Many of us here at Cycling Weekly are football fans way from our jobs. I can exclusively reveal that three of our four-strong news team have seen their football teams achieve promotion – Southampton and Oxford United, if you’re interested – so we have all had success at Wembley this season.
Happily, then, this past week has been a real crossover episode (Mr Peanutbutter x Bojack Horseman style) as former professional cyclist Rick Zabel travelled to Wembley by bike from Germany to watch his team, Borussia Dortmund, in the Champions League final. Meanwhile, Champions League winner Eden Hazard got on a bike, cycling up Mont Ventoux with Intermarché-Wanty, proving that there is life post-football for the Belgian.
Zabel’s team, unlike Southampton or Oxford, did not taste success at Wembley, but it was still some top-drawer content (inevitably, it was a partnership with EA Sports). Who could not be overjoyed to see the German excited about cycling through Germany, Belgium, France and the UK just to end up in north London. What a dream.
Hazard’s trip up Ventoux looked like a lot of fun, and rather inspiring to boot, even if he attracted some unnecessary flack for how he looked on the bike. He’s an ex-professional footballer! He’s not going to look like Jonas Vingegaard, is he?
Elsewhere on cycling’s world of social media this week, we have Magnus Cort giving us a special edition of his regular hotel room ratings, but in a yellow jersey this time. What a bonus. Speaking of hotel rooms, Ineos Grenadiers’ Josh Tarling got given the short straw by his more experienced teammate, Laurens De Plus, in the bed size stakes.
Mads Pedersen takes ice baths with a rubber duck, for some reason, and CW‘s very own Chris Marshall-Bell went rather off-road at the top of the Cime de la Bonette. Enjoy!
1. I suppose this is one way to celebrate taking the fastest time, although there is rather too much Alpecin branding on show for a rival team, surely
2. If you’ve just won a stage of the Dauphiné, why wouldn’t you take your trophy wherever you go. Even to the toilet.
3. Rick Zabel’s journey across Europe was a real highlight for me. His enthusiasm for the trip to Wembley was infectious, even if I felt a bit sorry for his non-ex professional cyclist friend. The best bits are his love of a full English breakfast, the fact they got trains twice, and how much he was behind Borussia Dortmund at Wembley. Fellow cycling football fans, take note.
4. Look, I don’t work for Garmin, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t how they’re supposed to be used. Surely there are enough to go round, anyway.
5. Josh Tarling, one of the fastest bike riders in the world, still has to use the child’s bed when sharing a room with Laurens De Plus. Harsh.
6. Eden Hazard, in full Intermarché-Wanty kit, climbing Mont Ventoux. It’s great. That said, he’s an ex-pro footballer, surely he could get a better helmet/glasses combo than that. Sorry Eden, though. This is great.
7. “I would be the first to criticise” – Patrick Lefevere, there, with some self-awareness.
8. The rumour is, Chris didn’t even do this for a feature he’s working on, he’s just a madman who thinks you should cycle in the snow. That’s what people from Hartlepool are like.
9. He looks so happy in that ice bath, with his rubber ducky. Is it his? Does everyone on the team have their own one? So many questions.
10. And finally, who can blame Lilian Calmejane for trying to make the Tour de Suisse a bit easier. It’s what I’d do.
