Trhas Teklehaimanot Tesfay is no ordinary elite cyclist. The reigning Ethiopian national champion does not live an austere life because she wants to, but because she has to. The 22-year-old currently lives in the UK having claimed asylum last year, a

Ioften hear young or domestically based riders share their desire to become WorldTour riders. The Instagram image looks appealing, the best kit and seemingly endless sunny Spanish training rides. Having just finished my first Classics block I can att

I’m not a ‘cyclist’ anymore, I’m a person that uses a bike for transport, and I don’t think I’ve worn any cycle clothing in a couple of years, save gloves and sometimes a helmet depending on the day. Peter Atkin My buddy and I used to go for long wee

I have recently had the good fortune to have the opportunity to hand over some money in exchange for a bicycle. You’ll appreciate that I resent the transactional nature of this. Like St. Francis of Cycling, I feel the bicycles should come to me of th

Sweeping corner The peloton descends at speed during stage five of the Vuelta Femenina in the very north-western corner of Spain. You can see a rider from Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi pushing on off the front. Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) went

After a surprisingly barren start to 2024, during which time she was dogged by questions over her team for next season, and whether contract talks had affected her mentality, Demi Vollering stamped her authority on the women’s peloton with overall vi

René Vietto (centre) relaxes with fellow competitors outside a Pau cafe, as they prepare for stage 19 of the 1934 Tour de France to Bordeaux. In the modern era Bordeaux is a famous destination for the sprinters to ply their trade, and it was no diffe

Tadej Pogačar might appear firmly in pink, but Geraint Thomas remained within touching distance after the opening weekend of the Giro d’Italia. The Welshman, 13 years his Slovenian rival’s senior, was 46 seconds behind after stage three but was not d

Why is it that, despite the trend for narrow handlebars in the pro peloton, if you buy a race bike from one of the major brands it will likely be equipped with 40cm to 44cm bars? By commissioning our own wind-tunnel tests, we’ve discovered that by sw

$200 deposit The Custom Road is just that, a fully custom road bike tailored to your specific needs, wants and desires. Geometry, paint, wheels, cockpit, groupset – all can be specified how you see fit. All you need to do is stump up a deposit, work

Harvard University’s Newell boathouse is a grand but garish building wedged between Boston’s Charles River and a six-lane highway. With its crimson-bricked facade and symmetrical pointy-hat roofs, tall pillars and star above the entrance, it gives of

How was your off-season? There was lots of training! I did two camps with the team in Spain, one in December and one in January. I also trained on the track in Montichiari [in northern Italy] as I had the European Track Championships in January. Has

CTT Classic Series round four (Tour of the Meldons, 22 miles, Peebles, Scotland): 1. John Archibald (HUUB WattShop) 46.01 2. A. Wild (GS Metro) 48.38 3. B. Goodwin (Fibrax Fenwicks Wrexham RC) 50.06 4. R. Sanderson (Kinross CC) 52.14 5. A. McNicol (D

What’s interesting about Enve’s line-up of bikes is that each model smudges the lines of its designated box. With its lightweight carbon monocoque frame and sleek, aerodynamic profile, Enve describes the Melee as “a no holds barred modern race bike b

Cycling is so full of mind-boggling jargon that it almost threatens to spoil the fun sometimes. If it isn’t the intricacies of power measurement, it’s the physiology of fuelling or the PhD-level physics behind wind-cheating aerodynamics. The latest b

Of the around 40 million women on Strava, Illi Gardner has the most QOM trophies. The current British hill-climb champion, she was coincidentally brought up in the app’s home state of California. At just 24 years old, Gardner boasts the best female t

Tadej Pogačar came into the opening weekend of the Giro d’Italia as the overwhelming favourite for the race, and left it already clad in pink with a healthy lead over his competitors. The UAE Team Emirates rider attacked throughout the three opening

This unusual-looking bicycle comes from the dawn of modern cycling, appearing around 10 years after the invention of John Kemp Starley’s commercially successful Rover safety bicycle in 1885. Its Danish inventor, Mikael Pedersen, patented the design f

Aglance through Alex Dowsett’s lengthy palmarès paints a picture of a highly accomplished bike rider competing at the top level – especially in the race against the clock. Among his 16 pro victories feature time trial wins at the Giro d’Italia and Co

Early racing cyclists rode in wool shorts with no padding at all. This means that 65% of all the chafing the world has ever seen occurred in the first 15 editions of the Tour de France. Only in the mid 1930s did someone have the bright idea of puttin