| LE | The shortest of two short words that instantly make you think '24 hours' or 'French bike GP'. (2) |
| BOL | The first of two short words in the title of a classic endurance race held at Paul Ricard. (3) |
| PALMSUNDAY | Star entering tree 24 hours or seven times that before Easter (4,6) |
| AGO | Short word that often follows "long" |
| SPA | Infamous circuit that has held the record for the fastest average speed in a bike GP for over 40 years. (3,13) |
| FRANCORCHAMPS | Infamous circuit that has held the record for the fastest average speed in a bike GP for over 40 years. (3,13) |
| THAI | Ratthapark Wilairot was one of the first of this nationality to score bike GP points. (4) |
| IDO | Two short words promising one long commitment (1,2) |
| PARISBREST | Wheellike pastry named for the two endpoints of a French bike race |
| PLAINSPOKEN | Blunt little nail around the French bike wheel part that's new |
| LETOUR | French bike race, familiarly |
| NOCTUARY | From the Latin for "night", a journal of one's thoughts and what passes during the hours or darkness, as opposed to a diary of the day (8) |
| ROLLNECK | Jumper to go around and around and win by one of the shortest of margins (8) |
| ENCKES | Faint comet whose orbital period of 3.3 years is the shortest of any known (6) |
| FALSESTARTS | Track meet infractions ... or short words hiding at the beginning of the answers to starred clues |
| LOG | Record of a ship's voyage or of a pilot's flying hours; or, a fallen tree trunk cleared of branches (3) |
| PHILEMON | Last and shortest of the Pauline epistles in the New Testament, addressed to the owner of slave Onesimus (8) |
| FLICKEROFHOPE | The wee flame that makes you think, perhaps, the fire will light? (7,2,4) |
| PETS | The shortest of distances upsets the favourites (4) |
| DOC | Letter-wise, who is the shortest of the seven dwarfs? (3) |
