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  • If Pro Cyclists were Game of Thrones characters

    If Pro Cyclists were Game of Thrones characters

    What would happen if pro cyclist were Game of Thrones characters? Who would play a hero and who would play a badass? What would happen if we moved our favourite athletes into the world full of splattered blood and guts?

    1. Peter Sagan – Tyrion Lannister

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    They used to harras women and made rude jokes. After some harsh experiences, they grew up into mature champions.

    2. Oleg Tinkow – Daenerys Targaryen

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    During last several seasons, they were mainly talking about their future conquests.

    3. Lance Armstrong – Tywin Lannister

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    For many years, they were rulers of all that burden, but finally, the justice reached them.

    4. Jonathan Vaughters – Faith Militant

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    Some time ago he used to enjoy hanging out with sinners. Nowadays he is a converted, follower of purity. He led to the conviction of the evilest guy in the business.

    5. Alberto Contador – Jon Snowcontador001

    When it had seemed that he’d been done for, he was resurrected and able to achieve a spectacular success.

    6. Thibaut Pinot – Sansa Stark

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    They used to be scared of everything; now they are growing strong.

    7. Vincenzo Nibali – Petyr Baelish

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    You can have mixed feelings towards both of them but remember, never underestimate their skills and powers.

    8. Michele Ferrari – Melisandre

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    They are in the business for many years. Not everyone like them, but on the other hand, it is likely that they can do miracles.

    9. Alejandro Valverde – Sandor Clegane

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    Veterans, well, it looks like the veterans are just bulletproof.

    10. The Secret Pro – Varys

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    They know almost everything, but we?re not sure about their real motives.

  • Cycling World Champions Ranking

    Cycling World Champions Ranking

    The second part of the season has just ended. It?s time to make a summary, how cycling World Champions of the last decade performed. Let?s check, if the ?curse of rainbow jersey? exists or not.

    Athletes in rainbow jersey have to deal with hundereds of issues: media coverage of their each step, improved visibility in the peloton and sometimes ?burn out? after succesfull previous season.

    All those factors cause a syndrom called a ?curse?. A cursed champion struggles to get valuable results.

    The last rider who truly overcame that curse was Tom Boonen. His season of 2006 was one of the best in his career.

    Current champion, Michal Kwiatkowski aimed Ardennes this year and was succesful in Amstel Gold Race. That win makes him pass the spring test as a reigning champion. His next goal is Le Tour, especially its first week, where ?Kwiato? wants to get a stage win and a yellow jersey.

    Let?s take a look at other champions of the last decade: how they arranged their race calendar and how they performed before the Tour de France.

    The leader is Cadel Evans, who in 2010 focused on the first part of the season. He took the third place in Tirreno-Adriatico, won the Fleche Wallone and was able to finish fifth in Giro d?Italia. It gave him over 1400 points in CQ Ranking, that I take into concideration as the best marker of rider?s performance.

    The rest of challengers raced with mixed fortune. Paolo Bettini was rather thinking about the end of his career and the German authorities who tired to ruin his reputation with doping allegations. Thor Hushovd found his form at the Tour de France and Philippe Gilbert was able to be in the head of the bunch but not in top3.

    The one who, besides Kwiatkowski, was able to find his form as a world champion was Rui Costa. The Portuges had similar race program to the Pole and more less the same amount of pionts. As ?Kwiato? was able to win the Amstel Gold Race, one of the Classics, Costa was the best in Tour de Suisse, one of the most prestigeous stage races. For Costa June is one of the best periods every year. On the other hand Kwiatkowski treats June Stage Races sctictly as a workout.

    If Kwiatkowski rides well in the Tour de France and later gets few more valuable results, he is still able to overtake Evans and maybe even Boonen.

    Cycling World Champions Ranking before the Tour de France

    Season Rider Points
    2015 Michał Kwiatkowski 916
    2014 Rui Costa 925 (III)
    2013 Philippe Gilber 554
    2012 Mark Cavendish 733
    2011 Thor Hushovd 196
    2010 Cadel Evans 1427 (II)
    2009 Alessandro Ballan 118
    2008 Paolo Bettini 301
    2007 Paolo Bettini 540
    2006 Tom Boonen 1728 (I)

    Cover: cas_ks, flickr CC BY SA 2.0

  • The Best of the Decade

    The Best of the Decade

    Did you know that Michal Kwiatkowski is the best World Champion since Tom Boonen wore a rainbow jersey in 2006?

    Of course 2015 is just at its beginning, but we can consider the first part of cycling spring as some kind of hint. I?ve decided to take Paris-Roubaix as a final part of the season and counted points in CQ Ranking (that merges World Tour and non World Tour races) gained by each world champion since Tom Boonen.

    The Belgian hero had a superb spring in 2006. He won stages in Qatar, Paris-Nice and Andalusia. He was 4th in Milan-Sanremo and had extremely successful cobbles campaign with victories in Ronde van Vlaanderen, E3 Harelbeke and Scheldeprijs. He was also 2nd in Paris – Roubaix and all that results gave him 1451 points.

    The next champion, Paolo Bettini was just about to end his career when he won his titles. Both his seasons in rainbow jersey were rather poor. In 2007 he collected 76 and in 2008 65 points, winning only once.

    Alessandro Ballan had even worse time. To be honest he was almost invisible. However 108 ranking points was more than legendary Bettini was able to achieve.

    Cadel Evans provided some strong performances in 2010 Tour Down Under, Tirreno-Adriatico and Criterium International that gave him 442 points – it?s the second best result on the list.

    In 2011 Thor Hushovd was only able to be 8th in Paris-Roubaix.

    Mark Cavendish earned 4 wins in the spring of 2012 (2 in Qatar, 1 in Tirreno – Adriatico plus a Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne semi-classic). As a sprinter he didn’t get much points for GCs, so he was only able to get 251 ranking points.

    Philippe Gilbert after supreme years in Lotto faded in BMC but saved his 2012 season with a world championship. However, early spring of 2013 was a disaster for him with only 79 points!

    In 2014 Rui Costa had a few nice performances: he was able to get 2nd place in Paris – Nice and Volta a Algarve that gave him 375 points.

    And here comes Kwiatkowski. As last year he has great early season. He was the 2nd rider of Paris-Nice and impressed us with performance on mountainous stages. What?s more, he won a prologue, so that he has a win on his account as a world champion. He added 2nd place in Algarve and 8th in Basque Country, where he slightly missed two stage wins. He was also visible on the cobbles with a 4th place in Dwars Door Vlaanderen. All that results brought 664 points, that make him a world champion with the best season opening since Tom Boonen in 2006!

    Kwiatkowski has a great, offensive style: he attacks a lot and searches for opportunities and also helps his teammates if they are in terrain that suits them better. He?s definitely a world champion who deserves his rainbow jersey. What?s more, his main goal for the first part of the season are Ardennes, so we have to believe, that earlier this year he was a little bit under-trained.

     

    Rider Wears rainbow jersey in year… CQ Ranking points from Jan 1 to Paris-Roubaix
    Tom Boonen 2006 1451
    Paolo Bettini 2007 76
    Paolo Bettini 2008 65
    Alessandro Ballan 2009 108
    Cadel Evans 2010 442
    Thor Hushovd 2011 105
    Mark Cavendish 2012 251
    Philippe Gilbert 2013 79
    Rui Costa 2014 375
    Michal Kwiatkowski 2015 664
  • The Anatomy of A Cobbles Hero

    The Anatomy of A Cobbles Hero

    The classics season is just about to blossom. It?s vintage-style cycling presented by its true heroes. But what makes a perfect favorite of a cobbled classics?

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    If you look at the contenders that fight for the win in Tour of Flandres or in Paris-Roubaix, you can see many details that make them unique. They have to unite almost every element of cycling within one person: strength, speed, endurance, and technique. The best sprinter won?t win the Flandres; the winner of the mountainous Ardennes classics will be defeated by strong and tall Belgians when they hit tempo on the wet cobbles.

    Even if our hero is well-prepared physically, he also needs many years of experience to succeed. To be efficient on the kasseien you have to be either born in Flandres or spend many years there racing, getting used to all of its specificity. And even that?s not enough: you have to be able to ?read the race? properly, take the risk when necessary and save your energy everywhere else.

    What?s more, in the Classics, you heavily depend on your team. It has to be as strong as you are and without any weak links. The leader itself needs a fellow who is able to stay with him during the hardest moments and share his wheel or even the whole bike when his captain has a mechanical issue or a puncture. Also, a few powerhouses who can set tempo or chase the breakaways are nice to have. The last piece of a puzzle is having a guy who will sacrifice himself and make the suicidal move to force other teams to work extra and waste their energy. In such systems, even the strongest individual won?t win anything.

    Last but not least is the equipment. Bikes prepared for the cobbled classics vary from those used during the rest of the season. Wheels are the most important. They need to be durable (and in recent years also aerodynamic), but first of all they have to be bombproof. That?s why the cycling stars use special tubulars for the classics: handmade by a talented craftsman (or even an artist). Those tubulars cost a fortune, are produced almost as a single unit and are available only upon special request. There are also other details that make all the difference: softer handlebar tape or even a custom made frame with more clearance left for a tire stuck with mud. All that stuff is needed only for a few days a year to give the cobbles heroes a chance to make history.