The journey from a cyclist’s first race to the top of the podium in Paris is long and arduous, but the route is pretty well defined. Riders progress along the route at different rates, and many have to endure setbacks and detours along the way, but the basic pattern for developing a potential Tour de …
In the modern Tour de France, time trials play a huge role in the final outcome of the race. This year is somewhat rare in that there is only one test against the clock. Typically the organizers either start with a prologue and/or put an individual or team time trial in the first 10 days …
You know, I’ve heard and read sentiments that Vincenzo Nibali is winning the 2014 Tour de France solely because Chris Froome and Alberto Contador abandoned. Yesterday someone even asked me if I thought Nibali would think less of his victory because of their absence. My emphatic answer was, “Hell no!” Being able to stay in …
With four huge climbs packed into just 124 kilometers (77 miles) of racing, Stage 17 of the 2014 Tour de France was a brutal test. On a long stage that features big climbs, the distance and the terrain cause the selection even if the racing isn’t very aggressive. But when a mountain stage is …
When riders and team managers look at stages in the race bible, they can pretty quickly categorize them as good days for the sprinters, the climbers, the GC contenders, and the opportunists. On paper Stage 16 of the 2014 Tour de France looked like a great day for an opportunistic breakaway, but how do …
The first day in big mountains is always a day of reckoning in the Tour de France. There is nowhere to hide when the a climb takes more than 30 minutes to ascend, and not even the riders themselves know how their legs will fare until they’re actually on the early ramps of these major …
Bike racing is a cruel sport. Even in the middle of the biggest race in the world, with roads lined with tens of thousands of fans and surrounded by everyone else in the peloton, at some level each rider is alone. You’re the one doing the work and making the decisions about how hard to …
Team BMC’s Peter Stetina summed up the first week of the Tour de France perfectly when he was interviewed following Stage 7 on Friday: “Sketchy”. That’s exactly what the first week is like, and here’s why: everybody is fresh, every team starts out with big goals and the desire and horsepower to execute on them, …
By Chris Carmichael Everyone knew Stage 5 of the 2014 Tour de France had the potential to be dangerous, but when the riders awoke this morning to a steady rain their worst nightmares were confirmed. It’s one thing to race over cobblestones when they are dry, it’s still extremely difficult, but today was brutal. The …
Originally published in Road Bike Action Magazine, July 2014 By Chris Carmichael On a recent Saturday morning I got a call from Jerry, an athlete I’ve only been working with for a short time. His criterium started in an hour and he was sitting in his car listening to the rain pound on the roof. …