Stats to watch for in 2018
Four
Critérium du Dauphiné titles. A question mark hanging over him there may be, but should Chris Froome ride — and win — the Critérium du Dauphiné this year, he will become the first four-time winner. His current hat-trick ranks alongside Charly Mottet, Bernard Hinault, Luis Ocaña and Nello Lauredi.
Five
Amstel Golds. Philippe Gilbert could well order up a fifth Amstel Gold this year and equal Jan Raas’s record number of victories. He has yet to surpass Raas’s fastest victory: 40.586kph in 1980.
25
years. This year marks a quarter century since the previous year’s Giro d’italia winner has returned to make it two in a row. Can Tom Dumoulin repeat Miguel Indurain’s feat of 1993 and fend off all comers for a second year running 2018?
70th
anniversary. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the women’s World Championship road race — to be contested in mountainous Austria this time around. Currently France and the Netherlands line up with 10 golds apiece, and it’s hard to get away from the lowlands nation if you want to bet on who could edge ahead in the winning stakes this year. That’s if they can get past the impressive strength in depth of Team GB.
100
miles. There aren’t many time trial records that haven’t been decimated more than once in the past couple of years, but the women’s 100-mile team mark of 12:26.33 will be a comparatively venerable 15-years-old this summer. Set by a formidable Walsall Roads CC trio of Lynne Taylor, Marina Bloom and Tracey Maund in the BDCA 100, it will surely be hard to topple.