Procycling

Procycling is the monthly magazine that takes readers inside the world’s toughest sport – professional road racing. From the mud and rain of the spring Classics through to annual summer spectacular of the Tour de France, the magazine combines thoughtful, probing sports journalism and insightful interviews with incredible sports photography. The rich, often scandalous history of cycle sport and its high tech future also feature in a magazine that’s a must for every follower of the grand tours and the peloton.

PREFACE • ISSUE 284 / AUGUST 2021

HIGHLIGHTS

GALLERY • THE WORLD’S BEST CYCLING PHOTOGRAPHY

The Olympic road race: an event apart

THE DARK SIDE OF CYCLING

COMMUNIQUÉ • NEWS • GOSSIP • CHATTER

EMILIA FAHLIN • The FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope Swede on sweets, being flexible and her love of sleep

JAKUB BOUČEK • The Czech rider who has proved that he’s good over punchy courses

COACH’S CORNER

OBJECTS OF DESIRE • THIS MONTH’S ESSENTIAL GEAR

JONATHAN CASTROVIEJO • The Spanish climber and TT specialist on his Basque roots and his role at Ineos

CYCLING AND BEING • JAMES HAMILTON HIBBARD FINDING MEANING IN CYCLING AND IN LIFE, BY NOT LOOKING TOO HARD

DAN MARTIN • ISRAEL START-UP NATION

KÉVIN RÉZA • B&B HOTELS P/B KTM

BRODIE CHAPMAN • FDJ NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE

CHARLIE QUARTERMAN • TREK-SEGAFREDO

THE LONG CLIMB • It’s been more than two years since the crash that almost ended Chris Froome’s career, and he’s looked like a different rider since his return to racing last year. Yet he’s still the most successful grand tour rider in the peloton, and, as he tells Procycling, he’s not giving up yet on getting back to the top

CHRIS FROOME’S DECADE OF GRAND TOURS

HEARTS AND MINDS • Chris Froome has won a lot of grand tours, but will he ever truly win the hearts of the cycling public?

THE NEW GOLDEN AGE • With her win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège this spring, SD Worx rider Demi Vollering an ounced herself as the standard bearer for the next generation of great Dutch cyclists. She tells Procycling what it’s like to be compared to Anna van der Breggen

17 CAREER PODIUMS

WINS BY DUTCH GREATS

THE NEXT BIG THING • Road racing has always struggled to break America, even as the country has dominated the sport. Procycling looks at the relationship between racing and a country that could love it, but doesn’t…

STATS OF THE NATION

EGAN BERNAL A WINNER REBORN • Since taking the yellow jersey in the 2019 Tour, Egan Bernal has been beset by injury and doubt. But his comeback win in the 2021 Giro d’Italia put him back at the top of the sport Procycling chronicles his victory, in which supreme climbing Strength was under pinned by a formidable team

HOW THE 2021 GIRO UNFOLDED • All the stage winners and the final standings

THE BIG LITTLE RACE • Luxembourg’s Festival Elsy Jacobs is a club-run, international-level stage race with a community feel and a big history. Procycling was there this spring to find out more

LA GRANDE DUCHESSE

FESTIVAL ELSY JACOBS WINNERS’ LIST

GEORGIA ON MY MIND • British victories at the Olympics are expected these days, but it wasn’t always that way. Procycling looks back to Team GB’s performance in 1996, which saw two bronze medals on the road and set the trajectory for success

THAT WINNING FEELING • DECEUNINCK-QUICK STEP HAVE BEEN THE MOST SUCCESSFUL TEAM IN CYCLING, IN TERMS OF WINS, EVERY YEAR SINCE 2013. PROCYCLING LOOKS AT THE FACTORS THAT KEEP THE ‘WOLFPACK’ AT THE TOP

ALWAYS THERE • Canada’s Hugo Houle has carved himself out a respectable career in the WorldTour, first with Ag2r and now with Astana. But the...