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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Explaining the Cycling Iceberg: Jumbo Visma's amazing 2023. 3/3
The trilogy 1/24
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After winning the Giro & Tour, Jumbo wanted to win the 2023 Vuelta. If they succeeded, they would become the first team to win all three Grand Tours in a single season. They brought Vingegaard and Roglic as leaders. Their first test was the opening TTT in Barcelona. 2/24

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Paris-Roubaix 1994, Tchmil vs Museeuw. 1/22

#cyclingiceberg
There were 4 favorites for Paris-Roubaix 1994. Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle (GAN) was a specialist. The Frenchman won on the Velodrome in 1992 & 1993. Franco Ballerini was the leader for Mapei. The two other favorites were Johan Museeuw Maglificio) and Andrei Tchmil (Lotto). 2/22

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Chris Froome salbutamol gate. 1/25

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Chris Froome (Sky) was the best GC rider of the mid 2010's. Backed by the dominant sky train, Froome won the Tour de France in 2013, 2015 & 2016. As a three time winner, he was logically the favorite for the 2017 Tour which started with a wet TT in Dusseldorf. 2/25

Explaining the cycling iceberg: TI Raleigh's absurd 1980 season: 7 Tour stage wins in a row. 1/25

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In the late 1970's Dutch team TI Raleigh was one of the best teams in the world. The team was led and founded by former Paris-Roubaix winner Peter Post. Between 1972 and 1983 the team won over 900 races. Raleigh was especially feared in team time trials. 2/25

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Festina affair & Tour de Dopage. 1/44

#cyclingiceberg
The 1998 Tour de France started with a prologue on the 11th of July in Dublin, Ireland. Instead of talking about pre-race favorites as Marco Pantani & Jan Ullrich, most media covered a doping story that broke shortly before the Grand Depart. 2/44

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Maxim Iglinskiy wins Liege-Bastogne-Liege. 1/17

#cyclingiceberg
Maxim Iglinskiy signed his first pro deal with Domina Vacanze in 2005. The Kazakh was not the biggest talent, but did show potential. In 2004 Iglinskiy finished 5th in the Tour de l'Avenir. After a season with Domina he went to Milram. In 2007 he signed with Astana. 2/17

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Oliver Zaugg wins Il Lombardia, his first and last pro win. 1/13

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Il Lombardia 2011 went from Milano to Lecce. The final of the 260km race was opened 50k from the line with the Madonna di Ghisallo. After a long downhill, the Villa Vergano was the final climb with 10k to go. 2/

Explaining the cycling iceberg: Vingegaard breaks Pogacar on the Granon. 1/38

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Tadej Pogacar (UAE) was, by a country mile, the favorite to win the 2022 Tour de France. The Slovenian won the two previous editions of the Tour. After a thriller in 2020, he dominated in 2021. He won by 5.20, the biggest margin of victory since 2014. 2/38