#so would Wout and Primoz

[hashirun]

Grabe I lost count just how many times I cried while watching Tour de France Unchained on Netflix. The docuseries covers the 2022 edition of the Tour de France, the most prestigious and arguably the most difficult road cycling race in the world. It consists of 21 stages through three weeks of racing across France in all manner of terrain - from flat to hilly to mountain terrains.

As a spectator I've always found myself drawn to preternaturally gifted athletes - the biggest example would be my decade long obsession with Roger Federer - so it was only natural that for the past two years I've only had my eyes trained on Tadej Pogacar, the Slovenian wunderkind who burst into the scene in 2020 by winning the Tour de France on his first try. He successfully defended his title in 2021, and seemed all but certain to retain it as well in 2022, but the cycling gods apparently had other plans.

So through the entire course of last year's Tour de France my focus was on Tadej, how he lost the yellow jersey (worn by the general classification leader) to Jonas Vingegaard in stage 11 at the Col du Granon, and how he fought (but ultimately failed) to reclaim it in the succeeding stages.

Anyways so much for the long intro, I guess what I was trying to say is that Tour de France Unchained allowed me to witness other narratives at play during last year's Tour. It wasn't just about Tadej Pogacar, or the eventual winner Jonas Vingegaard and his superteam Jumbo Visma. Of course at the end of the grueling three week race it's still about who wins the general classification contest (finishing all 21 stages with the lowest combined time), but the docuseries allows its viewers to take an intimate look at the other teams and their riders. While the most important prize is the general classification, riders get to compete for individual glory everyday for 21 days through a stage win - who crosses the finish line first for the day's stage.

Aside from Tadej, my second favorite cyclist in last year's Tour was Wout van Aert, Jonas Vingegaard's teammate who won the points classification contest as well as the combativity award. He is, by his own right, a superstar - he's won a lot of races and is very electrifying to watch. So it came as no surprise to me when episode 2 put forward an intriguing narrative - Wout van Aert, wearing the yellow jersey on the strength of his brilliant performances for the first 3 stages, sprinting to stage 4 victory instead of waiting for and assisting his teammates Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard.

So what's wrong about going for the stage win? Well the thing is, there is a hierarchy in cycling teams, with the leader firmly on top, while the rest of the team are domestiques or secondary riders. The leader is the one who rides for general classification, while the domestiques' primary role is to support the leader. In Jumbo Visma's case, they appointed two leaders: Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard, while Wout van Aert was relegated the role of a domestique. Since the biggest objective of any team is to win the general classification, when the leader (who is gunning for general classification) is in a pickle then the domestique is expected to be there to bail him out.

As a star himself Wout always rides with pride. So it must've been somewhat difficult for him to strike a balance between riding for personal glory and riding for the team.

I also enjoyed the changing of guards narrative- at its center are INEOS Grenadier's Geraint Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour de France and his battle for a 2022 podium finish, along with his young teammate Tom Pidcock and his exhilarating downhill attack to secure the stage 12 win.

But perhaps my favorite narrative in the docuseries will always be that of Jasper "Disaster" Philipsen, whose nickname was given to him by his teammates because of his bad luck in races. At the stage 4 finish line, Jasper wildly celebrated what he thought was a stage victory only to find out that it was Wout van Aert who crossed the line moments earlier in a solo breakaway that Jasper didn't notice. It was the kind of stuff memes are made of. Jasper redeems himself by winning stage 15 by outsprinting Wout himself - what a fitting comeback.

While these are my favorite narratives, I thoroughly enjoyed Tour de France Unchained as a whole. It reminded me that as one of the biggest cycling races in the world anything can happen at the Tour, and that the event will always be bigger than just a single person. Allez!

#Tour de France #Tour de France Unchained #Netflix #biking #cycling

[whoperlokian-bendingismagic]

I'm so excited for the Tour de France this year, so I'm going to infodump about it. Strap in or skip, it's up to you.

So to get into why this year's TdF is exciting, we have to rewind a couple years to 2020. The Tour was delayed (cuz COVID) but the race did happen. The guy who was going to win it was Slovenian cyclist for Team Jumbo-Visma Primoz Roglic (I'm going to miss a lot of accents because reasons, no disrespect to anybody's names). Primoz Roglic had won the Vuelta Espana (Like the TdF but for Spain) and was seen as the race favorite. He comes into the second to last stage with the Yellow Jersey, and it's a Time Trial (a solo effort against the clock rather than a full-on race where everybody is riding the same road at the same time). Primoz Roglic is more of a climber than a Time Trialist, but he's still pretty good at TTs, and it's by no means a liability for him.

But then, his fellow Slovenian, Team UAE rider Tadej Pogacar happened, obliterating Roglic's time trial result and taking the race lead just before the final stage, which is largely a formality and a last chance for sprinters to win a stage. A lot of people accused Pogacar of being a doper, but there's been no evidence since then to support it.

So then 2021. Pogacar is back as defending champion of the TdF, Primoz Roglic is back to try and get his title. Primoz Roglic goes on to have a bad spate of luck and suffers enough crashes that he retires from the race. Team Jumbo-Visma isn't out of the race, though. They end up having a shockingly good TdF, with climbing domestique Sepp Kuss becoming the first ever Coloradoan to win a stage of the TdF, Belgian Champion Wout Van Aert winning a mini triple crown of a mountaintop stage, a time trial stage, and a sprint stage, and revealing that the scrawny danish kid they'd added to the roster was a secret Plan B weapon who came out as the only person who could threaten Pogacar's dominance. Pogacar won the Tour, but Jonas Vingegaard came out of nowhere to be the only potential answer to him.

2022: Pogacar is back again as the defending champion, Jumbo-Visma bring in the team again, with Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard, Wout Van Aert, Sepp Kuss, and four others. The race starts with a few stages in Denmark, and there's too much to coherently write out here, so I've got to dive temporarily into a bullet list.

Stage 1 is a time trial won by somebody nobody thought would be capable of winning a time trial. It helps that it was raining that day, which made a lot of the favorites ease back and take fewer risks

Wout Van Aert has a series of second-place finishes in bunch sprints, including one where he sat up to celebrate and somebody else kept sprinting (this was the second time this happened to him IN THE YEAR 2022, WOUT STOP DOING THIS)

EF Education-EasyPost rider Magnus Cort delights his home country of Denmark by becoming the king of immediately launching breakaways every stage in Denmark and keeps it up until a positive COVID test drops him out at Stage 10

Wout Van Aert did a better job of sprinting in the TdF than anybody had ever done since the Green Jersey (Sprinter's Classification) was introduced, blowing easily over the Sprint Points record previously held by Peter Sagan

The mini-Paris Roubaix stage went terribly for Jumbo Visma with double-bike changes for Vingegaard, and Primoz Roglic having some bad crashes.

Jumbo-Visma had a very clever plan to unseat Pogacar and get Jonas Vingegaard into the yellow jersey, and it worked perfectly.

On a mountain descent, Vingegaard and Pogacar were alone at the head of the race, Vingegaard almost crashed, and then Pogacar DID crash and Vingegaard SLOWED DOWN FOR POGACAR TO CATCH UP it was an incredible moment of sportsmanship for what is shaping up to become a cycling rivalry that I'm sure will go down as one of the greatest rivalries in all of sport.

Vingegaard won the Tour

So now, in 2023, both Pogacar and Vingegaard have been showing in the lead-up to the TdF that they are in a league of their own. Pogacar nearly won the Ardennes Triple Crown (a series of prestigious races in Flanders) before he crashed out in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Vingegaard has completely wrecked the competition in Tour of the Basque Country and the Criterium du Dauphine. Vingegaard and Pogacar did meet in Paris-Nice and Pogacar won there, but just watching the two of them will be very exciting. Except there is more! Biniam Girmay is looking like he'll be in the Tour de France, and I don't think he's a threat to the Yellow Jersey, but he is a good time trialist and he's a great sprinter. In 2022, he won a stage of the Giro D'Italia (like the TdF but in Italy), by outsprinting one of cycling's greatest all-rounders, Matheiu Van Der Poel in Stage 10. That made him the first ever black African to win a stage of a Grand Tour. He had to retire because his celebratory champagne bottle launched its cork into his eye, but he's recovered and just won Stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse yesterday. I think he's a serious contender for the Green Jersey this year based on his performance against Wout Van Aert yesterday and what he did against MVDP last year, and I'm hoping to see some greatness from him.

Don't watch the Tour in full if you have better things to do, but I do recommend watching the extended highlights that NBCSN puts on Youtube, they're great.

[walkerwander-blog]

50cm:Tirreno-Adriatico: Dumoulin stays in overall contention after TTT

Tom Dumoulin admitted before Tirreno-Adriatico that losing 25 seconds or more in the opening team time trial would probably end his chance of overall victory in the week-long stage race. While not happy with Team Sunweb's third place, 22 seconds behind Mitchelton-Scott and 15 down on Jumbo-Visma, the Dutchman was pleased to still be in contention and ready to race aggressively in the number of steep uphill finishes later in the race.

"Third, it's good, not perfect. It's a good start and we're, I won't say happy with it, but satisfied," Dumoulin said as he warmed down on the rollers, seeing Team Sunweb's glass half full rather than half empty.

As team leader and former world time trial champion, Dumoulin took on extra responsibility during Team Sunweb's ride. He did longer turns on the front, leading and inspiring his teammates. Chad Haga brought Team Sunweb home, with Dumoulin second, Søren Kragh Andersen and Sam Oomen also finishing in the same time. Nicolas Roche, Rob Power and Nikias Arndt finished a little further behind after doing their work earlier in the 21.5km team time trial. The team also used the new Cervelo P5 bike that was revealed to the public on Tuesday.

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"We rode it really good. We had a completely different team than at the UAE Tour, a couple of guys the same and others different," Dumoulin said. "Team time trials are always tricky. We made a couple of small mistakes, maybe losing five seconds here and there, but not 22 or 15."

Dumoulin is now 22 seconds down on overall rival Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and 15 down on Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), but he gained 15 seconds on Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), 25 seconds on Geraint Thomas and Wout Poels (Team Sky), 36 seconds on Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and 48 seconds on Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida). Other riders are even further down, such was the impact and importance of the team time trial.

"Yates and Roglic are the two in front of me now so they are definitely the guys to watch," Dumoulin said. "There are probably a few guys close behind us, too, so we'll just see how it goes."

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

#50cm road bike #Cyclingnews Latest News

[ultrasfcb-blog]

Tour of Britain 2018: Cameron Meyer wins stage as Alessandro Tonelli takes race lead

Tour of Britain 2018: Cameron Meyer wins stage as Alessandro Tonelli takes race lead

Tour of Britain 2018: Cameron Meyer wins stage as Alessandro Tonelli takes race lead

Cameron Meyer held off the chasers to win his first Tour of Britain stage

Australia’s Cameron Meyer won stage two of the Tour of Britain in Barnstaple by surging clear of Alessandro Tonelli, who moved into the overall race lead.

Meyer and Tonelli were the last two riders left from the breakaway and held off a strong chasing pack in the final kilometre to contest the finish.

Mitchelton-Scott’s Meyer, 30, kicked up the left to catch out the Italian and win by one second.

Yet second place was enough for Tonelli to take the leader’s green jersey.

Both he and Meyer are on the same time but the Bardiani-CSF rider leads due to better combined stage results, having finished three places in front of Meyer on stage one.

BMC Racing’s Patrick Bevin won the sprint from the chasing bunch to finish third and also claim third overall, with Hugh Carthy the highest-placed Briton in 10th.

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas rolled in more than three minutes down on Meyer, with six-time Grand Tour winner Chris Froome finishing nearly 12 minutes back.

Both opted against competing in the Vuelta a Espana to race in Britain and rode stage two in support of Team Sky team-mate Wout Poels, who finished seventh to move into fourth overall.

“I was not very confident because I’ve been caught in the last kilometre on a Tour of Britain stage before,” said nine-time track world champion Meyer.

“I was hoping there would be no deja vu and I’m very happy to hold on and take the victory.

“We worked really well all day in all sorts of conditions and it was a great bike race with a thrilling finish so to throw my hands in the air at the end was pretty cool.”

Meyer and Tonelli helped establish a five-man breakaway with Matthew Teggart (Team Wiggins), Erick Rowsell (Madison Genesis) and Scott Davies (Dimension Data) early on in the 174.9km stage from Cranbrook.

Britain’s Davies attacked out of the group on the steep slopes of Challacombe Hill with 22.7km to go, taking the summit alone to claim the king of the mountains jersey, before he was reeled in and dropped by Meyer and Tonelli.

Carthy and France’s Julian Alaphilippe, who won two stages of this year’s Tour de France, set off from the peloton in pursuit and were joined by several strong riders including Primoz Roglic, Poels and Bob Jungels.

The chasers quickly cut the advantage of the leading pair but could not pull back the last 10 seconds in the final kilometre as the breakaway ultimately succeeded.

Previous race leader Andre Greipel, who won stage one, was dropped on Challacombe Hill to finish more than six minutes down.

Tuesday’s stage three is another hilly course, with a 128km route starting and finishing in Bristol.

Stage two result

Cameron Meyer (Aus/Mitchelton-Scott) 4hrs 14mins 46secs

Alessandro Tonelli (Ita/Bardiani-CSF) +1sec

Patrick Bevin (NZ/BMC Racing) +2secs

Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Quick-Step Floors) Same time

Jasha Sutterlin (Ger/Movistar)

Primoz Roglic (Slo/LottoNL-Jumbo)

Wout Poels (Ned/Team Sky)

Chris Hamilton (Aus/Team Sunweb)

Bob Jungels (Lux/Quick-Step Floors)

Hugh Carthy (GB/EF Education First-Drapac)

General classification after stage two

Alessandro Tonelli (Ita/Bardiani-CSF) 8hrs 15mins 30secs

Cameron Meyer (Aus/Mitchelton-Scott) Same time

Patrick Bevin (NZ/BMC Racing) +8secs

Wout Poels (Ned/Team Sky) +12secs

Jasha Sutterlin (Ger/Movistar) Same time

Chris Hamilton (Aus/Team Sunweb)

Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Quick-Step Floors)

Bob Jungels (Lux/Quick-Step Floors)

Primoz Roglic (Slo/LottoNL-Jumbo)

Hugh Carthy (GB/EF Education First-Drapac) +19secs

BBC Sport – Cycling ultras_FC_Barcelona

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Tour of Britain 2018: Geraint Thomas hoping for

Tour of Britain 2018: Geraint Thomas hoping for

Tour of Britain 2018: Geraint Thomas hoping for

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas is using the Tour of Britain for the ninth time

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas says he’s trying ahead to a “particular eight days of racing” in entrance of house crowds on the Tour of Britain.

Thomas and Crew Sky team-mate Chris Froome opted in opposition to using the Vuelta a Espana to race the Tour of Britain, which begins in Wales on Sunday.

Greater than 8,000 followers lined Cardiff’s streets earlier this month for Thomas’ homecoming parade to mark his Tour win.

“After the help I had, it will be good to race on house roads,” mentioned Thomas.

“The homecoming was insane, I did not know what to anticipate, I used to be fearing it simply being my spouse and the canine,” the Welshman, 32, advised BBC Radio 5 stay’s BeSpoke present.

“Nevertheless it was simply phenomenal – if the help on the Tour of Britain is something like that, it may be a reasonably particular eight days of racing.”

He added the primary stage has explicit significance, beginning in Pembrey Nation Park, Carmarthenshire, close to the place Thomas’ dad is from, and ending in Newport, the location of Wales’ Nationwide Velodrome, which will be renamed in Thomas’ honour.

Nonetheless, Thomas mentioned he expects to be using primarily in a help function after “not probably the most skilled” spell since his Tour victory in July.

“There was a variety of travelling and some nights out as properly so my kind is actually not what it was in France however I nonetheless ought to have respectable sufficient legs to be within the race and hopefully on the entrance doing one thing,” he mentioned.

Alongside Thomas and six-time Grand Tour winner Froome, Crew Sky’s line-up is made up of fellow Briton Ian Stannard, Dutchman Wout Poels, Belarus’ Vasil Kiryienka and Poland’s Lukasz Wisniowski.

Each Thomas and Froome have been included in Great Britain’s longlist for the highway race and time trial on the UCI Street World Championships in Austria from 23-30 September, although Thomas remains to be uncertain if he’ll compete.

“I am leaning in direction of my season ending after the Tour of Britain however I am simply retaining my choices open in the mean time,” he mentioned.

“If I really feel like I’ve bought adequate kind to assist on the worlds then I would go however I do not need to go simply to purely make up the numbers as a result of that will be pointless.”

Groups and riders

The 2018 Tour of Britain options 20 groups of six riders, together with 11 outfits from the highest stage of the game, the UCI World Tour, whereas there are additionally 5 British UCI continental groups and a Nice Britain nationwide squad.

There are not any former winners on this 12 months’s version, however loads of pedigree alongside Froome and Thomas, resembling LottoNL-Jumbo’s Primoz Roglic, who completed fourth on the Tour in July, and Fast-Step Flooring’ Julian Alaphilippe, who gained two levels and the king of the mountains classification on the Tour.

Lots of the climbers might be trying to make use of the Tour of Britain to construct their kind for the World Championship highway race on 30 September, which takes place on a hilly course.

With not less than three and doubtlessly as much as 5 levels set to finish in a bunch dash end, there are a number of star sprinters using, together with 11-time Tour de France stage winner Andre Greipel, Colombia’s Fernando Gaviria, who gained two Tour levels on debut this 12 months, and Australian Caleb Ewan, whereas Britons Dan McLay and Ben Swift may additionally contend.

There are 39 Britons using in whole, with junior world time trial champion Tom Pidcock, 19, main Crew Wiggins, who have been added to the line-up on Tuesday after folding Irish outfit Aqua Blue Sport pulled out.

The general chief wears the inexperienced jersey, with jerseys additionally on provide for the factors classification (most constant finisher), king of the mountains (finest climber) and sprints classification (most factors gained in intermediate sprints).

Stage-by-stage information

Stage one: Sunday, 2 September – Pembrey Nation Park to Newport – 174.8km

Regardless of climbs all through the stage, a lowered bunch dash end ought to resolve the primary chief’s jersey, though a 9% common gradient climb within the remaining 10km may break up the race.

Stage two: Monday, three September – Cranbrook to Barnstaple – 174.9km

A tricky stage with loads of climbs and descents. A flatter ending may see the race come again collectively for a dash, although the quick, sharp climb of Challacombe is shut sufficient to the end that riders may attempt to assault and keep away.

Stage three: Tuesday, four September – Bristol to Bristol – 128km

A brief however tough loop that features an ascent of Cheddar Gorge and finishes atop Clifton Down, which may break up the overall classification contenders.

Stage 4: Wednesday, 5 September – Nuneaton to Leamington Spa – 183.5km

After two robust days, this comparatively simple route ought to finish in a bunch dash, although a robust breakaway group may keep clear.

Stage 5: Thursday, 6 September – group time trial – Cockermouth to Whinlatter Move – 14km

An uphill group time trial that’s more likely to be decisive for the overall classification.

Stage six: Friday, 7 September – Barrow-in-Furness to Whinlatter Move – 168.3km

One other key battle for the general contenders, that includes two ascents of Whinlatter Move from its tougher jap facet, with the end at its summit.

Stage seven: Saturday, Eight September – West Bridgford to Mansfield – 215.6km

The longest stage of the race ought to finish in a bunch dash end, regardless of the exertions of the earlier days.

Stage eight: Sunday, 9 September – London – 77km

The overall classification needs to be determined by now, with the ultimate stage consisting of 14 laps of a central London circuit, ending in a bunch dash end on Regent Avenue.

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Tour of Britain 2018: Geraint Thomas hoping for

Tour of Britain 2018: Geraint Thomas hoping for

Tour of Britain 2018: Geraint Thomas hoping for

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas is riding the Tour of Britain for the ninth time

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas says he is looking forward to a “special eight days of racing” in front of home crowds at the Tour of Britain.

Thomas and Team Sky team-mate Chris Froome opted against riding the Vuelta a Espana to race the Tour of Britain, which starts in Wales on Sunday.

More than 8,000 fans lined Cardiff’s streets earlier this month for Thomas’ homecoming parade to mark his Tour win.

“After the support I had, it’ll be nice to race on home roads,” said Thomas.

“The homecoming was insane, I didn’t know what to expect, I was fearing it just being my wife and the dog,” the Welshman, 32, told BBC Radio 5 live’s BeSpoke show.

“But it was just phenomenal – if the support at the Tour of Britain is anything like that, it’s going to be a pretty special eight days of racing.”

He added the first stage has particular significance, starting in Pembrey Country Park, Carmarthenshire, near where Thomas’ dad is from, and ending in Newport, the site of Wales’ National Velodrome, which will be renamed in Thomas’ honour.

However, Thomas said he expects to be riding mainly in a support role after “not the most professional” spell since his Tour victory in July.

“There has been a lot of travelling and a few nights out as well so my form is certainly not what it was in France but I still should have decent enough legs to be in the race and hopefully at the front doing something,” he said.

Alongside Thomas and six-time Grand Tour winner Froome, Team Sky’s line-up is made up of fellow Briton Ian Stannard, Dutchman Wout Poels, Belarus’ Vasil Kiryienka and Poland’s Lukasz Wisniowski.

Both Thomas and Froome have been included in Great Britain’s longlist for the road race and time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Austria from 23-30 September, though Thomas is still unsure if he will compete.

“I’m leaning towards my season finishing after the Tour of Britain but I’m just keeping my options open at the moment,” he said.

“If I feel like I’ve got good enough form to help at the worlds then I’d go but I don’t want to go just to purely make up the numbers because that would be pointless.”

Teams and riders

The 2018 Tour of Britain features 20 teams of six riders, including 11 outfits from the top level of the sport, the UCI World Tour, while there are also five British UCI continental teams and a Great Britain national squad.

There are no former winners in this year’s edition, but plenty of pedigree alongside Froome and Thomas, such as LottoNL-Jumbo’s Primoz Roglic, who finished fourth at the Tour in July, and Quick-Step Floors’ Julian Alaphilippe, who won two stages and the king of the mountains classification at the Tour.

Many of the climbers will be looking to use the Tour of Britain to build their form for the World Championship road race on 30 September, which takes place on a hilly course.

With at least three and potentially up to five stages set to end in a bunch sprint finish, there are several star sprinters riding, including 11-time Tour de France stage winner Andre Greipel, Colombia’s Fernando Gaviria, who won two Tour stages on debut this year, and Australian Caleb Ewan, while Britons Dan McLay and Ben Swift could also contend.

There are 39 Britons riding in total, with junior world time trial champion Tom Pidcock, 19, leading Team Wiggins, who were added to the line-up on Tuesday after folding Irish outfit Aqua Blue Sport pulled out.

The overall leader wears the green jersey, with jerseys also on offer for the points classification (most consistent finisher), king of the mountains (best climber) and sprints classification (most points won in intermediate sprints).

Stage-by-stage guide

Stage one: Sunday, 2 September – Pembrey Country Park to Newport – 174.8km

Despite climbs throughout the stage, a reduced bunch sprint finish should decide the first leader’s jersey, although a 9% average gradient climb in the final 10km could split the race.

Stage two: Monday, 3 September – Cranbrook to Barnstaple – 174.9km

A tough stage with plenty of climbs and descents. A flatter ending could see the race come back together for a sprint, though the short, sharp climb of Challacombe is close enough to the finish that riders could try to attack and stay away.

Stage three: Tuesday, 4 September – Bristol to Bristol – 128km

A short but difficult loop that includes an ascent of Cheddar Gorge and finishes atop Clifton Down, which could split the general classification contenders.

Stage four: Wednesday, 5 September – Nuneaton to Leamington Spa – 183.5km

After two tough days, this relatively easy route should end in a bunch sprint, though a strong breakaway group could stay clear.

Stage five: Thursday, 6 September – team time trial – Cockermouth to Whinlatter Pass – 14km

An uphill team time trial that is likely to be decisive for the general classification.

Stage six: Friday, 7 September – Barrow-in-Furness to Whinlatter Pass – 168.3km

Another key battle for the overall contenders, featuring two ascents of Whinlatter Pass from its harder eastern side, with the finish at its summit.

Stage seven: Saturday, 8 September – West Bridgford to Mansfield – 215.6km

The longest stage of the race should end in a bunch sprint finish, despite the exertions of the previous days.

Stage eight: Sunday, 9 September – London – 77km

The general classification should be decided by now, with the final stage consisting of 14 laps of a central London circuit, ending in a bunch sprint finish on Regent Street.

BBC Sport – Cycling ultras_FC_Barcelona

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