“There needed to be a cycle map for London that made safety its focus”: Homemade cycle map racks up a million views; Fans plea for free-to-air coverage of the Grands Départs; Blogger calls out lack of segregated cycle lanes in city + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Pidcock targets Italian and Ardennes classics in spring schedule
After a surprising podium place at last year’s Vuelta a España, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Pidcock might be tempted to focus less on the classics. After all, the Pinarello Q36.5 rider has already skipped the cyclocross season for the second year running and a return to mountain biking looks quite remote. Plus, Pidcock’s team have invitations to all three Grand Tours this year, with Pidcock surely tempted to focus on leading his team at the Tour de France. Not so…
Pinarello have this morning announced that Pidcock will begin his season a fortnight before the traditional ‘Opening Weekend’, starting his season with a series of Spanish one day and short stage races before lining up at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on the 28th February.
Then comes the Italian bloc, comprising Strade Bianchi, which the Brit won in 2023 and was second to Tadej Pogacar last year, Milano-Torino and Milan-Sanremo where he’ll be aiming for a first victory in a Monument.
If that’s not enough, the Brit is then scheduled to race the week-long Volta a Catalunya two days after Sanremo in preparation for the Ardennes classics. Liège–Bastogne–Liège is the big objective on the 26th April, and puts to bed any notion of the Yorkshireman sacrificing the classics to become a pure GC rider, for now at least. We even have a quote from Pidcock on the lack of a change in focus:
“My schedule stays quite similar to previous years. But adding in some new races to keep things fresh. But also to give time to training blocks and periodisation to make sure I am ready for the races that matter most!”
Tom Pidcock’s full spring schedule:
- Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia (13–14 February)
- Clásica Jaén (16 February)
- Vuelta a Andalucía (18–22 February)
- Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (28 February)
- Strade Bianche (7 March)
- Milano–Torino (18 March)
- Milano–Sanremo (21 March)
- Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (23–29 March)
- De Brabantse Pijl (17 April)
- Amstel Gold Race (19 April)
- La Flèche Wallonne (22 April)
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège (26 April)
The blogger holding drivers and the council to account...
Bike Worcester appearances in the road.cc live blog are like buses. You wait so long… blah blah blah.
After yesterday’s appearance in the live blog for unveiling a cycling flood app which advises riders when shared-use riverside paths are under water (a common issue in Worcestershire) they’re making an appearance today for their work in tracking road traffic collisions.
Having first caught the attention of the Malvern Gazette, Dan Brothwell has been uploading RTC data to Bike Worcester’s blog, in an effort “to increase awareness of antisocial, dangerous, and illegal driving in Worcester and its surroundings.” And, in his latest post, Brothwell has kept at it, highlighting the (approximate) 474.5 metres of segregated cycle lanes in the city, including one stretch that runs to just 9 metres in length! I suppose you have to start somewhere…
And any Worcester story is a perfect excuse to reshare this splendid photo of their former mayor.
2026/27 British Cyclocross calendar revealed
In the wake of last weekend’s national championships, won by Cam Mason and Anna Flynn respectively, we now have the schedule for next year’s National Trophy Series as well as the National Cyclocross Championships which will be held at Clanfield in the South Downs.
Here’s the full National Trophy Series calendar:
Round 1: Derby, East Midlands – 17/18 October 2026
Round 2: Pontypool, Wales – 7/8 November 2026
Round 3: Cyclopark, South East – 28/29 November 2026
Round 4: Shrewsbury, West Midlands – 19/20 December 2026.
Round 5 & 6: Peel Park, Bradford – 23/24 January 2027
National Cyclo-cross Championships: Clanfield, South – 9/10 January 2027
Amateur cyclist tests positive for steroids after Masters world championship win
Bold of you to presume we could go a week without a doping story of some sort…
"Chin up lads, you don't need Onley"
We’ve been short of silly stories, particularly unacceptable for a friday, so here’s something suitably odd and mildly amusing…
Passing time waiting on those lights to change… ??#TourDownUnder?? pic.twitter.com/FJ5D8fRv2h
— Team Picnic PostNL (@picnicpostnl) January 16, 2026
I’m reliably informed by someone older than me (whose modesty I’ll spare for now) that there is a reference to be drawn here to Joop Zoetemelk on Superstars. This person can count themself lucky that I even know what Superstars is…
"Pity the majority of Brits won't be able to watch it": Fans react to 2027 Tour de France Grand Depart route announcements with pleas for free-to-air coverage
I’ll be honest, yesterday was really rather exciting. The Tour de France Hommes and Femmes are coming to these shores, and now we can start planning our routes. It’s also a perfect excuse for civil architecture to pay tribute with a certain colour scheme.
My colleague Ryan attended yesterday’s press conference and has an excellently detailed write-up of the whole shebang. But with the dust settling a little bit, we can start to look at other details, beyond the banal but adorable trend of applying French names to Lancashire’s finest climbs…
Côte de Jubilee Tower, Côte de Waddington Fell… I cannot.. it is too precious #TDF2027
— Anna Mac ?? ?? (@annamacb.bsky.social) 15 January 2026 at 22:59
For example, we reported last month that the Scottish leg of the men’s Grand Depart had trebled its budget. With the route confirming, as suspected, that the route would immediately leave Edinburgh southwards, crossing the border before the opening stage is even done, is that a good return on investment for the Scottish Government?
> Scottish Tour de France Grand Départ budget trebles to over £10 million
Then there’s the elephant in the room, the matter of who can actually watch this? The Grand Depart organising committee were keen to emphasise in their materials that around 10 million people will come within an hour’s drive of both races, but for the other 60 odd million people in the country, what are their options?
With the (beloved) ITV Cycling production being put out of business by TNT from next year, there are no arrangements in place for free-to-air coverage to be broadcast of either the men’s or women’s event. The comments section of social media posts announcing the route (past all the bots) were very much of the same opinion:
Pity the majority of Brits won’t be able to watch as it’s no longer on free-to-air channel.
— Jo-Anne Burrow (@lalaburrow) January 15, 2026
“But where can you watch it live on TV without paying huge amounts?”
“Shame it’s another great British sporting event which will be behind a pay wall and many sports fans will not be able to watch”
“Pity the majority of Brits won’t be able to watch as it’s no longer on free-to-air channel.”
You get the idea. Thankfully Ryan had the foresight to ask about this at yesterday’s presser and was told “As you’ve probably seen, the contract sits with TNT,” but that there was “a commitment to work with Christian [Prudhomme] and the team at ASO to bring the six stages to free-to-air TV and work on that is ongoing.”
A commitment to work with people to achieve an outcome isn’t yet the sort of ironclad commitment to an outcome that you might be hoping for by the time of this sort of announcement. We’ll be watching closely over the next year to see what we can do about this, short of writing letters begging for an Imlach comeback…
Stage 1
Gary hit the race hard on the first day with this magnificent black number.
Just check out the details.
The collar is superb.
Everything about it screams class, style and impeccable judgement.
Surely a race winning performance on day one. pic.twitter.com/9HLhfrN665
— Gary Imlach’s Peloton of Joy (@ImlachHair) July 26, 2024
Dublin cycle lane “like Amsterdam” due to “amazing” number of cyclists, politician says
Heavy metal rockers to back USA Cycling for LA Olympics
Here’s a strange story that tests my talent for inserting relevant cultural references to the limit.
USA Cycling have announced that they will receive a portion of revenue raised from heavy metal outfit Five Finger Death Punch‘s latest tour.
The Vegas-based five-piece have a track record of supporting charitable causes, having previously donated ticket proceeds to veterans charities. How on earth they made the leap to cycling I’m not quite sure.
In the Instagram post announcing the generosity, rather than acting Paranoid, USA Cycling say “$1 from every ticket sold [will support] USA Judo and USA Cycling’s BMX Racing and BMX Freestyle teams.”
They add that the band, not wanting to appear on the Wrong Side of Heaven, are “expanding [their] mission with the launch of its campaign to support Team USA and align with the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games being held on American soil in Los Angeles in 2028.”
Maybe USA Cycling will be saying, to these masters of Hard Rock, “Hallelujah” after such an act of philanthropy.
Rapha unveil US Olympic kit
Something about USA Cycling blog stories being like buses…
Reminds me of the Gran Fondo world champions jersey, or the leaders jerseys of the Volta a Catalunya for that matter.
Remember this reveal comes exactly a week after Rapha shut half of its American clubhouses…
Pogacar motorpaced uphill
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I was (gently) critiqued a few weeks ago for calling Pascal Ackermann a B-tier sprinter. I happen to think it depends on how many riders you think can exist on a top tier at any one time.
Well regardless, hopefully my application of the same moniker to Niccolo Bonifazio won’t be as debatable. Since retiring at the end of 2024 you must have been wondering what the former Lampre and Bahrain fast-man has been up to. Turns out he can be found motorpacing Tadej Pogacar…
? Almost the only way Tadej Pogacar can train uphill riding with pacing for a longer period of time. Hire moto rider. Niccolo Bonifazio riding moto uphill as fast as he descended Cipressa in Milano-Sanremo some years ago.pic.twitter.com/xh8zglgVSP
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) January 16, 2026
Latest road.cc podcast: Can bike brands finally breathe again in 2026? Why the industry is back on track and “wiser” after years of turmoil + Tour de France UK Grands Départs
Ryan chatted to Rory Hitchens about the state of the bicycle industry, and an array of other topics, some of which we even mentioned on this page today!
Listen (or read) below:
Homemade London cycling map racks up one million views
We’re not used to such a feel-good write up of bicycles from much of print media, though we should have probably known that Metro would be more public transport/active travel friendly than most…
They’ve got a nice story in today’s print edition about 34-year-old Aydin Crouch who, after realising he couldn’t find a good cycling map for his bike-averse flatmates, set about making his own.
3000 hours later, the map is finished, with colour coordination according to the type of infrastructure, low traffic neighbourhoods and planned future infrastructure. It’s a hell of an effort that we can only commend. And it’s been viewed one million times in the last year.
You can view Aydin’s map below, and see the full-write up here.
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@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
Obree had some actual talent in his legs though, in addition to his bike/aero engineering talent.
Малко като опит за доказване е излязло... Никой няма нужда от толкова голям въртящ момент и мощност на шосеен велосипед с тънки гуми, които дори трудно ще предават тази мощност върху пътя. А ако има и ограничение от 25 км/час е още по-безмислено.
Not sure how informative that is. I imagine for all most of us know it could be Europe's only 'volumetric modular building'. 🤷♂️
Yes, but they're copying the adults of today...
Indeed - but alas I think this is an effective argument for very few folks indeed. As for push-back, what else could we expect *? I think there are ways of selling this but we're far more likely to see headlines about the problems, while the successes are relegated to footnotes, because at that point it just works and there's nothing to see... * Given that this time there aren't politicians being persuaded to overlook thousands of deaths and the demolition of property by the billions from the motoring trades (and the excitement of being able to drive out with the bright things for a party at a roadhouse). Nor are we as tolerant of "accidents". (And noting that publicity about the cases of a handful of people killed by cyclists continues to reach the media; deaths related to motor vehicles not so much).
That rather ignores that the children of today are the adults of tomorrow.
@belugabob Arguably it's easier this way - we don't actually need to do anything to the streets except stop drivers driving down every scrap of tarmac. Where I live, a few well-placed bollards would make walking/cycling/scooting the quicker option and safer, while maintaining 100% vehicular access - just not allowing through routes in every direction.
Sweet dreams from Bike@bedtime! Thank you for featuring this classic beaut.
12 thoughts on ““There needed to be a cycle map for London that made safety its focus”: Homemade cycle map racks up a million views; Fans plea for free-to-air coverage of the Grands Départs; Blogger calls out lack of segregated cycle lanes in city + more on the live blog”
Quote:
That’s alright – we’re all far too busy discussing the niceties (and nastities) of beverage making anyway.
Re. climb names: surely Côte de Trough of Bowland is the pick of the bunch?
mdavidford wrote:
Meeting the French halfway, we don’t want to concede too much. Reminds me of one of my favourite rugby referee moments: France versus New Zealand, England’s Wayne Barnes officiating. When Barnes awarded a penalty against the French there came a plaintive cry of, “Pourquoi?” from a Frenchman. Barnes explained, “Parce que…in front.”
Hopefully they’ll be avoiding
Hopefully they’ll be avoiding any cul-de-sacs.
Come on linguists! Is it
Come on linguists! Is it really culs-de-sac?
This is the non-English
This is the non-English language pedantry I stick around here for!
As a traffic engineer, that
As a traffic engineer, that map highlights how bad it is for non-motorised road users. Imagine if that was the network along which drivers could be confident of at least some level of safety.
Amazing Aydin’s cycling map
Amazing Aydin’s cycling map of London is a truly public-spirited and admirable work!
@glennyrodge.bsky.social
@glennyrodge.bsky.social
I wouldn’t like to be saddled
I wouldn’t like to be saddled with any of those dogs.
It’s not the chafing, it’s
It’s not the chafing, it’s the licking and the nipping.
Pretending that you’re
Pretending that you’re familiar enough with a band to work in ‘off-the-cuff’ references to their song titles doesn’t work quite so well when you get the name of the actual band wrong. ?
One can only be impressed by
One can only be impressed by Pidcock’s drive and ambition. With a stronger team, a fast bike and a slick kit, let’s see if this talented rider can deliver on expectations throughout 2026.