a double-shot of road racing reportage RACE SCHEDULE sat TEAM TIME TRIAL TRAINING 19 TIME TRIAL sept TRAINING sun WOMEN’S TEAM TIME TRIAL 20 MEN’S TEAM sept TIME TRIAL mon WOMEN’S JUNIOR TIME TRIAL 21 MEN’S UNDER 23 sept TIME TRIAL tue MEN’S JUNIOR TIME TRIAL 22 WOMEN’S ELITE sept TIME TRIAL wed MEN’S ELITE INDIVIDUAL 23 TIME TRIAL sept thu ROAD RACE 24 TRAINING sept fri WOMEN’S JUNIOR ROAD RACE 25 MEN’S UNDER 23 sept ROAD RACE sat MEN’S JUNIOR ROAD RACE 26 WOMEN’S ELITE ROAD RACE CHASING sept sun MEN’S ELITE 27 ROAD RACE RAINBOWS sept From crits to Worlds, each rider is pursuing his own pot of gold a double-shot of road racing reportage . 03 THE GRAND DUCHESS Elsy Jacobs won the Luxembourg national road race championships an astonishing 15 times, with her THE FIRST last victory coming in 1974 at CHAMPION the age of 41. Issue 2, September 2015 The story of Elsy Jacobs, winner of the ON THEP.04 RIVET inaugural women’s road worlds in 1958. Words JOE HALL Cycling photographer Andy Bokanev has spent the crits season this year chasing the races, taking stunning images. This photo essay presents a selection of his work. THE CYCLIST’SP.12 BEER Rapha has created a radler beer to celebrate the Worlds coming to Richmond, in homage to the apparent two- THERE IS A QUESTION OVER WHAT IS THE BIGGEST EVENT IN WOMEN’S attention from all sides of the racing world and helping to wheeled roots of this thirst- CYCLING. The Giro Rosa has a tradition around it, and at put female racing in the spotlight. quenching beverage. some point almost every serious female rider has raced and Tactically inept but By 1956, women’s racing was gaining popularity across finished the Italian Grand Tour. athletically gifted, Europe and Elsy was winning multiple races by employing La Course, of course, has the most excitement, glamour her established tactic of just riding off and staying away. P.14 Elsy would just ride FACE TO FACE and cheers. For the women to race the Champs-Élysées on off the front on her At a UCI conference in 1957, a motion was passed for a the last Sunday in July, with all of the attention and hype women’s road world championships. The following August Bike racing is one of the around Paris on that day, is very special. But for women’s lonesome the race took place in France. Belgium, Great Britain, Russia world’s toughest sports and cycling, the world championships is the biggest victory to and the French sent teams of six women; Germany and Brakethrough Media’s grace a palmarès. To wear the rainbow bands in every road Romania each sent a pair of riders and the Netherlands and images perfectly demonstrate race for the next 12 months cannot be compared. It is a title Luxembourg both sent just one lady to compete (Elsy being the agony and ecstacy of that, once earned, will remain one of the most prestigious Luxembourg’s candidate). The course was three laps of a its competitors. next to your name for eternity. 20km circuit, a lumpy parcours that suited her. The first woman to win this coveted jersey, Elsy Jacobs, The first lap of the race saw seven riders go clear, including was much like women’s road racing itself: an underestimated Elsy. In the second she pulled clear and did what she always P.18 THE STORM entity. Elsy was from Luxembourg, a tiny, innocuous did: gave it everything she had and rode away to win the nation that has managed to produce a batch of great riders, inaugural women’s road world championships. Later that In 2007, Richmond hosted including Charly Gaul, the “Angel of the Mountains”. She season, Elsy, with the help of Raphaël Géminiani, went on to the finale of the U.S. Open began her career in 1951, crossing the border into France to set a new hour record, riding 41.347km at Milan’s Vigorelli Cycling Championships, a race attend the weekend races. At that point Elsy did not have a velodrome. Known as the ‘Grand Duchess’ of women’s threatened by weather worthy license but charmed her way on to the start lists. Tactically cycling, Elsy is today commemorated with a three-day race of the worst Belgian ‘classics’. inept but athletically gifted, she would just ride off the front called the Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs, which has been won by a on her lonesome. number of top riders, including Dutchwoman Marianne Vos. By 1953 (the year Queen Elizabeth came to the British The women’s Worlds continues to be a coveted prize and throne and the hydrogen bomb was announced), Elsy was makes for an amazing end of season festival of racing. Only fully licensed and racing for a French club, competing in due to the Olympics in 1984, 1988 and 1992 has the race the first ever women’s stage race in Auvergne, in the heart ever been withheld. Frenchwoman Jeannie Longo has the of France. She finished 20th and then took part in the most victories to date with 13 and overall the Netherlands now-defunct female Tour de France, coming 17th. The has won the most medals, with a total of 26. Somewhat following year, Elsy and her two racer brothers, Edmond interestingly, Lithuania has seven medals. Who knew? and Raymond, were recruited to the Dippach Cycling Club. Who will be the next Elsy Jacobs, and take women’s racing Cover photo by ANDY BOKANEV It was quite the family affair, with the Jacobs attracting another stage further in the 21st century? 04 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 05 ON THE RIVET Photographer Andy Bokanev examines the lively criterium scene in the U.S. Words & Photos ANDY BOKANEV 06 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 07 08 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 09 WE, AS AMERICANS, DID NOT INVENT CRITERIUMS, but we sure as hell love them like we did. We want to see the racers go round and round inches away from each other. We want to feel the gust of wind as the riders duel for the limited real estate that each apex has for sale. Maybe it is our short attention spans. Maybe we cannot relate to waiting half a day on the side of the mountain for a 120-pound human being to pedal his way to the top a few seconds or minutes ahead of other 120-pound humans. Maybe it is because we like a party, a tailgate, a spectacle. These were the questions and thoughts going through my head at the beginning of this season as I agreed to follow Team CLIF Bar around the country for Peloton Magazine. These are some of my favorite photographs from Athens, GA, Tulsa, OK, Boise, ID and St. Louis, MO. - Andy Bokanev 10 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 11 ALLEZ The word ‘allez’ is French for ‘go’. It is an encouragement directed not just at one rider, but at all of them: ‘Allez, les gars!’ 12 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 13 TOUR DE FRANCE, 1921 Cyclists Henri Colle and Charles Parel sit on the steps of a local house in Dalstein to enjoy a refreshing break from the day’s racing. THE RADLER ISN’T A BEER DRINKER’S BEER. IT’S A CYCLIST’S BEER. (Boulevard and 10 Barrel to name two) still top 4%. The name itself, radler, is German for bike rider, and the But Christ’s early, off-hand mention of the radler as beer-lemonade cocktail has its origins in Bavaria almost an afternoon beverage speaks to the heart of its appeal. 100 years ago. The common tale holds that innkeeper Franz Your standard radler, whether premixed by a brewery or Xaver Kugler constructed a bike path through the forest THE your bartender, should clock around 3% alcohol. Today’s outside of Munich to his establishment in the summer of quintessential bottled radler, Stiegl, hits just 2.5%, with a 1922. On the first Saturday it was opened, 13,000 cyclists mix of the Austrian brewery’s Goldbräu lager and either descended upon his inn, and he quickly realized that the only grapefruit or lemon soda (either version is excellent). way to sate all of their thirst was to mix sparkling lemonade CYCLIST’S To commemorate the 2015 UCI Road World with lager, otherwise his supply would run dry. Championships in Richmond, and accommodate the influx The ‘radlermass’ (cyclist’s liter) Kugler served that day of thirsty cyclists, Rapha has teamed up with local brewery certainly introduced the concoction to thousands of Ardent Craft Ales to create its own radler. For the first unfamiliar riders. The story is backed by the Bavarian U.S.-hosted Worlds since 1986’s Colorado Springs — where Brewers Federation and endorsed by accomplished beer BEER Italy’s Moreno “The Boss” Argentin took the men’s win and historian Horst Dornbusch, but a 1912 book, ‘Erinnerungen Ohio’s Janelle Parks claimed second behind the legendary einer Überflüssigen’ by Lena Christ (Memories of a Rapha has teamed up with local brewery Jeannie Longo — Rapha’s radler has an American flair. Superfluous Woman) references the radler as a possible Ardent to create a radler for Worlds. Instead of the traditional German lager base, the radler uses lunchtime beverage.