“Flag me”: Tadej Pogačar uses tailwind for latest incredible Strava KOM hunt (after helping out fan trying to convince wife to let him get a Y1Rs); When you haven’t ridden your bike in a while; Was Ganna win aided by sticky bottle? + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Flag me": Tadej Pogačar uses tailwind for latest incredible Strava KOM hunt (after helping out fan trying to convince wife to let him get a Y1Rs)
Only three days to go until Tadej Pogačar’s next classic-conquering masterpiece. At this point, I think most people outside UAE Team Emirates and Colnago will just be hoping for a competitive race with Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel at least able to lay a glove on the prodigious Pog.
The world champion’s training is certainly going well, this his latest Strava upload and complete with the caption daring people to flag him…
We’ve been here before, mind…
> Tadej Pogačar uploads Tour of Flanders win to Strava… gets flagged
Pogačar rarely uploads to the ride-sharing app these days, even he seemingly worn down by the ever-growing trend of riders keeping their training miles and power data secret. Nowadays, a Pogačar upload often just feels like the Slovenian is having a bit of fun: a attention-grabbing winter San Remo recon, a monster Tour performance, demolishing the KOM on the Madone or Coll de Rates… anything to keep people interested.
Yesterday’s earned an upload thanks to its wind-assisted KOMs near Nice. No motor pacing here, just generational cycling ability and a handy tailwind.
Intriguingly, given his monstrous climbing abilities, Pogačar’s most eye-catching KOMs came on a long, shallow, untechnical descent; the sort of road you’d assume there’d be plenty of heavier riders who’d gone faster, perhaps as part of a big group ride over the years.
Nope, Pogačar casually ripped down the 11km, -3% average road from Tende to Fontan at an average speed of 63.7km/h, just the two minutes faster than anyone has done before. Then, in the valley, between Breil-sur-Roya and Fanghetto, for 9.5km of false flat descending he averaged 56.7km/h on the negative one per cent slopes.
After that there was just enough time to tick off the 7km, 5% climb of Col de Castillon, taking the KOM at an average speed of 29km/h, before an easier run back to Nice. Good luck everyone taking him on on Sunday.
> Did Tadej Pogačar win Milan-San Remo on a cracked Colnago?
Perhaps the tailwind gods were rewarding Pogačar for his good deeds on Instagram the day before? A post got lots of attention featuring a man asking his wife how many likes he’d need to be allowed to buy a Colnago Y1Rs. The reply came: a like from the Tour de France winner and a million likes.
Tadej has kept up his side of the bargain, now can we get this guy to one million?
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Spanish pro cyclist Jaume Guardeño in intensive care after training crash
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Caja Rural-Seguros RGA climber Jaume Guardeño, who finished 29th at the Volta a Catalunya last week and 14th at the Vuelta last season, is in intensive care in Spain following a training crash on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old was airlifted to Tauli Hospital in Sabadell with “serious injuries” and is “awaiting further evaluation”.
Initial reports suggest Guardeño lost control when he hit a rock in the road, before then colliding with a car being driven on the same route. There is no suggestion at this stage that the crash was caused by anything other than the rider hitting the rock.
“We want to express all our support and strength to Jaume and his family during this time, wishing him a speedy and full recovery,” Caja Rural-RGA said.
Prologo releases the Choice, its first “integrated road saddle” with concealed carbon rails priced at £430
Just how hard is the Koppenberg?
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Ryan's trip to the cobbles: bringing you the live blog from the classics
Ryan’s on the ground at the classics for the next couple of weeks, taking in the sights and sounds of one of our favourite parts of the season. Keep your eyes peeled and ears… open (?) for the podcast episodes that’ll be dropping on your feed from his trip. Yesterday he was off up the Koppenberg, chasing Adri van der Poel. Today it was the Roubaix cobbles and a trip to the velodrome. I know, a hard life…
No pictures of Ryan actually with Van der Poel on the climb because, in our podcast host’s own words, he wasn’t even in the same time zone.
The pace was slightly more serene in the famous velodrome this morning, however, even if it apparently started raining as soon as they hit the cobbles. Get your tiny violins out, folks…
Remco Evenepoel was out spotted training on the Flanders bergs this morning, the Ronde van Vlaanderen secret out in the open after yesterday’s bizarre April Fools’ Day (but not an April Fools) announcement. Ryan also reported Dan Bigham and Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe were out testing on Carrefour de l’Arbre today but no, Remco wasn’t with them. Believe us, we’d have loved that speculation piece…
Private Eye does Brompton
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Cyclist reports phone-using drivers to police… only to receive warning for “dangerous” riding
> Cyclist reports phone-using drivers to police… only to receive warning for “dangerous” riding
This week on Time Team: uncovering an ancient shared-use path in Sussex
Here’s the work of Cycle Lewes digging out some long-lost shared-use path along Brighton Road. road.cc Jo uses this stretch regularly and is grateful for the extra width, although you do wonder why it’s taken a volunteer group to get this maintained?
I’m sure everyone’s got their local shared-use route or cycle path next to a busy A-road, completely overgrown with greenery, I certainly know mine.
“You need to call my girlfriend!”: Filippo Ganna to skip Tour of Flanders because his partner has a “fantastic” Easter dinner planned
Was Ganna win aided by sticky bottle?
Right, apologies folks, after some technical difficulties we’re back…
Some fallout from Dwars door Vlaanderen now, where winner Filippo Ganna was subsequently fined over a sticky bottle during the chase back to the front of the race following one of his two bike changes.
Ganna was fined 200 Swiss francs and the Ineos Grenadiers 500 Swiss francs, however Belgian broadcaster Sporza suggested this morning that the Italian was not disqualified and the result allowed to stand as it was “not decisive for the race” and happened halfway through.
A penny for Wout van Aert’s thoughts?
When you haven't ridden your bike in a while
Get you best captions in the comments…
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@Rendel Harris you've painted a rather alluring picture of social harmony there, but unfortunately you've got my name wrong. I'm Jack, not Nigel. However, to return the compliment, I must think of a story for you. I imagine you sat outside a pub, real ale and pipe propped on the adjacent table, in a similar fashion to Nigel Farage at his populist best. You turn to your wife. "You know what dear? I think I've been a bit harsh in my time. I've shunned the politeness and wisdom of others for too long and want to change my ways.* "There there Rendel", says Mrs Harris. "You're not a bad old stick, it's just living in London that's emptied your soul of kindness and compassion. I've found a lovely new place where we can settle down in our later years. It's on a leafy cul de sac, surrounded by friendly neighbours and smiling faces. There's a guy a couple of doors down, a remarkable man. As well as his towering intellect and rapier wit, he's also a keen cyclist, holding severa local KOMs. Don't be perturbed dear - he'll ride with anyone provided they show other road users the kindness and courtesy they deserve." Rendel turned emotionally, voice shaking. "Oh my dear, thank you for this second chance", and with that the rest of the pub goers turned and applauded the couple, throwing garlands of petals in their wake. The end.
As a Councillor, Edward needs to be paying some attention to all that parking obstructing visibility and manoeuvres at the junction, and sorting out those radii.
Ed Hill was chucked out by Reform in 2025, though TBF to him it was about how to run it rather than ideology I think. He is now reportedly closer to Advance UK, which is distinctly more extreme than Reform. I'd call this Alan Amos style attention seeking.
Emily, thank you for such an insightful piece. I’m a man, but I enjoy watching the women’s races, possibly more than the men’s. The racing is so much closer, we rarely know who’s going to win. You painted a wonderful picture of how a true champion is able to ‘rise above’ setbacks and distractions, and focus their energy on the task in hand. ‘All’s fair in live and war -and sport, but always good to hear riders expressing their admiration for their competitors
@Nigel Garage ...and then everyone applauded my courtesy and I waved courteously to all the people who were courteously throwing flowers and cheering and courteously waving flags that said "Nigel is the best!"
The picture from street view clearly shows give way lines from the roads to the green painted cycle/pedestrian lane. The road user should give way (or must...) to the user of the green lane. This would of course apply to any cyclist on the roadway.
If I recall there is a cave or two along the route - perhaps they were sheltering from the heat in one of those having taken it for a Golf bunker?
“So if there’s a cyclist travelling down the cycle path at the moment, from this position I can’t see them because my blind spots are too big on the left hand side of the vehicle”, claims Hill. Well, there's your problem, right there...🙄
First impression from the headline that he's likely a twit. Then the detail he was expelled from Reform makes you suspect that failing even their low bar requirements he really is. Then he clearly explains his vehicle is unsafe for the highway because he can't see to give way when turning. Any collision he now has should have that video run out explaining he drove a vehicle he knew to be unsafe. Advice for motorists; instead of thinking that pedestrians and cyclists are low risk 100kg objects, imagine them as a 300 Tonne trains that will crush you and your vehicle if you cross into their paths. You'd give way to the train, so you equally can to the others.
I've had a brief look on Facebook, and Ed Hill (who now appears to be affiliated with Advance UK) seems to have taken some useful road safety improvements under his remit, including an initiative to help local pedestrians on unpaved roads, where the wider council won't help due to planning failures. Regarding the cycle path, I think this is linked to a wider misunderstanding about giving way at junctions and I'm afraid I cannot agree with Mr Hill's conclusion. Regardless of the suitability of the cycle path, vehicles should give way at the junction to both pedestrians crossing and cyclists. It seems to be a poorly understood rule among motorists where some believe they have priority at junctions like this, where they certainly do not. I once had a similar issue myself, while leisurely walking to Waitrose to buy some lunchtime fripperies. A driver beeped their horn as I crossed the junction, despite me having priority, and was shocked and apologetic when I explained I had priority. A polite conversation later, the driver departed, educated and updated on the rules of the road.
15 thoughts on ““Flag me”: Tadej Pogačar uses tailwind for latest incredible Strava KOM hunt (after helping out fan trying to convince wife to let him get a Y1Rs); When you haven’t ridden your bike in a while; Was Ganna win aided by sticky bottle? + more on the live blog”
What do you mean? I /was/ using the bike – I’m just that slow.
This was interesting.
“Motability drivers ‘horrified’ by compulsory black-box trackers”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c203n6qx3ego
It got me thinking.
For anyone convicted of a KSI and then out of prison, could it be a legal/insurance requirement that they have a black box in their car when driving?
I know there can be hacks, but I’m assuming the tech is there to try to ensure it is them using it, ie it has to be connected to their phone via bluetooth.
Far more suitable for KSI drivers than motability, I’d say.
I have been tinkering with a RaspberryPi this morning to see if it could offer a cheap ‘bikecam’ solution.
The answer is… maybe. The camera is £10, the Pi Zero £15, plus a powerbank and sd card. So, could be cheap-ish. But would need some sort of waterproof housing and attachment method (electrical tape around the seat post isn’t ideal!).
The image looks a bit blurry compared to my benchmark Fly 6, but I think this is just a focussing issue. There’s not much motion blur and even with it being out of focus, the plate is legible (top marks for a nice pass to this range rover driver).
Well…I love a bit of bodgery and DIY but you can get an action cam with two rechargeable batteries, selection of mounts and a 32GB SD card on Amazon for around £25 so if lowest possible outlay is the aim that’s probably your value option.
This is more for the fun (?) of it. It’s definitely a bodge and far from easy to get set up and running. Totally impractical as a solution at the moment.
I have grand plans (that will no doubt never be realised) to try a few things out that I would like on a bike camera:
– encryption of recorded video data
– IR illumination to capture number plates at night
– an ‘incident button’ that will automatically capture 2 mins footage either side of button press
– automatic upload over wifi of said incident files
I’d like to make one that’s very discreet and more capable than what’s on the market.
Tiny waterproof front and rear cams permanently wired to bike with a connector near the head tube. Something like the photo or smaller.
Logger that can live in a front bag with single connector that both cameras plug into, can be powered from USB via battery pack and/or dynamo converter. I want indefinite battery life for 8+ hour rides.
That would be a great solution. There’s similar things for motorcycles available, but they probably aren’t optimised for power consumption, so wouldn’t last long on a sensibly sized battery.
The implication of the aspirations and plans of andy and Hoarse above is that the limiting factors in improving safety for cyclists are technical (video quality, radar warning etc.), whereas nobody will be surprised to read my opinion that the problem is the cyclist-hostile attitude of the police and the courts. We already have excellent cameras, although with a power duration limitation. I have a 2019 Hero 7 Black and the hardware is really good and could continue working for a while, although the rubberised ‘on’ is getting pretty worn now. I’m still using the original battery for local trips but it will only last about 25 minutes.
I have previously moaned on about the difficulty of getting the ancient software to load, but things are much better now. This may be partially due to greater tolerance for legacy software in Windows 11/10, but it’s mostly achieved by turning off WiFi before starting GoPro Quik. I don’t need any software improvement (just as well because there isn’t going to be any) except a ‘seconds’ field and summertime adjustment on the GPS real time. I would like to have a reason to buy a good rear radar, but that would be useless here, and any radar recording would be ignored by the police just like the video.
Nice idea, but Raspberry PIs are getting more expensive at the moment, so it’s not going to be cost effective, though still a cool and fun project.
There’s better alternatives for reducing cost or power usage, but Raspberry PIs are going to have the best support available. I like the NanoPI range (https://www.friendlyelec.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=69) though I bought more expensive models (e.g. M5) for use as a router (they have OpenWRT support along with docker) which can use and boot from NVMe. I’ve got a bunch of RPi4s that I’m considering whether it’s worth selling them due to the big price increases.
These are those bird spokes I’ve been hearing so much about, right?
It’s a day late, but this popped up on my new Google search page thing
https://prologo.it/en/blogs/news-1/prologo-presenta-aquaflow-system
Thanks to the illegal sticky bottle, Ganna saved power and energy which he could use to beat Van Art.
To avoid confusion and enhance fair play, the sticky bottle practice should be banned once for all. Riders could be DSQ’d during or after the race. Winners could lose titles, leader jerseys and medals.
There are two separate rules, 4.11 which applies to holding on slightly too long and 4.6 which applies to deliberately taking a tow. 4.6 does result in those sanctions you mention, e.g. Axel Zingle was disqualified from E3 Saxo Classic recently. A certain degree of joint holding to ensure security is needed otherwise there’s a risk of bottles slipping under riders’ wheels when they’re riding alongside a car at 40-50kph with the obvious potential for tragic consequences. The jury in this case decided Ganna was guilty under 4.11 which covers holding on just a few seconds too long; the energy saved would be minimal and certainly nothing like that he lost having to chase back on after his two mechanicals. But don’t let that stop you talking nonsense about an incident that you haven’t even seen.
Another day, another crash with the driver not stopping… RIP
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c86e04l4yneo