Various parts of a cyclists body endure stress and tension throughout the several hours of a race including the elbow. The arms often spend their time locked with the elbow joint open. Ligaments stretched.

It’s a long old day ahead when you’ve got 221.5km to do and jut over 13 kilometres of that is pavé or cobbles plus a few category 4 and 3 climbs. However there is no room for the tentative here. It’s attack, attack, attack. Keeping yourself on the crown of the cobbles for one of the cleanest lines at the highest speed you can maintain. Using the hips to steer to keep the bike in flow as moving the front wheel into a dip or verge may just tip you off.

Riders will often use the big chain-ring to help with chain tension. Vincenzo Nibali dominated in 2014 knowing that by picking the line, and being ahead you maximise your chances of getting a clear ride. Nothing worse than having to pick your way around riders who’ve fallen.

It’s good to keep looking ahead at where you want to be. Trying to keep those who are challenging like Cavendish behind you there can be a bit of jostling. Made even more difficult in the heavy rain and winds which are also trying to move you off course.

Elbows may also come into play when a rider wants to make their presence felt. They can be used to widen the body by pushing the arm out so that another team’s rider must go wider.  Nibali is maintaining his position out front moving his right arm out to warn Cavendish that he knows he’s there. The painting is from Stage 4 of the Tour de France 2015 on the cobbles.

Elbows

“Elbows’ is an oil painting on 50 x 100 cm primed canvas on stretchers with Winsor & Newton water-soluble oils, thinner and linseed oil, framed in white-limed wood. Ready to buy.

Like all of my works it grows gradually each day. Starting with a pink base and a quick check that the image will fit the canvas with a few light brushstrokes to outline riders. Then I started Elbows at the back of the canvas with the darkness behind the riders. The sky and the trees. You’ll see purples,pinks, blues and yellows used to build the colours. As Nibali’s team kit is a very bright blue I put in a few strokes to enable me to keep the tonal picture correct.

I then scrubbed in the lighter foreground which will become cobbles. Thin layers are allowed to dry before they are worked on again to adjust tone and to give an idea of texture.  A limited palette of colours is used which keeps the painting together. Slowly building up the riders on bikes represented by lines and very thin wheels! Again the pink of Nibali’s shoes is unusual so needed to be checked and paint adjusted to that. Back and forth, I go building up texture and light and then knocking it back. Creating a black from a mixture of the blues, yellows and pinks used Cavendish and a rider at the back are given more body – literally! Whites are tricky. The paint has to be very dry underneath to get clear lines. It would be easy to return to this painting and it get overworked losing the fragility of the moment. Is Cavendish going to power into Nibali?