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 277/JANUARY 2021

HIGHLIGHTS

Tour de France Stage 15, Montée de la Selle de Fromentel, France

Giro d’Italia, Stage 8, Monte Sant’Angelo, Italy

Tour of Flanders, Oudenaarde, Belgium

Racing out of the darkness

CAV’S QUICK STEP LIFELINE

COMMUNIQUÉ • NEWS • GOSSIP • CHATTER

ROB STANNARD • The promising Australian on training in Italy and hard racing in 2020

CALUM JOHNSTON • The 22-year-old Glaswegian climber racing the Italian way

COACH’S CORNER

OBJECTS OF DESIRE • THIS MONTH’S ESSENTIAL GEAR

JOEY ROSSKOPF • Reduce stress, decompress, give yourself time, says the American rider

PRO DIARIES

DAN’S CYCLING HACKS

CURVED LINES • Australia’s Caleb Ewan is one of the world’s best sprinters, with 46 wins, including five Tour stages, and an uncanny ability to find his way out of trouble, often winning from seemingly impossible situations. Procycling charts his route to the top

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

ON TOP DOWN UNDER • Caleb Ewan is an international star, but how is he perceived at home? Australian journalist Sophie Smith gives the view from Down Under

YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT • Alex Dowsett won his first road race since 2011 with a canny solo breakaway at the Giro d’Italia. He tells Procycling how the win has changed his racing outlook and why he’s daring to take on the Hour record again

A CHANGE IN FORTUNES • The number of Danish professional cyclists is at an alltime high, as is that of their wins. In a new series looking at cycling nations, Procycling speaks to Denmark’s best riders about why Danish cyclists have suddenly stepped onto the world stage again. It’s about loneliness and personal freedom … and Karl Marx

STATS OF THE NATION

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS • For the first time ever, all three of the Tour, Giro and Vuelta were decided by less than a minute in 2020. Are the grand tours getting closer? Procycling looks at the history of three-week races that are decided by seconds, and retells the story of some of the best

‘84 THE CLOSEST EVER • Éric Caritoux was the surprise winner of the 1984 Vuelta, which he won by six seconds, the tightest ever margin in a grand tour. He tells Procycling how he did it, in spite of the race not even initially being on his schedule

‘87 POWER GAMES • The first Tour of the post-Bernard Hinault era, and the last really long Tour saw a power vacuum, into which rushed four riders. Of that quartet, Stephen Roche emerged to claim a dramatic and close-run victory

‘89 THE GREATEST TOUR • The closest Tour de France in history was also, arguably, the greatest. It pitched Greg LeMond against Laurent Fignon in a ding-dong battle which went all the way to the very final metres of the race

‘07 SCHRÖDINGER’S TOUR • The closest Tour of the 21st century turned out also to be one of the most scandal-hit in the event’s history. Alberto Contador emerged as the winner, in a race where cycling, fans and ethics were the losers

‘12 THE CLOSEST GIRO OF THE CENTURY • In the list of pre-race favourites at the 2012 Giro, Canadian Ryder Hesjedal barely figured. Yet he outrode and out-thought his rivals, in a race which went down to the wire, and was settled by only 16 seconds

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