Björn Lenhard is a tough, understated guy. You don’t get to finish second, then third in the Transcontinental Race without being tough. So when he says something is unrideable, you can take him at his word.

And that’s how he described parts of the third parcours in #TCRNo7, up and then back down the stunning Besna Kobila mountain in southern Serbia. The parcours includes a long section that’s euphemistically described as ‘gravel’ by the race organisers but that doesn’t really do it justice. It’s a steep and sketchy trail filled with fist-sized rocks sitting on loose sandy soil, beside fat gullies carved out by rain water streaming down the mountain.

It’s the sort of terrain that would be challenging on a full-suspension mountain bike with fresh legs but on a fully-laden, skinny-tyred road bike? After 600km of riding? When the mind and body are already beyond tired? No thanks.

Once this treacherous section of the parcours has been negotiated, there’s a 30km paved descent down Besna Kobila towards the second race control point at Inn Zormaris, where Transcontinental volunteers waited to stamp brevets and log times, incongruously surrounded by a Serbian wedding party of more than 200 people.

Björn reached the fizik-sponsored control point a couple of hours ahead of anyone else, one day, nine hours and 17 minutes after the race started. Chugging down a large bottle of Coke, he patiently answered the questions that were fired at him. He’d had two and a half hours’ sleep since leaving Burgas. No punctures. No mechanicals. The heat was ‘crazy’. He’d been eating nothing but ‘TCR food’. And it was best not to ask about the makeshift padding on top of his saddle.

Then, after a few minutes, he was off again, starting the long journey towards the third checkpoint in Austria. But before Jonathan Rankin, the second-placed rider, had arrived, Björn was back at the checkpoint and the untold story behind that makeshift padding was revealed. It involved a wasp sting and some abscesses and ultimately it led to a heart-breaking decision to scratch from the race.

Of course, there were no complaints –

– but the disappointment must have been acute for Björn.

Meanwhile, other riders started to arrive at the control point. First Jonathan, then Kosma Szafranik, followed by Björn’s training partner Fiona Kolbinger. By the start of day three, Fiona had overtaken Jonathan to become the TCR’s first-ever woman race leader – although Kosma’s tracker had gone dark overnight so at the time of writing, organisers aren’t sure where he is.

After checkpoint 2 comes the long haul up to the third checkpoint in Austria, more than 1000km away.

The race continues – sadly without Björn.

The Sea Garden in Burgas on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, with its well-tended flower beds and broad promenades, seems a genteel spot for the start of something as brutal as the Transcontinental Race.

During race registration, beside the striking Pantheon to the Fallen Antifascists monument, you must remind yourself from time to time that the happy-looking cyclists wandering around or lying on the grass chatting amiably are on the cusp of a truly remarkable feat of endurance.

But a closer look reveals the tension that precedes any big bike ride – only more so. After all the preparation and the training and the route-mapping and the kit-checking and the bike-fettling, all these riders want to do is start riding. There’s a palpable collective nervousness in the air.

Are we really doing this crazy thing?

Because this isn’t just another big bike ride. This is a 4,000-kilometre race that will defeat a third of the riders as it winds its way through Bulgaria, up into the Serbian mountains and on towards the South Tirol, where Italy meets Austria, then heading west into the French Alps and then across the entirety of France, before finishing in Brest on the Atlantic coast.

Driving towards Burgas in the soft early evening sunshine, it’s tempting to think that it might be a good idea to take part in the Transcontinental Race. For a hundred miles or more, there’s nothing but flat, lush countryside, filled with the colour of hundreds of sunflower fields. But on either side of this idyllic plain are distant mountain ranges. And it’s in the steep, narrow roads of these hills that the racers must start their epic journey across Europe. This being the Transcontinental, the organisers include some compulsory parcours that the riders must complete to qualify for the race. The start is one such a section.

Just before 6am on Saturday, 27 July, the riders gathered once more in the Sea Garden. In the moments before an airhorn sent them on their way, bicycle bells rang out and scores of camera shutters clicked. Then, at last, they were on their way through the streets of Burgas, leaving behind just one poor soul wrestling with a flat tyre. What a start…

Within minutes, riders’ friends and families, race organisers and TCR fans all over the world turned into dot-watchers, logging on to the race tracker at Trackleaders.com to check the progress of their riders and monitoring #TCRNo7 on social media.

Team INEOS lead a fizik 1-2-3 with Egan, G and Team Jumbo-Visma’s Steven on the final podium!

It was another amazing performance from Team INEOS to continue their winning run, and was matched almost all the way by a concerted effort from Team Jumbo-Visma in a race that excited from start to finish and delivered the first three positions to fizik-riding athletes. While the final result was impossible to predict right up until the last stages, the fresh-faced Bernal eventually won the General Classification by 1:11 from his team-mate Geraint Thomas, with Kruijswijk 20 seconds back in third place.

In the 106th edition Bernal became the first Colombian ever to win cycling’s biggest race, and is the youngest ever rider to be presented with the maillot jaune in the French capital. His tears of joy and relief after Stage 20’s finish gave way to a broad grin of elation and pride: an image that will last another 100 years.

Going into the race as Team INEOS’ joint leader with last year’s Champion Geraint Thomas, it wasn’t until those final three Alpine stages that the leadership role was resolved. The younger rider, with his fizik Antares R1 saddle, took the lead position following a dominant performance on the Stage 19 course that was cut short due to extreme weather. From thereon G, in his Infinito R1 Knit shoes and riding a Arione R1 saddle, assumed a support role, shepherding his team-mate into Paris before they rode hand-in-hand together across the line.

Bernal also won the White Jersey for best young rider and came second in the Mountains competition.

Team Jumbo-Visma had a magnificent race, culminating in a first Grand Tour podium for Kruijswijk. The Antares 00-riding Dutchman was modest in his explanation of the team’s extraordinary effort to deliver him to the General Classification podium, and more besides:

While the Team Time Trial set up the strong position that could be carried through to the GC success, it was a concerted effort from Kruijswijk and the rest of the riders throughout the three weeks that delivered the podium. With the GC standings being confirmed on the slopes into Val Thorens on Saturday’s shortened Stage 20, the fight continued right to the glittering finalé as the Sunday sun was setting in Paris.

But the 2019 Tour belonged to the proud final podium athletes with that amazing  fizik 1-2-3: Team INEOS’ Antares R1-riding Egan Bernal for his first Grand Tour win, his super-domestique team-mate G on Arione R1 coming so close to repeating last year’s victory and Team Jumbo-Visma’s Antares 00-riding Steven Kruijswijk for his long anticipated first Grand Tour podium. Bravo to all three, and thanks for the superb entertainment!

The 106th edition of the Tour de France has been a hugely exciting and successful Grand Tour for fizik riders, with overall victory for Egan Bernal of Team INEOS.

The three-week race was very tightly competed throughout and the General Classification was impossible to call right down to the final exciting stages in the Alps. But from start to finish, Egan has ridden strongly with his Antares R1 saddle and been a leading contender, close on time and in a top-five position every day in what has been the most gripping Grand Tour contest for years!

The whole 2019 Tour has been an amazing spectacle, thrilling from the Grand Départ in Brussels, through the Pyrenees and right to the decisive stages in the Alps before the final processional stage into Paris’ and along the iconic Champs-Elysées.

Congratulations to Egan for claiming the yellow jersey and thanks to all our riders for their enormous efforts and delivering such an entertaining competition and a great result!

After 17 stages, the General Classification battle in this year’s Tour de France couldn’t be more finely balanced! Tensions are beginning to show in the peloton as the temperature soars, with the lead riders hiding their exhaustion, elation, hopes and fears behind poker faces and the season’s oversized mirrored eyewear.

The pressure is on Team Ineos and Infinito R1 Knit-wearing defending champion Geraint Thomas with a 1:35 deficit and threats from every angle. The main GC contenders, including Team Ineos’ “G” and Egan Bernal, and Team Jumbo-Visma’s Steven Kruijswijk (just 12 seconds behind in third) survived the heat and stress of stages 16 and 17, maximising efficiency to save energy for the decisive three Alpine stages.

Going into Stage 18 there are just 39 seconds between positions 2 and 6, with the Movistar Team duo of Mikel Landa and Alejandro Valverde following closely behind, and ready to attack. With Ineos and Jumbo-Visma both caught between the conflicting demands to attack and defend, and that challenge amplified by depleted squads, it’s also a tactical minefield. The main protagonists might not always see eye to eye, but they share a focus:

Ahead of them on today’s 208km Stage 18 are four increasingly high climbs, culminating in the 2,642m Galibier that steepens throughout its 23km and offers bonus seconds at the top before 20km of descent to the line. Then, shorter at 126.5km, Stage 19 is dominated by the single, long HC climb of 2,770m Col de l’Iseran with its steep finale… which could make or break dreams ahead of the uphill finish in Tignes. After that, anyone still in contention on Saturday will face multiple opportunities to attack – or demands to defend – on the 4,450 metres of ascent packed into the 130km of pain to the high altitude summit finish in Val Thorens.

On Sunday’s processional roll-in to Paris, only the final sprint is contested and the GC champion will be toasted with champagne. But who?

The biggest race of all rarely fails to excite, and this year’s edition has already brought thrills and spills for fizik riders, with a lot more potential over the coming stages, with a short time trial before the challenges and opportunities of the mountains that put the finest riders under extreme pressure to produce astonishing, mesmeric performances.

Jumbo-Visma riders have been grabbing the headlines with four stage wins so far. ‘Unlikely hero’ Mike Teunissen surprised everyone by swapping his yellow team jersey for the official ASO shade in the 100th year of the maillot jaune. Following an imperious TTT victory Dylan Groenewegan bossed a chaotic sprint on in Chalon-sur-Saône, and Wout van Aert’s powerful dash to the stage 10 line with his Antares R1 sent shivers up the spine before his nasty crash in the closing stages of the ITT. His brave efforts add another dramatic twist to today’s lumpy 27.2km Individual Time Trial at Pau, where the beautifully poised General Classification battle hots up ahead of the remaining Pyrennean and then Alpine stages.

Team Ineos’ TTT second place set up the good early GC positions for joint leaders Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal. Staying on the right side of stage 10’s sidewind-induced split ensured they go into the ITT in second and third respectively. Even without the absence of some strong chrono-men, “G” would be amongst the favorites to win today. He’s been playing cool with the media but make no mistake, he is immensely proud of the number 1 dossard he earned last July, riding in his super-ventilated Infinito R1 Knit shoes.

Van Aert and his GC lead Steven Kruijswijk are both on form: “If you look back at the Dauphine time trial, I gained time on most of the GC guys… Hopefully I can do the same.” said De Kleerhanger.

 Movistar Team’s joint leader Nairo Quintana is also ready to pounce: “It’s going to be all about going flat out, and there are no other options,” said his director sportive Txente García Acosta. The Lion aims to head into the final two Pyrenees climbing stages in his Infinito R1 Movistar shoes in a position to threaten for the overall, and complete his Grand Tour ‘set’.

Although it’s ‘only’ 117km long, Saturday’s Stage 14 includes a punishing 19km ascent of the iconic Col du Tourmalet – could its summit finish prove instrumental? And who will attack where on Sunday’s 185km mountains stage that takes in the back-to-back pain of the Port de Lers, Mur de Péguère and the Prat d’Albis with another 12km ascent?

With Monday’s rest day to recover, all our riders know they could decide to go full gas on either to make the difference… but the following six stages mix sprints with some increasingly tough Alpine adventures, which those GC contenders will also have in mind when they work out how much, if anything, they could leave ‘in the tank’ in the Pyrenees. They are risks to take, decisions to make and opportunities for glory!

The pure passion of the world’s biggest race brings out amazing, inspired performances and occasionally a genuine surprise result. The opening weekend of the 106^th Tour de France delivered on both fronts – and how!

While all the world’s finest teams did their best to channel the emotion of the two stages being held in Brussels – 50 years since Belgium’s most famous cyclist made his maiden Tour de France victory – it was the leading Dutch team who shone brightest. With crowds 10-deep and every major landmark, including the iconic Atomium, hung with yellow banners, it was the yellow of Team Jumbo-Visma that remains burned in the fans’ retinas.

MAKING HISTORY ON SATURDAY 

Saturday’s 194.5km Stage 1 route ended, as expected in a bunch sprint. Yet the first man across the line was anything but expected: celebrating 100 years of the maillot jaune, first time Grand Tour stage winner Mike Teunissen won the sprint in front of the Laeken Castle ahead of sprinting biggest names.

The 26-year-old had been supporting Jumbo’s recognized sprinter Dylan Groenewegen who crashed, along with other members of his lead-out team. Their frustration at being taken out soon dissipated with the elation of Teunissen’s shock victory.

SMASHING IT ON SUNDAY

Unbelievable though Saturday was, it turned out to be a mere warm-up for Sunday’s explosive Team Time Trial. We had expected good form from Jumbo-Visma but nobody quite predicted the yellow machine’s dominance.

Team Ineos had gone out first and occupied the TTT hot seats for almost three hours as each outfit fell short of their mark for the 27.6km route.

Jumbo-Visma went out fast and led at every checkpoint. With crushingly metronomic pace and discipline they negotiated the technical last section to finish on 28:57 in an average 56.551kph. They put 20 seconds into Team Ineos; a similar amount that covered the next eight teams.

After two stages Teunissen holds both the yellow and green (points) jerseys. Logically Jumbo-Visma also lead in the Team Classification, and Wout Van Aert wears the white jersey of best young rider.

This is it, this is the one that really matters, the biggest race in the world and the most coveted prize: “Nothing compares to the yellow jersey,” says Chris Froome. And none of the general classification contenders would disagree with the four-time winner.

We can’t wait for Saturday 6^th July and the Grande Départ in Brussels. After a flat start the 106^th edition hits the hills and tips into a balance that’s heavier on the climbing than most editions, advantaging the lighter riders, but still offers lots of opportunities for sprinters, exciting breakaways, and two time trials: one team, one individual.

There will be a final battle in the Alps before the traditional processional finish in Paris on the 28^th where one GC contender and his team will sip champagne. But who…?

With Chris Froome crashing at the Criterium de Dauphiné, Team Ineos have announced joint leadership roles for Geraint Thomas in defence of the yellow jersey he won last year while wearing grey Infinito R1 Knit and Arione saddle– and, given his electrifying form, including winning the Tour de Suisse, for Egan Bernal. Many think the 22-year-old is ready to win the Tour, with no less than Alberto Contador labelling Bernal the “clear favorite”. The Colombian was a vital lieutenant for the Welshman in 2018 but could the roles reverse in the mountains?

Resting Richard Carapaz after his Giro d’Italia victory Movistar Team roll out the big guns in terms of big-race experience: World Champion Alejandro Valverde (fresh from winning the Spanish national championships following victory at the Route d’Occitanie), Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España winner Nairo Quintana, and mountains-ready Mikel Landa.

With no Primož Roglič (third in the Giro and recently moved into second spot in the UCI rankings), Team Jumbo-Visma are led by Steven Kruijswijk. The 32-year-old is a strong option for the mountains and wants to turn his GC podium near-misses into hits. The Dutch squad could be off to an early flyer – in the 26.7km Team Time Trial on Sunday 7th’s stage 2 with a chromo-focused line-up that includes Wout van Aert, who became Belgian TT champion this week, Jos van Emden, who just claimed his second Dutch TT title and the legendary nine-time German TT champion Tony Martin.

The first of the two French fizik-riding squads, AG2R La Mondiale have built their season around the Tour de France. In recent seasons, Romain Bardet has podium’d twice in the last three years. With the climbing-heavy course for this year’s edition, the 28-year-old is a serious contender. Bardet will be backed by a squad including Tour stage winner Alexis Vuillermoz and Belgian Classics hard-man Oliver Naesen (Infinito R1) – a line-up that was modified after Tony Gallopin and Benoît Cosnefroy crashed in the French National Road race at the weekend, and Pierre Latour hasn’t regained his best form.

The French Pro-Continental Team Cofidis once again look to entertain and make an impact at their home Grand Tour. Some are tipping Christophe Laporte in his fifth consecutive Tour de France, for a first stage win. Look out for the climber – and double Spanish road champion – 28-year-old Jesús Herrada (who bettered Romain Bardet to win the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge) and watch out for “El Puma” – the experienced Colombian, Darwin Atapuma. But this year there’s no Nacer Bouhanni, having abandoned in the Criterium du Dauphiné and unable to find a place in the team.

Roll on Saturday 6^th!

The mountain bike World Cup season is gathering great momentum with two fixtures back-to-back in the coming two weekends.

After the first three rounds of downhill – at Maribor, Slovenia, then Fort William, Scotland and most recently Leogang, Austria – and the first two rounds of cross-country – at Albstadt, Germany and Nové Město, Czech Republic – the two major World Cup disciplines of mountain bike racing come together for their remaining five fixtures.

This weekend’s meeting is at Vallnord, Andorra – a classic setting for both codes, which features regularly on the UCI World Cup calendar.

DOWNHILL

With Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Luca Shaw suffering a collarbone injury and Greg Minnaar’s slow start at a bruising opening round in Maribor, round 2 at Fort William saw Loris Vergier take a fine third place with Minnaar sixth. All the riders are equipped with Gobi and Tundra saddles.

The campaign’s momentum is building: Minnaar took a fine second place in Leogang, just 0.3sec behind triple World Champion Loic Bruni. Luca Shaw returned to racing with a ninth place showing his recuperation is on track. Minnaar and Vergier are fifth and sixth in the World Cup standings after three rounds.

The Vallnord DH course is high profile, high altitude and high speed – and becomes increasingly loose and technical. Less than 200km from their Barcelona base, Team UNNO know it well.

Minnaar has multiple strong results here (including a World Championships silver medal) but no win. 2018 saw high drama for Santa Cruz Syndicate riders: Shaw looked set for first but crashed out, handing the win to Vergier for his maiden Elite World Cup victory.

CROSS-COUNTRY

With cross-country teams riding on Tundra and Gobi saddles we’ve already seen some gutsy and successful rides at the first two meetings, in both the Olympic distance (XCO) main race and short course (XCC).

Bianchi Countervail’s Stephane Tempier hit the top 10 in Germany in both the XCO and XCC. Nadir Colledani and Chiara Teocchi have both been consistently scoring good points.

Superior XC Team’s Linda Indergand backed up an amazing fourth in the Albstadt XCC with sixth in Nové Město XCC and XCO.

Perhaps the most pleasing performance so far is Ondřej Cink of Kross Racing Team finishing on the XCO podium with a fine fifth position at his home race, Nové Město.

A fast course and fine weather in Andorra la Vella look set to get this double-header off to a great start on 5-7 July.

The brilliant performances in the recent national championships triggered raw emotional scenes of celebration in many countries for fizik riders.

Tears of joy, arms held aloft, jerseys kissed, punching the sky… whatever the gesture the feeling is shared around the world in a common language that needs no words: it’s the elation of winning the races that count most in an athlete’s home country. Men’s and Women’s Elites across road and time trial saw a huge haul of riders now proudly entitled to wear their national jerseys at the year’s forthcoming events!

There were triple celebrations for Movistar Team riders in Spain this week: in the men’s race it was El Bala – who else! Alejandro Valverde winning at home in Murcia to take his third Spanish road title. Lourdes Oyarbide is the new women’s road race champion, while Shelya Gutiérrez won her first TT title.

Making a clean sweep for fizik riders in Spain, Jonathan Castroviejo of Team Ineos claimed his third consecutive Spanish TT title, an impressive 48 seconds clear, that’s five in total. His teammate Filippo Ganna was run considerably closer in the Italian TT, stepping up from last year’s second place to claim the top step in 2019. Another team-mate, Ben Swift won the British road title for the first time, blasting past yet another Ineos rider (and former British champion) Ian Stannard in the final kilometer.

Team Jumbo-Visma’s Amund Grøndahl Jansen sprinted to the Norwegian road title. Meanwhile his team-mates were hauling in the TT titles: Wout van Aert won in Belgium – a first national champion medal won on tarmac to hang alongside his multiple cyclocross world gongs – and Jos van Emden went double Dutch with his second national jersey while another seasoned campaigner, Tony Martin overcame a mechanical to bag an astonishing ninth German title.

AG2R La Mondiale’s Gediminas Bagdonas powered to victory in the Lithuanian time trial, the 33-year-old’s fourth national TT title complementing last year’s double.

Cofidis’ Natnael Berhane took his second Eritrean road title, matching his pair of African Champion wins. His team-mates Julien Simon and Damien Touze came second and third in a tightly-fought French road race.