Tour de Suisse 2015 – Stage 8 Preview

By David Hunter Bern – Bern 38.4km This profile should look very familiar, as it’s the same as today. It gave the riders a perfect chance to see the climbs, involved in the stage, and get ready for the TT. At 38.4km, it’s a long one, where we could see big time gaps. That’s bad news…

Leer más

Tour de Suisse 2015 – Stage 6 Preview

By David Hunter Biel – Dudingen 164.6km A stage that looks like a sprint, but might not be. The race finishes with a challenging circuit, in Dudingen. The lap features two cat 3 climbs, which are completed twice. The circuit doesn’t feature many flat roads, constantly ascending or descending. This is going to be another hard…

Leer más

Tour de Suisse 2015 – Stage 5 Preview

By David Hunter Wil – Biel 193.1km At last, a day for sprint fans! After a prologue and 4 gruelling stages, we have a day suited to the fast men. There are still a few bumps along the way, but nothing that should see any of the sprinters dropped. The only classified climb is 1km at…

Leer más

Tour de Suisse 2015 – Stage 4 Preview

By David Hunter Unterterzen – Solden 237.3km Time for the Queen stage, although it’s still early in the race. The gaps today will shape the GC, although we have to wait until the final stage and the lengthy ITT, before anything is decided. This stage is not only difficult, but very long. At 236km, it’s the…

Leer más

Tour de Suisse 2015 – Stage 3 Preview

By David Hunter Flims – Schwarzenbach 193.2km This is the second longest stage of the race and the riders will be disappointed to hear, that it’s going to be another wet day. Heading out of Flims, they have a cat 2 climb of 8.9km at 6.7%. This is a hard climb, but coming so early in…

Leer más

Tour de Suisse 2015 – Stage 2 Preview

By David Hunter Quinto – Olivone 117.3km At just 117.3km, this is one of the shortest stages in a World Tour race, but it’s hard. The race begins with the GC climb of Gotthardpass. It’s 18.8km at 5.8%. The length is a difficulty, but so is the altitude. At over 2000m, some riders will have great…

Leer más

Criterium du Dauphine 2015 – Stage 8 Preview

By David Hunter Saint Gervais Mont Blanc – Modane Valfrejus 156.5km After another day full of drama, the final stage shouldn’t be too crazy, at least for the opening 100km. Lacets de Montvernier, might only be a cat 2 climb, but it’s very important.

Leer más

Tour de Suisse 2015 – Stage 1 Preview

By David Hunter Risch Rotkruez – Risch Rotkreuz 161.1km There is no messing about in the Tour de Suisse! The first road stage and bam, straight into some hard racing. The stage looks very hard and it’s going to rain, making it a challenging start to the race.

Leer más

Tour de Suisse 2015 – Overall + Prologue Preview

By David Hunter The racing returns to Switzerland, for the last “big” race, before the TDF. We have the usual mix of demanding sprint stages, high mountains and TTs. The race is dominated by a monster mountaintop finish and a 38.4km ITT. You must be a good TT rider to win this race. The opening stage…

Leer más

Criterium du Dauphine 2015 – Stage 6 Preview

By David Hunter Saint Bonnet en Champsaur – Villard de Lans 183km After the fireworks of today, we have another big day. Team Sky, blew Nibali and Valverde away but Froome lost ground to Van Garderen. He must have been feeling very strong, to attack from that distance. It now looks like an error, as it…

Leer más

Criterium du Dauphine 2015 – Stage 5 Preview

By David Hunter Digne les Bains – Pra The cat Loup 161km The sprinters have had their last chance, it’s now time for the GC riders to come out to play. This stage, is an exact copy of stage 17, of the TDF. Riding this, gives an advantage to Froome and Nibali, over Contador and Quintana….

Leer más

Criterium du Dauphine 2015 – Stage 4 Preview

By David Hunter Anneyron – Sisteron 228km The longest stage in the race, in fact, the only stage over 200km. A long and mostly boring day in the saddle. The boredom is punctuated by 3 classified climbs and a long, unclassified bump.

Leer más

Criterium du Dauphine 2015 – Stage 3 Preview

By David Hunter Roanne – Montagny 24.5km I’ll start with a weather update. There is a good chance of rain and thunderstorms, between 11am and 1pm. The wind is coming from the North, so will be a crosswind for most of the stage. It slightly strengthens throughout the day, so favours the earlier starters. Given the…

Leer más

Criterium du Dauphine 2015 – Stage 2 Preview

By David Hunter Le Bourget du Lac – Villars les Dombes 173km The stage opens with an immediate climb, not something the peloton usually likes. The Col du Chat is 2.8km at 6.8% and means that you need to be a solid climber, to enter the morning break. With a cat 2 and cat 1 climb…

Leer más

Critérium du Dauphiné 2015 – Overall Preview

By David Hunter A week has passed since the Giro and now it’s just 4 weeks until the Tour de France. This represents a last “hit-out” for many of the top contenders for Le Tour. The organisers have decided to rip up the rulebook and completely change the route of the course. The reason, is that…

Leer más