Winning and losing in sport is often portrayed sensationally as a matter of life and death. In the case of Italian cyclist Marco Pantani he lost, and sport arguably took his life. Casting aside the rumours, the conjecture, the very Italian polemic surrounding the passing of one the country’s great sons, his death remains a great lost to the sport of cycling. James Erskine’s Accidental Death of a Cyclist provides a more generalist view of Pantani’s story and is worse for it. Pantani and Italy, so intertwined so passionate and yet the film understates this symbiotic relationship.
Based on Matt Rendell’s widely acclaimed book The Death of Marco Pantani, the film is bolstered by fantastically chosen archive footage and interviews with key players in his story but unfortunately weakened by laughable reconstructions. Covering all the major bases, the film provides a good overview of Pantani’s rise through the ranks, his early successes before a career threatening crash, the high point of his Giro-Tour double of 1998 and his subsequent decline with all the entrails between.
The grainy films of a nervous, young Marco are real insight into the man behind the ‘Il Pirata’ mask. A man whose eyes Greg Lemond looked into and saw, ‘those of a kid.’ One particular clip that springs to mind is Pantani getting back on his bike after his career threatening crash at Milan-Torino. A childish grin spreads across his face as he nurses his bike around a garage in a full Carrera team tracksuit. “Well, I can still ride a bike,” he quips. In another a younger Pantani, arms folded is effectively asked if he is a good climber. “Yes, I am not bad on the climbs,” he shrugs with huge understatement.
The re-enactments meanwhile add little to the story. Pantani played by an actor is often pictured climbing on the hoods of his bike rather than the drops which was his trademark – an elementary mistake. These clips add little to the otherwise expert insight from Matt Rendell himself, journalist Richard Williams, Tonina Pantani and Greg LeMond amongst others.
Pantani provided all of his adoring Tifosi the chance to escape with him and that is just why they loved him so. Roving escapes at the bottom of mountain climbs, breaking the shackles of the metronomic Armstrong or Indurain, you can see how easy it must have been to be caught up the whirlwind that surrounded him. Reverberating Italian commentary accompanies some of Pantani’s best in race moments and these are the real pièce de résistance of the film, immediately making your hairs stand on end. Just how much he resonated with the Italian public is clear to see in the aftermath of his death with seas of people, stunned, weeping; bandana’s tied round their arms in remembrance. “Cycling has lost its number one,” is one comment.
What’s strange in this new epoch of cycling is how past riders are remembered. Somehow, Pantani despite the allegations and his positive test is still revered. Idolised as ‘the best climber the sport has ever seen’ or a ‘rider whose like has never been since’, yet somehow he escapes the criticism levelled at most riders of his generation. Arguably it was his sad death that elevated him above the riders who cheated but never paid the ultimate price, riders like Lance Armstrong who is painted as the chief villain of the EPO era and is widely criticised and chastised as a result.
Given the recent news that the police are to reopen the case into his death in light of recent evidence provided by his mother Tonina; the Marco Pantani story is set to run on and on. Certainly this says as much about Italians love for conspiracy and conjecture as it does about their idolisation of Pantani. Here’s hoping recent Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali can capture the heart and minds of the ever passionate Tifosi once again.
I read something recently about how women’s cycling is in excellent health in the UK and I have to say that I was very surprised by that statement. Yes, there has been an increase in the number of races available, but there have also been a few races which have been cancelled due to low rider numbers and other races practically begging riders to support events (I am guilty of the latter), so you may be able to see why I am surprised.
At the beginning of this year, I was one of three coaches who saw nearly 100 female riders attend novice race training sessions in the North West and North Wales. My aim was to inspire at least 20% of those attending to try road racing, which kind of worked with the first event that I am involved in having 74 entries in advance, nearly doubling the number of entries for the same event the year earlier.
However, as the season progressed, there came the inevitable drop off in numbers, and now I have two events in August which have just 17 and 15 riders entered in advance at present. These are the CDNW events at Oakenclough on 10 August and Great Budworth on 23 August. These are events which are restricted to second, third and fourth category riders, there is an overall league and a league for those who started this year as fourth category riders (currently unique in the UK, I believe, and something that I devised to try and encourage women to have a go at road racing without having to worry about more experienced riders in the race).
Back in May this year, prompted by another article about women’s cycling, I wrote about the sport from a grassroots’ perspective where I urged female riders to enter in advance to show the organiser that his/her race was being supported to prevent them being cancelled, especially where road racing was concerned due to the cost of putting an event on. Unfortunately, there now seems to be a few issues which are making cancellations more prevalent:
There are more races being held which leads to a dilution in rider numbers;
Women don’t seem to support road races, for a variety of reasons, possibly because they are more expensive, harder to win licence points and tend to lead to riders having to take a leap of faith to try something different;
There is still a massive issue with rider retention – of the 70 women who registered for the CDNW league last year, only around 40 of them have registered this season, with even less actively taking part;
Racing is expensive, especially when you find yourself in a crash;
Cycling is actually a hard sport, which leads to many riders becoming disillusioned early on and then giving up practically straight away because “it isn’t for them”.
I have to say that organisers don’t help sometimes. There seems to be a misconception that there are similar numbers of men and women racing, which is totally untrue. Mid-week races are especially difficult for women as there are probably less than 100 women who race regularly in the UK and have the time, money and inclination to travel to all of the races, but as the majority of these have to take time off work to attend, there are only so many days’ holiday you can afford to take to use to attend a bike race. Many organisers then complain that their races aren’t being supported by the riders, and those who do support events then get irritated because it is the same people attending the events, and the riders then feel like they are being treated unfairly just because they don’t have the time or money available to attend.
Prize money can sometimes hinder race entry numbers too, unfortunately. If there is a significant cash prize for the winner, the race tends to attract the better riders (who may not have as many commitments as other riders), so those riders who end up making the numbers up never get a look in for prize money and are less likely to enter just so someone who is practically a full time rider can win the race. Which makes sense to me – I have a career (outside of cycling) and I often don’t have time to do any training during the week, so I don’t need to pay £20 to enter a race to be dropped on the start line because I am still recovering from working, when others in the race are as fresh as a daisy. That may seem like a negative comment to make, but it’s a reality that many female riders face, I’m afraid.
Having said that, Tickhill Grand Prix on 24 August is leading the way by having an elite women’s race (E/1/2/3) and a women’s support race (3/4 categories only), both of which have sponsorship from Giant Sheffield, so if there are any readers out there who want to have a go at town centre racing but want to do it without racing against the top domestic riders, why not enter the support race, which you can do by clicking here.
I always try to be positive and look for solutions to resolve issues rather than just complaining about the problem and doing nothing about it. British Cycling is now looking at women’s cycling in an attempt to resolve the position, but even I am struggling at the moment to see how the sport can move forward. Only with more opportunities can the sport of women’s cycling in the UK hope to develop properly, but there does seem to be a fair few people who don’t want the sport to progress. There are good points to social media, but just because you get 40 re-tweets to a link to a website doesn’t mean that you will get any more entries. Neither does complaining about riders not entering an event – they’re even less likely to support an event if they feel that they are being coerced into riding.
Women’s cycling is still years away from achieving equality with the men’s sport; how can it when the numbers participating are nowhere near to the number of men racing? Sport should be aspirational, a means for people to achieve outside of their everyday lives, but women’s cycling is anything but that at the moment. Most domestic races are run by local clubs who have to have an event break even as they don’t have reserves to fall back on, so it usually means that in order for a race to go ahead, there will be a minimum number of riders required to meet the costs of running it. Unfortunately, road racing has additional costs to circuit races, especially if you have accredited marshals, which means that you tend to need at least 20 entrants in order for an event to go ahead, and that’s without prize money. If a race is lucky enough to have a sponsor, then the organiser will want to protect the sponsor’s investment by ensuring that there is a decent field – it doesn’t look good if somebody has put up £1000 in prize money and then 10 people turn up, so if you find yourself being annoyed that an organiser of a sponsored event is complaining about the lack of entries, think twice before making a comment.
I guess in conclusion there are a few things that everybody needs to bear in mind about women’s cycling – there is a long way to go before it can be described as being in excellent condition, it needs rider support to develop and, I am afraid ladies, that if you want businesses to sponsor an event that you are riding in, then you need to enter in advance to support the organiser’s attempts to offer as near to equal opportunity as he/she can provide.
To celebrate stage 1 of the 2014 Grand Depart, The Stephen Neal Group hosted a Grand De-Party at Platform North, The Factory Building, Victoria Avenue, Harrogate, HG1 1DX.
Yes, OK, so I bought another cycling T-shirt, and cap, and wristband… It was all for a couple of great causes.
This astonishing pop-up exhibition displayed beautifully a collection of vintage and modern bicycles. There were some true legends beautifully displayed here…
Let’s start with…
Tom Simpson
Tommy Simpson: 30th November 1937 – 13th July 1967. The first British rider to wear the yellow jersey – 1962. Bike frame number 286.
The display was perfect and very peaceful. People stayed with Tom’s bike for long time, often lost in thought.
Barry Hoban
No records exist for bikes built by Woodrup Cycles before 1973 due to a fire, however both Barry Hoban – the rider, and Ian McLean – the frame builder, have verified it’a authenticity as one of those from the 1960’s finished in Mercier team colours for the Tour de France. Damaged and returned to Woodrup Cycles to be repaired, Jim, an employee at the time, rode it until it was sold to Chris Forbes in Otley. Restored to it’s present glory by Chris it was eventually sold to Bob Garside – who was very generous with his time and told me so much about the history of this beautiful bike and his astonishing collection – in 2010, its current owner. When can I visit, Bob?
Here’s Barry Hoban, dispelling a few myths, interviewed by Ned Boulting in 2012…
Beryl Burton
Jackson: frame info needed!
Beryl Burton dominated women’s cycle racing in the UK, setting numerous domestic records and as well as winning more than 90 domestic championships along with seven world titles. She set a women’s record for the 12-hour time-trial which exceeded the men’s record for two years!
Burton won the women’s world road race championship in 1960 and 1967, and was runner-up in 1961. On the track she specialised in in the individual pursuit, winning world championship medals almost annually across three decades. She was World Champion five times (1959, 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1966), silver-medallist three times (1961, 1964, and 1968) and took bronze in 1967, 1970 and 1973.
In domestic time-trial competitions, Beryl Burton was almost unbeatable. She won the Road Time Trials Council’s British Best All-Rounder (BBAR) Competition for an astonishing 25 consecutive years from 1959 to 1983. In total she won 72 national individual time-trial titles.
In 1967, she set a new 12-hour time trial record of 277.25 miles – a mark that surpassed the men’s record of the time by 0.73 mile, and was not superseded by a man until 1969! In the process of setting this record she caught and passed Mike McNamara who was on his way to setting the men’s record at 276.52 miles and winning that year’s men’s BBAR!
Beryl Burton also set about 50 new national records at 10, 15, 25, 30, 50 and 100-mile distances; her final 10, 25 and 50 mile records each lasted 20 years before being broken, her 100-mile record lasted 28 years, and her 12-hour record still stands today.
Her prowess led to the rare distinction, for a woman, of an invitation to compete in the Grand Prix des Nations in 1967.
“I don’t feel that I’ve got anything special about me. I’ve just got two legs, two arms and a body, and a heart and lungs.”
7 times World Champion – Beryl Burton, OBE.
Another installment to come, including the legendary and utterly charming Ken Russell, winner of the 1952 Tour of Britain whilst riding as an ‘independent’ (no team), and his Ellis Briggs racing bike.
1952 Tour of Britain winning bike by Ellis-Briggs
Ken, 84 & Renee, Harrogate, July 2014
Ken’s Ellis-Briggs with his 1952 Tour of Britain Winners jersey.
Round Eight in the Women’s Road Race Series – Ryedale Grand Prix incorporating the BC Junior Women’s National Road Race Championship.
Pre Race
Round Eight of the Women’s Road Series is the Ryedale Grand Prix, based around the Ampleforth Abbey Grounds, in North Yorkshire. The course has been used over the years for the National Championships and consists of two loops that pass through the grounds of the Sport College and the Start/ Finish area, allowing the spectators to follow the progression of the race as it develops.
This year’s edition incorporates the British Cycling Junior Women’s Road Race Championships with-in the senior race, and covers around thirty-nine miles.
Race
A nine-thirty start on a muggy, misty and slightly damp course saw the girls away safely up the switch-back climb in-front of the Abbey and onto the main road. A two kilometre neutralised zone got the girls through the town of Ampleforth where they swung left and onto the main climb across the Yearsley Moor to start the race. A high pace up the first ascent saw four or five girls dropped straight away. The course then turned to the right before Yearsley, and the girls headed out towards Oulston for the first of two large circuits.
It wasn’t long before a couple of minor falls split the peloton, and as the pace was kept high, the peloton once again fragmented.
Heading left at Gilling East and back through to the Sports Grounds at the Abbey for the first circuit, Series Leader Nicola Juniper made a small attack and gained four or five seconds lead. The peloton had strung-out on the approach to the Rugby Fields, but at the right, then left-hand pinch point, the slippery surface brought panic to the chasing girls as several slid across the surface and brought the group to an almost stand-still.
Chains un-tangled, and a quick brush-down, it was going to be a hard chase for the peloton to catch Juniper, who had ridden up through the start/ finish area un-aware of the hold-up behind her and to a lead of around sixty-seconds.
Looking back, further around the course, Juniper had realised that no-one was there, and decided to dig-in and time trial the rest of the race.
The peloton chased hard, but Juniper’s lead grew, and in the end, she rode to a solo victory.
Eyes were then on the sprint to the line and more importantly the first three Juniors, vying for the National Championships Jersey. It was no surprise to see Bethany Haywood, Matrix Fitness Vulpine glued to the wheels of Laura Massey, Epic Cycles who lead the bunch in for second place. Emma Grant rode in to forth, Elizabeth Holden in to fifth and Silver for the juniors. Amy Gornall, RST Racing rode in to eighth place to secure her Bronze Medal.
Race Results
Nicola Juniper – Team Echelon Rotor
Laura Massey – Epic Cycles Scott WRT
Bethany Haywood – Matrix Fitness Vulpine (J)
Emma Grant – Tibco To The Top
Elizabeth Holden – RST Racing (J)
Rebecca Womersley – Wyndymilla Reynolds
Rebecca Rimmington – Merlin Cycles
Amy Gornall – RST Racing (J)
Jane Barr – Velocity 44 Stirling
Jennifer Hudson – VC ST Raphael
Elizabeth Malins – Fusion Development RT
Ellie Campbell – Fusion RT Gearclub Bike Science
Alexie Shaw – Epic Cycles Scott WRT
Gabriella Nordin – Pedal Power RT
Sophie Falkner – Fusion RT Gearclub Bike Science(J)
Eve Dixon – Team 22
Abigail Dentus – Team De Ver (J)
Natalie Grinczer – Fusion RT Gearclub Bike Science
Rebecca Nixon – Dundee Thistle CC
Abby Mae Parkinson – RST Racing (J)
Vanessa Whitfield – VC ST Raphael
Karen Poole – GB Cycles
Chloe Fraser – Deeside Thistle CC
Cassie McGoldrick – Fusion RT Gearclub Bike Science
Louise Burnie – Loughborough Students CC
Maisie Duckworth – Wolverhampton Wheelers (J)
Lauren Obrien – RST Racing (J)
Iona Sewell – GB Cycles
Nicola Soden – GB Cycles
Helen McKay – Look Mum No Hands!
Ashleigh Fraser – Deeside Thistle CC (J)
Emily Middleditch – Deeside Thistle CC
Clover Murray – Braintree Velo Cycle Racing Club
Lucy Harper – Bike Pure LeMond Aspire (J)
Alexandra Sheehan – Merlin Cycles (J)
British Cycling Junior Women’s National Road Race Championships
Gold: Bethany HaywoodMatrix Fitness Vulpine
Silver: Elizabeth HoldenRST Racing Team
Bronze: Amy GornallRST Racing Team
Women’s Road Race Standings after Round Eight
1 Nicola Juniper – 274 – Team Echelon
2 Gabriella Shaw – 140 – Pearl Izumi-Sports Tours International
3 Katie Archibald – 135 – Pearl Izumi-Sports Tours International
4 Dame Sarah Storey – 110 – Pearl Izumi-Sports Tours International
5 Laura Trott – 101 – Wiggle Honda
6 Molly Weaver – 96 – Epic Cycles – Scott WRT
7 Laura Massey – 93 – Epic Cycles – Scot WRT
8 Hannah Walker – 77 – Epic Cycles – Scott WRT
9 Bethany Hayward – 76 – Matrix Fitness Vulpine
10 Danielle King – 64 – Wiggle Honda
11 Gillian Taylor – 62 – Fusion RT Gearclub Bike Science
11 Rebecca Womersley – 62 – Wyndymilla Reynolds
13 Grace Garner – 58 – RST Racing Team
14 Alexie Shaw – 57 – Epic Cycles – Scott WRT
15 Elinor Barker – 55 – Wiggle Honda
15 Rebecca Rimmington – 55 – Velosport – Pasta Montegrappa
17 Lydia Boylan – 50 – Velosport – Pasta Montegrappa
17 Jessie Walker – 50 – Matrix Fitness – Vulpine
19 Elizabeth Holden – 48 – RST Racing Team
20 Abigail Dentus – 46 – Team de Ver
Nicola Juniper (Team Echelon) is the 2014 Women’s Road Race Series Champion.
The inaugural Women’s Circuit Race around the cobbled circuit of Beverley Town Centre got underway, thanks to local sponsor Jadan Press of Hull.
Around twenty four women took to the start-line on an idyllic summers evening. The crowds swelling, and a couple of sighting laps brought them quickly around to a rolling start, flagged away by Jadan Press owner Pam Wainman.
The pace picked up sharply and several of the girls including Team Jadan’s Olivia Tomlinson found themselves out of the back.
Setting the pace, out front, was Team GBCycles Iona Sewell, who gained a few seconds in the early stages of the race. Eleven girls were left in the chasing group, and Team GBCycles had another three teammates in-there for support.
Team Jadan’s Sam Thoy and Victoria Hood had both made the move along with Flora Gillies, Sinead Burke and Ruth Taylor to name a few, but the pace was too high for Victoria, having rode the previous night. The persistent pacing had also been too high for another Team Jadan rider; Annabel Sill was dropped into a smaller group.
The pressure was kept up by Team GBCycles who had closed the gap bizarrely, but team-mate Brit Tate had taken over the pace setting, and now had a six second lead. The group shed a few more girls, and were beginning to lap back markers.
Tate increased her lead to thirteen seconds, where fellow team-mates had left her hanging out with thirteen laps left to race.
A couple of digs were made to bridge the gap by several of the other riders including Team Jadan Sam Thoy, but nothing seemed to work.
Approaching seven laps remaining, Team GBCycles once again rode hard on the front and Tate found herself back in the bunch.
With only a couple of laps left to ride GBCycles again increased the pace on the front, where three members broke free, but Iona Sewell once again rode away from the group.
As the bell lap approached, Sewell had put over twenty seconds between herself and the chasers.
An easy win then for Team GBCycles Iona Sewell, that had left the remaining girls sprinting for the final podium places.
With prize offerings all the way down to fifteenth place, it was Flora Gillies, Speg – Project 51 who took second place marginally from Brit Tate, Team GBCycles who had recovered sufficiently to contest it.
I asked Sam Thoy, Team Jadan about how the race unfolded for her. She said: ” It was a good race and there was a great turn out. The girls had come out to race, so it was competitive.”
“I was expecting to take it steady for a couple of laps, but it was a hot race from the start, after one lap the girls were chasing down. The break went sooner than I thought. I had a couple of goes at bridging the gap but they didn’t hold. We were gaining, but it ended up being a race within a race in the chasing pack.”
Race Winner Iona Sewell said, “We though we would set the pace high from early on, and keep in control. We had strength in numbers, so when Brit went off early, we left her hanging out there for a bit.”
Round Two of the British Cycling Elite Circuit Race Series
Pre Race
Round two of the British Cycling Elite Circuit Race Series returned to the Stockton Cycling Festival for the forth year.
Part of a whole weekend of cycling activities, The Elite Circuit Race starts on the Friday Evening around the High Street in Stockton-On-Tees. The Saturday has a number of Sportive Rides that suit most abilities. On Sunday, The Sky Ride runs in conjunction with the Elite Road Series Velo29-Altura Grand Prix. The Grand Prix Series is the second half of the British Cycling calendar, and the Velo29 Altura Stockton Grand Prix resumes the racing season after the National Championships.
Round one of the Elite Circuit Series was held in Otley prior to the Le Tour Yorkshire Grand Depart. Combining a Women’s Event that was won by local girl Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans), Several Youth & Novice Races, and finishing the evening with Round One of the Elite Circuit Race Series that Adam Blythe (NFTO Pro Cycling) won. Over 10000 spectators lined the course in a carnival atmosphere, and Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme and Tour de France Legend Bernard Hinault watched the nights racing.
In-between the first two rounds of the Circuit Series, the National Circuit Championships were held in Hull, mid-week. Adam Blythe (NFTO Pro Cycling) went on to win the National Jersey, whilst Eileen Roe (Starley Primal Pro Cycling) took the Women’s Jersey.
Adam Blythe wasn’t down to ride the race tonight, nor second place man Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor JLT) but last years winner here in Stockton, George Atkins (Team Raleigh) is looking to defend his win.
Race
George Atkins out sprints Scott Thwaites (NetApp Endura) to secure his second win in a row here in Stockton. Winning by a bikes length, the evening had started off with a delay from the previous race.
Team Raleigh were the dominant force, but that didn’t stop the other riders from trying to make a break.
The course had been modified from the previous race, cut short, but additional laps were added.
With early breaks from Alex Blain (Team Raleigh) Matt Cronshaw (Velosure Giordana), Dean Downing (NFTO Pro Cycling) and David Lines (Starley Primal Pro Cycling) nothing seem to stick.
Ian Wilkinson, Matthew Boulo and Alex Blains (Team Raleigh) all had a go on the front, but in the later stages, it was Richard Handley (Rapha Condor JLT) that seemed to get the furthest ahead.
As the final few laps were approaching, the leading group were lapping the back riders, and in the final few corners towards the finish line, Hadley took a longer route around these stragglers to come in forth for the sprint. Dean Downing who rode a solid race throughout lead the group in for third position. Whilst the first local rider was Alex Bottomley (Wheelbase Altura) who came in further down on the night.
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