Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday May 24, 2020
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2019 Tour de France | 2019 Giro d'Italia
To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves. Nothing is often a good thing to say, and always a clever thing to say. - Will Durant
Upcoming racing, according to UCI revised calendar:
- August 1: Strade Bianche
- August 5-9: Tour of Poland
Latest completed racing:
- May 5-10:
4 Jours de Dunkerque - April 28-May 3:
Tour de Romandie - April 30-May 3:
Tour de Yorkshire - May 1-3:
Vuelta Asturias - May 1:
Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt - April 22-26: Digital Swiss 5
2020 Tour of Denmark is cancelled
The race organizer posted this on the 20th and I missed it. My apologies:
Despite the new placement in UCI's calendar at the beginning of September, lack of clarity on the health situation and government requirements means that the Danish Cycling Union sees itself forced to cancel this year's edition of Denmark's largest recurring sporting event - but PostNord Denmark Rundt will return bigger and stronger in 2021.
2019 Tour of Denmark winner Niklas Larsen enjoys his victory.
The Corona crisis has left a sad imprint on this year's Danish sports calendar, and the continued uncertainty in relation to health risk and the authorities' demands for distance and limited meetings also now cause the Danish Cycling Union to give up running PostNord Denmark Round this year.
The decision has major sporting and economic consequences for Danish cycling, but ultimately comes the social responsibility before everything else, states Danish Cycling Union Director Martin Elleberg Petersen.
- Of course, it has been a very difficult decision because it has such a great impact on Danish cycling and affects a large number of stakeholders, but the safety and health of our riders, volunteers, fans and the population always comes first, says Martin Elleberg Petersen .
The decision has been made in full agreement with the main sponsor PostNord, and Denmark's Cycling Union is now focusing on the positive and looking forward to a new chapter in the race's history when the next year returns as a ProSeries race.
- The coming year will be spent looking at the opportunities to further develop the PostNord Denmark Tour. The goal is to create a cycling race that can attract even more great riders, fans and TV viewers, and the Danish Cycling Union sees a very great potential after joining ProSeries, so that all Danish cycling fans can be sure that the race is turning bigger and stronger back next summer - said Martin Elleberg Petersen.
PostNord Danmark Rundt was orginally schedule to run 11 - 15 August 2020. On Tuesday, UCI published the revised race calendar, where PostNord Denmark Rundt was positioned 1 - 5 September 2020.
Cycling & Coffee, what you might not know
Team Jumbo-Visma posted this interesting piece:
Cycling and coffee, two ingredients mixing perfectly it seems. A nice cup of coffee before and/or during a ride is a must according to many cyclists, including our riders. Robert Gesink has, for example, even his own coffee car, The Broomwagon! All those cyclists will recognize the energized feeling after a pit stop during a ride for some ‘black gold’. After reading this Food Friday, you will know exactly where this energized feeling comes from. Sneak peek: it is not directly the caffeine in coffee.
You do indeed get a boost from coffee.
The feeling of getting an energy boost after drinking coffee is a proven effect. Several scientific studies have shown that coffee is an ergogenic (performance enhancing) aid due to the caffeine, but did you know that it isn’t directly the caffeine delivering the energy boost?
Caffeine is taken in quickly in your bodies’ blood circulation and circulates through the body until it reaches, for example, your brains or kidneys. Once it reaches its final destination, caffeine attaches to so-called receptors (receivers). Caffeine has no function in itself, but it takes in the spot on the receptors where another body substance called ‘adenosine’ would have been stuck otherwise. This ‘adenosine’ causes you to feel tired. Once caffeine takes in the spot of adenosine, there is no more room for this body substance. You will rather feel awake and alert instead of tired. There are even studies pointing out that the perception of pain and intensity decreases due to this body process. Moreover, the process of energy release by the body is being stimulated.
To sum up, the total effect from coffee is that you can push yourself just a little bit more and that can come in handy during a ride! No wonder that many cyclist have some (secret) passion for coffee.
This positive effect of caffeine occurs about 1 hour after consumption, but you will have to drink more than just one cup of coffee. There is proof that 1-3 mg of caffeine per kg of body weight already enhances performance (equals 2 to 3 cups of coffee for a person weighing 70kg), but traditional protocols advise 6-9mg per kg of body weight one hour prior to a physical exercise.
So if you would drink some coffee and hop onto your bike right away for just a short ride (less than an hour), the coffee will not boost your performance. Although we will not stop you if you just like your coffee moment. We do advise you to keep an eye on the amount of caffeine you consume on a daily basis, because your body can get used to caffeine. If that happens, you will need to drink more to get to that point of a performance enhancement effect. Be aware that caffeine is present in more than just your daily cup of coffee, such as in tea, cacao and several sodas (see the table below for an overview). A rule of thumb is to limit your coffee consumption to 5 cups a day. You will be just fine if you stick to this rule and you will not dehydrate, which is sometimes (falsely) claimed.
We have more on caffeine and sports performance here.
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