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Tom writes about cycling for The Roar. When he's not writing he lives in London, works for a charity, and procrastinates writing a bestseller. Follow Tom on Twitter: Tomas_Fish
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Five months have passed since Rohan Dennis abandoned the Tour de France in mysterious circumstances, climbing off the bike seemingly without cause during stage…
Every four years, I watch the Olympics, and every four years, I watch sports such as diving, swimming, and gymnastics, and question my life…
If you’d asked me on the second rest day to wager ten of my hard-earned dollars on one of the riders in the top…
The general consensus among the Tour de France chattering classes was that if Julian Alaphilippe could do the improbable and be wearing yellow at…
In 1996, Stage 9 of the Tour de France was a small 46-kilometre ride from Le Monetier-les-Bains to Sestriere in Italy due to bad…
It’s almost a Tour de France tradition for the pre-race talk to not be centred around the upcoming edition, but instead, around the drama…
It was a great day to be Dutch, and a terrible day to be English if you were a cricket fan on the 31st…
One can't help but feel sorry for Chris Froome. By winning the Tour de France he alienated a section of cycling fans to such…
It says a lot about Astana's team unity and communication when at the very same press conference that Vincenzo Nibali stated his race program…
Have you ever found yourself asking the question, just what is Claudio Chiappucci doing these days? No, me neither. For those of you who…
Asking how many Grand Tours a particular cyclist has won is usually quite a simple question. Chris Froome has won two. Nairo Quintana one,…
Orica-GreenEDGE have confirmed their roster for 2016, and they're certainly ringing in the changes. Seven new riders have come into the team, and eight…
A question for you all. Can anyone reading this name the last five winners of the UCI World Tour? I'll be very impressed if…
Here's a statistic for you: excluding a certain American, no one has retained their Tour de France title since 1995, when Miguel Indurain won…
It would have to be said that the happiest man in the room at the Tour de France route unveiling in Paris was definitely…
I was originally only going to write this article if Tom Dumoulin did the unthinkable and won the 2015 Vuelta a Espana last weekend.…
The Dubai Tour has wrapped up, with Mark Cavendish beating out a range of contenders including John Degenkolb to take the crown. With some…
The NFL season came to a close on Monday morning Australia time with the New England Patriots beating the defending champions Seattle in what…
Six months is a long time. You could run eight Tours de France in that time, if you tried hard enough. A hell of…
After Fabio Aru's stage win and Chris Froome's attacking ride to gain time, Stage 19 will definitely feel like some respite for Vuelta a…
Thanks, I’m not sure how much we can read into his recent performances given his competition. We never really saw Froome go up against Cadel Evans or Andy Schleck in their prime, that would have been interesting.
How many grand tours has Alberto Contador actually won?
Mezgec is really one of their more shrewd signings I think. Capable of winning solo if Matthews isn’t there, and if Matthews is there he’s got a hell of a lead out train.
Orica-GreenEDGE are sitting pretty for 2016
All great questions! With Chaves, top five is a realistic target in the GC, and with a bit of luck, a top three isn’t out of the question. Unless Bling Matthews is racing, I can’t see the sprints being their main target. If Chaves isn’t there though, stage wins are the way to go. Five or six stage wins would mean more than a minor jersey, I think.
Orica-GreenEDGE are sitting pretty for 2016
I also like that idea! A team focused championship would make it really interesting, as long as they balanced it right, ie not giving too many points out for a grand tour win. The grand tours will always undermine the idea of a WorldTour as you said Rob, I know which I’d rather win. The issue is you’ve got a lot of big fish who all have a say in the WT calendar, ASO set their own race dates I imagine, which will make it difficult for the UCI to try and bend the rest around them.
Who won the UCI World Tour and does anyone care?
Fair enough! I don’t doubt that I’ll have missed that more than once!
Who won the UCI World Tour and does anyone care?
I’m not saying the World Tour should be revamped, more pointing out the pointlessness nature of the event in itself. I agree with you, the sport will always celebrate individual performances in races like the Tour and Roubaix over a season long ranking.
Who won the UCI World Tour and does anyone care?
I definitely think multiple Tour wins had something to do with doping in the past. I find it very hard to believe Indurain was clean, but I would also say it is possible. If Froome retains next year, I wouldn’t assume it was down to anything clandestine.
Is it still possible to retain the Tour de France title?
I agree with you Sam that Froome looks like the most likely at the moment. Quintana would have to get two friendly courses, two much time trialling and I can see him shifting focus to the Giro or Vuelta. Aru is an interesting one, if he can improve his time trial then I would never say never.
Is it still possible to retain the Tour de France title?
I wouldn’t say no to two Tours a year! Quintana will definitely be the biggest challenge to Froome, but you’re right there are plenty of other riders worthy of a challenge. Hardly surprising really that no one has retained in a while!
Is it still possible to retain the Tour de France title?
It will definitely be interesting to see the two styles fight it out. This Vuelta was well balanced, if it had been two climbs shorter it’d have been a different man wearing red in Madrid. The course will always have a massive effect on who wins, I just hope we get a few more Tours like the Vuelta was like this year!
Dumoulin: A new breed of cyclist, or of the Wiggins mould?
I’d love to see Tinkov out of the sport, I didn’t know there were so many things he’d done that were so outrageous either. Unfortunately, while he keeps pouring in his billions, I don’t think Cookson will do anything. It’d be a refreshing change if he did though.
How many strikes for Oleg Tinkov?
I’d say they’ve got a proven winner in Boasson Hagen, and I’d make him team leader for the Tour. The other riders are definitely more of a gamble, especially Farrar. Having said that, before Ciolek won Milan-San Remo I’d have said he was a gamble signing for them, so who knows.
MTN-Qhubeka gambles on some old hands
Yeah I saw the article in The Economist, it was an interesting one! It’s definitely a bold prediction.
Does the NFL need to change its ways?
Thankyou for joining me for stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana. Make sure you keep visiting The Roar for all the coverage of the last weekend of the race.
2014 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 19 preview, live blog
Good news, Dario Cataldo is back on his bike and is trying to finish the stage.
2014 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 19 preview, live blog
Confirmation from Sky that it was Dario Cataldo who crashed.
2014 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 19 preview, live blog
Michael Matthews was the next Aussie across the line in fifth.
2014 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 19 preview, live blog
Alberto Contador and Chris Froome finished together.
2014 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 19 preview, live blog
Should be no change on general classification.
2014 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 19 preview, live blog
Adam Hansen has won the day! A stage win for the Aussie hardman! John Degenkolb wins the sprint for second.
2014 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 19 preview, live blog
Three kilometres to go for Adam Hansen who has 7 seconds.
2014 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 19 preview, live blog
It could be that they don’t like Chris Froome as a rider this is true. However, I will mention that when Contador was at the team presentation in 2011 he was booed, in the middle of his doping case. Also, when the guy chucked the urine at Froome he shouted ‘Doper!’ but I do see what you mean in that they might just dislike Froome and Sky in general.
Froome's data release won't convince the doubters