the event, and I made the most of the opportunity!

Until this cyclocross race all my previous races had been in dry, sunny conditions. But this was the day where I would break my proper cyclocross duck (at least for the first time in about five years). Looking at Sunday morning's torrential rain it was the easiest thing in the world to say, "I'll stay at home and ride the turbotrainer." But somehow it felt weird saying that in relation to cyclocross.

Cyclocross means grey, muddy, rainy days. That is good cyclocross weather! Racing in the sunshine on dry, dusty, bumpy trails is not good. Your bones are rattled all over the place, you get massively dehydrated... why would you want to race in those conditions?! That was how I tried to convince myself to race, though I wasn't fully convinced myself - especially because when I told folks I'd be doing the cross race I was met with replies like "rather you than me" or "you're such a brave thing."

Anyway, I went through the motions of getting ready and drove from my base in Kettlewell, over to Harrogate. My morning had been spent doing a trail run, and I had managed to escape the rain. As soon as I arrived in the rainy car park and saw the various riders either getting ready to race, or covered in mud from having raced I felt convinced that I should get out there. Regardless of their situation they all looked very matter-of-fact about the conditions. No one seemed bothered by the torrential rain. It's probably a Northern thing, and there was no way I wanted to act like a Southern softie! So I got on with the business of racing too.

A bit of tarmac provides respite from the mud bath known as cyclocross!

It wasn't a wasn't a massively technical race, but there were a few sections that caught me out in the increasingly boggy conditions. Running across an adverse camber, locally known as the "Yorkshire Wall" was not at all easy, and was the scene of one of my more spectacular crashes - right in front of a sizeable crowd.
There was also a mini bombhole, which had a small pool of accumulated rain. As long as you got good momentum on the descent it was possible to clear it without putting your foot down, even if you did get a bit of a soaking. I had to use my core muscles to the max as the bike slid around, and it felt like I was in the lap of the Gods as to where I would end up. Luckily I didn't crash at that point at all during the race. I just crashed everywhere else!

I didn't know any of my other female competitors, but I got to know a couple of them afterwards - notably the ones I'd been sparring with throughout the race.

Mud-splattered but happy

There was one woman that I constantly swapped places with at different points. I was able to get around the corners and up the short sharp hills quicker than her, but she was better on the fast, non-technical sections. She was also better than I was at staying on her bike. I crashed at least five times, and things got decidedly tricky as the mud was more and more churned up, and it became very slippery. Towards the end of the race I was falling down just while walking with the bike.

Also my bike began to suffer and the last thing I wanted to happen was for my rear mech to snap, so I just slowed things down and gently twiddled my way around my final lap, crossing the finish line in a muddy mess, but happy to have made it through. Needless to say, my erstwhile opponent had gained even more ground on me, and I had to accept that as all part and parcel of racing. I hope to get to another cyclocross race in Yorkshire - maybe we'll have a return match.

As a reward I bought myself a UCI World Championships bobble hat, as I felt like a champion, having soldiered on through the difficult conditions. Back to the Expo where I had a final look at the various stands before heading back to London.

As a first Expo in Yorkshire I think it went well. They had been expecting around 200,000 visitors. I have no idea how many did go. The weather on Saturday had been forecast to be pants, but it wasn't. Sunday's wet weather didn't look like it had deterred the visitors.

Mr Yorkshire himself Sir Gary Verity (right)

Cycle Expo Yorkshire was probably about a quarter of the size of the Cycle Show at the NEC. I could imagine it getting bigger, in the same way as the Cycle Show has done. I remember a few years ago when the Cycle Show was held in a hall at the Business Design Centre in Islington. Then it just grew and grew, moving to Earl's Court, and now it's scaled the heights to being at the National Exhibition Centre. Cycle Expo Yorkshire will be a pretty big deal next year, as it will be taking place at the same time as the World Championships, so I expect it will be heaving at that time, as people descend on Harrogate from all over the country, and beyond. I'm looking foward to it.


Related Posts
A jaunt around the White Rose County

Yorkshire Post

Dales and Moors - Yorkshire Trip

One Day One Photo - 23

Thursday 2nd October

Browsing around I came across this photo on Carl Sukonik's @thevainphotos Twitter page. The photo was taken by Chris Auld while a group of us were in the press room at the Cycle Show a couple of weeks ago.

After I had done my rounds at the various stands at the show at the NEC I returned to the press room to find Jens Voigt there with TV sports presenter Ned Boulting, and a host of other press and PR folks. They were huddled around Ned's laptop watching live streaming of the World Cycling Road Race Champs. As the race entered the exciting closing stages more of us joined in to watch, and were treated to live commentary from Jens Voigt himself.

It was a little surreal see the Jensie just sitting there hanging out like your bog standard MAMIL who follows professional cycling. Some things never change! Once the race finished Jens got on with autographing a pile of posters and photos, doing a mini photo shoot, and being interviewed (notably by my good self) just as is standard with prominent people.

It was a pleasant surprise to find this photo. I wouldn't say no to coming across similar surprises on t'internet!

Photo courtesy of Chris Auld Photography