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Welcome back to Spin Cycle, Escape Collective’s news digest.
Happy Monday, today we have a bunch of racing to cover in case you were out over the weekend, as well as some apparent blasts from the past to make you forget what year it is.
Those TT helmets are also back in a big way, and, we get some bizarre insight into the remedy Patrick Lefevere turns to when he catches a lurgy.
Step into my time machine ⏳
What year is it? Frank van den Broek (yes, we know it’s not quite the same spelling as Vandenbroucke but come on!) is winning bike races and cycling is again being sponsored by Panasonic!
In further proof that time may well be a flat circle, DSM Firmenich-PostNL’s 23-year-old Dutchman Frank van den Broek soared to victory on the queen stage 6 of the Tour of Turkey before closing out the GC, with the final sprint stage 8 cancelled due to bad weather conditions and resulting slippery roads.
Meanwhile, back in Van den Broek’s native Netherlands, it was announced Panasonic, having sponsored Peter Post’s team of the 1980s and 90s, will be the main sponsor of the upcoming 36th Omloop van de Houtse Linies. The national race is usually sponsored by installation company ZEROgas, which is owned by Panasonic.
Anyway, back to Van den Broek. His biography (we’re a sucker for these) on the DSM website has some corkers. Although his parents aren’t from racing pedigree, they met on a cycling holiday in Portugal (call it destiny); their son’s hobby is being a DJ and he still owns a pair of decks; finally, his nickname within the team is either “professor” or, wait for it … wattage bazooka!
The only mark against the young man? He’s listed Big Bang Theory as his favourite TV show, which when it has its laughter track removed becomes quite the watch.
We may have identified the rip in the space-time continuum, however, as the podcast-episode-nobody-needed featuring an interview with footballing oaf John Terry featured a copy of author and Escape contributor Andy McGrath’s Vandenbroucke biography in the background!
The remedy to cure Patrick Lefevere of the week 🤒
With the 2025 Spring Classics 11 months away, Soudal-Quick Step’s Patrick Lefevere is already trying to get us to focus on them instead of his squad’s disastrous 2024 campaign.
The shiny thing to distract us and start talking about next year? Remco Evenepoel might be at the start of both Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders. Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad, Lefevere said how he and Evenepoel had been texting during Paris-Roubaix, with his rider saying: “Patrick, about the past few weeks … next year will be different, right? I’m going to get involved.’”
Lefevere admits San Remo and Flanders could fit nicely into Evenepoel’s programme, but that wasn’t the biggest revelation from the interview. The 69-year-old missed being at Paris-Roubaix for the first time in decades due to illness, instead consigned to watching it on the sofa like most people.
But what does a sick day look like for Big Bad Patty Lef? What miracle cure has been devised to keep him pouting and spouting all these years?
“As everyone knows, I was sick on the day of Paris-Roubaix this year,” Lefevere began. “Problems with my stomach. (…) In any case, in front of my TV, with my lasagna. I start texting with Remco.”
Lasagna. An objectively amusing food. But sorry, the first thing you reach for when you have stomach problems is a piping hot lasagna? All béchamel sauce and mince gurgling around? Absolutely wild move, Patrick. Maybe he’s looking to get in on the Pizza Hut ambassador gig that Remco’s got? Anyway, glad you’re feeling better.
Racing round-up 🤠
There has been an assortment of racing over the past few days so we thought we’d give it to you straight.
You’ve heard about the Tour of Turkey, but also worth noting Mark Cavendish rode a pretty anonymous race as he gears up for mission number 35 at the Tour this summer. Meanwhile, at the Tour de Romandie, Ineos Grenadiers’ Carlos Rodriguez took the first GC title of his career, beating Bora-Hansgrohe’s Aleksandr Vlasov and the revelation of the race, German Florian Lipowitz, who coincidentally signed a contract renewal alongside Jai Hindley last week. Kit Nicholson has gathered up what you need to know about the action in Switzerland if you’re that way inclined.
Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates are preparing for Tadej Pogačar’s Giro d’Italia tilt by showing off some of their other young talent, as they swept the Vuelta Asturias aside, with Isaac del Toro, António Morgado, and Finn Fisher-Black winning the three stages and Del Toro also taking the GC.
Lastly, at the Vuelta Femenina, Lidl-Trek won the opening team time trial just ahead of Visma-Lease a Bike, who finished on the same time around the 16 km-long course, while SD Worx-ProTime were only a second back, with Gaia Realini taking the first red jersey of the race. Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) crashed on the last corner in Valencia and was taken to hospital but thankfully broke no bones, only requiring some stitches to her chin, and is expected to continue the race.
Feed Zone 🥖
💰 Jasper Philipsen has apparently decided to stay with Alpecin-Deceuninck, Gazzetta dello Sport and Het Laatste Nieuws report, with the Belgian expected to sign a new (presumably mega) contract with his team despite interest from the likes of UAE Team Emirates and Tudor Pro Cycling.
😬 Stef Cras has opened up about his involvement in that Tour of the Basque Country crash which left him with a perforated lung and a broken rib. “If I had flown into the concrete block nearby, I might not be here anymore. For the first half minute I couldn’t breathe and I felt like I was suffocating,” he told Sporza. “It’s over, I thought, but after 30 seconds or so, that lung opened a little and I got just enough air to breathe.”
✍️ Soudal-Quick Step were interested in signing Movistar’s Oier Lazkano, Patrick Lefevere told Het Nieuwsblad. “But his manager is Giuseppe Acquadro and he has started playing the game,” Lefevere explained. “He bet on five different horses and drove up the price. Which is of course his right. Lazkano is gone, I think. We haven’t heard anything more about it.”
🇨🇴 Another one from Gazzetta, Egan Bernal can be “almost sure” of a spot in the Ineos Grenadiers’ Tour de France squad following a string of strong performances.
🐂 Arnaud De Lie immediately got back to winning ways in his return to racing as he won the Famenne Ardenne Classic, outsprinting Cofidis’ Axel Zingle and his Lotto Dstny teammate Maxim Van Gils. American Riley Sheehan (Israel-Premier Tech) was fourth.
Cycling on TV 📺
Tuesday April 30th
La Vuelta Femenina – Stage 3
(09:30-11:30 ET/14:30-16:30 BST/23:30-01:30 AEST) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Peacock, 🇨🇦FloBikes
Wednesday May 1st
Eschborn Frankfurt
(06:00-11:25 ET/11:00-16:25 BST/20:00-01:25 AEST) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺SBS
La Vuelta Femenina – Stage 4
(09:30-11:15 ET/14:30-16:15 BST/23:30-01:15 AEST) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Peacock, 🇨🇦FloBikes
Thursday May 2nd
La Vuelta Femenina – Stage 5
(09:30-11:15 ET/14:30-16:15 BST/23:30-01:15 AEST) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Peacock, 🇨🇦FloBikes
Giro d’Italia – Team Presentation
(14:30-16:00 ET/19:30-21:00 BST/04:30-06:00 AEST) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺SBS
Friday May 3rd
La Vuelta Femenina – Stage 6
(09:30-11:15 ET/14:30-16:15 BST/23:30-01:15 AEST) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Peacock, 🇨🇦FloBikes
And finally …
At the Vuelta Femenina the helmets were back (they were also back at Romandie but a TTT makes them look even more weirdly spectacular). Additional point: Why can’t GIFs play Star Wars’ The Imperial March?
But really, no one got a better angle than Zoe Bäckstedt.
🧺 Send us yer laundry pics
“Maybe Sir Tom tried to pick up his MBE here first?” jokes Ann Davis, referencing Friday’s edition and attaching today’s featured laundromat. “It’s across from my coach’s studio, ÜNDA Movement Studio in Toronto.”
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 Ann Davis 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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