THE OUTER LINE: Fin Tarling’s death should force professional cycling to move beyond condolences and confront persistent race-safety failures. Also this week: what the Tour de France Femmes taught us about women’s cycling, Pogačar’s pursuit of the Grand Tour sweep, ASO’s growing influence, genetic testing in women’s sport and the increasingly irrational economics of professional […]

VUELTA’26 STAGE 4: Is the 2026 Vuelta a España already over? It certainly looked that way in Andorra, where Tadej Pogačar produced another of his now-familiar demonstrations. The Slovenian attacked on the Collada de Beixalis, rode the final 50 kilometres alone and reached Andorra la Vella nearly three minutes ahead of his closest rivals. Jarno […]

The days are starting to get shorter here in southern Ontario, the mornings are cooler, & more cyclists are thinking about dusting off the trainer & pulling the bike back into the pain cave. Indoor racing season is just around the corner, & a lot of us are about to spend the next several months […]

VUELTA’26 STAGE 3: There was no winner in Font-Romeu after rain, wind, hail and lightning brought the third stage of the 2026 Vuelta a España to a dramatic halt. With the roads covered in water and thick hailstones, Tadej Pogačar led the peloton off the road and into the shelter of a restaurant. The race […]

VUELTA’26 STAGE 2: What an arrival for Matthew Brennan! The 21-year-old Visma | Lease a Bike sensation demolished the opposition in Manosque to win the first road stage of the 2026 Vuelta a España. Pau Miquel took second and race leader Tadej Pogačar sprinted to third, while Ethan Hayter’s ambitious bid for the red jersey […]

Oscar Boyd is a young British cyclist who has become enamoured of long-distance touring adventures.  His photography skills and writing talent have been the basis for four (so far) entertaining and beautifully-produced YouTube videos.  They have covered rides the length of Japan, the Westfjords of Iceland and, as we reviewed here, the length of Britain.  […]

VUELTA’26 STAGE 1: Tadej Pogačar started his pursuit of a first Vuelta a España victory in suitably dramatic fashion, winning the opening Monaco time trial and pulling on the first red leader’s jersey of the 2026 race. But it was desperately close: Ethan Hayter missed the stage win by just nine-hundredths of a second. Joshua […]

Ex Rider Interview: If you are of a certain age you will remember the name Micheal Wilson as one of the successful Australian’s in the European professional peloton in the 80’s. Ed Hood caught up with Micheal at his Tasmanian vineyard to hear his story. In January 2025 we lost our friend and colleague Ed […]

TOP STORY Julian Alaphilippe Bids Farewell to the Peloton RACE NEWS TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS VIDEO Julian Alaphilippe Bids Farewell to the Peloton For a moment — post-prime Sagan and pre-present era van der Poel, van Aert and Pogačar — Julian Alaphilippe was the most exciting rider in the peloton. Granted, sometimes he was […]

Pez Fans, Gear Break anuncia ¡Vuelve la Vuelta! The Vuelta rolls out of Monaco mañana, and with it comes the surest sign that summer’s clock is running out – evenings are closing in earlier with each day. Soon, the first genuinely cool morning will have you digging for arm warmers or a thermal jersey. But, […]

The 2026 Vuelta a España starts in Monaco on August 22 and delivers 3,275 kilometres of heat, climbing and late-season suffering before finishing in Granada on September 13. Tadej Pogačar arrives chasing the only Grand Tour missing from his résumé, while Primož Roglič, João Almeida, Richard Carapaz and a talented group of outsiders face the […]

Woohoo who’s fired up for the Vuelta? (No, “fired up” isn’t some ill-intended pun related to the likely temperatures.) The third Grand Tour of the season always get askance views from all but the die-hardest of the die hards; everyone’s tired — the riders for sure, but we fans as well. And this year Tadej […]

Van Rysel has moved quickly from Decathlon’s value-focused house brand to a serious presence at the sharp end of the WorldTour — and the RCR Pro is the bike leading that charge. It’s the same lightweight aero frame raced by teenage sensation Paul Seixas and the Decathlon CMA CGM Team, but our $7,499 Special Edition […]

Aerobic capacity and anaerobic power tell us what a cyclist can do while fresh – but races are often decided after several demanding hours in the saddle. Emerging research into cycling durability examines who can preserve the most power as fatigue accumulates, why WorldTour riders appear particularly resistant to performance decline, and how the rest […]

This week brought. us a brutal reminder of our sport’s dangers, as 19 year-old Finlay Tarling, brother of TT and track master Josh Tarling, was struck and killed by a vehicle during Stage 8 of the Volta a Portugal. Frankly, it seems a bit silly to cover much else, but our sport rolls on — […]

In 2020 we reviewed “The Athlete Inside” here which told the inspirational story of a morbidly obese woman who shed 200 pounds and then turned into a triathlete at age 60.  She represened Team USA at international events and became a successful age-group athlete.  Now her second book, “Across the Line,” continues the story.  Its […]

Pez fans, Gear Break is between tours. The Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift are both in the books, the yellow jerseys are folded away, and the peloton gets a breather before La Vuelta a España rolls out and the GC battles fire back up. It’s the perfect lull to […]

Castelli Movement Travel Short: Cycling Comfort Without the Lycra Look The Castelli Movement Travel Short is aimed at riders who want proper on-bike comfort without looking like they’re dressed for the start line every time they get off the bike. It’s essentially a cycling short and lightweight overshort combined into one piece, creating something equally […]

A lull in the calendar? Mike considers it a chance to look forward to late-season racing, when teams and riders start throwing whatever they have left at autumn races. Sure, Vollering and Pogačar sit atop the UCI rankings now, but will they after the Vuelta, Worlds, and the rest of the calendar? (Probably yes.) Will […]

The Col de la Madone may not be the Alps’ highest or steepest climb, but few roads combine spectacular Mediterranean scenery, quiet mountain roads, historic villages and a thrilling 25-kilometre descent quite like this Côte d’Azur classic. Here’s what it’s like to ride one of southern France’s most memorable rides from Menton to the summit […]

In the weeks leading up to and throughout the Tour de France, a new nutrition company, From Lab to Field, hinted that an unnamed WorldTour team was using a first-of-its-kind gel, one with lactate. Few molecules in sports nutrition are as misunderstood as lactate. For decades (and honestly, still), lactate was blamed for the burning […]

Yep — I said it: the 2026 Tour de France Femmes was the best Tour in a decade — men’s or women’s. Come at me bro! And as you do, consider that this year’s TDFFAZ had all the GC sizzle, and that’s among contenders who bring the rizzle, while the men’s races have been downright somnambulistic. […]

RACE REPORT: The final stage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes wasn’t about surviving – it was about finishing the job. Demi Vollering began the day hunting the yellow jersey, while Kasia Niewiadoma had one mission: defend it over four brutal ascents of the Col d’Èze above Nice. What followed was a fitting finale […]

In May 2012 I was in Verona, Italy, for my own riding and for the team time trial of that year’s Giro d’Italia.  At an event in the city, I was greeting by an extremely tall and quite distinguished looking Italian gentleman who grabbed my hand and introduced himself.  “I am Eros Poli.  I won […]

If anyone thought the Tour de France Femmes was settled after Mont Ventoux, Demi Vollering had other ideas. On a stage that looked destined for the sprinters, the Dutch star launched a devastating late attack on the punchy roads into Nice, cracking yellow jersey Kasia Niewiadoma and blowing the general classification wide open. What was […]