More flat time trial miles? Mike makes the case for them here, while also defending his pick for the best Grand Tour to follow. Meanwhile, Laurence Pithie (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) storms to victory on the opening stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk, outsprinting Bryan Coquard and Lewis Askey on a punishing uphill finish in Laon. At the Giro d’Italia, Movistar’s Lorenzo Milesi inadvertently rode the 42km Stage 10 time trial in an ice vest, finishing ninth anyway. The Tour de France 2028 will begin in Reims, exploring the historic Grand Est region — and Mike shares a ride report from spectacular Glacier Point Road in Yosemite.
TOP STORY
- Commentary: More Flat Time Trials — Please!
RACE NEWS
- Your Preferred Grand Tour to Follow Is…
- Pithie Powers to Victory on Chaotic Opening Stage at 4 Jours de Dunkerque
- Tour de France 2028: Grand Est Rolls Out the Welcome Mat
- Philipsen, Bini Committed to EFGH Singapore Criterium
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
- Milesi Rides Giro TT in an Ice Vest — and Finishes Ninth
MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK
- Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park
VIDEO
- Inside Hotel Dory’s Bike Room
Commentary: More Flat Time Trials — Please!
To start with a disclaimer: Watching a time trial is (relatively) boring.
History offers important, memorable exceptions: LeMond vs. Fignon in ’89, the classic; Menchov overcoming DiLuca in the 2009 Giro; and of course, Pogačar’s arrival: his 2020 vanquishing of Roglič on the road to Planche des Belles Filles. When the GC is on the line and the standings are tight, a time trial can be thrilling.
But a typical TT lacks the dogfighting tactics of a road stage — and the riders look like aliens. Or robots. Or alien robots.
But if the time trials themselves aren’t nearly as fun to follow as road stages, a Grand Tour with more time trial miles — especially flat ones — makes for better viewing.
Hear me out.
Most avid cycling fans have noticed that Grand Tour time trials are fewer and shorter today than in years past. You’re not imagining this; the statistics bear it out:
Since climbing time trials have become slightly more popular (relative to the total), total flat time trial miles are in even shorter supply:
The effect? Grand Tour General Classification contests are practically exclusive to grimpeurs. Who else has noticed how often the overall winner has also donned the climber’s jersey in years past?
Longer, flatter time trials, while not as fun to watch in isolation, give all-rounders a fighting chance. Case in point: Tuesday’s Giro time trial, where Jonas Vingegaard — who has shown real TT talent in the past, but is surely a climber (Just look at him!) — lost time to Thymen Arensman and Derek Gee, a couple of GC threats who ride very fast time trials.
Is Jonas in danger of losing the Giro? Surely not; Grand Tours will always be won in the mountains. But we do have a bit more of a race on our hands. I say bring on the 40K+ time trials. Give the powermeisters a shot against the Angels of the Mountains, and crown the best total cyclist. (Thirty-second time bonuses, anyone?)
Not that any of this solves the meta-issue, that of Tadej’s dominance.
How do you solve a problem like Pogačar? Not with long, flat time trials; he’s pretty good at those too. Only time is going to solve that problem.
And maybe Paul Seixas.
Who can time trial.
RACE NEWS
Your Preferred Grand Tour to Follow Is…
The Giro -?
I definitely got that one wrong.
I say that if you get to pick a(n American) football game to attend, you go to the Super Bowl.
If afforded the chance to select one concert (among bands still touring), you see the Stones.
And if you can follow one Grand Tour, you chase Le Tour.
But I’m in a distinct minority: A healthy plurality of you — 42% — responded that you’d most want to follow the Giro. Perhaps I oversold it with promises of “history, art, pasta, Chianti.”
In fact, the Tour de France tied with an unnamed spring Classic in our reader poll. And the poor Vuelta trailed far, far behind.
Recency bias? Perhaps. But yes…the Giro wouldn’t be so bad to follow either.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
Pithie Powers to Victory on Chaotic Opening Stage at 4 Jours de Dunkerque
Laurence Pithie continued his spectacular week of racing, storming to victory on the opening stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk. Just days after conquering Rund um Köln, the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider proved he has the form to beat the best, out-sprinting Bryan Coquard and Lewis Askey on a punishing, technical finish in Laon.
The 177.2-kilometer stage from Lagny-le-Sec concluded with four grueling laps of a 2.1-kilometer climb averaging 4.2%. An early five-man breakaway—headlined by Tour de la Provence stage winner Arnaud Tendon—animated the afternoon but was safely reabsorbed with 20 kilometers to go.
As the peloton tackled the local circuit, teams fought desperately for control. Uno-X Mobility and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe threw down massive turns at the front, but the chaotic, technical terrain prevented any single squad from organizing a clean lead-out.
A late crash disrupted the bunch, but Askey stayed upright to launch a fierce, long-range attack. Spotting the danger, Pithie quickly glued himself to the Brit’s wheel before powering past him on the final, twisting slope. Further back, Marijn van den Berg secured an impressive seventh place, marking a successful return to action following a broken elbow.
Laurence Pithie wins a savage uphill sprint to take Stage 1 of the Tour of Dunkerque pic.twitter.com/ijrTlaSHQQ
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) May 20, 2026
Tour de France 2028: Grand Est Rolls Out the Welcome Mat
After Grands Départs in Spain (2026) and the United Kingdom (2027), the Tour de France returns to French soil for its 115th edition. Reims — which first hosted the start in 1956, when André Darrigade claimed his first yellow jersey — will once again fire the opening shot on Saturday, 24 June 2028, on a modified calendar to accommodate the Paris Olympics.
The peloton will spend four days exploring the Grand Est region, racing through the Marne, Ardennes, Meuse and Moselle departments across six stage cities: Charleville-Mézières, Épernay, Metz, Reims, Thionville and Verdun.
The area carries deep Tour history. Metz was the race’s first foreign destination in 1906. Bartali wore yellow past Reims Cathedral in 1938. And Alaphilippe thrilled crowds near Épernay in 2019. In 2028, a new chapter begins.
Philipsen, Bini Committed to EFGH Singapore Criterium
Cav won the Singapore criterium in 2024 — his final race.
For the fifth consecutive year this November, Singapore will host a selection of elite Tour de France riders, who will gather to take on Asian teams in an urban criterium in the heart of the Lion City.
Among the champions expected for this end-of-season event, Green Jersey-winning specialists Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay have already confirmed their participation.
The criterium course will once again start and finish in Esplanade Park. The main race will be accompanied by a wide range of activities held at the Singapore Recreation Club sports complex, including the “À l’Attaque” programme, which allows cyclists of all levels to take part in this cycling celebration.
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
Milesi Rides Giro TT in an Ice Vest — and Finishes Ninth
We’re just surprised that the UCI hasn’t relegated him for it: Movistar rider Lorenzo Milesi rode all 42km of the Giro’s stage 10 time trial in an ice vest. The Italian nonetheless managed to finish ninth in the stage despite wearing the vest, which surely added meaningful weight.
Or perhaps not? I recall that soon after Camelbaks emerged, riders were spotted wearing them under jerseys, evidently believing the humpback added some kind of an airfoil effect.
“I forgot to take off the ice vest,” Milesi laughed. “I realized it immediately after I started, but then I couldn’t take it off anymore. It was too late. I said to myself: I just have to ride at the same pace now, it doesn’t matter anymore. I just had to see how it would go.
“It certainly could have been better if I had taken off the vest,” he continued.
Perhaps not.
MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK: GLACIER POINT ROAD IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
Last Sunday Karen and I had the immense pleasure of riding to Yosemite’s Glacier Point.
We’d hoped to catch the brief, annual window when the road is open to bikes, but not cars; alas, to do so on Glacier Point Road, McKenzie Pass in Oregon, Montana’s Going-to-the-Sun Road, or other routes that open to bikes every spring, you need to be ready at a moment’s notice, and we weren’t. But we rode up GPR anyway.
While we didn’t love hugging a very narrow shoulder with car after car buzzing by, the views were well worth that bit of nervousness. Even the lesser views are spectacular…
But it was the brochure shot from Glacier Point that left me and Karen awestruck.
To read a more personal perspective on this ride, check out https://mikefee.substack.com/p/getting-to-the-point.
PEZ VIDEO
A few weeks ago we showed you Italy’s Hotel Dory. Now we take you deep inside, to the hotel’s bike room. Yes — a hotel with a bike room! This is an altogether different type of hotel experience.
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