The cobbled sectors have been officially packed away for another year, and the peloton has traded flat, muddy farm roads for the agonizingly steep hills of the Ardennes. If your legs are feeling heavy going into this week’s indoor Championship races, just take a look at what the pros are putting themselves through.

Here is the latest news from the pro peloton and the tech world, and what it means for the Muckers community.

The Amstel Gold Grind This past weekend gave us a masterclass in tactical racing at the Amstel Gold Race. Remco Evenepoel and Mattias Skjelmose broke away and spent the final kilometers playing a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, before Evenepoel launched a devastating sprint to take the win.

For the Muckers, it’s a brilliant reminder of how to ride our Thursday Race Nights. Raw power gets you into the breakaway, but patience wins the sprint. When you’re staring down the final 500 meters on Rouvy, don’t be the first to blink. Let the other rider burn their matches in the wind, sit in the draft, and drop the hammer when it counts!

Preparing for the Mur de Huy This Wednesday is La Flèche Wallonne. The entire race essentially boils down to a single, mythical climb: the Mur de Huy. It is a terrifying wall of tarmac that kicks up to a leg-snapping 26% gradient. Because a few of the top GC riders are skipping it this year, the race is wide open for the pure punchy climbers to take the glory.

If you need some motivation for our Sunday Hill Climb, tune in on Wednesday afternoon. Watch the pros wrestle their bikes up that gradient, their faces locked in pure agony, and suddenly your local 10% incline won’t look quite so bad.

Tech Talk: Superbikes vs. Real-World Solutions The bike industry dropped two very different pieces of tech this week. First, Colnago unveiled the breathtaking C72. It has hidden down-tube storage and clearance for plush 35mm tires, proving that even the most elite Italian racing brands are realizing that comfort equals speed. However, with a price tag over £13,000, it’s firmly in “dream bike” territory.

But the tech we are really excited about comes from Škoda. They’ve just invented the “DuoBell”—a mechanical bike bell acoustically engineered to pierce through active noise-cancelling headphones. If you’ve ever lost your voice yelling “On your right!” at a wandering pedestrian buried in their AirPods on a Sunday club run, this is the greatest invention of the 21st century.

Keep the rubber side down, stay patient in the sprints, and we will see you on the start line!