Welcome to Tuesday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
- News

Live blog: Sam Bennett kicks to win Paris-Nice Stage 3, Anthony Joshua’s custom FiftyOne bike with SRAM Red AXS, Porn Pedallers official jersey on sale, Lynx leg shaving creepiness + more
SUMMARY

Carnage at Paris-Nice as Cav pulls out and Uran breaks collarbone
A touch of wheels and a fall at #ParisNice leaves @UranRigoberto with a broken collarbone. He’ll have surgery onWednesday.
Details: https://t.co/8F6NR1r8yV pic.twitter.com/uM0k4C4Cyq
— EF Education First Pro Cycling (@EFprocycling) March 11, 2019
There was a number of dropouts and injuries sustained on yesterday’s brutal Paris-Nice stage 2, with Rigoberto Uran ending up with a broken collarbone following a clash of wheels, He’ll have surgery tomorrow according t this Tweet from his EF First team.
Unfortunately both @LouisMeintjes & @MarkCavendish are out of @ParisNice.
“The racing was on & I went through a roundabout & I guess I misjudged it a bit. It’s pretty painful and I lost a bit of skin…” – Louis Meintjes
Details: https://t.co/b3YfNDAVY6 pic.twitter.com/UUZD1jxgbw
— Team Dimension Data (@TeamDiData) March 11, 2019
Meanwhile Mark Cavendish has also pulled out along with Dimension Data teammate Louis Meintjes, with Cav now fully focussed on “working his way back to full fitness” according to this statement. Highlights reel of the stage below, which was won by Dylan Groenewegen.
Wind, crashes, a stage for strong men, here is the best of the second stage. #ParisNice pic.twitter.com/SogZvTHaz9
— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 11, 2019
Sometimes the UK doesn't look so bad for cycling...
Every day when I meet other cyclists at this intersection we stop and chat about how messed up this is and how someone is going to die. So I made a video for @brisbanecityqld, @TMRQld, @TrevorEvansBne. Cc @cbdbug @space4cyclingbn #bne #cycling pic.twitter.com/HiDs32ollJ
— Miles McBain (@MilesMcBain) March 8, 2019
This crossing in Brisbane is pretty damn terrifying…
You can now buy the Porn Pedallers official jersey
The @pornpedallers cycling jersey is now available to buy online. £10 from every sale will be donated to Terrence Higgins Trust. Please support our fundraising efforts to promote HIV awareness and better sexual health for all @THTorguk @THTchampions https://t.co/nL5nq8Zp2J pic.twitter.com/R2XAzU5FDn
— Porn Pedallers (@pornpedallers) March 12, 2019
The x-rated cycling club made international news last week when British Cycling revoked their affiliation with the governing body because their name breaches UCI rules; however British Cycling have since said they will work with them to find a solution as they acknowledge the “excellent work” the Porn Pedallers do for charity. That work has continued as their official jersey is now available to buy, with £10 from each sale going to the Terrence Higgins Trust HIV charity. They cost £60 with stock expected to land in April, and can be ordered here.
Crosswinds impact dramatic Paris-Nice stage
Strong winds played a pivotal part in shaping the outcome of the second stage of the Paris-Nice stage race, with Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen taking the victory while Mark Cavendish abandoned and Rigoberto Uran crashed out with a broken collarbone.
It was an exciting stage and well worth watching the highlights video below. Today is another similarly flat stage for the sprinters and it should be exposed to the wind again, so could be a nervous day for the peloton but exciting for the spectators.
105 miles at 30.5mph!
Michael Kwiatkowski’s Strava stats are insane.
After having a rear wheel puncture and getting back to the front of the race, making the front split and then sprinting to 5th, the Polish National Champion uploaded his ride to Strava and the average speed is incredible.
The riders were aided by a cross-tailwind all day and we’ve seen a few reports of riders spinning out a 55-11 gear! Kudos indeed.
Biffa provide unwelcome buffer between cyclists and cycle path
Hey @Biffa, I didn’t pay my @wfcouncil tax to build cycling infrastructure so your lorries could have somewhere to park.
I would have minded less if you’d have been emptying the bins, but the fact he was sat in the Chinese having his dinner was a bit rich. pic.twitter.com/oYWoCILrAb
— Matt Noble (@noblematt) March 11, 2019
Biffa have already responded on Twitter to say they’re working to resolve the matter, thankfully…
How do you shave 'em?
Apart from being mildly disturbing, this Lynx advert raises some questions.
Firstly, do you shave those legs? And where do you stop?
Answers in the comments below. But please, no pictures….
Anthony Joshua’s new custom FiftyOne road bike
FiftyOne, the Irish bike brand known for their stunning custom carbon road bikes, has just released details of its latest creation for heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua.
Joshua does a lot of cycling as part of his fitness regime – he brought London to a standstill last year when he was spotted our cycling – and FiftyOne has built a custom carbon frame for the 6’5” boxer.
“It’s important to do the bike. I say that because you’ve still got your cardio-based training, but it takes the pressure off your joints so don’t get any wear and tear,” explained Joshua in an interview on his training regime.


We can imagine a lot of reinforcing and extra layers of carbon have been used to ensure the frame doesn’t flex and twist under his immense power!
It has been hand painted with a design based around a Lions head on the head tube and Joshua’s 25/7 slogan, a nod to his relentless work ethic, and also his Second to No One (2-2-0-1) symbol.
A brand new SRAM Red eTap AXS 12-speed groupset adorns the frame along with Zipp 303 wheels.
Anthony Joshua will defend his heavyweight title and his unbeaten 22 winning streak on June 1st in Madison Square Garden.
FiftyOne bikes will proudly display Joshua’s bike at the upcoming North American Handbuilt Show in Sacramento. The show runs from March 15-17th
New Brooks Cambium Organic Light saddle launched
The new line of Cambium saddles are lighter and replaces parts of the metal structure of the original Cambium with ‘liquid wood’ – a biopolymer made from surplus materials that is 100% biodegradable. Vulcanised natural rubber is used for padding with an organic cotton top. It’s available now in numerous colours and sizes (C15, C17 and C19) on the Brooks England website, retailing at £120.
Lynx have had their say, not it's your turn...
Where do you stand on taking the razor to your legs?
Official Tokyo 2020 cycling event pictograms revealed
500 days to go until @Tokyo2020
Check out the official Olympic sport pictograms for each cycling discipline! #Tokyo2020 #500DaysToGo pic.twitter.com/xusc7sSPKm
— UCI (@UCI_cycling) March 12, 2019
Putting it politely, we’d say feedback has been ‘mixed’ so far on social media…
Dr Rachel Aldred explores what really lies behind the gender gap in everyday cycling
This Twitter thread from th University of Westminster academic behind the Near Miss Project is well worth a read.
So here’s notes for my ‘short, no more than 10-minute presentation on why there is to your mind a gender gap in cycling’ for @SustransScot roundtable on #WomenandCycling this morning. Bonus: if I run out of time I can refer people to Twitter 😉
— Dr Rachel Aldred (@RachelAldred) March 12, 2019
Oops!
Me when I bike race. #parisnice pic.twitter.com/UeHEmVvRnH
— daniel mcmahon (@cyclingreporter) March 12, 2019
Paris-Nice: Sam Bennett wins stage 3
Revivez le dernier kilomètre de l’étape 3.
Relive the last kilometre of stage 3. #ParisNice pic.twitter.com/dcpHKasN2y
— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 12, 2019
The Irish sprinter proved Bora–Hansgrohe are far more than just a one man band with a solid victory on stage 3. That’s his third win of the year so far, following a breakthrough 2018 which included three Giro d’Italia stage wins.
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
11 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
"All that's required is an to roads policing" - that's a big all... Although no doubt the "idiots just keep coming" aspect does apply: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9lel2wz93o "Man charged after car crashes through bowling alley" - luckily they only skittled over skittles.
Almost any change to roads and streets is accompanied by a period of heightened danger, and in the UK "look out for cyclists" will need to be learned... practically. And over the time it takes for cyclists to become a regular feature. OTOH once (if...) good designs are in and frequent enough such that drivers encounter them AND the cyclists on them regularly (another big if) I don't think they should be much more difficult than a footway to deal with. These things are all over NL - don't have the collision stats but they should. (NL isn't perfect but collecting info on the safety of designs to feed back into better designs as required is part of the "sustainable safety" philosophy - if they're really a killer I think they'd be altering these.)
I'm in the happy position of agreeing with everybody here! I've never considered a bike with a stand, yet I'm impressed by the ingenuity and adaptability of this axle. I tow a Yak Bob with a Robert Axle, employing my El Cheapo Vitus gravel bike and I just have to be very careful where I stop. Hedges are generally a dead loss, and I seek walls, telegraph poles and signposts and generally lean the widest part of the Bob against it. One very awkward task is removing the two steel pins which lock the trailer arms onto the special mounting slots on the Robert axle, and when you have one out, the sodding weight in the trailer can twist the whole caboodle and bend the Bob fitting before you can get the other out and unhitch. I doubt if a stand would help with that. You can imagine that this combo is a real pain when you have to get it over the bridge at railway stations, and it nearly resulted in Merseyrail nearly parting me and the trailer on the platform from the bike on the train. It's a long story for another time. Another axle example recently featured on here, with a 12mm front axle bearing the Herculean weight limit of a monster American front rack.
This has nothing to do with the type of bike - it's the type of behaviour that's the problem. Banning the sale of such bikes will not curtail the behaviour. They'll just find another type of vehicle and continue to drive dangerously as there's such a lack of enforcement. I'd sooner see them ban the bally. But really, all that's required is an improvement to roads policing.
The EAPC Bill is welcome, but full of holes. What's to stop an overpowered but temporarily limited e-bike being sold and subsequently delimited? This is often a trivial process.
@KiwiMike Yeah, in my over four decades of riding all over Europe I've never 'been for a ride in the countryside'. That must be it. Or, and I know this is a wild concept, you just accept that I just voiced my personal experiences and never missed a kickstand, like I wrote. Anyway, what's the big horror of laying your bike on its side for the very few occasions where there is nothing to lean your bike against?
They may have looked, but did they see?
Ds2025: where they are going wrong is that they are crushing the motorbike rather than the person sat on top of it. If they did the latter this issue would be solved in less than 24 hours.
I came this way today with the car boot sale in operation. There was a marshal at the entrance, who stopped a car turning right across the cycleway as I was approaching. So that certainly works. I think it necessary for the marshal to be there, I couldn't say if the driver would have turned if he hadn't been there but you always have to suspect the worst. Unfortunately there is no marshal at the exit, and there was certainly a car stopped across the cycleway as I was approaching it. But he pulled onto the road before I reached it, and the following car stayed off the cycleway as I went through. Ideally there should have been a marshal there too. On the whole, though, it's a really high standard piece of infrastructure. Just a pity it doesn't extend a bit further.
“absolute carnage” So right! Just look at the bodies piled up, blood running in the gutters and injured people limping away. It's a bit of a problem with a road, delaying some people for minutes at a time: it isn't carnage, let alone 'absolute carnage'. Anyone who exaggerates so ridiculously really shouldn't be allowed to comment in public, unless they want to demonstrate their idiocy to all and sundry.
11 thoughts on “Live blog: Sam Bennett kicks to win Paris-Nice Stage 3, Anthony Joshua’s custom FiftyOne bike with SRAM Red AXS, Porn Pedallers official jersey on sale, Lynx leg shaving creepiness + more”
-Can’t see the UCI going for
-Can’t see the UCI going for that Porn Pedallers pic…
-That Kwiatkowski ride av speed
Can we say ‘Cav is finished’
Can we say ‘Cav is finished’ just so he can come back and prove us wrong?
C’mon Mark, get fit for the big one and drag a few more wins out your battered body!!
Huh, I did 105km at an
Huh, I did 105km at an average of 30.5kmh on the way to work this morning, solo and with numerous traffic lights. Oh…..hang-on..mph?!!
Christopher TR1 wrote:
I though ‘mph’ was the sound you make when you hit a big pothole and the saddle crushes your bollocks.
Is that Australian crossing
Is that Australian crossing analagous to our zebra crossings or just a ‘recommended crossing point’?
Stupid, either way.
Another frustrating example
Another frustrating example of a celebrity who can afford the bike being given the bike?
MrSimonMills wrote:
Welcome to advertising.
One the plus side maybe a driver will pick the wrong fight.
yeah, heavyweight boxers tend
yeah, heavyweight boxers tend to have massive hands, I wonder if he has problems getting cycling gloves.
I’m sure FiftyOne did a bike
I’m sure FiftyOne did a bike for Conor McGregor. I’m guessing they share the same management, and the owner of FiftyOne is a fan of boxing.
Erm – “Sharon Aldred”?
Erm – “Sharon Aldred”?
55*11@100rpm is 39 mph.
55*11@100rpm is 39 mph.