Bike racing is literally weeks away from returning so to celebrate, we called up the world’s best domestique, Tim Declercq of Deceuninck-Quickstep - it’s official, he won a vote and everything.

We had lots to ask him and he had lots to say such as how nervous his all-conquering Classic team get before the start of the Tour of Flanders, how sprinters no longer cooperate with one another in the gruppetto and how he arranges for his wife Tracey to pick him up halfway through Paris-Roubaix so he doesn’t have to ride to the finish line.

Oh, and Tim has been spending his lockdown playing computer games and building cots for his newborn daughter, Marilou.

And since the turn of the year, James has spent more time riding, visiting and talking about Italian bike brand Pinarello than he has spent time with his own father.

Before lockdown, James jumped on a plane to the brand’s base in Treviso, northern Italy, for a tour of its factory conducted by the man himself, Fausto Pinarello.

He saw a collection of the most defining bike’s in Pinarello’s history for a feature that can be found on the Cyclist website while he also sat down for a long conversation with Fausto, the profile of which is in the latest issue Cyclist, on sale now.

James also rode and reviewed the Pinarello Dogma F12 Disk and is currently riding the Pinarello Grevil gravel bike. Honestly, if he was to go onto Mastermind, Pinarello would be his specialist subject.

So with all this knowledge, we talk through the brand’s humble beginnings in the early 1950s to being the bike that has taken 10 Grand Tours in just eight years.

Joe mentions the new Continental GP5000 clincher tyre in tan wall, you can read about that here - https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/8437/continental-releases-tan-wall-version-of-the-gp5000-road-tyre

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