Cycling is cruel. Indeed, some would argue it is the cruellest sport out there citing plenty of circumstantial evidence to support this fairly dramatic claim. Take a 3 week Grand Tour for instance. Where else would the competitors undergo 20 ‘full day’ stages of mental and physical anguish, where even...
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All pictures with kind permission of Vsquared TV With the Tour de France finally upon us, it's appropriate to reflect on that most crucial element of a 3 week Grand Tour; the Highlights show on the telly. It's one of life’s genuine pleasures. They are a great way to catch up...
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Let’s clear something up straight away. What actually is an Etape? And why is it different to a Sportive? And does it actually matter? Well, whether it matters or not is probably rather subjective but let’s have a go at explain what they are. A sportive (or Cyclosportive) is a...
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You're probably thinking 'that's a pretty nice picture of a beach but what does it have to do with bikes?' Not an unreasonable question to be fair. However, Madeline, one of the owners of Criterium and 'completer of the Vatterundan 300 in 2018' grew up in Perth, Western Australia. So...
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We’ve probably all played that favourite pub game of “name your top 5 ”X’s” of all time”. Favourite lists include the best 5 albums ever (Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” is clearly Number 1), the best 5 films, the 5 best sportspeople, the 5 toughest races and so...
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By Sarah Rowell, former Olympic Marathon Runner and British & English Fell running Champion, 1995 and 1996 For one group of slightly mad devotees, the end of September means only one thing; the 3 Peaks Cyclo Cross. The history of the event dates back to 1959, when a 14 year old...
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Many of us can look to a moment in our lives when we reflect and say 'that was a real wake-up call'. On balance, wake up calls are a good thing, as long as we actually listen to the call and do something about it. My own personal epiphany came...
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First, a quick apology for the fact that the Criterium Cycles blog has been a little quiet these last three weeks. Paul says he has had a serious bout of Man Flu, a condition so serious that it was apparently close to being life threatening. Rosie, his long suffering wife,...
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Well, it's been a pretty unpredictable week in a race that always promised to be unpredictable. Team Sky turned up with their weakest team for a Grand Tour for quite some time (which is inevitable when neither Froome nor Thomas are on the starting line). But the plan was that de...
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by Charlie Bowker (Aged 11) For my birthday, I received the coolest present - a Trek Domane AL2. I am going to tell you why I think it is the perfect first road bike to buy. Styling The styling of the bike is very good using a matte and gloss paint format. The...
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