Thread: Competitive Cycling

Have you tried blogging?

Or getting laid?

Originally Posted by cyrille

Or getting laid?

The colostomy bag gets in the way.

The “and more” part.........

Naked bike parade turns 33

Revel in Seattle's artsy glory at the 33rd annual Fremont Solstice Parade, the celebration at the "Center of the Universe."

Why it matters: In a rapidly changing city, the Solstice Parade and adjacent events are a reminder of Fremont's — and Seattle's — proudly weird past, with naked cyclists, flamboyant homemade parade floats and the kind of summer cheer you can only have in a city so accustomed to soggy weather.

Driving the news: The parade steps off at 1pm Saturday, but get there early to get a good spot to watch.

• The parade route follows North 36th Street, hangs a right on Evanston and then another right onto 35th, where it hits the Fremont Fair's craft market (and a giant slide).
• For many, the party continues in the beer garden, local bars and nearby Gas Works Park.

Participation in the parade is open to every artist and everyone can be an artist, per the Fremont Arts Council.

• Feel free to strip naked, get your paint on and join the Solstice Cyclists, interact with performers or join in a dance along the way.
• The parade does not allow corporate sponsors, printed words and logos or motorized vehicles (other than electric wheelchairs).
• Non-service-animal pets are also not allowed (but there is a dog parade on Sunday).

Pro tip: "Apply sunscreen and give it time to soak in before applying paints," Tom Fucoloro of Seattle Bike Blog writes to nude riders. "If you have skin that tans and burns and don't wear sunscreen, you'll have your painted design imprinted as tan lines for the rest of summer."

Flashback: Low rents and "benign neglect" made Fremont a mecca for artists in the 1960s, which launched a mini-renaissance over the next few decades, per HistoryLink.

• Founded in 1989 by Barbara Luecke and Peter Toms, who were inspired by the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Celebration, the Solstice Parade celebrates art, life and the longest day of the year.
• The Painted Cyclists are quintessentially old Seattle — and, many say, the highlight of the parade — but nude biking events have been hosted in cities across the world as a way to celebrate cycling and the human body.

Yes, but: There are quiet ways to celebrate the solstice weekend, too:

• Dance — clothed or otherwise — in your own space to music you like.
• Try a sun salutation, plant healing herbs, set out water for the birds or create a mandala from things you find.

Show a pic of your bike and cycle trips Spamdreth if you're so keen on the subject.

Longo Borghini retains Italian women's road championship with well-timed attack

Elisa Longo Borghini has once again claimed the Italian women’s road race national championship title. The Lidl-Trek rider executed a solo attack to secure her fifth career victory in the event, finishing the 130km course from Viola Park in Florence to Scarperia on Saturday.

In a race that saw a relatively flat profile, the 25km laps around the route included two minor climbs. The final ascent, located just before the finish, provided an opportunity for late attacks. Despite some early breakaways, including a notable effort by Elisa De Vallier of Top Girls Fassa Bortolo, the peloton remained largely together until the decisive moments.

As the race approached the final lap, Gaia Realini initiated an attack on one of the climbs, setting the stage for Longo Borghini’s decisive move. She broke away with 25km remaining, quickly gaining a 30-second advantage over the chase group, which included the UAE Team ADQ duo of Chiara Consonni and Eleonora Gasparrini. Despite their efforts, they couldn’t close the gap.

“At that point, I knew I had to give everything,” Longo Borghini stated post-race. “I felt strong and confident that I could maintain the lead.”

She’s been out of the jersey for just a few hours �� Longo Borghini wins the Italian champs ���� - YouTube

Georgi and Hayter take national titles on Saltburn Bank on final day of Lloyds Bank National Road Championships

Pfeiffer Georgi made it a hat-trick of national road race titles in the Saltburn sunshine, while Ethan Hayter was victorious in a fiercely contested men’s race, as the 2024 Lloyds Bank National Road Championships came to a close.

Flora Perkins and Bob Donaldson were the under-23 winners, and joined this year’s other national champions in collecting the coveted red, white and blue national champion’s jersey.

Taking in the iconic Saltburn Bank climb, the women’s race was contested over five laps and 130km, with the men’s race decided over seven laps and 182km, as thousands descended ontr the seaside to see our winners crowned.

Our 2024 winners

Time trial:

• Under-23 men’s time-trial: Tomos Pattinson
• Under-23 women’s time-trial: Josie Nelson
• Men’s time-trial: Josh Tarling
• Women’s time-trial: Anna Henderson

Circuit:

• Women: Emma Jeffers
• Open: Lewis Askey

Road:

• Under-23 men’s road race: Bob Donaldson
• Under-23 women’s road race: Flora Perkins
• Men’s road race: Ethan Hayter
• Women’s road race: Pfeiffer Georgi

Lotto Thuringen Ladies Tour: Vanpachtenbeke wins opening stage in Jena

Margot Vanpachtenbeke (VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling) secured the opening stage victory at the Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour, winning a two-up sprint against breakaway companion Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) in Jena.

The pair opened a gap over the peloton on the first climb of the day Großbockedra and increased their lead by nearly seven minutes en route to the finish line.

Although several teams played a role in trying to close the gap in the closing kilometres, the pair crossed the line 5 : 34 seconds ahead of a chase group where Linda Riedmann (Germany) sprinted in for third place on the day.

The opening stage at the Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour offered the peloton a 118km race in Jena. The route included two categorised ascents: Großbockedra, 1.3km at 7% located at 52km into the stage and a final scent of Münchenroda, which is one of the longest climbs of the five-day race at 4.9km and 5% gradient located at the 100km mark. The field then raced across 10km of an undulating plateau before plunging into the finish line in Jena.

Eline Jansen (VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling) took the mountain points over the top of the Großbockedra before two riders escaped: her teammate Margot Vanpachtenbeke and Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health).

Edwards and Vanpachtenbeke quickly gained a minute on the field, initially led by SD Worx-Protime, EF Education-Cannondale and AG Insurance-Soudal. Their lead then increased to nearly three minutes with 50km to go, even as Lidl-Trek and Ceratizit-WNT joined the pace-setting.

The pair raced into the base of the Münchenroda climb, pushing their gap out to nearly seven minutes, with Vanpachtenbeke taking the mountain points over the top.

Canyon-SRAM led the chasing field into the climb, where Kasia Niewiadoma made a move on the upper slopes. But even though there were constant attacks and splits in the field, the peloton came back together and remained mostly intact on the run-in to the finish.

With no concerted effort among the teams to bring back the two escapees, Edwards and Vanpachtenbeke still had a massive six minutes as the closed in on the finish line.

Edwards pulled the pair into the final kilometre and started her sprint early, but Vanpachtenbeke proved faster of the two, taking both the stage win and the leader's jersey.


Lotto Thuringen Ladies Tour 2024 Stage 1 Race Finish

Lotto Thuringen Ladies Tour 2024


Stage 2 Race

Stage 3 Race

Stage 4

Tour de France: Vauquelin wins stage two as Tadej Pogacar takes yellow jersey

2024 Tour de France, Stage 2 finish

Sprinter Biniam Girmay made history as he emerged fastest from the peloton to win Stage 3 of the 2024 Tour de France and become the first Eritrean rider to win a stage in the race's 111-edition history.

Tour de France Stage 3 Race Highlights

Lotto Thuringen Ladies Tour 2024 Stage 5 Race Finish

Lotto Thuringen Ladies Tour 2024 Stage 6 Race Finish

Lotto Thuringen Ladies Tour: Ruth Edwards wins overall as Sandra Alonso takes stage 6

Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit-WNT) claimed the final stage victory of the Thüringen Ladies Tour with a late attack, giving her team their third win of the race.

Maggie Coles-Lyster (Roland) won the sprint for second place two seconds down on Alonso, with Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) third on the stage.

Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) sealed the overall victory finishing in the much-reduced chasing bunch after an aggressive finale where the American deftly followed a dangerous attack on the final climb.

TdF stage 9 report: Anthony Turgis sprints to victory from the break on thriller gravel stage

Highlights: 2024 Tour de France, Stage 9 finish

Standings

Tour de France Stage 13 Race Highlights

Tour de France 2024 Stage 14 Highlights

Tour de France 2024 Stage 15 Highlights

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Tour de France standings

One week remains at the 2024 Tour de France after Stage 15.

Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar extended his race lead even further with a second consecutive stage win on Sunday. Pogačar will still wear the yellow jersey on Tuesday for Stage 16 following the riders' day off on Monday after winning the 15th stage by over a minute.

With six stages remaining in this year's race, the 25-year-old Slovenian holds a three-minute lead over Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard. Pogačar also holds the lead in the mountains classification competition for reaching the most mountain summits first.

Tour de France standings

1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step)
4. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates)
5. Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step)
6. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers)
7. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates)
8. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek)
9. Derek Gee (Israel - Premier Tech)
10. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious)

Tour de France 2024 Stage 16 Highlights

Tour de France 2024 Stage 17 Highlights

Standings

Overall (Yellow Jersey)

1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) – 70 : 21 : 27
2. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) -- +3 : 11
3. Remco Evenepoel (BEL) -- +5 : 09
4. Joao Almeida (POR) -- +12 : 57
5. Mikel Landa (ESP) -- +13 : 24

Tour de France 2024 Stage 18 Highlights

Tour de France 2024 Stage 19 Highlights

Tour de France 2024 Stage 20 Highlights

Tour de France 2024 Standings

Tour de France 2024 Stage 21 Highlights

Tadej Pogacar wins Tour de France for the 3rd time and in style with a victory at time trial

Tadej Pogacar won the Tour de France for the third time and celebrated in style with a victory in Sunday’s final stage — a time trial ending in Nice.

The 25-year-old Slovenian rider became the first cyclist to secure the Giro dÂ’Italia and Tour de France in the same year since the late Marco Pantani in 1998.

Two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark was second overall. He also finished the 21st and final stage in second place.

Pogacar won the 34-kilometer (21-mile) time trial on the French RivieraÂ’s roads from Monaco to Nice in 45 minutes, 24 seconds. Vingegaard was 1 minute, 3 seconds behind him and Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel 1:14 back in third spot.

In the overall standings, Vingegaard finished 6 : 17 behind Pogacar and Evenepoel was third overall, 9 : 18 behind Pogacar — whose other Tour wins came in 2020 and 2021.

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Tour de France prize money

‘It’s just insane. It’s so far…’: Lael Wilcox on her record-breaking attempt to be the fastest woman to cycle round the world

Halfway through her 18,200-mile journey, Lael Wilcox calls in (from her bike) to talk about being in the saddle for 14 hours a day – and why she has no intention of stopping any time soon

“I’m not in pain, which is unusual!” laughs ultra-distance cyclist Lael Wilcox over a patchy WhatsApp call from somewhere in rural Serbia. She is almost a month into an attempt to be the fastest woman to circumnavigate the globe on a bicycle and, despite being able to follow her mile-by-mile progress online, it’s surprisingly hard to track down and actually talk to the 36-year-old Alaskan.

When we finally do speak, I expect her to call from a hotel, or between mouthfuls of porridge at a roadside café. But when she comes on the line, a little out of breath, with the occasional sound of passing cars, she is clearly in-saddle, on the road and heading east. “I’m on my bike!” she laughs gleefully, noting how she aims to cover just under 190 miles by the end of the day.

A living legend of endurance racing, Wilcox is planning to complete the 18,020-mile journey in about 110 days, which would beat the current record, held by Scottish cyclist Jenny Graham, by a neat fortnight. To achieve that, Wilcox will have to cover an average of 164 miles a day for the next 81 days and expects to be in the saddle for between 12 and 14 hours at a stretch. “Every day is like a marathon,” she says, “and then I go to sleep and do it all again.”

The phrase, “around the world” is a little misleading. You don’t need to circumnavigate the globe exactly but, to meet the official Guinness requirements, you must start and finish at the same point, and cycle continuously in the same direction for a minimum of 18,000 miles. You can take public flights and ferries, but all connections are included in your total time. You can choose to do it alone or with a team, Guinness doesn’t differentiate between the two. Graham rode solo, while Wilcox is travelling with her wife, Rugile, a photographer, who says: “I see Lael a couple times a day to document her ride and have been meeting her at night to record our daily podcast and edit video and photos from the day.”

My dreams and my goals were always about going further and longer…

Wilcox set off from Chicago on 26 May, headed for New York City. From there, she flew to Portugal and rode northeast through Spain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, before heading southeast into Germany. Then through Switzerland and northern Italy, with a brief foray into Austria, and then across to Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and into Serbia.

In the few days since we spoke, Wilcox has now left Serbia, traversed Bulgaria and begun the long slog across Turkey’s Black Sea coastline, headed for Tbilisi in Georgia. From there, she will fly to Perth in Western Australia and, by the time you read this, she should be well into her 4,803-mile journey to Brisbane. Then, towards the end of July, it’s a simple case of crossing the Tasman Sea and riding the full length of both New Zealand islands in winter, before flying to Anchorage in Alaska – Wilcox’s hometown – and down through Canada to Los Angeles, where she’ll hit Route 66 and, eventually, Chicago once again. That’s the plan, anyway

‘A tiny ant crawling on a map’: Lael Wilcox on her epic cycle from Perth to Brisbane

In a small town in the Shire of Banana, a 38-year-old Alaska woman jumps on her bicycle in the chill of the early morning and is about to set off for a day’s ride through the central Queensland countryside when a stranger approaches.

The man, in his 60s, has driven hours and slept in his van for this moment.

“He brought me a pineapple,” the cyclist chuckles later, recounting the meeting.

“He said, ‘You probably haven’t had much fresh fruit since you’ve been riding’.”

The town is Theodore, the day is last Sunday, and the bloke with the pineapple is an everyday Australian bicycle enthusiast who introduces himself as a friend of Kate and Neil from Perth.

The Alaskan, however, is no ordinary bike rider. Lael Wilcox has not only ridden across Australia to be here, but across Europe and the US, too. Wilcox is now past the halfway mark in a round-the-world odyssey in which she aims to ride 29,000km through 22 countries in about 110 days and, in so doing, set a new official Guinness world record.

Tour de France Femmes

Rankings after stage 6


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Vuelta a España 2024

With 1 day to go


The 176 participants in La Vuelta 24, including Jay Vine, are in Lisbon, ahead of the inaugural time trial on Saturday en route to Oeiras.
 “IÂ’m optimistic”, says three-time winner Primoz Roglic, as he returns to competition after a crash in the Tour de France.
 “Hopefully in Madrid we can celebrate”, Adam Yates announced.

La Vuelta a España Stage 1 Highlights

McNulty wins opening stage of Vuelta

Vuelta a Espana 2024 Standings

Tour de France Femmes Stage 7 Highlights

Tour de France Femmes Stage 7 Final Kilometres

Tour de France Femmes 2024 Standings