Dear Rouleur readers,
Well, first we weren’t sure whether it would even happen, then if it would go all the way to Paris. Happily, we’ve had the answer – last weekend saw the regular Tour de France finale in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe, albeit a bit later in the summer than usual.
It’s felt a bit like Christmas. You look forward to it for so long and then it absolutely flies by. What a race it’s been. Fresh, exciting stage winners. Action man Marc Hirschi. Attacking racing, Slovenian supremacy and suspense all the way till Paris. The sport, the fans (us Rouleur staff included) and France needed a decent Tour, and we got one.
But unlike festive times, we’ve not been overdoing it and falling asleep on the sofa. It’s a busy period over on the Rouleur website. We have been doing our best to predict the winner of each Tour stage daily and there’s a new feature – the week in Desire, showcasing the latest gorgeous gear. This week, the spotlight is on Met’s new Rivale helmet, their video featuring a certain Steve Cummings.
We’ll also have coverage from the Giro Rosa in the next edition of Rouleur – issue 20.7, out to Rouleur members in late October – with photos from Sean Hardy and an interview with a pro cycling TikTok star who grew up on a bison ranch. Strange but true.
Our next issue also features exclusive interviews with two of the outstanding riders of this Tour de France, Caleb Ewan and Wout van Aert. Twelve months ago, the Belgian was on crutches after a career-ending crash; now, he is the superstar of the summer. He reflects on his journey to becoming the bike racer who can do it all: mud, mountains, Monuments and the madness of a bunch sprint.
Off the back of our commitment to anti-racism earlier this summer, dedicated reader Chris Jones got in touch and the seeds of a special article were sown. Jones writes powerfully on his experience as a Black man and cyclist in America: “These roads weren’t built with me in my mind.”
Lastly, I’d like to thank our Rouleur members and readers too, many of whom will be new and may well have responded to our call-to-action at the beginning of the pandemic when our future was jeopardised. Your support enables us to continue to craft our independent, peerless cycling journalism and build for 2021.
With your help, we can plan for a great year ahead, so please recommend Rouleur to your cycling-mad friends. We love doing what we do. It isn’t easy, but if it was, everybody would do it. There’s only one Rouleur.
Happy reading and happy bike riding,
Andy McGrath
