End of year retrospectives are tricky things. It's easy for them to become a little too navel-gazing. But they're also useful exercises, a time to take stock of things accomplished and steps taken. We did, um, a lot these last 12 months: per our CMS dashboard, more than 1,600 posts (mostly stories and newsletters, but we cross-post some of our podcasts as well). Here are 10 of our most popular pieces, as rated by views, comments, and number of votes, plus 22 more that you should go back and read if you missed them.
Our most popular stories
- "That carbon monoxide story" – Yep, that’s the one; our most-read story, ever. This was a controversial piece, and UAE’s performance coordinator, Jeroen Swart, recently called it “sensationalist.” But the strong response – including the UCI’s own call to ban the practice – indicates that we turned over a rock that needed turning.
- How did the bike industry get into such deep trouble? – Not a written story, but our co-founder Wade’s podcast series on the post-COVID headwinds in the bike industry was one of our best-performing pieces of any kind all year. In the last week alone we’ve seen two iconic brands – GT Bicycles and Rocky Mountain – in existential difficulty. Wade’s series, which featured perspectives from retailers to manufacturers, was exactly the kind of broad and yet detailed explanation of how the industry got to that point.
- Behind F1's velvet curtain – Our Kate Wagner originally wrote this piece for Road & Track, where it was published for a brief time before R&T’s editor-in-chief yanked it down because he felt the unsparing look at F1’s celebrity and wealth culture ( and the marvel of the racing itself, which Kate contrasts against cycling) was not philosophically aligned with the magazine’s mission. That decision became a sterling example of the Streisand Effect, and we – along with many others – felt like the piece shouldn’t disappear. So we did something about it (after negotiating the rights from Hearst), with Kate’s blessing).
- We can't explain Tadej Pogačar's sudden leap – After Pogačar’s outright domination of the Tour de France, I tried to put his performance in perspective, especially coming on the heels of our CO revelations. What I wanted to contextualize was how a mature rider in a mature sport could – in one season – so thoroughly surpass even his own previously superlative performances. There are no easy answers to that, and those that are possible range from the questionable to the mundane and practical (a ton of talent + a ton of work + a team that finally started devoting real resources to sports science). What’s the real answer? I honestly don’t know. But beware of simple narratives from those who are convinced they do.
- 7.4 W/kg and still dropped by Pogačar – Our most recent editorial hire, Alex Hunt, is a bit of a training and performance nerd. He quickly identified Tadej Pogačar’s World Road Championships ride as worthy of a deep dive. While Pog doesn’t publish his power files, other riders do, and with them, Alex was able to paint a picture of how the Slovenian superstar was able to cap an already sterling season with a rainbow jersey.
- Why Tom Pidcock is likely headed to a second tier team – We got about as sick of the “Is Tom Pidcock leaving Ineos?” rumors as you did. But they Would. Not. Go. Away. And we kept hearing about links to Q36.5, the second-division team bankrolled by Ivan Glasenberg, the South African mining billionaire who last year bought Pinarello, Pidcock’s bike sponsor at Ineos. So our co-founder and EIC Caley put together this look at why the move was so likely to happen. It took a few false starts but, sure enough, that’s exactly where Pidcock landed. Listen, folks: where there’s this much smoke, there is almost always fire.
- Trek Domane AL 2 review – We review a lot of expensive stuff here on EC. So I was personally gratified that our most-read product review of 2024 was of a $1,200 aluminum road bike. Dave Rome gave the Domane AL 2 the same time and attention he did to everything else he reviews, and I’m especially grateful for that. As you know, a lot of product review these days is short on details and long on affiliate links. It’s crucial that people get detailed, unbiased, expert reviews of products, and that’s as true for a $1,200 bike as a $12,000 one. If you’re new to cycling, $1,200 is a massive financial leap to take on your first legit bike, and you deserve the same care to your needs as longtime enthusiasts.
- TdF TT helmets ranked by how little I would like to be in them – If you hand a gallery of time trial photos to Iain Treloar, this is exactly the kind of thing you’ll get back: a lid-by-lid critique of the current state of helmet fashion in the WorldTour. It is a sorry state, but one made much better – funnier, at least – by Iain’s dissection of it.
- Thomas De Gendt’s UAE Tour crash is a warning – This bizarre early season crash (on a straight, wide, flat road where De Gendt did not contact another rider) was the first sign that strange things were afoot at the hookless rim corral. Ronan’s piece sounded a warning against unsafe rim and tire combinations – which were at that point widespread in the WorldTour and on enthusiasts’ own bikes.
- The art of a gold medal pass – Was Tom Pidcock’s pass of Victor Koretzky in the final trip through the woods just before the finishing stretch of the Paris Olympics XCO a dirty move, or an inspired (and clean) bit of racecraft? Caley Fretz makes the case – with video – for the latter. Get this man a Eurosport analysis gig, complete with Adam Blythe wardrobe, please.
Twenty-two more not to miss
The man who rode more new roads than anyone – Erik Bingesser ditched a full-time graphic design job for a nomadic lifestyle where he dumpster-dives for food and explores the world by touring on a Dutch bakfiets cargo bike. Along the way, as he told Caley, he’s picked up a unique philosophy of life and the value of exploration.
From amateur to the Giro d'Italia in one week – Dane Cash followed up on a tip, which led us to this exceptional oral history of the American riders on the upstart Gianni Motta team, who went from racing regional amateur events in Oregon and Colorado to one of the sport’s Grand Tours in just one week, in Tim Rutledge’s case. Rutledge sadly passed away last spring, so we’re all the more grateful he shared his memories with us so we could share them with you.
Racing after the void – We don’t get a ton of freelance submissions here at EC, but sometimes, you know instantly that you’ve got some gold on your hands. Such was Keir Plaice’s essay on coming to terms with his athletic identity.
Alison Jackson and the making of a Monument – The first “as-told-to” story we’ve done at EC, and it’s our highest-rated story ever according to votes. That’s down to AJ’s vivid recall of her stunning 2023 Paris-Roubaix win, and Abby Mickey’s thoughtful and warm interviewing style that brought those memories to life. We should do more as-told-tos.
Harry Sweeny knows he is not alone – Another great freelance piece, this one from Chris Marshall-Bell shines a line on neurodivergence in elite sport, and why it’s more common than you might think.
The bike industry’s sustainability blind spot – When an obscure garment factory in El Salvador that made gear for Specialized and other brands closed in 2022, it left its workers owed nearly $2 million in back pay and severance. This is the story of their struggle to get what is owed them. Update: they're still working on it.
Why are modern bikes so expensive – I mean, right? Carbon superbikes today regularly command five figures. Where does all that money go? Ronan, with the participation of Rob Gitelis and Factor Bikes as a willing subject, gets down to brass tacks.
Mark Cavendish’s ways of seeing – No one, and I mean no one, writes a racing essay like Kate Wagner. This might be her best yet.
The resilient mind of Haley Batten – When Batten rebounded from a near race-killing flat tire at the Olympics to take America’s first-ever silver medal in mountain biking, Ryan Simonovich knew there was a story: about how Haley’s mental strength and training was every bit as responsible for that day as her legs.
A revelation 40 years in the making – That line a little higher up about knowing writing gold when you see it? That applies to this lyrical, soulful essay from Kevin Buddhu, about the lessons of a lifetime of bike touring.
How women finally got into Red Bull Rampage – I can count on one hand the number of mountain bike gravity stories we’ve done here. But we like to throw a curveball now and then to keep you on your toes. Micah Ling’s deeply reported and nuanced history of how women freeriders finally managed to get their day on the mountain at the sport’s biggest event after nearly a quarter century of work is exactly the kind of surprise we like to bring sometimes.
Skyfall – “WTF is up with Ineos?” was a kind of recurring theme in our company Slack the last year or so. Staff leaving, riders bailing, a huge drop in results. This wasn’t Sky anymore, that was for damn sure. Jonny, Ronan, and Chris Marshall-Bell dove in, interviewing over a dozen insiders to find out what happened to the team that once ruled the sport, and if there’s any way back.
How will the bike industry solve its carbon conundrum? – Suvi Loponen’s reporting skills shine clearly through this piece about the bike industry’s start-and-stop efforts to improve sustainability. One of the biggest challenges is its reliance on carbon fiber. As Suvi explores, there are no easy solutions, and those that do exist are often outside the industry’s sole power to implement.
Luke Grenfell-Shaw is rewriting the laws of life – I hadn’t heard of Luke and his incredible story until Kit Nicholson pitched this piece about a rider who has endured a lifetime’s worth of adversity in just a few short years. Through it all, he is unbowed, and has a lot to teach us about what it means to survive, and thrive, through the worst that life can throw at you.
What I learned from a day as a food delivery rider – Food delivery riders are a unique subculture of cycling, existing outside its core and yet ubiquitous in almost every major city in the world. Matt De Neef donned DoorDash livery for a day and, after just a taste of what that life is like, you’ll probably want to tip your delivery person a bit more than usual.
The Iain Treloar Literary Universe – You might know about the Iain Treloar Cinematic Universe, but I’m talking about the ITLU: the man’s unclassifiable range as a writer. Two highlights: stories about the goats and the ferrets of Paris-Roubaix, and a fascinating interview with one of the guys who raced cheap beach cruisers at the Unbound 200. Totally different ends of the spectrum, total must-reads.
The Dave Rome Review Experience – Not many people deep-dive a review like Dave does, and his trio of SRAM reviews this year: Red AXS, the AXS XPLR variant, and Zipp’s 303 XPLR wheels underline exactly what is the value of that kind of thorough, thoughtful, expert product evaluation.
Haribos and havoc at the top of the Tour – God bless José Been. She’s one of Eurosport's best commentators, our indefatigable cultural guide to the Tour de France, an impressive polyglot (at least five languages, I think), and an irrepressibly joyful fan of the sport. Next time she does a roadside trip at the Tour, I’d like to come along, please.
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