News, chatter and interaction from The Inner Ring cycling blog.
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Rik Van Looy tale: one day his son comes home from school with bad grades. Van Looy criticises him, the boy replies "well you can't win a classic any more". Eight days later 34 year old Van Looy wins his first Flèche Wallonne, completes feat of winning every classic on calendar.
Pogačar's diary for 2025 with Vuelta participation to be decided after route unveiled...
Nokere Koerse changes its finish for 2025, no more Nokereberg finish. It's for safety, the approach which was crash-prone, had been given "1 out of 10" safety rating reports Nieuwsblad nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf2024121… (🇳🇱)
Dauphiné opening stage revealed. It's hilly and uses roads from the 2022 Paris-Nice time trial won by Van Aert. Climbs harder than numbers suggest, eg Buffon has parts at 12%. Made for Julian Alaphilippe who was born in Montluçon. Full route unveiled on on 29 January.
⛰️ Critérium du #Dauphiné 2025 ⛰️
Etape 1 / Stage 1
🚩 Domérat - Montluçon 🏁
📏 189,2 km
💪 Les bosses du final tenteront les attaquants qui voudront déjouer les plans des sprinteurs !
💪 The climbs near the finish could provide a launch pad for aggressive riders!
Official name of UAE Emirates team for 2025 is "UAE Emirates XRG". XRG is a new spin-off gas, chemicals and energy company from ADNOC, the Emirati national oil and gas company that's been a sponsor of the team already
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe confirm signing Maxim Van Gils, their ninth signing for 2025 redbullborahansgrohe.com/new…
Decathlon-Ag2r team presentation in English, including likes of Lapeira, Cosnefroy, Paret-Peintre on mic (screen behind had 🇫🇷 subtitles), wouldn't have happened a few years ago. One detail from brief interviews is Felix Gall unsure which races he'll do, ie Tour not certain.
Vélo d'Or goes to Lotte Kopecky and Tadej Pogačar, both also win the Eddy Merckx trophy for best classics rider. Pogačar present at the ceremony asked about trying to win all three grand tours in a season says "I can just do two for now" and his team mates want their chances too.
Vélo d'Or ceremony and Luis Angel Maté wins the Gino Mäder prize, for his work to help replant trees in the Sierra Bermeja after forest fires, says he took inspiration from talking to Mäder at the Vuelta. Mäder's parents there to make the award
Here it is, Tom Pidcock signs for Q36.5, 3 year deal q36-5procycling.com/tom-pidc…
Presumably a curated blend of lavender, pine, thyme and burnt clutch plate
Rapha launches new chamois cream scented with 'aromas of Ventoux' trib.al/yU35Sgw
Top story with Belgian newspapers is Remco Evenepoel has had an accident while out training, Het Laatste Nieuws reports a collision with a postal vehicle. He's been taken to hospital, Belgian media will have updates soon
2025 WorldTour budgets via La Gazzetta. Total for 18 men's teams is €570m, mean avg. is €32m, median €27m & avg. wage now >€500k. For Women's WorldTour, total is €70m, €4.7m avg. per team. Men's budget up by 33% since 2022, Women's WT doubled gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/01-12-2… (🇮🇹,€)
//INRNG: 2025 Pro cycling calendar - free for your phone, diary etc inrng.com/2024/11/2025-pro-c…
Wrote earlier RCS could separate its sports events business. It's happening, official 🇮🇹 notice for combining RCS Sport (race organisation) + RCS Sports & Events (marketing) into new company separate from RCS MediaGroup. Unclear who is new owner, any payments from sale etc
As well as the Albanian grande partenza, the other story in this piece is that parent company RCS could separate off or sell its sports events business RCS Sport as in the Giro etc, with Saudi fund PIF speculatively mentioned as a buyer
🇮🇹 2025 Giro d'Italia (9/5-1/6) rumours | #Giro
Despite all the twists and turns, Grande Partenza is set to take place in 🇦🇱 Albania as was planned. This news should be announced on Monday, December 23 and actual route presentation on Monday, January 13.
ilgiornale.it/news/sport/non…
