Sports Poets Society

Cover image courtesy of Lidl-Trek https://www.rouleur.it/blogs/the-rouleur-journal/my-ongoing-three-year-battle-with-cancer-by-lidl-trek-manager-luca-guercilena Lidl-Trek manager Luca Guercilena was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the autumn of 2021 aged 48, an aggressive but treatable type of chronic cancer. For Rouleur ’s In My Words , the Italian speaks candidly about his struggles of the past few years, revealing that there were times when he thought his time was up. He’s now back at races and living a relatively normal life, but Guercilena is conscious that cancer could tighten its grip on him once again at any moment. Photos: Getty Images Words: Luca Guercilena It was during my flight to the 2021 Tour de France when I first started to feel bad. I had back and belly pain, feelings that weren’t common, and during the first two weeks of the Tour I’d wake up in the night with pain everywhere . I went for a scan on the second rest day in Andorra, and I found out that there w...

https://www.rouleur.it/blogs/the-rouleur-journal/what-a-team-i-have-around-me-trust-timing-and-the-art-of-the-lead-out-lands-pedersen-more-giro-glory?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Giro+d%27Italia+2025+stage+five+%282025-05-14%29&utm_term=READ+MORE&utm_klaviyo_id=KRaEHB&_kx=-RHoNCVD_czNKTzhDfBMdT-7KvOJPzYxUraXigXXuH5k7y7pMp_M0KX4BaJwiEzk.JQVLkV&shpxid=5a59b646-58f2-49bc-9c24-d925611efb14 Mads Pedersen finishes off extraordinary domestique work by teammate Mathias Vacek to win stage five of the Giro d’Italia Photography: Zac Williams / SWpix.com   Words: Tristan Rees Thirty seconds after a lung-busting finale in Matera, the pink jersey, Mads Pedersen is hunched over his handlebars when his teammate Giulio Ciccone wheels up to him, with the result yet to be announced, and embraces his leader and tells him that he thinks he has won. It’s a genuine, warm yet calm exchange and reveals a lot about the space Lidl-Trek are in at this Giro d’Italia ...

https://www.rouleur.it/blogs/the-rouleur-journal/bernard-hinault-the-punch?shpxid=ebcd0a50-750b-4aca-ba5d-df43f039bb1f LISTEN ROULEUR STORE ROULEUR LIVE The wrath of the Badger Bernard Hinault Heritage Paris-Nice Occasionally, a spontaneous moment occurs in a great rider’s career that comes to be seen as an encapsulation of their personality. Lance Armstrong had ‘The Look’ , a glare delivered to Jan Ullrich on Alpe d’Huez as he rode away at the 2001 Tour de France after bluffing for half the day. Snidey, scheming, but brutally effective: that was the American. For Bernard Hinault, it was ‘The Punch’. It happened on March 12 1984 during stage five of Paris-Nice between Miramas and La Seyne-sur-Mer through France’s south-central region of Provence. On the tricky descent of the Col de l’Espigoulier, Hinault rode like a demon to get rid of race leader Robert Millar, helping to draw away 20-plus riders with him in the process. But news reached the leaders that on the outskirts of La Ciota...

Was Tadej Pogačar's 2024 racing season the greatest in cycling history? After adding a fourth Il Lombardia title to round-off his stellar year, Rouleur looks at how the Slovenian's 2024 racing season stacks up against cycling's best Photos: Zac Williams/SWpix.com   Words: Stephen Puddicombe Now that Tadej Pogačar has hung up his cleats for the off-season and enjoys a well-earned rest, we can start to ask the question: have we just witnessed the single greatest season by a professional cyclist in the history of the sport? That might initially sound hyperbolic, and perhaps a matter of recency bias that overlooks and downplays the many great achievements of the distant and not so well remembered past. But the more you delve into the sport’s history, the greater Pogačar’s feats in 2024 become. In terms of sheer quantity of wins, we haven’t seen the likes of this for many years. Last Saturday’s Il Lombardia triumph was his 25th of the season, the highest total any rider has mana...

https://www.rouleur.it/blogs/the-rouleur-journal/il-lombardia-2024-route-prediction-and-contenders Can anyone stop Tadej Pogačar taking a fourth consecutive win in the race of the falling leaves? Photos: Zac Williams/SWpix.com Words: Rachel Jary For the last three seasons, Il Lombardia has been Tadej Pogačar’s race. The UAE Team Emirates rider relishes the steep, punchy climbs around the Lombardy region of Italy , attacking them in his trademark, swashbuckling style with the kind of panache that his rivals can rarely answer to. This Saturday, the 118th edition of Il Lombardia will be held – the fifth of cycling’s five Monuments – and Pogačar, resplendent in his new rainbow bands, is looking stronger than ever. With his recent solo victory in Giro dell'Emilia, a key warm-up race for Lombardia, the likes of Remco Evenepoel and Enric Mas will be scratching their heads when it comes to working out how to beat the world champion. Route In 2024, the Il Lombardia route will be switched...

https://www.rouleur.it/blogs/the-rouleur-journal/golden-grace-and-unstoppable-evenepoel-why-the-time-trial-world-championships-were-so-significant?srsltid=AfmBOoozdKTLjI83zQDUom4_N21HgYmQBF7xevdC4iKVPRdFEFN9NYLS&shpxid=5d5fa247-84df-451c-8770-70c2ba1f4564 The Olympic champions both won rainbow jerseys in Zurich’s race against the clock – what does this tell us about the next chapter of their careers? Photos: SWpix   Words: Rachel Jary It is no coincidence that Grace Brown and Remco Evenepoel win bike races in a similar fashion. Once, we might have attributed the success of their trademark solo attacks to perfectly-timed moves or superior tactical nous. Yet while this is certainly part of the winning formula, Brown and Evenepoel’s recent time trial performances have shown that their ability to hold off a hungry chasing peloton in road races is about far more lucky timing. Individual time trials are widely regarded as the race of truth. It’s one rider battling against both the c...

https://www.alpecincycling.com/en/pro-peloton/vuelta-a-espana-2024-preview-21-stages/?sp_u=825701cd-865a-4a8d-8de4-af33e6ee8231 15.08.2024 Where does the 79th Vuelta a España 2024 lead and how difficult are the individual stages? All the answers can be found here! One thing in advance: The roadbook of the 2024 Spanish tour includes two individual time trials, eight mountain stages, five medium mountain stages, five hilly stages, and one flat section. From August 17 to September 8, the last Grand Tour of the year covers 3,301.4 kilometers from Lisbon to Madrid. Stage 1 | 17 August | Lisbon – Oeiras | 12 km, Individual Time Trial The 2024 Vuelta a España kicks off with an individual time trial in Portugal. The riders will tackle a flat 12-kilometre route from the capital, Lisbon, to Oeiras. Stage 2 | 18 August | Cascais – Ourém | 194 km The second longest stage of the Vuelta spans 194 kilometres and might favour the sprinters at the finish in Ourém. The main challenge for the fast riders...

https://www.rouleur.it/pages/vuelta-a-espana?shpxid=86479f42-d3f4-4b77-8844-2ead2e655d55 Start: Lisbon, Portugal Finish: Madrid, Spain Total distance: 3,265 km Stages: 21 Riders: 184 Teams: 23 Defending champion: Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) The Vuelta a España, or La Vuelta, is one of cycling's three Grand Tours, along with the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. Part of the UCI WorldTour, the three-week race is the most prestigious race in Spain and is now in its 79th edition . While it took time for the Vuelta to gain similar footing with the Tour and the Giro, overall victory at the race is a coveted prize that will often see the best riders in cycling go head-to-head to win. Like the other Grand Tours, the Vuelta is held over 21 individual stages (plus two rest days) with the general classification victory awarded to the rider with the lowest aggregated time at the end of the race. While the colour of the jersey for overall leader has changed numerous times in the race's...

*Cover image by Daniel Hughes Col d’Izoard: A mountain in the shadows of Tour giants – Rouleur Rouleur reflects on the tales of the Col d'Izoard, the alps fifth highest mountain pass APRILE 05, 2024 WORDS: ANDY MCGRATH This is an edited version of an article originally published in Rouleur magazine, edition 51 (2014). Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme has always wanted to pay homage to the race’s historical kingmakers and heartbreakers, while seeking out fresh challenges. Mission impossible. It can’t be done. Certain places will be sieved out, because something’s got to give when new clashes with old. “The Tour always evolves. Today, the great summits of the Tour are Mont Ventoux, Alpe d’Huez, the Tourmalet and the Galibier . But it is no longer the Izoard, for example. That was the great climb of the 1950s and '60s,” Prudhomme told Bicycling in 2011. Didn’t anyone tell Monsieur Prudhomme to respect his elders? Greatness is a subjective thing. Besides, the To...