Roar Guru
Joined May 2013
74.8k
Views
74
Published
1.2k
Comments
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
Published
Comments
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…
Very true – it looked so good for them for so long too! I would have put money on Pinot winning the Tour at the second rest day. Glad I didn’t!
Tour de France 2019 final round up: The Tour was won on the Alp
You’re right – that is interesting. It’s interesting how many times that’s happened in Tour, and grand tour history too. Stephen Roche at the 87 Giro, LeMond in 86, are just a couple of examples.
Tour de France 2019 final round up: The Tour was won on the Alp
Yeah a bit of an unfortunate end – stage 20 in particular I thought was a big anti-climax. But a brilliant Tour and I agree, a worthy winner. I’m planning an article on the very subject of Egan Bernal and how we need to not pile too much pressure on him.
Tour de France 2019 final round up: The Tour was won on the Alp
I’m pleased athletes are taking a stand against someone they feel to be cheating and disrespecting their sport. This sort of action almost forces the governing body to step in and address the problems. It’s a great sign and a far cry from the code of silence in the cycling peloton in the 90s and early 2000s.
FINA warns Sun Yang after another swimmer refuses to share podium
Yeah the Alps I think will be just as dramatic, the closer you get to Paris the more there is to lose – there’s no use having an amazing first two weeks if you lose half an hour in the Alps.
2019 Tour de France Rest Day 2 Round-up: Pinot attacks the Tour
Yeah I’m a Brit and I’m rooting for some French success this year, particularly after the way Alaphilippe and Pinot have ridden and attacked!
2019 Tour de France Rest Day 2 Round-up: Pinot attacks the Tour
I was thinking exactly the same, 2011 was the first Tour I watched and I can’t remember one as close or tense as this!
2019 Tour de France Rest Day 2 Round-up: Pinot attacks the Tour
I enjoyed that comment afterwards too, shows just how well George Bennett is riding also!
2019 Tour de France Rest Day 2 Round-up: Pinot attacks the Tour
I’m lucky enough to be a Brit so don’t need to worry about staying up, but plans will need to be cancelled if it’s still as close as it is now going into that stage!
2019 Tour de France Rest Day 2 Round-up: Pinot attacks the Tour
Well true – one podium finisher being clean is better than none of them. A very small silver lining!
Cycling needs to define consistent drug punishments
Agreed – one of the best Tours in years in my opinion.
2019 Tour de France Rest Day 2 Round-up: Pinot attacks the Tour
Oh yeah I don’t think it’s the job of the rider to say ‘Hey I’m clean, give me that Tour title’ but rather I think cycling needs to decide what it’s going to do in the instance when the winner of a race has been found to be doping. I think the inconsistency is just confusing, not to mention letting some dopers off the hook.
Cycling needs to define consistent drug punishments
Yeah I think it’s tricky to decide when racing is completely clean, when you’ve got stories like riders using keytones with recovery – not doping by the rules, but certainly not just bread and water.
Cycling needs to define consistent drug punishments
I’ve never thought of it that way. The riders who finished second to Armstrong never really did make much noise, and it would have changed cycling history had Armstrong’s titles been redistributed. Ullrich would be a four time Tour winner!
Cycling needs to define consistent drug punishments
Yeah I agree – during the Armstrong era the winners of pretty much every race were probably doping up to their eyeballs – what do you then do with that? Armstrong has been used as a scapegoat, but given what he did and how he acted, my level of sympathy isn’t high.
Cycling needs to define consistent drug punishments
I’m actually looking at writing an article on keytones, I agree, not on the banned substance list so not doping at the moment – not a good look though.
Cycling needs to define consistent drug punishments
Yeah Simon looks a bit cooked after the Giro – not too surprised!
The 2019 Tour de France Rest Day 1 round-up: We're halfway through already?
I’m not surprised that Lance is persona non grata, I think what sets him apart from other riders who have been caught doping is the attitude he had, his intimidation and bullying of riders and journalists, and the corruption he helped along. So I don’t think he really deserves to be a major part of the sport. I think people like David Millar have shown how to come back with grace after being caught doping, Lance I don’t think has.
I haven’t listened to his podcast, I stick to The Cycling Podcast, which I recommend, but if what makes it so good is the fact he has no bridges left to burn, I don’t think we should be rebuilding them in a hurry.
Cycling is just so much better with Lance Armstrong involved
Yeah I think Yates’ best chance for a podium would be a massive mountain attack a la Froome in the 18 Giro or Schleck in the 11 Tour, he’s there or thereabouts though so I don’t think it’s out of the question.
The 2019 Tour de France Rest Day 1 round-up: We're halfway through already?
Thanks Scott.
Yeah it’s been a great Tour so far, I’d love to see Alaphilippe emulate Voeckler, we’ll see how far he can go. I agree though I think Ineos has another Tour coming their way.
The 2019 Tour de France Rest Day 1 round-up: We're halfway through already?
I agree with you. People at the moment seem content to watch the same fixtures repeated every couple of years, instead of having more international teams playing and competing in the game. There’s only really eight teams with a chance to win the T20 World Cup, and you can knock that down to around five favourites. It would take time, but surely there is more benefits than drawbacks to be had from further globalisation?
World T20 draw shows the elitist nature of international cricket
I think it’d be unfair to say Froome rides a boring race. Sky in general yeah but Froome attacks numerously during his races. He won the Tour this year by blowing the field apart on one mountain day, I’d hardly say that was boring.
Froome's data release won't convince the doubters
Thanks! Yeah I was actually listening to a podcast about Andy Schleck the other day and did a double take when they pointed out he’s the same age as Froome. Just goes to show that every rider’s career trajectory is different.
Don’t pile too much pressure on Egan Bernal and the new generation