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Photos by Daniele Molineris Three riders from the german Bora team sit afront of the group. It is stage three of the race, so from the past days racing, I have some idea on each of their shape. I am counting the seconds before the rider working at the head of his team will explode. Before one of his two teammates will attack. And before the next moments of the race unfold. This is the ‘queen’ stage. However the last 150 or so kilometres were merely the overture. In the next moments the real race will start. The climb is […]

This year has been far from expected. As I lifted the surprisingly heavy and springy trophy, smashing it against the podium roof as I did so, the empty square down below was definitely not how I had ever pictured celebrating winning a big race. In 2010, aged fifteen, I raced in mainland Europe for the first time, in the Flanders region of Belgium. The racing was intense, another level from that of the UK, but the main attraction was the crowds. Even for a ‘nieuwelingen’ (youth) race, there felt like a crazy amount of people out on the road supporting […]

I’ve written (and spoken about on Mitch’s podcast) about my ‘on the road’ coffee before. It’s something that I have travelled with incarnations-of since 2011, but have never felt was interesting enough to share. However after so many questions and comments from listeners of the podcast, I took two minutes to lay it out here at the Vuelta. I’m no self-professed coffee snob. It is a simple bag of bits, but it works for me and more importantly, allows me to consistently control one key element of my mornings, no matter where in the world I find myself. From bottom […]

‘How was your ride?’ reads the message. I pause the podcast I’m listening to as I unscrew the tops of my bottles. The Font’s ‘aigua sense tractar’ dribbles away infront of me. It fills my bottles agonisingly slowly, perhaps aware I have little else to do today but ride my bike. The hours pass quickly, immersed in the work. Losing five minutes every hour seeking water, the occasional Snickers and a piss, ensures I am still out pedalling away when logically I should be home by now. It doesn’t really work like that out on the bike, as anyone who […]