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Tweets of the Week 2020: CX muddy magic, trophies for tots, farewell Kiri

February 4, 2020, 4:30 am
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It’s been a hectic week of racing and the Twitterstream has been teeming with tweets to move and amuse us. It also had some news that made us breathe a heavy sigh, the subjects of which we will address in our podcasts throughout the season. However, Tweets of the Week is about joy and laughter and little kids meeting their heroes and stories that make us love cycling, no matter what disappointments come down the road. Enjoy!

Giving absolutely everything

The women’s cross championships had an amazing finish with Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado taking her chance to take the top spot on the Dutch 1-2-3.

Meanwhile, in the men’s CX

Mathieu van der Poel went hell for leather from the get-go … and the field never saw him again until he collected his rainbow jersey.

But new kid on the podium (at least the men’s elite podium) was Tom Pidcock, who took a surprise second.

In the Junior race, it was Thibau Nys who took the rainbow jersey. Wonderfully overcome with emotion.

And when Thibau was a tiny tot

Hand me the razor, ma, I’m meetin’ the QuickStep boys

Everybody’s got a hairy heart, lay down your money and you play your part … everybody’s got a hair-hair-hairy heart …

#FreeLanda

Perfection

And I think this is utter perfection as well. You might have seen this in our Final KMs last week, but it’s too good not to include here. What a wonderful gesture. Matteo Moschetti – I’m a fan for life now.

Farewell

It’s a real shame that Vasil Kiryienka couldn’t retire on his own terms but I’m glad to see that he took the medical advice seriously. We hope he has a long and fulfilling retirement.

Possibly the only four photographs ever taken of Kiri looking thrilled.

While FDJ have their own way of showing their appreciation for the Robocop Prince (hmmm, not sure if that nickname is going to stick …)

The Gruppetto

 

So who is going to ride the Tour of Oman this year, I wonder?

Food for thought …

 

Snake-hipped …

When your boyhood dreams come true!

Winning for a reason

You gotta be in it to win it, Fernando …

Gavs seems to be dreaming a lot at the start of the season. I hope this one comes true.

Meanwhile, MvdP makes plans …

I still find it hard to recognise Peter Sagan without the rainbow stripes

This really made me laugh.

The last word

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Tweets of the Week 2020: All the wins, great gifs, and Sunweb games

February 11, 2020, 4:30 am
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We had lots of racing last week, which meant lots of winners! We also continue to build our planned VeloVoices TV detective series with a new location (Kaden Groves); games with Sunweb, Ag2r giving good gif and much much more. Yes, it’s Tweets of the WEEEEEEEEK

All the wins

I think this is the most we’ve seen of Sunweb in over a year! My question, however, is Jai pronounced like ‘high’ as in jai alai or ‘Jay’ as in … blue. In any case, Kaden Groves is certainly the name of the park near Ruben Plaza where Tosh van der Sande, Private Investigator, has his office.

Hopefully the pronunciation police will set us straight

How many races do we think Tadej Pogacar is going to win this season? And how many grand tour podiums?

It was a super steep finish for the queen stage at Valenciana, with the final few kilometres tipping past 20 per cent in places. (We’re happy to report that Stijn Steels did finish …) Hey, Stijn Steels could be the car hire firm in our detective series!

Still not so sure about Bahrain’s kit. Looks like they’re trying to give Movistar a run for their money in the team classification this year.

Nacer Bouhanni makes us all sit up and wonder …

Now *this* is something we are really happy to see

Good manners, as displayed by Fabio Jakobsen 

Apparently Fabio’s win was all about the Valencia-squats

‘I was in the perfect position – except for the closeness …’

Emptying the tank

The Gruppetto

#OnTheSofa from Sunweb – as long as that excruciating Sky v GreenEdge pick-up-sticks nonsense from a few years ago never gets resurrected.

Caps not hats

Oh this is really bad news. It had looked like Matteo Moschetti was off to a great start of the season with 2 victories in Challenge Mallorca. But seems he’s fractured his pelvis and a dislocated right femur. If that doesn’t make you curl up in pain just thinking about it … He’s gone in for surgery and the doctor said: ‘Any assessment of recovery time will be made only after the operation. What is certain, unfortunately, is that it will not be short’ 

Hand on heart, I thought this was Pippo Pozzato when I first saw it but then I thought, ‘can’t be – he has too many clothes on’

Hands down, the BEST cycling team gif EVER

I would love for Michal Kwiatkowski to get his racing mojo back and do something interesting this season. He used to be such so exciting to watch …

GVA looks downright cheerful – not often an expression we see on him. I am looking forward to seeing what he is going to do in the Classics this spring.

Dreams of Milan-SanRemo. Hopefully PhilGil‘s dreams come true this year.

Oh happy day

While Peter Sagan makes young fans’ dreams come true at every race.

Gianni Savio might have been auditioning for the Talking Heads revival tour

Chapeau Ella!

And what that looks like in real life

The last word

 

 

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Tweets of the Week 2020 : The Mullet of Speed, Quintana conquers, #RideForStig

February 18, 2020, 4:30 am
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The racing was in Colombia and Provence (among other places) and there was some drama! Bouhanni wins! Quintana wins! Other people don’t! We also have NZ BatChamps, an update on Andre Greipel‘s surgery, and the amazing story of Stig Broeckx. Plus lots of gruppetto gifs! Go go go!

The POWER mullet!

BatChamps! Like Samson, the mullet gives him POWER! Big congrats to Shane Archbold, who scuppered George Bennett‘s 45km breakaway to his first New Zealand national champion’s jersey.

And this is how much it means

Impressive stat, this …

Is he back?

Freed from the three-pronged attacks of Movistar, Nairo Quintana seems to come out of the blocks pretty snappily.

We always knew Quintana could make attacks like this but, in the past few years, he’s always been half-hearted at best. Looks like the Arkea jersey has given him the confidence boost he’s needed to make the attack stick.

Bold predictions considering it’s a win in February but he’s certainly someone to keep our eyes on this season.

A more measured response. (BTW it’s spelled truncated)

Previously, on an earlier stage

Now THAT’s a jersey

 

Get well soon

Cycling is a dangerous sport, as we all know. Andre Greipel is out for months after a bad crash, but luckily his surgery went well and he’s on the mend.

Here is Greipel’s teammate Rory Sutherland on his first ride back from serious injury.

Two years ago, Stig Broeckx was catastrophically injured when two motos crashed into the peloton in the Tour of Belgium. After doctors literally brought him back from the dead, he was in a coma, and his family was told that he would never recover as he was in a vegetative state. They refused to believe that and fought to have him transferred to a ground-breaking coma treatment centre in Liege. And now … he’s able to send us this film. Read the entire Guardian article here to find out more about the Belgian neurologist whose work has helped Stig as well as many other patients. 

The gruppetto

Don’t look back, Andy.

The ‘dis gif game sets the bar high …

… but the hips don’t lie

I second this. Love the last one!

In case you were wondering what happened to Big Tam – this does not sound fun. (Is that another way of saying tapeworms?)

Shiny happy people … >syncopated claps< (Get a load of that crowd!)

Everybody – sing along! ‘Throw your love around!’

Throwin’ the Oakleys

Julian Alaphilippe giving it everything he’s got – although I think the slow-motion, underwater sound for most of this video is overegging it a bit.

‘Pardonne-moi … while I barf over this barrier’

I guess this is one way for Movistar to always be on the top step

Jungels! BOB JUNGELS! has taken quite a shine to Colombia – these South American races are starting to attract a lot of attention and rightly so.

Karl Reijnen gives a surprising answer to the question ‘what’s your favourite food before a race’.

Some cobbley maintenance for April … Can.Not.Wait #Roubaix!

Truly gorgeous

The last word

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Tweets of the Week 2020: Racing marbles! Remco on a run! Sandstorms!

February 25, 2020, 4:30 am
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We had a bunch of races – one won by the bright future of cycling (according to some); one won by a resurgent grand tour winner and one won by a triumphant marble! It’s all here in TWEETS OF THE WEEK!

Remco takes the Algarve

QuickStep have started as they mean to finish this year. Another big win for them in the overall, plus another sprint win for Fabio Jakobsen.

It was the Remco Evenepoel show – and the crowds were loving it

Deja vu – we had shiny happy people last week too!

One wonders what his best shape must look like! Watch out!

Always love seeing riders with their families

French race

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Kenny Elissonde – Midge is beside herself with joy

But it’s Nairo Quintana that took the stage win

Sand and sun

It was another desert race – this time UAE. Really loving the fluoro training kit for Trek

#HotHot

Annnnnnnd guess who’s back

Will there be Strade Bianche or Milan San Remo next month? Or even a Giro in May??

The race of the week – possibly the year!

This is the handiwork of @Jellesmarbles

The Gruppetto

Oh dearie dearie me … this is no way to show off a national champion

QuickStep used to be SO good at #batchamps jerseys. Who had the head staggers when they designed Sam Bennett and the Flying Mullet‘s jerseys? So disappointing

And speaking of jerseys, for those who don’t like safety pins.

Great to see Mathias Norsgaard is back on his bike after a bad crash.

File under: Could cycling get any stranger?

Our generation has sumo wrestling …

A win is a win

And this is a huge win for Chris and his dad

Which future racer is going to get an autograph from their role model this season?

Always love to see an unsung hero win a stage

This is just wonderful

The last word

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Tweets of the Week 2020 : Cobbley goodness, bad behaviour and quarantine stories

March 3, 2020, 4:30 am
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It was the start of the Spring Classics and we were afroth with excitement. We had a cat-and-mouse ending for Omloop and a break that made it in KBK. The UAE race got cancelled to go into quarantine (and we still don’t know what’s happening there!). More bad behaviour from Moscon and Oleg is under house arrest (yes, seriously). It’s all here – ALL HERE – on Tweets of the WEEEEEEEK

Spring Classics have sprung!

It’s when you see Barbie without gloves that you know all is right in the world!

A new chapter for the VeloVoices Investigates series of mysteries

Echelons! Echelons! Echelons! They make our hearts sing!

I love the cobbles SO MUCH

I hope he keeps this up this season – it could get exciting!

Tim Declercq was definitely my rider of the race for Omloop – although I absolutely loved the fact that Jasper Stuyven won.

… yet we saw hide nor hair of them.

I love the optimism in this tweet

When you can’t be there in person …

When you have an Omloop, you have a KBK – and it was an exciting finish with Kasper Asgreen holding off a chasing peloton to take a fabulous win.

Holding on … holding on … holding on …

And how was it for you? Kasper doesn’t mince his words!

In other races

Remi’s quick wits wins the race

You don’t often see Simon Clarke, Warren Barguil and Vincenzo Nibali on the same podium.

When in lockdown …

We might very well see a fair amount of this …

So many conflicting reports

This doesn’t bode well

Moscon keepin’ it classy

I just can’t even …

I’ll just leave this here

The Gruppetto

Thomas De Gendt would say this with a completely straight face

How much do I wish these were dubbed into English and shown over here?

Andre on the mend

as is Matteo Moschetti 

 

Let me help you with that, Niki

A little spritz for Adam Hansen 

We will probably hear this a lot this year

If revenge is a dish best served cold, then you’d have to chip the ice off this …

This is MAGNIFICENT!

To name or not to name …

Carrots are BACK

You don’t see crowds like this on the roadside of the desert races …

Seriously? Complaints?

The last word

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Tweets of the Week 2020 : Ronde van Vlockdown, gambolling goats and quarantine gruppetto

April 7, 2020, 9:48 am
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It’s been awhile – apologies! To reward your patience, I’ve scoured the timelines from the past couple weeks and fashioned a self-isolating version of TWEETS OF THE WEEK! And we have BABY GOATS! Dive in and forget your troubles for a little bit …

The Ronde van Vlockdown

So this is a thing now. I must admit, I did not watch it but I do love the spirit of it all.

And he won!

Self-interview with the winner

Oliver Naesen took second from his underground nuclear bunker.

While Nico Roche took third, then went out to get an ice cream. Staying well away from others.

They lined up in their garages, their spare rooms …

In fact, virtual racing is the new golf!

of course we can’t forget the Tour de Quarantine!

And a word from a legend

Some Ronde road reminiscences

This one broke my heart … oh Fabs …

Here’s Fabs as a tweenie

 

Lockdown journals

It’s all about the sourdough …

[As far as we know, Olga is not Rasmus’s girlfriend … but the tweet fit so nicely]

Thomas De Gendt‘s lockdown journal is about pancakes. Well, some of it is.

As schools have been closed down, Andrea had time to do a little 60 second Q&A for QuickStep.

Davide Martinelli is doing a wonderful thing.

Now *this* is how you get motivated! We should all have Marc Madiot screaming at us to Allez!

After watching the Movistar documentary on Netflix this week (listen to our podcast review – we LOVED it!), this does not surprise us!

And speaking of that documentary …

When you’re desperate for cycling, *anything* looks like a stage profile.

Goats! Baby Goats! And Thibaut! Tender-hearted Thibaut!

We love Thibaut Pinot and Thibaut loves the little baby goats on his farm, therefore we love little baby goats everywhere.

You can’t give a baby goat booze!

Kim Goat in a paddle pool!

Goats have, in fact, taking over the lockdown world – make sure you have a look at this entire thread …

The Quarantined Gruppetto

Panache‘s mom, Victoria, drily remarked on the Instagram version of this post that ‘you gave me the fabric to do it’. (BTW, the whole of Panache’s family – parents, siblings, kids, everyone – are truly some of the finest people you could ever hope to meet.) Chris, we miss you at VeloVoices Towers.

Looks about right – I like the fact that it’s swearing. Must be taking its cue from Andrey Amador in that Movistar doc.

Jumbo, I told you that announcing your team in December was just jinxing the whole thing – now look what you’ve done!

The safest way to have a bike race!

LOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEE

Definitely worth an afternoon or two of reading …

Our lovely Luke’s superpower is an inclusive power

The thrill of finding a cycling question on a game show. The thrill is real, people.

Cav speaking up about his depression will hopefully help others struggling with depression to talk about it. Chapeau, Mark.

The last word

 

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Tweets of the Week 2020 : GT dreaming, Quarantine hair and more goats!

May 5, 2020, 4:30 am
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We have tiny riders, virtual riders, contractual riders specifying *no brown M&Ms*! Okay, one of those is a lie … We’re checking in on the pastoral idyll that is Thibaut Pinot‘s farm (baby goats and not so baby goats!), take a trip in Mr Peabody’s Wayback Machine (including the hot pink of T-Mobile), quarantine stories and some cycling calendar speculation (because that’s all it can be at the moment). Yes, it’s TWEETS OF THE WEEK (well, Tweets of the Fortnight to get technical, but it’s not nearly as catchy) … Enjoy!

Little riders big dreams

Caspar Cavendish. Jot down that name and be ready to see that kid on the Champs in about 20-some years.

Some guys never outgrow their first bike. 🙂

La vie à la ferme

This is becoming a fixture now – and why not? The goats are cute, the humans are good-looking … The joy of Thibaut Pinot‘s farm life.

Have you ever seen anyone as happy to be in lockdown as Thibaut Pinot?

Just have to include this …

No goats here, but there are some cute dogs, courtesy of Trek.

Which is which?

Quarantine tips

A lovely message from Fernando Gaviria, who is recovering well from Covid-19.

The soft thud that you heard was our Midge swooning and falling onto her Victorian fainting couch.

The contrast between this tweet and the next one is striking.

Emils is virtual racing with his family cheering him on – he even has someone to hand him a gel!

While Alaphilippe rides with only the company of a giant blue and white barrel. Fine bit of product placement – as is the nonchalant sunnies as headband and the really really nice floors. If you’ve been following our LouLou coverage, you will know the man has hardly any furniture in his flat – but he does have a giant bunny costume and plenty of room to dance …

Let’s talk about dates

The speculation continues. Will there be a season? If so, how many big giant humungous races can you pull out of order (check the Ardennes schedule) and awkwardly overlap?

Let’s face it – Barry the St Bernard is no Lupo Wolfie.

A little Lupo testing out his voice …

In the wayback machine

Did the guy behind Andy Schleck know something well before we did? That face masks were going to be all the rage in 2020?

My eyes! My eyes!

Two guys and a pineapple.

The Gruppetto

#FreedOss

When Peter was a pup

If I were the bolt and got that laser-like stare, I would be frightened

The last word

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Tweets of the Week 2020 : Italian flavour, Froome rumours, freedom rides

May 19, 2020, 4:30 am
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Here we are again, my friends. If we were in a non-lockdown world, we would be enjoying the Giro d’Italia right now. However, May might be Giro-less but Tweets of the Week is full of Italian flavour. We also have anonymous Froome family members taking Ineos to task, freedom rides and retired sweatpants

Think pink

Pizza night at His Nibs house

I can only imagine what Nibs would think of LouLou’s spaghetti pizza.

The tall tales of Super Mario

Possibly the best Giro stage in the history of the race.

I’m astounded by this piece of Giro history.

Freedom wheels

Anyone who’s been on a bike knows that cycling brings a delicious feeling of freedom. When you’re on the road after 50 days of lockdown? Independence Day

Well done to Mads and Trek bikes for making Franky’s day!

Alessandro De Marchi is in his own private breakaway

Even rainy days are great days

More tractor fun with Yves

Is that you, Kellan?

Egan Bernal, when asked about being on a TdF team with 14 leaders*, said that he’s returning champion and if he was at 100% and the Tour goes ahead this year, he’s going to defend it with everything he’s got. Wisely, he realises that the cycling fans might be saying he has 10* Tour championships in him, but you can only win them one at a time. [*slight exaggeration]

That reasoning did not seem to sit well with Chris Froome and Ineos didn’t clarify his leadership role, said ‘an anonymous family member’, and that is why Froome was shopping around for a mid-season transfer. [Four year olds can pick up the phone and dial Cycling Weekly, can’t they?]

You have to wonder what teams actually have the €5m that Froome would ask for – in the frame (as of writing) are Movistar, Bahrain-McLaren, a mysterious new British team for 2021 (no help to him for this year) and Israeli Start-up Nation. That’s also assuming Ineos is letting him out of his contract.

It would be just Landa‘s luck if Bahrain took Froome on.

Israel Start-Up Nation was pranked at the start of all these rumours and denied them vigorously, except now it seems they are interested.

JJ Rojas would welcome Froome into the Movistar team with open arms. I’d be more interested in what Marc Soler and Alejandro Valverde have to say about it.

Movistar slapping down the JJ Rojas tweet – ‘ain’t gonna happen’ was the essence of their statement.

Simple answer: no

The Gruppetto

The obligatory instagram of Thibaut Pinot loving life on the farm

Looking back with LouLou

I think sweatpants are best left unframed … and carefully disposed of …

This is true. If you want regular people to ride bikes, show regular people riding bikes. Make it look achievable.

The last word 

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Tweets of the Week 2020 : Pouty Wouty is the bomb!

August 4, 2020, 4:30 am
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We’re back racing (for how long is anyone’s guess) and Saturday was the beautiful Strade Bianche, which in its elegance can rip the guts out of the riders. It was #hothot, dustier than a dusty thing from Dusty Town and, as always, had those thrilling moments that brought us to the edge of our sofas, as we shouted Wout! Wout! And, just like that, after four months in lockdown, Tweets of the Week is BACK!

 Wout! Wout!

Strade Bianche was a race that, over the past few years, has broken Wout Van Aert‘s heart. Cramping on the final climb while battling Bedhead Bardet in his first podium in 2018, then watching Alaphilippe riding away in 2019.

 

He must have taken notes from 2019 because once the lead group was winnowed to about six men, WVA kept an eye out for that moment when he could break away. And this was it …

 

It’s been a long break – I couldn’t have been happier to see NYVelocity during yesterday’s race.

I think that MVdP might now realise that winning every race he starts on the road is not going to be a given. An ill-timed puncture put paid to any podium hopes for the wunderkind.

After two podiums (and two heartbreaks), Wout Van Aert judged his getaway and rode solo to the win

 

There were some highly sensual films and photos of Wout with his water bottle. Never before had I realised the resemblance to a young Mick Jagger (and I don’t mean Rigoberto Uran). He’s definitely a rock star now.

And a tear or two during his national anthem

When a rider wins a race, everyone on the team shares in it.

This is what TDG was talking about … but I can’t see past that GREAT hair!

 

It was a hard man’s race

Alaphilippe – defending champion of the race – had, as Fabs would say, ‘a shit day of #unluck’ – six punctures and a tumble or two. But he finished.

Greg Van Avermaet had hoped to finally win Strade this year. But at a critical point in the race, he needed to ride hard to get himself back up to the lead group. He went so deep, he vomited (don’t worry, that’s not a link to a picture)- but he still came in 10th.

PhilGil #hothot after the race. But his big race is on Saturday – MilanSanRemo to complete his set of five monuments.

Possibly one of the craziest tweets of the day but oh how I love it!

The cheek

There were other races

Route d’Occitane started on the weekend

Looks like Egan Bernal is using the Route d’Occitanie to try to show that the ‘trio of leaders’ Tour plan is a load of malarkey.

Vuelta a Burgos showed that QuickStepper Remco Evenepoel didn’t let the break in racing affect his winning ways.

The Gruppetto

Just gotta give a shoutout to our masked friend, Lukas

Hurrah!

I have to agree with Panache – this is a lovely kit.

Revolution …

The last word

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Tweets of the Week 2020 : Wout again?! Tour gauntlet thrown! Remco rides again!

August 11, 2020, 4:30 am
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It was another Wout Weekend in Italy, a Roglic wrecking ball in France and a Remco romp through Poland. We also have the best way to announce a transfer, Dauphine line-ups, Tour speculation (of course) and much much more.

Wout! He’s done it again!

It was on a knife’s edge

And it was appreciated!

Always good to see mutual respect after such a close finish.

In answer to @writeonhk‘s tweet, what her husband clearly does not recognise is that Wout’s hair has been cut precisely to accommodate helmet head and still look amazing. A quick shake of the head and it’s perfect …

But coming in second can really hurt.

Is this the start of a Cancellara-esque record of podiums in the Monuments LouLou rides?

If Daniel Oss had made it … He took another flyer off the front and it was that time within MSR that all of Twitter were willing him to win. What would be the victory salute?

Philippe Gilbert was looking for his final Monument, but it was not to be. This was not taken well by @badgerbaroudeur 

Roglic has Bernal’s number

Who would have thought that the Tour de l’Ain would be the race that brought @festinagirl out at her eloquent best!

Wonder why Richie refers to them as Killer Wasps. All VeloVoices followers know they’re Jumbo Bees!

Primoz Roglic had been in control all race and then he finished it off with a cold, cold attack.

Ineos didn’t look like Sky at all. Will they shape up before the Tour? Who knows! But from the restart of the season so far, it looks like Jumbo is the team to beat.

Good thing Roglic was in the yellow jersey because the ‘national jersey’ designed for him by Jumbo was not received well in the Twitterstream.

Give that man a design job! Lovin’ this …

Remco on fire

No stopping Remco.

Of course, the Tour of Poland was marred by the horrific injuries to Fabio Jakobsen, so it was an emotional win for Evenepoel.

Tour speculation hots up

I’d pick Amador if I were them …

The Gruppetto

How will Bedhead Bardet change Sunweb? Here’s an idea …

None of us can unsee it now!

I need some of those for slaving over a hot laptop!

Dauphine starts on Wednesday. Should be a rip-roarer!

All the things we missed …

Love this!

Baby news for PhilGil

The last word

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Tweets of the Week 2020 : Birdsong in flight, All in for Pinot, Baby Daisy Kuss

August 18, 2020, 4:30 am
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It was a packed packed schedule over the weekend and we have all the goings-on from the Dauphine – Pinot plus Musketeers, and Baby Daisy Sepp Kuss, a second Monument for one of Midge’s favourite Danes, hailstorms and the Summer of George. Let’s get to it!

Allez Pinot!

The final stage of the Dauphine and Primoz Roglic didn’t start (a precaution due to a heavy crash the day before), leaving the top of the GC there for the taking. With Thibaut Pinot sitting in the catbird seat, what could go wrong? Daniel Martinez had a plan of his own … on a hard fought stage, the EF rider went clear of the Pinot group … and kept going. With Pinot suffering, the rest of the French riders came together to help him out.

That might explain the stage, but one thing is for sure, the Tour is going to be very interesting

Baby Daisy takes the day

While the drama in the GC was going on behind him, Jumbo’s super-duper domestique Sepp Kuss was free to go for the stage win on the final day of the Dauphine. He looked fresh as a baby daisy and it was a very popular win!

Birdsong flies to his second Monument

Although overshadowed by the horrific crash of Remco Evenepoel, Jakob Fuglsang‘s masterful ride to the win his second Monument at Lombardia was a sight to see.

George Bennett – a straight talker if there ever was one – was gracious in defeat.

Race conditions

The restart of the season has been marred by crashes – some, as we know, incredibly serious, others enough to change the outcome of races. But most of them seemed to have been avoidable, which makes them even worse.

It looks like Max Schachmann hasn’t broken any bones and still hopes to start the Tour as does his teammate Emanuel Buchmann, Primoz Roglic and Thibaut Pinot are hoping some rest will heal their crash injuries, and Stephen Kruijswijk is out with a dislocated shoulder so is a question mark for the Tour. All but Schachmann were injured on a dangerous road conditions on a descent in stage 4 of the Dauphine.

Remco Evenepoel’s season started with such promise, but ended as he went over a bridge during Lombardia. He fractured his pelvis and so is out for the rest of this season, but thank heavens that it wasn’t any worse.

Fabio Jakobsen‘s condition is still incredibly serious but he is out of the medically induced coma and will soon be at a hospital closer to his home.

Jakobsen is able to move his arms and legs and communicate with doctors and fortunately major neurological problems have been ruled out, but due to undergoing extensive facial surgery Jakobsen is unable to speak or eat.

Apocalyptic goings-on

If road conditions weren’t bad enough at the Dauphine, the heavens opened up and pelted the riders with mighty hailstones, just as the gruppetto was making its way up the mountain to the finish …

The Gruppetto

Just a few tweets I couldn’t leave out!

The last word

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Tweets of the Week 2020 : In and out of the Tour and #BatChamps action

August 25, 2020, 4:30 am
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The Tour de France starts on Saturday, which means the teams are getting their final startlists worked out. Plus, there were a ton of #BatChamp races over the weekend and a flurry of transfer news. That and much more in your pre-Tour TWEETS OF THE WEEK

Those in the Tour (so far)

Trek has been upping its startlist announcement game! And look, Midge! We found Kenny!

QuickStep have the A to Z of my favourite riders going to the Tour.

Last Tour with Bedhead Bardet in the brown bibs.

I’ve actually been forgetting that Mitchelson Scott were still a team.

Will Elia Viviani be in the yellow jersey after Stage 1?

If the ‘dis do get into yellow, all at VeloVoices Towers are bracing ourselves for JournalVelo to do a Madiot

Actually love this little film.

And those out of the Tour

This is pure class.

#BatChamps

First up, the right way to do a national jersey. Not any of that half-hearted malarkey that has been sweeping the peloton in the past few years.

Embed from Getty Images

FDJ really cleaned up over the weekend – and they have the best national champions jerseys around.

 

All Swap!

Lots of surprise transfer announcements over the weekend.

The Gruppetto

I guess specs are the Zoom equivalent of crazy skinsuits for Marco.

We live with this at VeloVoices Towers every day …

Now THIS is how you get your #TourSnacks organised

Marvellous

LOVE

Fantastic news

The last word

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Tour Tweets of the Week 2020 : Mod no more, masque d’or, Muppets amour

September 1, 2020, 4:30 am
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The first few days of the 2020 Tour de France and we already have some choice tweets. Mainly to do with Bradley Wiggins from Mod to Trucker. Brace yourself. We also have some new jerseys (well, they were new a few days ago), LouLou in yellow, flying mullets and the Muppets. So much to dig into!

When a Mod has an existential crisis

There’s a surprise every day at the Tour de France (some good, some bad), but perhaps the most surprising thing to happen on Eurosport was a trucker in a bricked-up studio explaining what we’re seeing on the TV. Oh, wait! That’s not a trucker – that’s Bradley Wiggins. What wasn’t a surprise was the fact that Tweeters rose to the challenge …

I think this might be my favourite, but there are so many good ones.

Masque d’Or

Back where he belongs – in yellow.

Meanwhile, there was another superstar in yellow – well, Jumbo yellow. Wout Van Aert didn’t collect the maillot jaune as many predicted, but he does have some serious game with bidon collection.

George Bennett also had a strong bidon game.

Bling goes back!

Breaking news on Sunday was that Michael Matthews left his Sunweb contract with a year to go.

Which brought on a discussion of other riders who left Sunweb early. Warren Barguil even got into the conversation.

What did YOU do in lockdown?

After Alexander Kristoff’s impressive win on a filthy day in Nice, pictures were uncovered that showed how he spent his time in lockdown. No wonder he powered through that spring.

Jerome Cousin – he of the solo flying mullet on stage 3 – kept himself busy during lockdown with a spot of gardening.

New jerseys!

Love the Bora jerseys!

Loved Aqua Blue‘s original jersey better, but the Ineos Aqua Blue jerseys are a step in the right direction.

And totally love the European Champs jersey, as worn by Giacomo Nizzolo.

A slightly disturbing fact about the Latvian champs jersey.

Muppets

Unfortunately, I couldn’t flip these tweets, so if you haven’t seen these yet, play the Mitchelton Scott one FIRST, then check out GVA‘s response.

The last word

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Tour Tweets of the Week 2020 : Jumbo’s Hive Mind (and elf nose); Kombucha jersey; the art of France

September 8, 2020, 4:30 am
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Our second Tour Tweets of the Week of the season and we have a Jumbo column in store for you.

The Hive Mind

Jumbo-Visma were the team that all other teams had to reckon with. Even the guys in the team had to reckon with … the team.

Some call him Wout Van Aert, some call him the Apex Predator (@KissMyPanache). We call him Priceless.

There’d be a lot of suitcases to talk into if he did pull off the green jersey win … on the Champs.

Meanwhile, the leader of the team (that would be Primoz Roglic) apparently has a cute elf nose. Can’t say I noticed it before but now it’s all I see.

Tweet placed here so you can decide on the elf nose for yourself.

When the elf was a pup.

France is a work of art

This next segment is perhaps the most cultured segment ever in the history of Tweets of the Week.

Welcome to the Kombucha Jersey

While we wait for the Kombucha Jersey to make its appearance at a grand tour, let’s have a look at the green of Sagan’s Tour.

Nothing like a little Bora cooking course!

The Gruppetto

Kinda cute sponsorship ad.

Riding all night with Lachlan 

Interesting advert for the Giro d’Italia 

If you saw Alaphilippe trying to mix it up with the high-speed bunch sprint on stage 7, you’ll recognise this picture.

I’ll just leave this here.

The things you see in hotel rooms!

Nothing made me happier this week than to see Marcel Kittel and the Mighty Degs both looking so happy.

And a final Moment of Zen for you

The last word

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Tour Tweets of the Week : A Sunweb of love, Wout and not Wout, Umlauts a go-go

September 15, 2020, 4:30 am
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It’s a cornucopia of views, jokes, opinions and photos of the Tour de France as seen on Twitter. We have songs! We have punctuation jokes! We have Thomas De Gendt‘s legs for sale! Read all about it!

Bernal’s burden

I found it rather difficult to watch Egan Bernal struggle, particularly on Sunday when he lost over 7min, because I think he’s been hyped up to be this incredible rider and yet he hasn’t matured yet to carry the Tour de France leadership. Especially for a team who has won it pretty much for the last 150 years it seems. Quite a burden to shoulder.

I suspect Wesley meant ‘morale’

Musical interlude

A song for you, courtesy of Midge and Euan.

Guys in cars shouting stuff

A new Netflix original?

When you’re Wout

He’s stronger than you. And has better hair.

Sometimes body language can do the talking if a conversation can’t be had.

During Sunday’s stage, WVA took to the front and the winnowing began in earnest.

Then once he peeled off to let the rest of the Jumbo Bees do a turn, he found his way back to … Bernal and Kwiatkowski. And followed them to the finish line.

And when you’re not

It hasn’t been smooth sailing for a lot of riders this Tour.

What’s been missing this Tour is the sight of Thomas De Gendt in the break, every single day! I don’t remember in the break at all this Tour (although I could be wrong). As usual, he gives good tweet about it.

It isn’t easy being green

 

Sunweb’s days in the … sun

The Gruppetto

Mick Jagger is third … it’s like we’re in a time machine that works for some people and not others.

 

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Full tilt.

A post shared by Chris Auld (@cauldphoto) on

Dance off the mountain. Like that much better.

The gruppetto – literally. But my, someone’s been on a philosophy course from the way these tweets were written.

We even have punctuation jokes! YEAH!

The last word

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Tour Tweets of the Week : The Shock and The Champs

September 22, 2020, 8:57 am
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Our final Tour Tweets of the Week for 2020 and we look back on a weekend that had thrills and chills, shocks and Champs.

Someone had their Wheetabix

But that someone wasn’t Primoz Roglic, who was one stage away from winning the Tour de France. Tadej Pogacar had other ideas. It was high drama from the last two riders to ride down the ramp and onto the TT course. (Make sure you read the full account of the day in Midge’s magnificent review of Stage 20) 

What it looks like when you see victory getting off your team bus and walking over to another …

The response

What happened after Roglic crossed the line

Roglic looked shocked and didn’t seem to hear what teammates Tom Dumoulin and Wout Van Aert were saying to try to comfort him.

So what do you do when you’ve just lost the biggest race in your life? You do this.

An act of pure grace.

Time trials … they can cover you in glory or they can bite you on your skin-suited ass.

It was one for the record books … all kinds of records.

A wonderful moment on the way to Paris.

A lovely thought – not sure about the execution on this, though.

Meanwhile, back at third

Richie Porte had always had the worst luck in the Tour. This year, his wife was due to give birth to their second child during the Tour. Her words to him were akin to: ‘Go, but make sure you make the most of it.’ And he did just that. He battled to get near the podium, then finished the work in the time trial, taking Miguel Angel Lopez‘s place on the third step of the podium.

Now *that* is some field art!

A great interview the day after the night in Paris.

The final podium

I love Paris … every moment

It felt strange to watch the riders coming through a deserted Paris but it looked stunning in the autumn sunshine.

When the riders hit the Champs

GVA getting his ya-yas out on the Champs.

Sam Bennett’s dreams were to come true on the cobbles of the Champs

The Gruppetto

Our @JournalVelo is indeed an emoji artist

The goats seem very happy to see Thibaut 

Looks like we have a budding bromance after Michal Kwiatkowski and Richard Carapaz’s stage 18 ride.

‘You want a piece of me? Well, do ya?’

Has anyone checked on Tim lately?

Coming up … we hope!

There’s a lot more racing to come – we hope. Races that overlap all over the place. We’ll be busy at VeloVoices Towers for the next month or so!

The last word

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Giro Tweets of the Week : Peloton meltdown, crazy Liege, and waterfowl a go-go

October 6, 2020, 4:30 am
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It feels as though the weird is accelerating week by week – but we capture it all here. We have Etna blowing the Giro apart, Alaphilippe’s crazy Liege, Roglic’s quiet drink, and there are ducks *everywhere*. Go on – take a cheeky break from your home office prison and break free with TWEETS OF THE WEEK

Etna takes its toll

Stage 3 of the Giro just … well … it was …

Bora is the new Movistar

G hits the deck; Giro goes out the window

Meanwhile, Simon PHILIP Yates had his Mitchelton Scott team on the front, driving the pace on the way to Etna. And then they all vanished. And Yates vanished with them. The race is wide open now.

Ducks on the march

With the way the EF Ducks are riding, this seems more and more possible.

Some sharp words for Vaughters about the kit. (Which I think was uncalled for). Then JV made his point but forgot about Ryder …

Cav‘s son loved the new kit

They also got the thumbs up from Michele Acquarone.

The stuff of nightmares

The reincarnation of Bez

 

Liege

When you realise that your victory celebration will be used against you for the rest of your career.

Oh LouLou

The mighty Jered Gruber was at Liege and caught (possibly) the moment that Alaphilippe realised he was relegated.

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Alaphilippe crossed the line all uproarious joy and celebration – and after realizing it might be possible to shoot him from a distance after the finish (remember: COVID), I followed. A chance to shoot the World Champion after winning his first LBL? In 2020? Cool! ⁣ ⁣ When I got there, he didn’t look all that happy though. Maybe he had already celebrated. Maybe this winning thing was just getting normal. Maybe his stomach hurt. ⁣ ⁣ Or maybe he hadn’t won at all. That didn’t cross my mind for another 15 minutes. ⁣ ⁣ I don’t know if it was announced over the unbelievably loud speakers blaring directly in my ears, but I had zero idea that Roglic was the winner until I was taking pictures of him giving his winner interview. ⁣ ⁣ I didn’t know that Alaphilippe had been relegated until he didn’t show up on the podium. ⁣ ⁣ It’s wild how little it’s possible to know when you’re right there in the middle of it.

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The gruppetto

Possibly the one time we’ve seen Wout Van Aert in pain this season – and he’s funny too! Be still my beating heart!

Another LouLou

Adam Hansen is going back to triathlons. Alex Dowsett investigates …

Possibly the most disturbing podium background ever. PhilGil looming over the winners.

Muur the merciless

Apparently the race had a lull … leave it to DQS social media manager to give us some food for thought.

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Giro Tweets of the Week : Farewell Cav?, Soaked Sagan, What’s with Wout?

October 13, 2020, 4:30 am
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This week, our title is a bit of a misnomer, as there’s not that much Giro d’Italia this week, but boy, Tweets is still packed full of goodness! We have Mark Cavendish, imaginary jerseys, and a feisty gruppetto featuring Wout Van Aert, Peter Sagan, muppets, Lachlan Morton and an hour-long Quickstep Tour de France 2020 film. Sit back and enjoy

Is it really over?

With Mark Cavendish in the break at Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday, it felt like turning the clock back. But little did we know that Cav’s future is actually up in the air. Trying to negotiate another season with Bahrain-Merida doesn’t sound like it’s going so well – but this is not the way for a cycling legend to leave the sport. He should go out at the front of the peloton as they hit the Champs-Elysees next year.

I would say that people would be more inclined to believe that Brailsford has a heart if he made that Champs ride happen for Cav next July.

An excellent article by Sophie Smith for La Course en Tete. ‘The professional sports realm is markedly different to the real world, which is what athletes face when they call time on their careers, not as grey-haired men and women, but often as late 30-somethings with a lot of life still to live.’

Farewell to Serge Pauwels

Unlike Cavendish, it looks like Serge Pauwels has been able to plan for when he was finishing his cycling career. We wish him the best of everything in the futrue.

Imagine that jersey!

This is one of the best threads we’ve seen in a long time – I’ve picked out a few of my favourite imagined jerseys, but make sure you click through to see the whole lot! And follow stycle_design on Instagram 

I have to say, I love these Milltag jerseys made from the original patterns of Underground seat covers.

The Gruppetto

Wout was not a happy Wout at the end of Gent-Wevelgem. He did not mince his words in the post-race interview.

Words of wisdom from the man who was almost always marked in the Spring Classics … ‘get used to it, kid’

The War of Words should not take away from the excitement of the Twittersphere for the winner of Gent-Wevelgem, the lovely Mads Pedersen. And I am quite taken with the phrase, ‘don’t let perfect be the enemy of euphoria!’ I’m going to use that in the next meeting at work that turns negative before ideas get a chance to blossom.

Both GW and the Giro were soaked on Sunday. No rider stayed dry on the Belgian and Italian roads.

For all the Sagan fans out there. This one’s for you.

Muppets must be included whenever possible.

I think the UCI have gone a bit crazy with their Giro fines.

This looks like some sort of 70s sci-fi film.

As Robert Plant would sing … ‘oooooh and it makes me wonder’

Alex Dowsett had company at the finish of the Giro stage 8. Is it a solo victory if a dog gets involved?

After Sunday’s soaking, I bet Manuele Boaro really needed yesterday’s rest day.

Lachlan‘s Gone Racing …

The full 15-minute film

A bit of film one-upmanship? This film comes in at just under an hour. Just pretend you’re on your commute home from work and watch it!

Here’s the full version

The last word

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Giro Tweets of the Week : Cycling’s binary stars, Ineos rising and Vuelta chat

October 20, 2020, 4:30 am
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Oh my goodness, but it has been a week of racing. And that means it was quite a week swimming in the Twitterstream. We have the fascination which was the Ronde, the Giro that finally caught fire and a lot of fun in the gruppetto. Jump in!

The Binary Stars

For a lot of cycling fans, Sunday morning was like Christmas. It was time for the Ronde.

The day started with the three favourites at the start line. And it was the three favourites – Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and Julian Alaphilippe – who took the race by the scruff of the neck with 40km to go.

The eyes on the prize. Do you think he could have imagined how the race would pan out?

Alaphilippe did as Alaphilippe does and set off on a blistering attack that broke the peloton stalemate and brought out the strongest – MvdP and WvA. Then came a moment of distraction and the World Champion was on the ground, writhing in pain.

Which left the two riders who have been circling one another for years and years and years. The binary stars of the peloton.

Lots of speculation as to what the two were thinking – and possibly saying – to one another on the ride to the finish line, especially considering what happened last week at Gent Wevelgem.

I’m thinking WvA has a very dry sense of humour. 🙂

It was the final we all wanted and it was the tensest final kilometre we’ve witnessed in a very long time.

Some thought Wout didn’t congratulate the victor, but he certainly did.

Oh, if only we had Adam on the microphone for all the races.

When they were pups

We’ll see these two together for quite some time. Let’s hope they keep the rivalry burning and we’ll have fantastic racing for years to come.

Giro action

Ineos have been scooping up Giro stages this week. Filippo Ganna picked up his third stage win on Saturday. By the way, the rider who was the first to take two stages in an ITT as world champion was … Fabian Cancellara. Not bad company to be in!

Some fancy smoke

One of my favourite tweets of the Giro. 🙂

Jhonatan Narvaez won last Thursday’s cold and rainy stage.

Break out the VeloVoices Emergency Fluffy Towels and Heat Lamps!

Then it was Tao Geoghegan Hart‘s turn, making it a weekend double for Ineos. Well, he did say he wanted to be like Ganna.

While Tao was winning the stage, Joao Almeida was riding his guts out to stay in pink. And he did it!

Always happy to see Ladies Favourite™, Bernie Eisel 

The mountains to come

Vuelta predictions

We have two Grand Tours at once this week. It’ll be busy in the VeloVoices newsroom. But what are the predictions?

The Gruppetto

Just lovely.

The mental image of this is always amusing.

Interesting transfer.

There was a Bedhead Bardet sighting this weekend. For a moment. Until we only saw the lead duo …

With Eurosport switching from RVV to Giro, it was cycling roulette on Sunday

But one thing remains the same. Belgian tractors in formation

‘I like sleeping and I like apples’ Words to live by

The last word

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Tweets of the Week 2021 : Big Tam Moments

January 26, 2021, 3:51 am
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Coming out of hibernation this week, our first Tweets of the Week for 2021 is all about Tom Dumoulin. His decision to take a step back from cycling, the reaction of fans and teammates to the announcement, then a section to celebrate the powerhouse, from his Argonaut days to maximum Jumboness, including possibly the most seductively shot video about time trialling ever made.

What a difference a day makes

Last Friday, Tom Dumoulin was talking about his race calendar.

The next day, he made this announcement.

While it was an unexpected announcement, it wasn’t a shocking one. Anyone who has been watching Tom during the lockdown season could see that he wasn’t the rider we were used to, but we hoped that he was able to remedy what was wrong and come back stronger. It takes guts to say that the thing you loved and the career you built isn’t giving you what you need anymore and the best thing to do is to take a complete break to assess the situation and find the way forward. His honesty around what he needs to do got a very positive reaction from fans and colleagues a like.

Of course, Marcel Kittel could completely identify with the struggles that Tom has been going through

Big Tam Moments

When Tom was an Argonaut …

He did look really good in pink

Winning the prologue in his World Champion TT skinsuit (don’t be fooled by the Froome shot – Tom did win)

And the most seductively shot video of Tom’s career, especially for Euan and Panache.

The last word

 

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