We are back for another week, with lots of news to get through. Before we start though, you might remember we mentioned that the Glasgow combined UCI world championships went 8 million euro over budget, there is some good news to come from this. The television audience increased by 75% in hours of television watched from previous events according to the UCI. I guess this means any host city, may be able to gather a greater revenue from advertising or television rights to help pay the bill for hosting the event.
We have a lot more news from the week in cycling, there are time trial results, Zwift has some more hardware they have released in time for Christmas, the route for the Giro d’Italia has been released, the women’s one hour record is broken, and finally Jumbo-Visma has some security on the future of the team for 2024. So keep reading, cause there is all this and more in this weeks news.
We remind you most weeks before we move on with this weeks news. Have you thought about delegating some of your Hive to the Cycling Community. You don't have to delegate a lot, but every bit helps, with the Cycling Community(
2024 Route For The Giro d’Italia And The Women’s Race Rebrand
The Giro d'Italia Donne will officially be known as the Giro d'Italia Women in 2024, with new race organiser RCS Sport determined to relaunch the race after years of decline. The Giro d’Italia Women was officially launched last Friday alongside the mens Giro d’Italia, but the route for the women’s race has been delayed a few weeks as there are still some route changes needed.
The website for the Giro d’Italia Women will be updated with the route once it has been completed and we will keep you updated if we see any big announcements: https://www.giroditaliawomen.it/en/
The mens Giro d’Italia has also announced with it kicking off on the 4th of May in Piemonte, and finishing in Rome, three weeks later. The course goes as far south as Pompei, as the 107th edition of the Italian Grand Tour, also covers some tough new climbs and gravel sections. Race organisers have detailed two individual time trials, six mountain finishes and what they are calling a “final-week crescendo in the Dolomites”.
[Image Courtesy Giro d'Italia]
Oscar Sevilla Wins The Tour of Hainan At Age 47
Kicking off early October in Hainan, China, the tour covered five days of racing with Spanish veteran Oscar Sevilla of Medallin-EPM taking two second place finishes in the opening mountainous stages of the race, leaving him to take the overall lead from stage 3 of the race. Sevilla had his 47th birthday earlier in the week, with his professional debut being 25 years earlier. Sevilla held onto his lead by only one second on the final stage of the race, edging out Sebastian Berwick of Isreal-Premier Tech and James Piccoli of China Glory Continental Cycling Team.
Vittoria Bussi Breaks The Hour Record
Italian rider Vittoria Bussi has again reclaimed the UCI Hour Record, that she originally held from 2018 to 2021, and at the same time was the first women to break through the 50km mark. Riding in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Bussi covered 50.267km in one hour, which was more than a kilometre more than the previous record set by Ellen Van Dijk, who set the previous record of 49.254km in May last year. Bussi is a professional cyclist who also holds a PhD in Pure Mathematics from the University of Oxford, said in a UCI statement,
"I'm thrilled to have beaten the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot for the second time in my career, covering the distance of 50.267 kilometres in the same velodrome where I previously broke it in 2018,"
[Image Courtesy SWpix]
Jumbo-Visma To become Visma-Lease A Bike In 2024
Although not 100% confirmed by the Jumbo-Visma team, it looks like they will become Visma-Lease a Bike for the 2024 season, according to reports. Dutch company Pon, who own brands such as Cervelo, Cannondale, Gazelle, Focus and Schwinn, also own the “Lease a Bike” company, which has been a minor sponsor for the team during the 2023 season. Pon also import Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda in the Netherlands, with “Lease a Bike” now stepping up to be a title sponsor for 2024. After the failed merger talks between Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep, senior director Merijn Zeeman, told news outlets that “the team’s long-term future was assured”, but refused to provide any further details.
The team will perhaps have a smaller budget with this sponsorship deal moving into 2024, but they will have some lower costs now Primoz Roglic has announced his move the join Bora-Hansgrohe.
Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles Struggling In Tough Market Conditions
The parent company of online retailer Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles, Signa Sports United, has announced its intention to restructure and delist from the US Stock Exchange, citing “severe liquidity and profitability challenges”. The Berlin based company has noted a continued drop in demand for its products for the first nine months of the year, which according to the company, has remained significantly below 2022 and pre-pandemic levels. The company owns not only Wiggle and Chain Reaction, but also other cycling brands such as Probikeshop, Vitus and Nukeproof, among other sports brands and retailers. This will result in the company looking to review its operating model, which could include the termination or winding down of the non performing assets.
In a statement released by the company, Sigma Sports United said, “As the company enters FY24, it is the belief of SSU management that the market disruptions associated with market overstock are likely to persist into late FY24 and will adversely impact the company’s ability to achieve its near-term growth and profitability targets.”
Hopefully this will not result in people loosing their jobs, at least for the time being, but possibly some good Christmas shopping bargains over the coming months.
Josh Tarling Becomes Youngest Ever Winner Of The Chronos des Nations
The Chrono des Nations in Las Herbiers, France was a race for the time trial specialists and it would only be World Champion Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-QuickStep and European Champion Josh Tarling of Ineos Grenadiers riding above an average of 52km/h. It would be 19 year old Tarling who would take the day and the race, covering the 45km course in the fasted time of 52 minutes and 2 seconds. Evenepoel was 13 seconds behind Tarling, with Stefan Bissegger of EF-Education-EasyPost finishing third. The Chrono des Nations is considered the biggest race for time trialling and Tarling became the youngest person to win the race. With the Olympics next year, it will be interesting to see how much distance he can get on the competition. The Olympic road champion Anna Kiesenhofer was fastest for the women in the event. Kiesenhofer of Israel Premier Tech Roland, covered the 27km course in 36 minutes and 23 seconds, but was only one second ahead of Christina Schweinberger of Fenix-Deceuninck, with Valerie Kononenko of Team Collage CM who finished third a further 19 seconds behind.
[Image COurtesy Getty Images]
Tom Dumoulin Runs His First Half Marathon During His Retirement
No question on how athletic top GC riders are, even after retiring Tom Dumoulin, 2017 world champion, ran the Amsterdam half marathon recently, and finished with a time of 1 hour, 10 minutes and 4 seconds. This put him at 21st overall, but this would normally win a lot of smaller races around the world. It is apparently his first race at the distance and is a pace of 5:21 per mile, or 3:19 per kilometre. It’s an impressive result and will be interesting to see how far he takes his running during his recent retirement.
[Image Courtesy Tom Dumoulin On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CybEiIJoQ0C/]
Zwift Hub One Launches
Zwift has released their new Hub One indoor training which the company says will solve long standing compatibility problems and make it easier than ever to ride indoors. Zwift has made it clear that the Zwift Hub and now Hub One were never meant to compete with the feature sets found in some of the best smart trainings you can buy, instead it is aimed at being a solution to the challenges consumers are experiencing. Not every consumer completely understands what type of cassette their bike uses, and even if you do, if you or your partner have different bikes with different cassette, it will be hard to share a training. The Zwift Hub One aims to address those issues by replacing the cassette option with a universal cassette called the Zwift Cog. You will no longer shift with the controls on your bike, you will use the Zwift Click, which will create a virtual shift, essentially adjusting resistance to mimic shifting in the same way other smart bikes do.
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This week we have a great video from Peter Defty discussing the riders of the Tour de France and discussing what we can learn from the way they fuel and race:
About The Author
I am a DevOps Engineer, Endurance Athlete, Biomechanics Student and Author. We can all achieve amazing things, it's just a matter of trying, I want to change the world, one run at a time.
