'They race like juniors': How men's pro cycling is getting wilder and races refuse to slow down

Racing from the gun during a three week Grand Tour is a big ask for even the best and the strongest. Is this the new cycling?

Tour de France stage 10 breakaway
(Image credit: Getty)

Grand Tour cycling, to my mind, is often a lot like Test cricket. The sport ebbs and flows, there are ups and downs, the tension builds until something gives way, until something happens. There are often long periods of time where nothing seems to happen at all, but this makes the pay off when the action does kick in all the sweeter.

However, something weird has been happening in English cricket in the last two years. Thanks to the influence of the new captain and coach combination Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, there essentially are no longer quiet periods in Test matches; the action does not stop. There's less ebb and flow, and more constant flow.

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Adam Becket
News editor

Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.

Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.