William Fotheringham

Dec 29, 2024 | theguardian.com | William Fotheringham

Rik Van Looy, who has died aged 90, was the most dominant one-day cycle racer of the 1950s and 60s, nicknamed “the Emperor of Herentals” (after the Belgian city in which he lived) or “the Wheel Breaker”. He ended his 18-year career with a tally of 371 professional road race victories, which remains second only to that of Eddy Merckx. A double world road race champion, he was the first cyclist to triumph in the five great one-day classics known today as the Monuments.

Oct 20, 2024 | theguardian.com | William Fotheringham

At a certain age, joked Sir Chris Hoy in October 2011, you don’t even buy green bananas. The throwaway remark was intended to underline the complexities and unpredictabilities of being a “senior” athlete – Hoy was then 35, seemingly blessed with eternal youth – but it seems grimly apposite in the light of the Scot’s announcement that he has terminal cancer and may have only between two and four years to live.

Sep 29, 2024 | theguardian.com | William Fotheringham

Ripping up the script is the Tadej Pogacar way, and on Sunday the Slovene’s unique approach to bike racing won him the world road race championship in Zurich, thanks to an audacious, borderline foolhardy attack 100km from the finish. Finishing solo, just 33sec ahead of the Australian Ben O’Connor, Pogacar joined Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche, the only others to have landed men’s cycling’s toughest prize, the “triple crown” of Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and world road title in the same season.

Sep 8, 2024 | theguardian.com | William Fotheringham

Superficially, the final stage of this year’s Tour of Britain into a windswept Felixstowe had a routine look, a chaotic bunch sprint won by the Slovenian Matevz Govekar, and Steve Williams of Wales straightforwardly sealing overall victory. But what preceded the sprint was 158 kilometres of anarchic racing, with a strong southerly splitting the peloton repeatedly amid a frantic series of attacks and chases.

Sep 6, 2024 | theguardian.com | William Fotheringham

The list of previous Tour of Britain winners in Newark is short, but it points to a promising future for the Frenchman Paul Magnier, who took his second stage win in four days on the banks of the Trent. Colombia’s Fernando Gaviria (2017) and the Dutchman Olav Kooij (2023) are both sprint names to be reckoned with, and these two incisive victories suggest the 20-year-old Magnier is on the same road. This was a finely calculated effort in a slightly less technical finish than in Kelso on Tuesday.