Author: Liam

Chris Froome, to the surprise of many, said that he might not participate in the next year’s Tour de France, instead he will participate in Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana.

After 2015’s Tour de France route was announced, Froome, the leader of Team sky, said on his website that he and his team will consider very carefully before taking part in an event. According to him, he’s a balanced rider himself and this year’s Giro d’Italia featuring a balanced course is suitable for him. He also thinks that there’s a possibility that after he completes Giro, he’ll be able to get back to his peak form and participate in and even win 2015’s Vuelta a Espana.

Froome said that previously he used to play one grand tour every season. But skipping Tour de France might give him an opportunity to concentrate on participating in two events. He also said that even though it’s still early but nevertheless the team has to figure out which competitions they will take part in next year.

2015’s Tour de France, which is also going to be the race’s 102^nd edition, is not putting much emphasis on time trials. There is only a 13.7 km long team time trial.

According to Froome, there’s no denying the fact that 2015 Tour de France is all about mountains. He said that very little emphasis is put on time trialling and the winner of the race will be decided on the mountains. He further added that six mountaintop finishes will make the race very physically demanding.

Cobbles are included in the 2015 tour but Froome refused to admit that it is a major hurdle. He regards cobbles to be difficult and stressful to overcome but nevertheless, he finds riding on cobbles to be enjoyable.

Froome said that he didn’t withdraw from the race just because of the cobbles, but because of the crash that happened on the previous stage.

Tao Geoghegan Hart is only 19 years old but he had a great run at the Tour of Britain this year. He defied his youth and impressed everyone by finishing at the 15^th position. He has greatly enjoyed his debut year as a professional rider out of the junior ranks. He not only finished the Liege-Bastogne-Liege at an impressive 3^rd place, but also secured the 10^th place in the Tour de l’Avenir. He has gained a lot of experience in 2014 by participating in various races across Europe as the part of the national team of Britain. He has also rigorously raced in different tournaments of the USA this year.

He said that the arrangement has benefitted him in a number of ways. He added that the experience with Bissel in America and Europe has been a mixed bag with good memories. He thoroughly enjoyed racing under the guidance of Axel Merckx in America and Keith Lambert. The 19 year old racer told the Cyclingnews that although he participated in diverse races but it has been a great learning experience for him.

Geoghegan Hart got the experience of racing at the Alps and finishing at the La Toussurie summit due to the Tour de l’Avenir. Earlier at the Tours of California & Utah, he learnt to tackle the wider North American passes. He said that it was a great experience to race in the big mountains of Europe. The Tour de l’Avenir was his first interesting experience of racing in the mountains. It was quite a different experience from racing in the wider and steeper mountain passes of America. Moreover, the American passes do not have many corners at some places as well.

In this season, Geoghegan has visited the two sides of Atlantic for racing and is looking forward to the World Championships to be held in Ponferrada next week.

The Wiggle Honda (cycling team) was able to retain the title for the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix because of the hard work of Girogia Bronzini who was able to beat Marianne Vos (Olympic and World Champion) who belongs to the Rabo-Liv (cycling team).

Bronzini got the chance to win the Grand Prix due to an unfortunate error on the part of Marianne Vos. The competition between the two was tough but then although Vos had power; Bronzini had speed which helped her gain the RideLondon Grand Prix title for her team-Wiggle Honda.

Giorgia Bronzini was extremely delighted by winning the title because she wanted to make amends in relation to her last Olympic performance in London in which she could not win due to some problem with the tyre.

She felt absolutely good because she had the opportunity of winning by beating Marianne Vos in a cycling race which is top-notch.

According to her, the sprint demonstrated the true power of women’s cycling and highlighted the fact that in comparison to men’s cycling; women’s cycling is nothing less.

Laura Trott had won the title for team Wiggle Honda in the event’s inaugural edition. However this time, she gave tremendous support to Bronzini.

Bronzini said that she asked her teammates in the midst of the sprint to attack and make it difficult for Vos and that is exactly what the teammates did. It was because of the team’s effort as well that Bronzini was able to defeat Vos.

Marianne Vos regretted her mistake on the race course but was still happy that she stood in the second position. It was predicted that Lizzie Armitstead would give tough competition to Vos. However Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) stood in the third position.

Whereas Eileen Roe (Starley Primal Pro Cycling) and Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda) stood in the fourth position and fifth position respectively.

Famous brewery brand Oskar Blues has launched mountain biking destination in its latest 145 acre North Carolina farm. The farm is meant to serve as a unique beer-bike haven.

Situated around eight miles from Oscar Blues’ Brevard-based brewery, the farm is expected to be a paradise for mountain bikers as well as a grand entertainment space amidst the stunning background of Dupont Forest.

Oskar’s REEB Ranch would be the home to Bike Farm which is a reputed bike guide & concierge service by Eva Surls & Cashion Smith. The REEB Bike/Ranch farm group is aimed on creating an international-standard mountain biking space for the entire family where the visitors would get a biking park & direct trail accession to Dupont’s stretches of single beautiful track.

Riding has been a big aspect of Oskar’s culture always & was a principal reason behind Dale Katechis’ (founder) selection of W.N. Carolina as host for 2^nd brewery. “W. N. Carolina rings in tune with the similar eclectic mountain essence which inspired Oskar to have Dale’s Pale Ale into a can”, stated Katechis.

The very name of the brewery “REEB Ranch” is a tribute to Oskar BGlues Colorado based hand-made bike firm REEB Cycles.

“It’s vital to maintain that very trail-side camaraderie here in community”, Katechis added. “We have been successful in integrating our passions for farm, restaurants, REEB cycles & brewery into everything we do- Oskar REEB Ranch is meant to carry on that endeavor.”

The famous brewery brand has maintained a hands-on grassroots feel with different Colorado projects like REEB Cycles & Hops and Heifers Farm that renders home-grown pork, beef & veggies to 4 Oskar restaurants- including the latest Coors Field based CHUBurger.

The new bike park is already under construction by now.