Glasstry news

Woods emerging from the fog The still emerging new star of Canadian grand tour cycling, Michael Woods, won the 17th (of 21) stages at the Veulta a Espana, powering up a monstrous hill in the Basque Country with three other climbers and pulling ahead of them at the finish. His win came on a bleak fog-shrouded peak, looking like Ryder Hesjedal's memorable day at the Tormalet in the Pyrenees many years ago. Vuelta coverage is subscription-only, and I've been following it only remotely , but it seems to have been a pretty satisfying race. Simon Yates who collapsed spectacularly in the last stages of the Giro d'Italia and let Chris Froome seize another win, is leading the Vuelta now, with two big climbs remaining ahead of him. Update, September 19 :  Yates endured to victory -- another British champion but a break in the grand-tour domination by the British Sky team. Image: Cycling News

Going on the road, and blogging is likely to be slim to none into early August. Nibali out:  too much of this stuff! The Tour will have to fend for itself. With Sky asserting its dominance, most of the contending teams decimated by illnesses and accidents to their leading riders, and almost all the sprinters disqualified by their inability to meet rigorous time requirements in the mountain stages, it looks like they will just have to grind on to an inevitable coronation in Paris. I'd still watch as they are hitting the Pyrenees, and in the Tour things do surprise.  But you will have to follow for yourselves this year.

No Canadians in the Tour de France this time, instead of the two or three that has become common recently. And Chris Froome's drug-clouded Sky Team favoured to win, and few enough colourful rivals waiting in the wings. All the teams taking on new colours and new names, so it's hard work to figure who is who.  And kind of a dull opening, with many long flat stages that had even the usually discreet commentators talking about "a procession" rather than a race.  I miss Ryder Hesjedal If only for the reputation of Grand Tour cycling, Chris Froome should never have been allowed to compete in this spring's Giro while under investigation for serious drug allegations. I was heartened by the way the Tour de France was about to keep him out -- when the results of the investigation came in. And he was cleared. Not by some dodgy cycling panel but by WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, which surely had no reason to go easy or to fudge the results . It looks like Froome, who ha...

Could this be dodgy? It's hard to follow a race that takes five hours a day in the snippets of a minute or two that is all most North Americans can glean about the Giro d'Italia, now in its final week. I found myself watching one bit of slightly more extended coverage in which the commentary was in Basque. But what what one can see, it has been a lively tour, notably for the remarkable prowess of Simon Yates, a Brit riding for an Australian team.  Coming in, the question seemed to be whether Chris Froome could win a third consecutive Grand Tour (after winning the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana last year). Instead Froome has looked pretty mortal, and Yates has looked superhuman, pulling away from the pack on the steepest hills and "putting time into" everyone. This is pro cycling. I cannot help remembering Floyd Landis, an American rider in the post-Armstrong years, who one day made a phenomenal ride, putting himself ten minutes ahead of everyone and pretty mu...

If it's May, it's the Giro d'Italia. Started in Jerusalem this year, but now back in Italy.  They are going up Etna tomorrow, which ought to be ... steep.  Three Canadians riding this year: Michael Woods, who stepped forward in the Vuelta last year, is among the contenders. Guillaume Boivin from Quebec and the iron man Svein Tuft, doing his last Grand Tour at age 41, are the others.  Follow via Steephill  if you are not up for the expensive cable package.