“Stupid, arrogant, and tone-deaf”: Car brand’s SUV advert accused of “punching down” at cyclists by comparing cargo bikes to “old-fashioned chaos” of horse and cart; Can cycling lead to divorce?; Budget cap debate; MVDP Ironman bet + more on the live blog

In case you missed it last night: 

> Roads need to be narrower or wider to protect cyclists, according to new Active Travel England guidance

You know what the cycling world – alright, I’m talking about just myself – has been crying out for? Something that holds your helmet nicely (so it’s not shoved in the cupboard), doubles as an avant-garde ornament, and is shaped like a turtle. That’s what we all want, right?

Well, 3D printers ZGVNPLK (yeah, I don’t know how to pronounce that either) have come up with that very concept. What a coincidence…

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Iz govna i palok (@zgvnplk)

Get that on the Christmas list, quick…

Remember the flooded Dublin cycle lane from last week’s blog?

Well, the council came along and drained it – only to leave all the leaves and associated rubbish clumped together, making it inevitable that the lane will flood at the next drop of rain:

Update on this cycle-lane. Last Thursday, someone came to clear the drains, but left all the leaves & rubbish in place in clumps. So when it rained again, all the shores blocked again. The problem isn’t the leaves; it’s the sh1tty design & no maintenance. @irishcycle.com @dublincycling.bsky.social

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— Citizen Wolf (@citizenw0lf.bsky.social) November 10, 2025 at 7:25 PM

Responding to Dublin City Council’s bizarre bike lane clean-up job, the cyclist behind the brilliant IrishCycle.com site posted: “This cycle path has resulted in more people cycling on this road, but maintenance is needed otherwise it makes the route weather-dependent for at least some users.”

Which defeats the purpose, really.

A motorcyclist who punched a cyclist taking part in a World Naked Bike Ride, causing him to crash, before assaulting two police officers, with one later requiring treatment to glue their ear back together, has avoided a prison sentence.

> Man who considered World Naked Bike Ride cyclist a “pervert”, punched him off bike, and attacked police officers spared prison sentence

Yeah, probably best to keep this one away from your significant other, just in case they get any ideas…

Obviously, the world of cycling – and especially the meme-hungry world of the cycling internet – is rife with, let’s face it, problematic ‘jokes’ about cyclists hiding their bike-based expenditure from their spouses, or lying about how long this Sunday’s club ride will take.

Because, at the end of the day, however corny those jokes may be, for anyone who loves cycling (and their long-suffering husbands or wives), there’s a grain of truth to them.

Which makes author Katrina Collier’s latest column in the Independent all the more… concerning. Because, according to Katrina, cycling effectively ended her marriage.

“We met in Chicago at a mutual friend’s wedding and were married in 2007. Back then, he wasn’t obsessive about fitness at all. He might have commuted by bike, but that was it. He wasn’t spending hours on it like he later would,” she writes. Oh dear…

“However, while we were dating, he would fly over from the UK and visit me in Australia, where I’m from, and at one point, he paid a lot of money to bring his bike over on the plane. Maybe that was a sign.” Hmmm…

Katrina goes on to describe a joint cycling holiday to Land’s End as the “loneliest I’ve ever been on” and discusses her ill-fated attempts to connect with her husband by purchasing a tandem and attending spin classes together.

“As time went on, cycling became everything to him,” she writes. “He’d do long events and 100-mile rides that lasted all day, and I’d come along just to support him. I’d sit there waiting for him to cycle past, bored and disconnected. He never realised how isolating it was for me. It created a lot of unspoken distance between us.

“The marriage was becoming secondary to the exercise. The cycling had stopped being a healthy outlet and started becoming an obsession. It was no longer ‘just a hobby’. It wasn’t just a Sunday bike ride; it was training all weekend and constantly feeling the need to move, to train, to compete.”

Gulp.

Of course, what Katrina is describing is, in fact, an addiction not to cycling per se, but to overexercising (which, thankfully for my marriage, has never been a problem for me). According to new research, one in four extreme marathon runners experience worryingly high levels of anxiety and depression as a result of running, while a 2018 study found that intensive exercise can take its toll on wellbeing and relationships.

“He was training for hours every day, sometimes mornings and evenings,” she says. “He became very thin. He didn’t see it as a problem, but it started affecting his health. He developed breathing problems as a result of too much exercise. It looked something like asthma, though he said it wasn’t. Interestingly, when he finally reduced his cycling, those symptoms disappeared.”

And so, evidently, had she… What, too soon?

What do you reckon? Can too much cycling negatively impact your marriage? Or does riding off into the distance simply mean you don’t have to hear your spouse shouting at you for a few hours at the weekend? See, there’s another one of those terrible jokes I was telling you about. This topic is a minefield…

Wherever you go, always take your ironing board with you. ? pic.twitter.com/fx1pxZn7lg

— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) November 12, 2025

Never change, Belgium, never change.

The dark clouds hovering over the British domestic racing scene show no signs of disappearing anytime soon, following today’s news that the country’s top-ranked men’s elite squad, the Scott Redding Cycling team (SRCT), is set to fold at the end of the year.

The decision to close the squad, which raced this year as Muc-Off–SRCT–Storck, after five years comes as a result of a failed attempt to secure new sponsors for the 2026 season – and despite a hugely successful 2025 campaign, which saw the team at one point aim to secure enough funds to progress to the UCI’s third-tier Continental level.

Dominating the domestic road scene, SRCT won both the both the National Road Series team and individual titles, and secured a clean sweep of The British Continental road race rankings.

Olly Hassell/SWpix.com

Highlights included National Road Series winner Adam Howell, who has since secured a move to a French Conti team, winning the East Cleveland Classic and the Tour of the Reservoir. Meanwhile, 20-year-old Alex Beldon finished eighth at the British national road championships, the race’s highest non-pro finisher.

Operating on a shoe-string budget of just £8,000, the seven-rider team was originally founded to provide opportunities for promising young British cyclists on the domestic scene, which has been struggling in recent years due to increasing financial pressure.

The demise of both Trinity Racing and Saint Piran last year meant that there were no UCI Continental teams in Britain for the first time since 2004.

Alex Beldon drives the pace for SRCT at the 2025 Beaumont Trophy, Stamfordham (Olly Hassell/SWpix.com)

“Formed to give British riders the opportunity to race against the country’s top UCI teams in The Tour Series, SRCT quickly made its mark,” the team said in a statement.

“As the Tour Series ended and television coverage of domestic cycling disappeared, so too did much of the financial support that once fuelled the sport.

“Despite those challenges, the team went on to achieve major success including winning the 2025 National Series Team and Overall titles, and helping multiple riders progress to professional careers abroad.

“Internationally, SRCT earned respect on the European and American circuits, competing in UCI and French elite races, collecting U23 awards, and even travelling to California, where the team won a SoCal Criterium and took a podium on Stage 1 of the Redlands Stage Race.”

> “You need a billionaire to say ‘I’ll save the sport’. But that won’t happen”: Matt Holmes on why British cycling needs a reset and his journey from WorldTour pro to the “world’s most reluctant YouTuber”

Co-founders Scott Redding and Adam Ellis both said they were “proud” of the team’s accomplishments over the past half decade, while noting the difficulties of running a team in the current “uncertain financial arena”.

“This has been an incredible journey,” Redding said. “We’re proud of everything the team has achieved, from race victories to helping shape the next generation of professional cyclists. Closing the team wasn’t an easy decision, but it’s time to focus on new opportunities and personal ventures.”

Tom Williams wins the 2024 Ryedale GP (Craig Zadoroznyj/SWpix.com)

“Our vision was always to create a platform for young riders to reach their full potential,” added Ellis. “In today’s uncertain financial arena, sustaining a team at this level has become increasingly difficult. We’re proud of what we’ve built and grateful to everyone who’s been part of the journey.”

Nevertheless, both co-founders have also hinted that this isn’t the end of their time working together in cycling, revealing they have “new plans to inspire a new generation of cycling fans in fresh ways in the future”.

RIP some of the few wands TfL did reinstall on Clapham High Street. Whilst locking my bike up, I saw: 1. Motorcyclist riding the entire length of the cycle lane 2. A car driver cut into the lane here to go around another driver waiting to turn right 3. A bus straddle the lane

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— Safe Cycle Infra Enjoyer ? (@rivierarider.bsky.social) November 11, 2025 at 8:29 PM

“Apparently, according to TfL, this qualifies as acceptable cycle ‘infrastructure’ in 2025,” the cyclist added. Yep. 

As promised yesterday, Dan’s got the full low-down on Tom Pidcock’s new ‘condom’ jacket – with a bit of ribbing thrown in for good measure (sorry, we couldn’t resist)…

> Q36.5 puts Pidcock in an ‘aero condom’ and thinks the new waterproof jersey is the way to go on rainy days

Let’s face it, Mathieu van der Poel has practically completed cycling.

On the road, the 30-year-old Dutchman’s CV includes a world title, two editions of Milan-Sanremo, three Tour of Flanders victories, and three Paris-Roubaix cobblestones. On the cyclocross bike, he’s been the dominant rider of his era (and maybe the greatest of all time), winning seven rainbow jerseys.

He also has a gravel world championships to his name, and has won European and national titles on the mountain bike (and was only a few close encounters with some rocks away from building on his MTB legacy).

So, it makes sense that cycling’s greatest multi-disciplinary talent would be willing to seek out another discipline (or three) and have a crack at it, right? Well, that’s where Freddy Ovett comes in.

> From Paris-Roubaix to Ironman: Greg Van Avermaet secures first ever career world title… at Ironman world championships (with a little help from training buddy Mathieu van der Poel)

In recent weeks, Van der Poel has been doing some swimming, cycling, and running with fellow Paris-Roubaix winner Greg Van Avermaet, ahead of the 40-year-old’s appearance at the Ironman 70.3 world championships at the weekend.

That prep – which saw MVDP don his wetsuit, as well as his running shoes, alongside Greg – paid off spectacularly for Van Avermaet, as the former Olympic road race champion dominated the field to win the 40-44 age group in Marbella.

And, as we first reported yesterday on the live blog, inspired by MVDP dipping his toe (and then the rest of his body) into the world of Ironman, Freddy Ovett – an off-road racer, son of Steve, and long-time training buddy of the Alpecin star – took to Instagram to mischievously sow some triathlon-flavoured seeds.

Posting a clip of his latest ride in Spain with his Dutch mate, Ovett informed everyone that Van der Poel has (apparently) confirmed that he will, in fact, take on an Ironman… if the British-born rider’s video of the pair training together gets 10,000 likes.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Freddy Ovett (@freddyovett)

As of this morning, Ovett’s clip hasn’t quite got there, nudging its way to the 60,000 mark – but that hasn’t stopped Van der Poel himself hinting that he’s up for the challenge, anyway.

“Still need to do the Average Rob one,” Van der Poel replied in the comments, referring to an apparent previous commitment to taking on an Ironman alongside Belgian YouTuber Robert Van Impe, known as ‘Average Rob’.

“Okay, let’s lock in two then,” Ovett joked. “I get commission from Ironman, anyway.”

As alluded to by Van der Poel, this isn’t the first time that the prospect of the three-time Paris-Roubaix winner taking on an Ironman – all 3.8km swim, 180km cycle, and marathon run of it – has been mooted.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by MVDP (@mathieuvanderpoel)

“Mathieu almost competed in a Half Ironman in Portugal,” ‘Average Rob’ Van Impe recently told the Lambert and Albert podcast. “He was really looking into it, but for a professional cyclist, it’s not something you can just fit in.”

“He did promise to do a full Ironman with us someday, but I think that’s something for four, five, six, or ten years from now. For after his career. Or when he’s in a more relaxed phase and wants to use it as training.

“Apparently, he’s a much better swimmer than people think. He’s a guy who can do everything well. A phenomenon.”

Ovett’s social media bet isn’t even the first time that the former BMC stagiaire attempted to start up the Van der Poel-Ironman rumour mill. Just last week, the 31-year-old replied to a photo of Van der Poel running on Instagram with the cheeky comment, “Big Ironman guy”.

Zac Williams/SWpix.com

And while it’s highly unlikely – unfortunately for us – that Van der Poel, one of cycling’s true superstars, would be permitted to break up his training for 2026 by targeting something as gruelling as an Ironman, the idea has gained support from someone who knows a thing or two about combining road racing with swimming and running.

“We had this discussion at Gent-Wevelgem two years ago, it’s time my friend, Cozumel 2026,” former Ineos Grenadiers rider and professional triathlete Cameron Wurf chipping in on Instagram, referring to the Ironman race in Mexico, which takes place at the end of November.

That triathlon gauntlet has well and truly been thrown down, eh? It probably won’t happen, but at least it’s fun to speculate about in November…

Cycle-counter CS3Count on the Embankment cycle lane in London at 3,097 cycle journeys at 08:34 this morning (485,339 since being reset). @cs3cs6count.bsky.social

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— Timothy (@westcountrytim.bsky.social) November 11, 2025 at 9:08 AM

With Mads Pedersen getting all shirty about cycling’s post-season crit circuit, it’s given me the opportunity to once again share my favourite image from this year’s Saitama Criterium (and maybe of the entire cycling year).

Ladies and gentlemen, Primož Roglič…

Penny for Primož’s thoughts about exhibition events at that moment.

On Monday’s live blog, we poked some fun at the Saitama Criterium, the annual post-season exhibition event in Japan, ‘won’ this year by Jonas Vingegaard, who overcame an early crash to solo to victory at the dizzying average speed of 40kph.

Of course, crits and exhibition events, the results and structure of the action pre-determined by the riders and organisers, are nothing new in cycling. In Belgium and the Netherlands, they’re a fixture of the post-Tour de France summer and where, back in the day, Tour stars could make the bulk of their yearly earnings through some hefty appearance fees.

They’re all a bit of fun, held on tight circuits, perfect for fans to eat some frites, drink some beer, and gawp at some of the best bike racers on the planet, with the riders filling their pockets without exerting themselves too much. Everyone knows they’re fixed, but that’s not the point. The crits represent the WWF side of cycling – sports entertainment.

Victory sealed! ?

Jonas Vingegaard recovers from an early crash at the Saitama Criterium and launches a late attack to take the win! ? pic.twitter.com/NBzR8TuCwn

— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) November 9, 2025

However, the Saitama Criterium, and the other recent post-season events which mostly take place in the Far East, feel a bit different. For starters, they’re televised, and subject to some strange, very serious reporting in the likes of Cyclingnews (which is baffling, when you think about it).

They also spark some equally puzzling debates on social media, as fans question whether Jonas was really trying, and whether the crit should be billed as a ‘race’ (no idea why these discussions ignore a century’s worth of crit-based cycling history, but that’s social media for you I suppose).

Cav bows out at the top (kind of) at the 2024 Tour de France Singapore Criterium (A.S.O./Danial_Hakim)

And, interestingly, they really, really annoy Mads Pedersen. Speaking on his Long Distance podcast this week, the former world champion branded the post-season crits in Japan “awful to watch”, revealing that he’s turned down several invitations (and presumably, some big bucks) to take part.

“I’ve actually refused a couple of times,” the Lidl-Trek rier said. “You should never say never, but it’s the last thing I would like to do.

“It’s a done deal. None of the pros are even trying to make it look like a race. It is more important that they’re wearing some silly costume or doing publicity stunts. That’s what they’re paid to do.

“I understand why fans love it. But for me, it’s not really cycling.”

Pre-determined outcomes, a veneer of spectacle and magic underpinned by pragmatic machinery, an attempt to trick the viewing public, and all driven by unfettered capitalistic impulses… Maybe crits actually capture the true essence of cycling and its history after all?

We’re in the middle of the off-season, so it’s no surprise that pro cycling’s precarious finances, and the sport’s top-heavy financial model, have proved an almost ever-present topic of conversation in recent weeks.

Last week, we saw the concept of paid ticketing at road races, and the prospect of a “privatised” Alpe d’Huez, raised and, inevitably, ridiculed. And this week, we’re back onto that old favourite of cycling team bosses looking to address cycling’s imbalance of power: budget caps.

> Paid ticketing at bike races “only solution we have to survive in the future”, says former Milan-Sanremo winner Pippo Pozzato – after Jérôme Pineau’s plan to “privatise Alpe d’Huez” ridiculed

Last year, the UCI revealed that, in order to spread the financial love and tackle the seemingly untouchable clout of state-owned squads such as UAE Team Emirates, it was exploring the possibility of introducing a WorldTour budget cap.

“This aims to preserve sporting fairness by avoiding excessive disparities between teams in terms of budget,” the governing body said at the time.

The need to preserve sporting and financial fairness was underlined during the 2025 season, a campaign which saw UAE Team Emirates rack up a record 95 race wins. Meanwhile, Arkéa-B&B Hotels collapsed at the end of the season after failing to find a sponsor, and a proposed merger between Belgian squads Lotto and Intermarché-Wanty drags on.

ASO/Charly Lopez

However, according to UCI president David Lappartient, the governing body’s plan to introduce a budget cap was rejected by the teams, a decision he reckons was surprising and “wrong”.

“The big teams have very large budgets, and as a result, where before a relatively small sum could be enough to achieve a decent result, today you’re just a bystander,” Lappartient told Ouest-France today.

“We considered implementing a ‘budget cap’ for all the teams, and paradoxically, the teams didn’t accept it. I was surprised that it was mostly the smaller teams that refused. I think they were wrong because it seems necessary to level the playing field.”

He continued: “Why vote against it when a budget cap is proposed? They say yes, but first the cycling model needs to change. With a budget cap, if you exceeded the limit, you had to pay a tax that went to other teams. There was a mitigating mechanism in place.

“When you look back at cycling history, consider La Vie Claire. They finished 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, and 12th at the 1986 Tour de France. And the team’s budget at the time, relative to the others, was probably even higher than UAE Team Emirates.

“I’m not saying it was right. But there have always been teams with more resources than others. The goal is to regulate things a little. And I remain convinced that a budget cap is one of the elements to achieve that.”

Pauline Ballet/SWpix.com

Asked if he believes that cycling’s current sponsorship model is outdated, Lappartient said: “Can’t we say that cycling was undervalued compared to its true worth, and that today, it’s a sport that has taken on a global dimension?

“And, as a result, we have sponsors of a more global scale, with more international teams. Perhaps this is the price of success, with cycling enjoying very high viewership. The real winners are the riders, who are earning a much better living.”

As for the prospect of ticket gates on the sport’s biggest climbs? Lappartient remains unconvinced that’s the solution to the sport’s financial issues.

“If you want to charge for the Tour de France, you’ll never get anywhere,” he said.

Car adverts, typically, aren’t made with cyclists in mind. And, normally, they don’t feature people on bikes at all.

In fact, car ads by definition tend to present a world where not only the car is king, but it also appears to the only mode of transport available.

But Chinese car manufacturer BYD has decided to buck that trend in their latest advertising campaign, by actually featuring people on bikes – and alienating a substantial portion of the cycling population in the process.

That’s because the new ad for the brand’s Sealion 6 SUV, created by advertising agency Taboo and currently airing in Australia, aims to contrast their fancy new vehicle with the “chaos of old-fashioned transport”.

And what exactly do they mean by “old-fashioned transport”? Well, in the ad you can spot families heading to school in horse-drawn carts, there’s a man on a penny-farthing… oh, and there are people riding cargo bikes – and simply walking.

According to Taboo, the ad – titled “Everything else feels old-fashioned” – positions the Sealion 6 as the “intelligent choice for progressive Australians”.

“The film playfully contrasts the effortless modernity of the BYD Sealion 6 with the outdated chaos of old-fashioned transport — from horse-drawn carriages to penny-farthings — all converging at a school drop-off,” the agency says.

“As the BYD Sealion 6 glides smoothly through the scene, it becomes a clear symbol of progress in a world still clinging to the past.” Like riding bikes, then?

Unsurprisingly then, the advert has come in for criticism from active travel campaigners, including Adam Tranter, the former cycling and walking commissioner for the West Midlands.

“Car brand BYD’s new SUV ad pokes fun at people walking and cycling, comparing them to Horse and Carts,” Tranter wrote on social media.

“It joins a long list of car ads that sell a false promise of convenience and aspiration while punching down at sustainable transport modes, including cargo bikes.”

In response, and to provide a bit of balance, Tranter then created his own more “realistic” version of the school run scene:

Car brand BYD’s new SUV ad pokes fun at people walking and cycling, comparing them to Horse & Carts.

It joins a long list of car ads that sell a false promise of convenience and aspiration while punching down at sustainable transport modes.

So I made it a bit more realistic… pic.twitter.com/XVwZgqPdXO

— Adam Tranter (@adamtranter) November 7, 2025

“Nothing says ‘innovation’ like making fun of the transport options that actually reduce emissions,” added Agata Kryjak on LinkedIn.

“Funny how one of the world’s leading ‘future mobility’ brands still imagines progress as… just bigger cars. Such an old-school picture of ‘the future’,” added former ad man Frank Aldorf.

And cycling journalist Laurens van Rooijen noted: “On a ‘positive’ note: finally one ad where a new car does not have all the road surface for itself.

“Still: an incredibly stupid, arrogant, and tone-deaf advertisement that confirms my view of Chinese car builders and their ways of doing business.”

“Why don’t they punch up at gas-guzzlers instead?” said Peter Gardiner.

However, some weren’t entirely convinced by Tranter’s analysis of the ad, concluding that the cycling campaigner had “misread” the brand’s intentions.

“Slight misreading? Appears they’re comparing other cars to horse and cart,” said Oscar. “Truthfully turning up at school on a horse would be significantly more interesting that any mid-range SUV.”

“I think too much is being read into this,” added electric vehicle manager Mark Stubbs. “I think their angle is that they are trying to promote that their vehicles is state of the art and as they say ‘everything else seems old fashioned’. 

“I don’t think they are poking fun specifically at the alternatives they show because, they are emission free, they are just relating back to pre-automobile.”

Meanwhile, Miguardo echoed this sentiment on Twitter: “I think they are hinting towards American cars being outdated and old-fashioned still. They are saying your American car is like a horse-drawn carriage to our cars.”

But Tranter still wasn’t convinced.

“They made all the kids walking wear old fashioned hats,” he said. “They made cargo bikes part of the ‘old fashioned’ narrative. They know what they are doing.”

In any case, the ad in general reminded me of those terrible cycling-based skits from the old Top Gear days:

Deary me. I wonder what James May makes of these now?