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Welcome back to Spin Cycle, Escape Collective’s news digest.
The Vuelta a España is bubbling up into a bit of a scorcher, isn’t it? We’ll soon see if Primož Roglič can rediscover his crusher-of-dreams vibe and bring Aussie Ben O’Connor to heel. But don’t worry, if you thought the racing was all getting a bit serious over in Spain, there are also deers jumping over race cars …
A brief check-in on who’s going to win the Vuelta a España 🎲
After a weekend of intriguing racing in Spain, the question we all have time to ponder on this first rest day is: who’s going to win?
A brief scan through the upcoming stages shows a majority of those remaining feature a summit finish on a first or HC-category climb, meaning there is plenty more time for twists and turns yet.
Let debate ensue, but who can we turn to in uncertain times like these for cold, hard facts? Friends, family, people on the telly? Or what about the arguably-parasitic gambling industry! Who, with the help of computers, are able to give us their financially-incentivised deliberations (as well as displaying through lower odds where punters are putting their money) of who at this point looks likely to win by the time we get to Madrid.
Well, Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) is now apparently the favourite! He’s priced at 2/1, with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) swapping back a spot at 3/1, while Movistar’s Enric Mas, who’s having a resurgent race is now 4/1, with EF Education-EasyPost’s Richard Carapaz’s strong showing on Sunday’s stage 9 moving him up to fourth favourite at 6/1.
Not that they care, but it turns out a Grand Tour lacking either or both of the dominant duo of Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard adds a whole extra layer of thrill to it, and we don’t even mind that we’re having to eat multiple portions of humble pie for all of our slating of the Vuelta and calling last year’s Jumbo-Visma pyschodrama a rare instance of Vuelta-based racing excitement. Vamos!
🛒 Sponsor activation of the week 🛒
Say your team has a shiny new sponsor, in the form of supermarket chain Lidl. A nice, safe sponsor, that you don’t feel bad about when explaining to friends and family the intricacies of your day job. But then, your new sponsor also decides to become the headline sponsor of a race you’re competing in. The pressure mounts, the company will want a strong showing from the team they bankroll at the race they now also fund.
Luckily, two of your star riders in the form of Jonathan Milan and Mads Pedersen sweep all five stages (three for Milan, two for Pedersen) at the Lidl Deutschland Tour while Pedersen also takes the overall victory as well.
It doesn’t really get any more Lidl than this, although we can imagine the rest of the peloton who were in Germany are now so sick of the sight of Lidl-Trek riders on the podium that they won’t be going anywhere near their stores any time soon.
This show of strength also comes at a time when the supermarket dominance of the peloton is being hotly contested, with Carrefour showing their heft and paying for a Vuelta stage start inside one of their stores. Your move, Lidl.
The future’s bright
The 2024 Tour de l’Avenir wrapped up this weekend with fireworks from a group of riders who are barely able to actually legally purchase fireworks.
UAE Team Emirates Gen Z (that’s the team name for their development squad) rider Pablo Torres seemed to be in control after a barnstorming stage 6 victory which gave him a healthy lead, but shipped five minutes the very next day as Brit Joseph Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) assumed the overall lead. Then, on the final stage eight, Pablo Torres went full Pog-mode up the summit finish to Colle delle Finistre, beating Blackmore by 3:43, but Blackmore hung on to the GC by just 12 seconds to become the first-ever Brit to win the race.
Torres’ second stage win wasn’t his only consolation prize, as he also beat Chris Froome’s 2018 Giro d’Italia Finistre climbing time by more than four minutes. Wild.
In the women’s race, French 19-year-old Marion Bunel (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93) won stages 1 and 3 to seal the GC ahead of Canada’s Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), and celebrated in style on the top of the Finistre. Love it.
Feed Zone 🥖
🥵 Ineos Grenadiers’ Thymen Arensman had to seek medical treatment in an ambulance directly after the Vuelta a España’s stage 7, Eurosport reported, having suffered from sunstroke during the hot stage.
🇫🇷 Groupama and FDJ have re-committed to sponsoring the French WorldTour team that bears their names until at least 2027.
🇰🇿 Caleb Ewan and Sergio Higuita could be heading to Astana Qazaqstan, Wielerflits reports.
🌐 SD Worx-Protime’s Mischa Bredewold won the Classic Lorient Agglomération for a second year in a row, attacking fellow escapees Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) and Liane Lippert (Movistar) in the final kilometre.
🍫 A solo attack won Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France, with Soudal Quick-Step’s Paul Magnier taking the sprint for second ahead of Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny).
🤒 UAE Team Emirates’ João Almeida tested positive for COVID-19 after stage 8 of the Vuelta a España and subsequently abandoned the race. “We sleep in individual rooms and the masseurs treat the same rider every day. But in the end, it is impossible to keep corona out,” team manager Mauro Gianetti told Het Laatste Nieuws. “The riders can also spread the virus in the peloton, during the stage.”
😔 Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) abandoned the Vuelta a España following a crash, having tried to get back on his bike and continue but ultimately deciding to pull out of the race. Bahrain Victorious’ Vuelta white jersey Antonio Tiberi also abandoned on stage 9 due to suffering from heatstroke, headaches and a high body temperature.
🇨🇿 Vuelta stage winner Pavel Bittner has signed a new contract with DSM Firmenich-PostNL until at least the end of 2026.
✍️ Emma Norsgaard will leave Movistar at the end of the season having signed a contract with Lidl-Trek until the end of 2027.
🐝 Visma-Lease a Bike have announced the expected arrival of Lotto Dstny’s Victor Campenaerts next year, while the Dutch squad also confirmed that Jonas Vingegaard’s season finished with his victory at the Tour of Poland.
💸 Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe have pinched twins Mick and Tim van Dijke from Visma-Lease a Bike.
Cycling on TV 📺
Tuesday August 27th
Vuelta a España – Stage 10
(07:00-12:00 ET/12:00-17:00 BST/21:00-02:00 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Peacock🇺🇸, FloBikes🇨🇦, SBS🇦🇺
Wednesday August 28th
Vuelta a España – Stage 11
(08:30-12:00 ET/13:30-17:00 BST/22:30-02:00 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Peacock🇺🇸, FloBikes🇨🇦, SBS🇦🇺
Renewi Tour – Stage 1
(07:45-10:00 ET/12:45-15:00 BST/21:45-00:00 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Max🇺🇸, FloBikes🇨🇦, Staylive🇦🇺
Thursday August 29th
Vuelta a España – Stage 12
(08:30-12:00 ET/13:30-17:00 BST/22:30-02:00 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Peacock🇺🇸, FloBikes🇨🇦, SBS🇦🇺
Renewi Tour – Stage 2 (ITT)
(07:45-10:00 ET/12:45-15:00 BST/21:45-00:00 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Max🇺🇸, FloBikes🇨🇦, Staylive🇦🇺
Friday August 30th
Vuelta a España – Stage 13
(08:30-12:00 ET/13:30-17:00 BST/22:30-02:00 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Peacock🇺🇸, FloBikes🇨🇦, SBS🇦🇺
Renewi Tour – Stage 3
(07:45-10:00 ET/12:45-15:00 BST/21:45-00:00 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Max🇺🇸, FloBikes🇨🇦, Staylive🇦🇺
📰 Fake news that nearly got us of the week 📰
It’s not new information that Twitter is an absolute minefield now, considering I have limited interest or ability in building a SaaS business (although Spin Cycle technically counts as a sass business …), how to get a six-pack by only eating six types of food and doing three very specific exercises, or the opinions of Elon Musk on British politics.
However, an extra layer of insanity has been added to the platform by the cycling Twitter memelords, who have developed an appetite for creating accounts that look strikingly similar to journalists Dan Benson and Gazzetta dello Sport’s Ciro Scognamiglo and post fake transfers and news positioned to be just about believable enough that it gets absorbed by your brain as you keep scrolling.
However, this phenomenon has now spilled over into more regular-looking fans just tweeting out borderline mad (but again ingeniously kind of believable) quotes and news, that you have to have your head on a swivel at all times so you don’t find yourself eating out of the online trash can.
Take this below example, of fake quotes from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Florian Lipowitz, currently showing his talent at the Vuelta a España but still largely unknown to the wider cycling public, and so he could be a guy who is crazy enough to honestly believe his teammate Primož Roglič won the 2020 Tour de France, not willing to accept Tadej Pogačar’s last-minute snatching of the yellow jersey from his grasp.
Did we spend a good half an hour digging around Spanish Eurosport looking for this interview? No Comment.
And finally …
Wild scenes at the Vuelta a España, where Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) crashed after being hit by a deer!
What’s more, Eurosport‘s Laura Meseguer reports that a second deer jumped over Euskaltel-Euskadi’s car and broke one of their bikes. The Vuelta really has no chill whatsoever.
🧺 Send us yer laundry pics
“Hoping you can use these pics of my local in the inner north of Melbourne,” writes Alex Collie, attaching today’s featured laundromat. “I particularly like the pet machine, though not sure my pooch Sandy the border collie would fit. It must be for those designer dogs like Tom Pidcock’s Dachshunds.”
We’re glad Alex leant in to the nominative determinism and got a dog that matched their surname. Here is Sandy, if you’re in need of a Monday pick me up.
As always, we are accepting your laundry photos (especially ones with the doors open so we can Photoshop riders inside the drum) to star in Spin Cycle. Either send them via the Discord or shoot me an email: [email protected]
Until next time …
That’s all folks! Thanks to Alex Collie for contributions to today’s edition and a big thank you to all of you who have signed up already as Escape Collective founding members. If you haven’t there is no time like the present. To smooth the process just click this link here and hit the Join Today button in the top right of the page.
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Spin Cycle
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