Czigelmajer Bence

Bence's box of thoughts #6 Old classics & new actors under the same guise

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Edition number six. Opening weekend.

Vilmos Vanczák and Paul Seixas under an umbrella?

never thought this would happen... until I haven't found a crazy wave of thoughts that will be included in the 'box' - coming tomorrow.

Bence's box of thoughts #5 Destinies exist in cycling.

There are weeks when it's just good to write, because cycling produces narratives that are perfect to latch onto.

This week was like this. Many will not agree with me, but this was good. Bence's box of thoughts #5 is now online.

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Bence's box of thoughts #4 UAE-free thoughts in a week dominated by them

Bence's box of thoughts #4:

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Tom Pidcock, Pau Marti, and a helluva long UCI rant - and that doesn't include Jan Christen from yesterday. :) shorter than the past 2 editions due to a cold, but still okayish in size.

and on a day which takes place on a literal circuit by default, this clearly shows that French organizers had this opportunity in mind when designing the route of this race...

i'm so so close to have a godly rant on UCI once again...

The fact that UCI doesn't have a concise enough cold weather protocol when there has been a high one since 2023 is just fucking mindblowing. I don't know who on earth thought that it's a good idea to force riders to climb in -6 °C windchill in Provence, when 20 cm snow fell on the previous night

Bence's box of thoughts #3 Question marks at every level

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Bence's box of thoughts #3.

The box contains negative thoughts this week, even when the topics are positive. Overmystification does happen in cycling, and it went to extremes this week. The job was to bring it back to the floor - I guess it happened.

Bence's box of thoughts #2 Legal and moral dilemmas as part of this week's menu

One week, four topics.

Opened my box of thoughts again, and it turned out to be a very dense material - despite this, I hope you will still like it!

open.substack.com/pub/cycloben...

Will expand this topic, Spanish law and Jan Christen on Monday's newsletter (and who knows what will happen this weekend) 😄

This Caja Rural vs. Unibet Rose Rockets dilemma would not have happened at all if the number of Grand Tour participants had not been increased to 23 last year. It was a bad decision, one that now has major consequences. Either they should do 24x7 or go back to 22x8... but we have to live with it.

Bence's box of thoughts #1 Looking for identities

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I opened my mind and wrote about four things that happened last week - this is Bence's box of thoughts.

Episode 1 is out now and I really plan this to be my only weekly series during the 2026 season. I'll share only the first 5 pieces here, so go and subscribe!

It's not necessarily Brennan's fault, he'll get into shape eventually - Q for me is that Fiorelli really the right person for leadout role in any respect? Was it necessary to sign him at all? I understand the intention, I see the reason for that, but I don't think this is the role he is destined for

Please explain to me in which universe it is a good idea to leave any sprinter alone at 8-10th place with 700 to go. This would not be optimal even in a regular sprint, but in such a dynamic Australian-type sprint, it means that there is no chance of anything good.

I haven't smiled this hard in a long time due to your comment, so thanks for that. Sorry not sorry, but 1. this is my job, and 2. I'm not going to hold back when I see something that was already a potential problem before the season and is now visible in real life, too.

Swift is still incredibly elite at 38, and Welsford couldn't leave Australia without a victory, so that's one thing ticked off the list.

At Visma, however, they can slowly start looking for the key of the panic button: and for that, they can only blame their own transfer policy to some extent...

Bence's box of thoughts.

Would it be a good name for a weekly newsletter-kind of summary of my meta-narratives?

Leaning towards yes at this point 😅

It will be a long season for non-UAE fans and journalists who would like to write something really meaningful about these races. Everyone is in preseason form, and they're beating the record by 6 seconds on a 6-minute hill... At least the battle for 3rd place is still open with unexpected names.

Photo: Con Chronis

If Tord Gudmestad keeps this leadout performance throughout the year, it will surely encourage scouts to buy former or current Uno-X leadouts to accompany their sprinters. They really have been collectively the best in the business for years, and it's incredible that almost no one notices this.

it was way less disappointing or cringe than Visma's or Jayco's 3v1 - that doesn't take flowers away from Noemi who used the opportunity very wel!

Cody vs Roman III with heel Cody coming as champion. Feel like this is the way we should go on in the next weeks. Needs some hot potatoing with the title in January but it has to be done now. None of these proposals is a potential main event for Sunday night.

Ronan Auge from Unibet Rose Rockets

Ally Wollaston!

Joshua Golliker from EF-Aevolo

Silvia Persico and Hartthijs de Vries!

Marthe Goossens from AG Insurance!

Clement Russo from FDJ!

Lucia Ruiz Perez from Movistar!

Quinten Hermans from Pinarello - Q36.5

Aldo Taillieu from Visma's Development Team

Niels Driesen from Lotto - Groupe Wanty!