Swiss WatchNow that Tour de France plans are coming together – or in SirBradley Wiggins’ case unfortunately, coming apart – there re-main few opportunities to gain race fitness. e Tour de Suisse’sconstantly undulating parcours and frequent outbreaks of first-category and hors catégorie climbs will take a Swiss Army knifeto any rider’s problematic form. Hot on the heels of a flat prologue on Sunday is the race’s Queenstage, that tackles the 2,478m Nufenenpass before a summit fin-ish at Crans Montana, and Wednesday’s stage five does notoffer any huge mountains but has a Toblerone-like profile. Eventhe final time trial is lumpy, with a finishing climb that’s morethan 10 kilometres long. While the real Tour de France gc con-tenders are skipping Switzerland – their clocks are set to a

different schedule – many domestiques and lesser lights are onthe start sheet. Rui Costa of Movistar is defending his title andFabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) will be competingfor his home tour crown. Team Sky, meanwhile, will be blood-ing younger riders including Joe Dombrowski, Luke Rowe andBen Swift. Despite the chocolate-box scenery, it is a race rarely won by apure grimpeur: riders as different asGino Bartali, Eddy Merckx, SeanKelly, Andy Hampsten, Jan Ullrichand Cancellara have taken overall vic-tory. e Italian Pasquale Fornara haswon a record four times, while Swissgreats Ferdi Kübler and Hugo Kobleteach won three.

race type:Week-long stage race | distance: 1,300km | region: Switzerlandtour de suisse preview

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a weekly double-shot of road racing Wednesday 5th June 2013

rapha.ccissue 12

how's your #womens100 training going?

SATURDAY SUNDAY

— Critérium du Dauphiné S1

MONDAY

— Critérium du Dauphiné S2

TUESDAY

— Critérium du Dauphiné S3

WEDNESDAY

— Critérium du Dauphiné S4

THURSDAY

— Critérium du Dauphiné S5

FRIDAY

— Critérium du Dauphiné S6

SATURDAY

— Critérium du Dauphiné S7

— IG Nocturne — Tour de Suisse S1

SUNDAY

— Critérium du Dauphiné S8

— Tour de Suisse S2

the dauphiné this week

Stage 5 | Thursday | 120kmGrésy-sur-Aix → Valmorel Back into the hills today andany breakaway is likely to beswept up on the final climb,12.7km at 7% up the Montéede Valmorel.

HC HCStage 6 | Friday | 143kmLa Lechère → GrenobleFour categorised climbs and a technical 20km descent tothe finish make this one for a breakaway. We say they’ll go on the Col des Ayes.

Stage 8 | Sunday | 155.5kmSisteron → RisoulA classic southern Alps parcoursand a category-one summit finish keep things interestingright to the line. e winnerwill have to dig deep.

Stage 7 | Saturday | 187.5kmLe Pont-de-Claix → Superdevoluye one we’ll all be watching– the Queen Stage takes inAlpe d’Huez and the Col deSarenne, which feature in theTour. Expect big things.

Stage 1 Chapeau to Canadian DavidVeilleux, whose solo 47km es-cape put Europcar in the yel-low and blue jersey. ChrisFroome and Richie Porte ofTeam Sky, Alberto Contador(Saxo-Tinkoff ) and JoaquimRodríguez (Katusha) finishedalmost two minutes back.

Stage 2 Diminutive sprinter Elia Vi-viani (Cannondale) survivedthe day’s six categorizedclimbs, which did for many ofhis heavier brethren, and tooka perfectly judged sprint overGianni Meersman (OmegaPharma-QuickStep). Veilleuxremained in the overall lead.

Stage 3 A great sprint win for Edvald Boasson Hagen afterthe pace on the Col desSauvages left many sprintersbehind. Nevertheless, NacerBouhanni (Europcar) andElia Viviani (Cannondale)took some beating.

Stage 4 | Wednesday | 32.5km ITTVillars-les-Dombes → OiseauxA flat individual tt gives thegros moteurs of the pelotona run-out and willlikely define thegc challenges be-fore the moun-tains to come.

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a weekly double-shot of road racing Wednesday 5th June 2013

how's your #womens100 training going?

ig london nocturne preview

Street Fighting MenDespite having taken part in every IG London Nocturne,Rapha-Condor-JLT have yet to score a victory. Team man-ager John Herety ponders his team’s chances this year.Why do you think Rapha-Condor-JLT have neverwon the race?I think it’s because everyone knows we’d love to winit. Having our two main sponsors as the founders ofthe event [Rapha and Condor], riding in front of ourhome crowd, maybe it all makes the riders a bit anx-ious. Having said that, we’ve always competed well.Is it the course, or simply who’s got the best legs?Definitely who’s got the best legs. Look at the riders thathave won it, they’re people who have come straight offthe WorldTour. Ian Stannard won last year and AlexDowsett the year before, lapping the field. Rest assuredwe’ll give it a good go ourselves. Dowsett will be theman to beat but I think his Movistar teammate [BeñatIntxausti] will be in for a big shock.ese city circuit races seem quite intense.ere’s a lot of travelling, often not getting to hotelsuntil midnight, then getting up early the next morning.I don’t think the Tour Series [effectively the UK’s critleague] gets the respect it deserves. It’s tough, hard-fought road racing on city streets. You have to lookafter yourself and recover really well.It’s been compared to gigging with a band.ere are certainly some similarities, touring all over thecountry, performing in towns with cheering crowds.e riders go home and forget that they’ve got to dotheir own laundry; they end up putting their kit in the dishwasher.Are these kinds of races good for British cycling?It’s important for the UK. We’ve got a more educatedpublic now because of Wiggins and the Olympics butcircuit racing has always been pretty easy to understand.While we are trying to get our riders to WorldTourlevel, the Tour Series is a good format for sponsors toget their pound of flesh.

ig london nocturne history

Harlots and Holy OrdersAhead of this weekend’s annual IG London Nocturne, theDoppio takes a wander through the narrow lanes of thehistoric east London district the event calls home. Smithfield drips with medieval history. Home to thecity’s finest butchers for the best part of 1,000 years,in the eleventh century the area of ‘smothe field’ wasas well known for drunken tavern patrons as it was forits sheep and cattle market. e livestock driven throughthe narrow Clerkenwell lanes caused havoc on marketdays, sending not just drunks flying but the numerousprostitutes that were another feature of the area. InSmithfield, harlots rubbed shoulders (and probably awhole lot more besides) with holy men. e KnightsHospitallers of St. John, a monastic order which pro-vided medical assistance during the Crusades, madetheir home in neighbouring Farringdon. Part of theiroriginal priory survives today, in the form of an archwayover nearby St. John’s Lane.Smithfield Market eventually earned its royal charterin 1638 and throughout its history, the area has hostedspectacles both gripping and grisly; from jousting, tofreak shows, to public executions. e sleek beasts onshow at this weekend’s Nocturne, however, provide amore refined evening’s entertainment. Offering elite-level criterium racing around a tight, city circuit, theSmithfield Nocturne was first held in 2007.It proved a hit from the beginning, drawing a 5,000-strong crowd to that inaugural running, and has alsoenjoyed its fair share of celebrity support, graced, in thepast, by the likes of Sir Chris Hoy and Mark Cavendish. Notable winners include Geraint omas in 2008 (thenof Barloworld, now of Team Sky), and Team Sky’s IanStannard in 2012. e event is also characterised by some of its more cre-ative expressions of the cyclist’s art; in addition to anurban cyclocross race, this year’s event will include apenny farthing race and a track bike criterium. efolding bike race, meanwhile, is usually one of the mostfiercely contested events of the evening.e 2013 IG London Nocturne takes place on Saturday,8th June. e Rapha Team Sky Supporters’ Bus will be on theback straight. For full programme: londonnocturne.com.

weekendweather

LondonSome settledsunny weather and20c. Get thosepins out.V-Neck Base Layer,Touring Shorts.

San FranciscoGetting cooler onSunday, but only to70f. Take a RaphaGilet for an earlystart.

OsakaSunny and 25c.Don't forget thesuncream.Lightweight Cap,Pro Team BaseLayer.

QuintoWarm and thunderyfor the Tour de Su-isse start.Pro Team Race Cape,Team Sky Cap.