We only have a couple of weeks before the World Tour kicks off again with the Santos Tour Down Under on 16th January. But before we start looking forward to the New Year, what were your highs and lows of the 2017 racing calendar? Here’s a recap of those landmark moments along with a few predictions of what to expect for the new season.
Read MoreSean Kelly: the Hard Man who Hates Rain!
With Paris-Nice just a couple of weeks away, Ride Velo met up with legendary multiple winner of The Race to the Sun, Sean Kelly. The former champion also made his name conquering the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix and beating, not only the opposition, but the worst of the appalling weather that usually accompanies the toughest rides of the year. But was it just the luck of the Irish?
Read MoreWorld Championships: The Iconic RainbowJersey
This weekend sees the elite men and women battle it out for the World Championship road titles in Doha, Qatar. While the Tour de France remains the most famous bike race in the world, the World Championship can be a more intriguing affair as it’s often unpredictable. For a start it’s a one day race, rather like the Olympic road race, and the riders will be competing in their national teams, meaning that there can be untried and untested combinations of team members. It remains the most important one-day race in the calendar, above the one day Classics and Monuments.
The course changes each year and has favoured climbers, sprinters and all rounders equally over the years, depending on where it’s been held. If you hang around long enough, a course that suits your abilities will eventually come round to give you the opportunity to win the coveted Rainbow Jersey.
Read MoreIl Lombardia 2016: The Romantic Classic
This Saturday sees one of the most important races in the calendar as the Giro di Lombardia sets off from Como to Bergamo in Northern Italy. It is, of course, one of the five ‘Monuments’, the most important one-day races of the year, along with Milan - San Remo, The Tour of Flanders, Paris -Roubaix and Liege - Baston - Liege. It may not be the oldest of the Monuments, but it’s certainly the most romantic, nicknamed “la classica delle foglie morte” or translated to the slightly more prosaic, “ride of the falling leaves.”
Read MoreEurosport's Carlton Kirby in Conversation
Carlton Kirby, Eurosport’s go-to man for cycling commentary, has legions of fans who tune in for his witty repartee with cycling great, Sean Kelly. Known by some as the ‘language mangler’ and for his ‘Kirbyisms’ (occasional strange musings about, not just cycling, but the very fabric of life) loyal listeners have set up a Twitter account of his humorous comments: Things Carlton Says @saidcarlton. Ride Velo went to the Eurosport headquarters in West London or as Carlton refers to it, “The Feltham Institute for Young Offenders,” to meet the man, learn what it takes to call a bunch sprint on a stage of the Tour de France and find out how to make Sean Kelly corpse on live TV.
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