Recent content by Libertine Seguros

Back when it was Anna van Der Breggen doing this it was considered evidence that the level of women's cycling was too low and that the races should be made easier.

Is that any different from most other sports that hold World Championships? I mean, the recent Athletics World Championships were full of surprise winners, from Oblique Seville, Jimmy Gressier, Cole Hocker, Isaac Nader, Geordie Beamish, Lilian Odira, Ditaji Kambundji and Juleisy Angulo - all...

Stage 21: Madrid - Madrid, 81km GPM:
Cerro de Garabitas (cat.3) 2,2km @ 3,3% Yes, would you look at that, it’s a GPM in the last stage of the race! It’s not a flat parade stage! However… it probably is, if we’re 100% honest with ourselves. This is an incredibly short stage (just 81km, and...

Stage 20: Socuéllamos - Quintanar de la Orden, 43,2km (ITT) No climbing today, as we’re going very old school and a style which used to be the default but has fallen way out of favour almost across the board among race designers: the final weekend and the final expected GC test being the...

Stage 19: Murcia - Chinchilla de Montearagón, 163km GPM: Puerto de Ricote (cat.3) 5,5km @ 5,7% As we head toward the end of the race, we’re jumping back up onto the meseta from the south, setting off from the city of Murcia, a common host of the race and capital of the eponymous region...

Stage 18: Puebla de Don Fadrique - Sierra de Carrascoy, 178km GPM: Collado Bermejo (cat.1) 21,0km @ 4,6% Sierra de Carrascoy (cat.ESP) 9,5km @ 9,1% The final mountain stage of the race is a somewhat unusual and unexpected one, utilising Murcia of all places as the region to host it. And...

Stage 17: Valdepeñas - El Yelmo-Sierra de Cazorla, 238km GPM: Collado de los Yesos (cat.2) 9,5km @ 5,3% Puerto de Onsares (cat.3) 5,1km @ 5,2% Puerto del Navalperal (cat.1) 14,8km @ 4,3% Alto del Campillo (cat.1) 12,0km @ 6,3% El Yelmo-Sierra de Cazorla (cat.ESP) 15,7km @ 6,7% This is a...

Stage 16: Talavera de la Reina - Molinos de Consuegra, 197km GPM: Alto Risco de las Paradas (cat.3) 9,1km @ 4,3% Puerto del Robledillo (cat.3) 9,5km @ 4,7% After the second rest day we are back underway in the famous pottery town of Talavera, as we’re travelling through Castilla-La Mancha...

Why yes, I responded to a comment about it being possibly the biggest result in Canadian road cycling by mentioning another high profile Canadian road cycling result. It wasn't about level of shock or anything - Oliver Zaugg and Anna Kiesenhofer were both significantly greater surprises than...

Much as though I may meme on it and mock it as an example of a miserable race with a low value champion, Ryder Hesjedal winning the Giro d'Italia should be at least on the same level.

Well yes, that's how escapees tend to win. Even sometimes with strong winners, they rely on a bit of Group 2 syndrome breaking out behind. When you have a few overwhelming favourites and more than a couple of them don't have the legs, you can get these false races. There were several stages in...

She's a surprise because she has only one career win before this, but she's an established name - she's usually been one of those coming in in the groups behind the elites before. She was never going to be considered one of the pre-race favourites, but she was also somebody who always had a...

It is rather beautifully nostalgic to see such a true, unadulterated, unfiltered Rabofail, though. New faces in the car, but same faces on the road and same results on the road. Reminiscences of the 2015 European Games.

This wasn't a miscounting or miscalculation though. This was the big teams deciding to back odd horses. Vallières isn't a "who?", she was 18th in the Tour and has strong results at a range of one day races. Fisher-Black and García have plenty of palmarès to speak of. Kiesenhofer was a complete...

They're all blowing chunks now; I thought García was looking over her shoulder suggesting the chasers were coming but they're all just as fried as the break was.