Cycling Weekly

NED BOULTING THE PROMISED BIG FOUR SHOWDOWN IS HERE

Tom Wieckowski has been preparing for the Chasing Cancellara Bern-zermatt ride, his hardest ever bike ride

This Tour has felt special from a long way out. I know that we, in the media, are guilty of saying this far too often… but at the risk of being accused of crying wolf, I would humbly submit that this one is to be anticipate­d like few before in recent years.

Assuming that one of the 'Big Four' actually wins the race, then there is a compelling narrative whichever way you cut it. For Remco Evenepoel to win on debut would be as unexpected as it would be glorious (for Belgium at least, and for most right minded appreciato­rs of the sport to boot). For Primož Roglič finally to get over the line, having been dethroned so spectacula­rly when he was within touching distance of his coronation in 2020 would be a fine thing indeed. I doubt this very much will be the case, but I would love to see it. For Tadej Pogačar to 'do the double' and add a third Tour victory to his name before his 26th birthday, as well as the Giro and his other successes would indeed add weight to the already compelling argument which suggests that he is the closest thing to Eddy Merckx that cycling has ever known since, well... Eddy Merckx.

And who would fail to be moved by the prospect of Jonas Vingegaard making it three wins in a row after suffering from injuries which might have cost him so much more than an interrupte­d season? His career, indeed his life was on the line when he (along with Remco and Primož) came off the road in April. A win for him after such adversity would be a triumph like few others in Tour history.

And how about this? None of the above win. Instead the victory goes to an outsider, a team-mate even, of the main protagonis­ts. Isn’t it time that someone unheralded got up the road and establishe­d a lead that would stand the test of time? After all, it happened at the Vuelta last year.

Basically, what I’m saying is: as viewers, I can’t see how we lose, this July. And all this before I’ve even come to mention the potential tussle for the green jersey, the battle for the King of the Mountains, the daily tussle between the breakaway and the chance of that elusive Mark Cavendish win #35.

Bring it on.

The Bern to Zermatt edition of the Chasing Cancellara series founded by Classics king Fabian Cancellara – is 300 kilometres long and contains 5,000 metres of climbing. In just over a fortnight I’ll be tackling the route.

I like a challenge, riding consecutiv­e Fred Whittons was a proud moment but the Bern-zermatt course takes things to a new level; I’ve never ridden as far or climbed as much before. The ride starts at 2am so I’ll need to ride through the dark for the first few hours. There’s no drafting allowed after 35km, and the ride ends with about a 30km climb!

Mywhoosh workouts

Our toddler keeps me busy and I jump on the indoor trainer when I can, the same as lots of other time-crunched cyclists. The free cycling app Mywhoosh has plenty of workouts to complete. You can also race and win money on the app but that’s another story. Training for this challenge has seen me doing some easier Zone 2 rides on the trainer, whilst using Saturdays to fit in longer and more intense rides out on the road.

I got in touch with Mywhoosh head coach and elite e-racer Zach Nehr, the man responsibl­e for curating the Mywhoosh app sessions, for some advice ahead of the ride as this was going to be tough. Zach came straight back with some great advice.

“I cannot stress enough the importance of pacing during an event like this, especially since the route ends with a 30km climb. It looks like there are some very steep gradients on the climbs, so you should save your Zone 3 efforts for then. Otherwise, Zones 1 and 2 for the first 200km+.”

In training, I’ve ticked off Ridelondon recently, and while it’s not Chasing Cancellara distance, it felt good to have a tough 100-mile ride in the bag. I then upped the distance with my local chaingang and cycling club Gorilla Coffee Cafe’s 200km audax on the same day to give me a total of 178 miles, just under the event distance.

I feel ready for the distance and have a good idea of how my pacing should feel. I plan to get the basics right, enjoy it, dig in and hopefully finish strongly.

Alongside the famous leader’s yellow jersey, and the fight for individual stage wins, the Tour de France has many other classifica­tions that riders compete for. Understand­ing these, and who is in contention for them, can help to explain the tactics used by teams and riders.

General classifica­tion The overall standings with riders ordered by their accumulate­d time for every stage so far. The rider with the lowest accumulate­d time at the end of the previous stage wears the yellow jersey as leader on the general classifica­tion (GC). The final wearer in Paris (or in Nice this year) is the Tour’s overall winner.

Points classifica­tion Points for the green jersey are awarded at the end of each stage, and at intermedia­te sprints. ASO classifies stages as either flat, hilly or mountainou­s, with more points on offer at the end of flat stages to favour the sprinters. The rider with the highest number of points wears the green jersey.

Climber’s classifica­tion Also known as the King of the Mountains, points are awarded at the top of each classified climb according to a scale that reflects the climb's severity, from fourth-category (easy climbs with the least points) to third, second, first and Hors Catégorie (the highest mountains awarding the most). The rider with the most points wears the polka-dot jersey.

Young rider classifica­tion

Open to riders born after 1 January, 1999 (under 25). The highest-placed young rider on GC wears the white jersey.

Team classifica­tion

Calculated by adding the times of the three best riders from each team on every stage. The leading team wears yellow race numbers.

Combativit­y

award This rewards the most aggressive rider. Awarded after each stage and decided by a jury led by the race director. Winning rider wears red race numbers the following day.

Time bonuses Time bonuses of 10, six and four seconds are awarded to the first three finishers each day (not including TTS). These bonus seconds are taken off their stage and therefore overall times. Bonus seconds of eight, five and two seconds are also awarded on strategica­lly placed climbs on stages two, four, 11 and 17.

The time cut Riders have to finish each stage within a certain time behind the stage winner or face being eliminated from the race. Each stage is given a coefficien­t or ranking from one to six based on its severity. One is easy, four is difficult, five is a mountainou­s, short stage, and six a time trial. The time gap is then calculated as a percentage of the winner's time.

Prize money The race’s total prize purse is €2,573,202, with money on offer for each classifica­tion, plus other primes. The overall winner takes home €500,000, with €11,000 on offer for each stage winner (down to €300 for 20th place). The green jersey winner nets €25,000, as does the KOM winner. There is prize money for the first rider over classified climbs and €5,000 for the first rider over the Cols du Galibier and Tourmalet.