Spin Cycle is Escape Collective’s news digest, published every Monday and Friday. You can read it on this website (obviously) or click here to have it delivered straight to your inbox.
Hello!
Welcome back to Spin Cycle,
We've finally just about calmed down after the excitement of last weekend. But don't worry, to cure the lack of racing action this week we've got two WorldTour races running concurrently next week. Like eating two ice creams at once for seven days rather than having one a day for a fortnight. Maybe that's an odd analogy but you get what I mean. It's a ridiculous situation.
Ahead of tomorrow's Strade Bianche, we have a reminder of the relentless passing of time, a dose of moral panic, and Peter Sagan has his dancing shoes on.
Rainbow-coloured cobbles 🌈
The 'will they, won't they' of Tadej Pogačar teasing a Paris-Roubaix participation in April took a step closer to becoming reality this week, as Gazzetta dello Sport's Ciro Scognamiglio reported the Slovenian world champion is "very close" to signing up for a first appearance at the Hell of the North.
"Sources confirmed to us that Tadej Pogačar can be considered 'very close' to being at Paris-Roubaix this year. Obviously things can change but this is the situation at this stage," Ciro tweeted.
Now that Pogačar's inclusion is a done deal (as far as we're concerned, if it all falls apart feel free to blame our hubris) conversation can turn to discussing how well Pogačar will fare on the Roubaix cobbles.
Not just that, but if he manages to win Milan-San Remo in two weeks' time, he will only require Paris-Roubaix to seal all five Monuments. If you're not a fan of dominance in sports, at least try and enjoy the attempt of a superstar athlete (who is still only 26!) to accomplish feats deemed almost impossible in the modern era.
We reserve the right to change how we feel about the matter if we find ourselves sitting through a Pogačar-shaped 100-kilometre solo attack to win Strade Bianche this weekend. That seems only fair.
A 'Globish' scandal 🎰
Française des Jeux, or FDJ, the French national lottery company who co-sponsor men's and women's WorldTour teams, are rebranding to 'FDJ United', and the French are not happy about it.
The move was made to emphasise the company's “European stature”, having purchased the firm that runs the Irish national lottery as well as a Swedish gambling operation that owns the Unibet brand.
“It’s a scandal,” Jacques Myard, a former centre-right MP, said on Sud Radio, disgusted by the un-Frenching of his nation's lottery. “It’s inadmissible and I can only denounce it strongly.
“It makes you wonder whether Globish has not become our national language.”
“We’ve gone mad,” added the Sud Radio presenter Valérie Expert, what a name, by the way.
Globish, or 'global English', is a term that refers to the simplified English employed by non-native speakers in international meetings.
Does this mean the men's cycling team is about to be rebranded as Groupama-FDJ United? Like some sort of cycling-football team amalgamation? Can we have Marc Madiot standing at the side of the road in a very long coat à la Arsène Wenger? All the while muttering darkly about the Globish nonsense that's been foisted upon him and his brave French boys? That might be the last straw that sees him finally throw the first punch in the Madiot-Plugge fisticuffs that have been slowly brewing since the turn of the decade.
Feed Zone 🥖
🙏 After feeling unwell on Wednesday evening, Patrick Lefevere was taken to hospital in Gent. He spent the night under medical examination, but felt better the next morning, Soudal-Quick Step said in a statement.
😢 The Prueba Villafranca-Ordiziako Klasika, Spain's oldest race, will not take place this year due to financial difficulties. The race dates back to 1922 and has only previously not taken place in 1936 and 1937 due to the Spanish Civil War.
🥹 “This is really a dream come true, because I am one of Mathieu's biggest fans ... it has always been a dream to race against him,” said Soudal-Quick Step's 20-year-old Paul Magnier after coming second to Van der Poel at Le Samyn, and likely making the 30-year-old feel ancient. The relentless passing of time marches on!
😔 22-year-old XDS-Astana rider Alexandr Vinokourov Jnr was involved in a collision with a driver in Greece and has suffered a fracture in his femur.
😩 EF Education-EasyPost's British rider Lukas Nerurkar suffered a broken jaw and concussion in a crash during Trofeo Laigueglia.
💸 Intermarché-Wanty has a budget of €12-€18 million, Het Nieuwsblad has revealed, well below the WorldTour average of €32 million.
🇦🇪 Juan Ayuso won his second race in a week to open his 2025 account at the Trofeo Laigueglia, bringing UAE Team Emirates' haul to 14 victories so far this year. Dane Cash has more on how UAE is an even bigger and scarier monster this season here.
🦖 35-year-old Mikel Landa will race his first-ever Strade Bianche this weekend. "You're never too old to try something new," the Spaniard told Ciclo21.
🇮🇹 RCS Sport has announced the route for the women's Milan-San Remo, which will feature a Cipressa and Poggio finale. Caley Fretz has more on the story here.
🇬🇧 Additional CHAPEAUS all around as the Tour de France Femmes Grand Départ is also apparently heading to the UK (more specifically, Leeds) in 2027, according to the Yorkshire Post.
🪟 Mathieu van der Poel's team will be looking for a new second title sponsor next year, as PVC window company Deceuninck has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of both men's and women's teams.
😮 Johan Museeuw (59) is going to try and qualify for the gravel world championships in his age category, he's told Radio 2.
The Times They Are A-Changin' 🏗️
A mural painted on the side of an apartment building in Utrecht (painted prior to the 2015 Tour de France Grand Départ in the city) featuring the Netherlands' two Tour winners Joop Zoetemelk and Jan Janssen has disappeared this week after the building was torn down. So here's one final look at it.
“I was very happy that Jan and I could be present at the unveiling just before the Tour start in Utrecht," Zoetemelk told RTV Utrecht. "I am already happy that it stood there for ten years, a great honour. As with everything, things come and things go, our mural could not stay forever either."
Oh, and, just because it's Friday, here's another photo we found of the pair scuba diving at the Amstel Curaçao Race off the coast of Venezuela back in 2013.
Cycling on TV 📺
Saturday March 8th
Strade Bianche Women
(05:30-08:00 ET/10:30-13:00 GMT/21:30-00:00 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports, 🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺SBS
Strade Bianche Men
(08:00-11:30 ET/13:00-16:30 GMT/00:00-03:30 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports, 🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺SBS
Sunday March 9th
Paris-Nice, Stage 1
(08:30-10:30 ET/12:30-14:30 GMT/23:30-01:30 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports, 🇺🇸Peacock, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺SBS
GP Jean-Pierre Monseré
(10:30-11:45 ET/14:30-15:45 GMT/01:30-02:45 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports, 🇺🇸Max
Let's Dance Slovakia (feat. Peter Sagan)
(15:30-18:00 ET/19:30-22:00 GMT/06:30-09:00 AEDT) 🇸🇰 Televízia Markíza
Monday March 10th
Tirreno Adriatico, Stage 1 (ITT)
(08:00-11:15 ET/12:00-15:15 GMT/23:00-02:15 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports, 🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺Staylive
Paris-Nice, Stage 2
(08:05-11:05 ET/12:05-15:05 GMT/23:05-02:05 AEDT) 🇬🇧TNT Sports, 🇺🇸Peacock, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺SBS
😖 Weird, kinda reverse, bait and switch of the week 😖
The rumours at the start of the week were that Mathieu van der Poel would be making a surprise appearance at Le Samyn to kick off his road season slightly earlier than expected.
He did, and won, treating the road peloton like he does the cyclocross field, superfluous to his presence on a start line, but that wasn't before the Twitter account for Le Samyn caused some confusion by seeming to allude that Tadej Pogačar was en route to the race by typing out "guess who's back?" accompanied by a rainbow emoji. Sure, Van der Poel may currently be cyclocross and gravel world champion, but come on Le Samyn! Don't tease us like that!
And finally ...
Yep, this is releasing the exact amount of dopamine I thought it would. Peter Sagan, in an ill-fitting gold jacket, jumping over his partner before awkwardly stepping his way through a jive. Fire up your VPNs and peep the TV Guide, it's going to be a big Sunday night in our house.
🧺 Send us yer laundry pics
"I have a fresh bit of laundrette goodness," writes in Ross Thomson, attaching today's featured laundrette. "Live and direct from rural Ireland stuck round the back of a gas station."
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 Ross Thomson for contributions to today’s edition and a big thank you to all of you who have signed up as Escape Collective members.
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