Featuring exclusive interviews with Lizzie Deignan and Kévin Reza
Kévin Reza explains his new role as a mentor at B&B Hotels-Vital Concept, and tells Procycling about how his upbringing, from Guadaloupe to Paris, France, has shaped his career(Image credit: Future)
Procycling magazine: the best writing and photography from inside the world's toughest sport. Pick up your copy now in all good newsagents and supermarkets, or get a Procycling subscription.
While the coronavirus pandemic has brought a stop to Lizzie Deignan's racing season, as it has for the entire peloton, the enforced break this year has helped the Briton fall back in love with cycling. The former world champion has now said she plans to continue racing into 2021, and has her eye on repeating her 2015 feat at next year's World Championships.
Speaking to Edward Pickering for Procycling, Deignan said that she will not put an end date on her career, which some thought would end after the Olympics in 2016, and if not then, after this year's Games – which have now been postponed. Instead, the Trek-Segafredo rider revealed that she has been daydreaming about winning the Worlds road race in Flanders next year.
"I thought, 'Well, that's probably something I can hold on to and motivate myself for.' It's a long way away, but at least I feel it's a little more realistic to focus on than what may or may not happen this season," Deignan said.
Also in the magazine this month, Kévin Reza, now into a decade in the professional peloton, explains his new role as a mentor at B&B Hotels-Vital Concept, shaping future riders.
Reza also spoke about how his upbringing, from Guadaloupe to Paris, France, has shaped his career.
There's also an interview with Mike Teunissen, the surprise wearer of the first yellow jersey at the Tour de France last year. Almost a year on from the victory, he tells Procycling about how the win on stage 1 in Brussels has given him newfound confidence, and why he's coming for the Classics next.
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"I'll probably be remembered for this moment by the end of my life," he told Sophie Hurcom of the victory.
Teunissen was part of the Jumbo-Visma team who won the stage 2 team time trial at last year's Tour. Yet time trials are gradually disappearing from stage races, with this year's grand tours only finding space for 151km of time trialling. Jeremy Whittle investigates the decline of the specialism, and speaks to those in the know about the continued importance of the format in modern cycling.
For many years, Idaho's Women's Challenge was seen as one of the toughest races on the calendar for female riders, consistently pushing the boundaries of what was seen as acceptable in the sport. Sophie Hurcom looks at the groundbreaking event, which ran from 1984 to 2002, and delves into its legacy almost two decades from its last edition.
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Trek-Segafredo’s Lizzie Deignan is the cover star of Procycling’s July 2020 issue(Image credit: Future)
Procycling editor Edward Pickering interviews Lizzie Deignan for the latest issue of Procycling(Image credit: Future)
Kévin Reza explains his new role as a mentor at B&B Hotels-Vital Concept, and talks about how his upbringing, from Guadaloupe to Paris, France, has shaped his career(Image credit: Future)
Jumbo-Visma’s Mike Teunissen was the surprise wearer of the first yellow jersey at the Tour de France last year. He tells Procycling how it’s given him a newfound confidence, and why he’s coming for the Classics next(Image credit: Future)
Carmen Small talks about her role as a directeur sportif at the Ceratizit WNT Pro Cycling team this year(Image credit: Future)
Is time trialling at major pro races slowly disappearing? Jeremy Whittle investigates(Image credit: Future)
Sophie Hurcom takes a closer look at Idaho’s Women’s Challenge, which ran from 1984 to 2002, and delves into its legacy almost two decades from its last edition(Image credit: Future)
Also in the magazine, there's an exploration of the 'big nine' – the nine races that dominate every cycling season – in which Edward Pickering queries the future command of the calendar by the grand tours and the monuments. Will everything stay the same in the post-pandemic world?
Elsewhere, there is an interview with Carmen Small, an exception in cycling as a female directeur sportif. The former champion time triallist spoke to Sophie Hurcom about the skills needed to direct a team, the reason she jumped at working for Ceratizit WNT Pro Cycling this year and defying the status quo.
The American climber Joe Dombrowski spoke to Procycling about the challenges he faces in joining a new team, UAE Emirates, after spending five years at EF Pro Cycling. He told Edward Pickering about the narrow range of options available for a cyclist like him, from attempting to finish in the top 10 overall, to attacking and aiming for stage wins at big races.
Nutrition in cycling has become more of an industry than ever before. One of the first experts on the science, Nigel Mitchell, discusses changes in what cyclists eat, and showcases a few of his recipes. Also, in this month's Retro, William Fotheringham tells the story of Gianni Bugno, who was destined to be the next great Italian cyclist after he won the Giro d'Italia in 1990, leading the race from start to finish.
Procycling magazine: the best writing and photography from inside the world's toughest sport. Pick up your copy now in all good newsagents and supermarkets, or get a Procycling subscription.
Sophie Hurcom is Procycling’s deputy editor. She joined the magazine in 2017, after working at Cycling Weekly where she started on work experience before becoming a sub editor, and then news and features writer. Prior to that, she graduated from City University London with a Masters degree in magazine journalism. Sophie has since reported from races all over the world, including multiple Tours de France, where she was thrown in at the deep end by making her race debut in 2014 on the stage that Chris Froome crashed out on the Roubaix cobbles.
