Alaphilippe attacks, deviates, celebrates, and loses Liege-Bastogne-Liege. 1/25

#cyclingiceberg Liege-Bastogne-Liege took place on a rather unusual date in 2020. Due to the covid pandemic, all spring racing got cancelled. Some races got rescheduled, and Liege was one of them. La Doyenne took place on the 4th of October, 2 weeks after the Tour and 1 week after the WC. 2/25

Karel Kaers vs Laerco Guerra, a sprint for the ages. 1/36

#cyclingiceberg The 1934 world championships were held in Scheibenholz Germany. The 26 starters would need to complete the 9,4km lap 24 times, making for a fairly flat race of 225k. With few starters, and several fillers, the pre-race articles focused on a just a few riders and nations. 2/36

Merckx & the Milkman, the story of 1975 Tour of Flanders. 1/X

#cyclingiceberg The 1975 Tour of Flanders was expected to become a battle between 3 titans of Belgian cycling; Eddy Merckx (Molteni), Roger de Vlaeminck (Brookyln) and Freddy Maertens (Flandria).
Merckx was already the greatest of all time, having won everything there was in cycling. 2/X

The story of the 1985 Tour of Flanders; one of the most atrocious editions of the race. 1/24

#cyclingiceberg Todays story builds on the last post about Eric Vandenaerden.

Still young, Vandenaerden was deemed experienced enough to be a contender for the 1985 Tour of Flanders. He already won 7 races that season, including a stage in Tirreno-Adriatico. 2/24

https://x.com/NoahvPutten/status/2038680100120535063

The rise of Eric Vandenaerden

It's been long enough! I'm back with more cycling lore, starting with a two part story explaining the rise of Eric Vandenaerden and the 1985 Tour of Flanders.

1/20 When Eric Vanderaerden was about to make his professional debut in 1983, expectations surrounding the rider from Belgian Limburg were extremely high. For years, he had been one of the brightest talents on the cycling scene. 2/20

Super Unc Jean-Christophe Péraud. 1/30 Jean-Christophe Péraud grew up in Toulouse, in the South of France. Despite being an incredibly talented Mountainbike rider, he focused on his studies in his younger years. It's easy to see why he was later described as a bit of a nerdy professor who did cycling... 2/30

The Tour of Aru, Bardet and Porte. 1/ Chris Froome (Sky) was favored to win the 2017 Tour de France. The Brit had won the Tour three times already, including the last two editions of La Grande Boucle. There were however a few doubts this time around, as his early season was sub-par. 2/

Vuillermoz honors his dad with a win on Mur de Bretagne. 1/23 After trying several sports, Alexis Vuillermoz fell in love with cycling at 10 years old. Growing up in Saint-Claude, near the French-Swiss boarder, he didn't immediately focus on road cycling. Instead, he fell for the adrenaline of mountain biking. 2/23

Back to Boulogne! The debut Tour of Peter Sagan. 1/26 At the start of the 2012 Tour de France, a 22-year old Slovakian cyclist was the talk of the town. The Tour commenced with a prologue through the streets of Liege, Belgium.
Normally, Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack) would be heavily favored to take the yellow jersey. 2/26

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Thevenet ends the Merckx era. 1/37

#cyclingiceberg
After two years and more than 200 stories, this is the final story of the cycling iceberg. What better way to wrap up this part of cycling history than with the stage that put an end to the rule of the greatest cyclist of all time, Eddy Merckx, who turns 80 today! 2/37

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Free Landa. 1/30

#cyclingiceberg
In 2015, Mikel Landa broke through on the world stage of cycling. In his fifth year as pro, he landed his first World Tour victory in the Tour of the Basque Country. Knocked out of GC contention, he attacked from the breakaway on the final climb to win the fifth stage. 2/30

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Coppi breaks his word to win the 1953 Giro. 1/23

#cyclingiceberg
The 1953 Giro attracted a formidable start list. At the historical peak of Italian cycling, the Giro was briefly able to compete with the Tour as most prestigious Grand Tour. This was partially because Tour organizer L'Auto was seen as too close with the Nazis during the war 2/23

Explaining the cycling iceberg: The Jiffy-bag scandal. 1/26

#cyclingiceberg
I got notified by a very thoughtful follower that I had accidentally skipped over two iceberg stories. So it turns out i have 4 iceberg stories left rather than 2 :)
Today the Jiffy-Bag scandal, later this week the 1953 Giro. 2/26

Explaining the Cycling Iceberg: Lance Armstrong's doping confession. 1/3

#cyclingiceberg
The final 3 iceberg stories.... Today, the most infamous interview in cycling history
During his career, Lance Armstrong faced persistent doping allegations. His performances, in an era following several EPO scandals such as the Festina affair, drew skepticism. 2/38

Explaining the cycling iceberg: W52-Porto. 1/15

#cyclingiceberg
We are down to the final 4 Iceberg stories! A highly anticipated one today, as we will cover W52.

Founded in 2004 as Casactiva–Quinta das Arcas–UCS, W52-Porto operated as one of the bigger Portuguese amateur teams during the first nine years of the team’s history. 2/15

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Le Tour, C'est Le Tour. 1/22

#cyclingiceberg
Today a relatively short iceberg story. The stories i planned for this when i drafted the iceberg (over 2 years ago!) have been absorbed in standalone stories over time. Today I will still cover some French chauvinism in the tour! 2/22

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Paris-Roubaix 2004. 1/20

#cyclingiceberg
Paris Roubaix 2004 would be the final dance of Johan Museeuw (Quickstep). The 3x winner of the hell of the north had announced he would retire after the Scheldeprijs, making Roubaix his final big race. A win in his final Roubaix would make him joint record holder. 2/20

Revisiting the cycling Iceberg: Kamikaze Kelly wins Milan San Remo with one of the best descents ever. 1/11

I have been rewriting and reformatting all iceberg stories for the book, and with MSR i have a good excuse to revisit the 1992 edition. Moreno Argentin (Ariostea) lined up for Milan-San Remo 1992 as the top favorites. The Italian was chasing his first Milan-San Remo victory, having previously won Liège-Bastogne-Liège four times, as well as the Tour of Flanders and Il Lombardia. 2/11

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Museeuw becomes world champion a week after announcing his retirement. 1/16

#cyclingiceberg
Johan Museeuw, nicknamed the Lion of Flanders, was the best classics of the late 1990's. Having started his career as a sprinter, the Belgian grew to become a great cobbled rider at GB & Mapei.
One of the big goals for Museeuw in 1996 was to win the World Cup. 2/16

Explaining the cycling iceberg: The US Postal era. The 7 (scrapped) Tour wins of Lance Armstrong. 1/20

#cyclingiceberg
Counting down the 10 last iceberg stories! Today a bit shorter story. Most of what i had originally planned for this one has been absorbed by other stories, but here we are. A short glance at the US Postal era of cycling in which Armstrong won 7 Tours. 2/20

Explaining the cycling iceberg: The greatest sacrifice in Tour history. 1/25

#cyclingiceberg
The 1934 Tour was raced with national teams. In 1930 organizer Henri Desgrange had gotten upset with the influence of private teams. These teams were sponsored by bike companies, which led to teamtactics. These team would often be supported by solo riders on the same bike. 2/2