Live blog: Swansea cyclist felled by fishing line stretched across seafront bike path; We take a punt on how Giro may play out; Best Twitter reply to study saying cyclists should wear hi-vis with big arrows to avoid close passes + more

Hope you enjoyed the long weekend folks! Here’s a round-up of our top stories (and weird leg photos) from the last few days…

Movistar’s Jose Joaquin Rojas posts picture of his legs mid-Giro d’Italia – and photo goes viral

New cycleway opens in Yorkshire – but council’s cycling champion“disappointed” by “irresponsible” cyclists who chose to ride on road instead

The best cycling films on Netflix, Sky Cinema and Amazon Prime Video

Cycling shorts are the hottest trend of the summer – here’s our cheeky guide on how to wear them for …maximum stylistic effect

Just In: Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc – £10,000 aero superbike arrives in for review

It looks like the UK’s most treasured toilet humour magazine Viz is going to blow the lid off the loos of the Tour de France in their latest issue… Britain’s self-proclaimed 3rd or 4th funniest magazine is available from all good newsagents now if you can’t wait to find out. 

Stuart Hayes shattered his pelvis after being hit by a deer in Richmond Park last week – and was subject to abuse from some dark corners of the Internet after the Friends of Richmond Park Facebook page wrote “cyclist learns the hard way” to report on the incident, suggesting Hayes was at fault for riding too fast. His wife Michelle Dillon has since posted on Twitter to explain that the deer actually ran at Hayes and tried to avoid the deer, while he said himself on a blog post: “I received a lot of lovely messages which I really appreciated, however a charity decided to capitalise on the situation and use me to look like a bad example for cyclists and vent their anger towards all cyclists using Richmond Park. This particular post was all over social media and there were some hurtful comments in there and personal attacks which can really make you feel like crap when your laying in a hospital bed with a broken pelvis. However I tried not to get too wrapped up in it all because I wanted to focus my energy on getting better quickly, now I’m back home I can focus on the more important things and I’m hoping to be back training as soon as I can. Of course I have a lot of rehabilitation ahead of me and I’m sure I will learn a lot from this experience that I can only pass onto others, especially my athletes that I coach. You always learn the most from your own experiences.”

A right wing tabloid has took a break from reporting on the love life of the royals and scaring their readership about illegal immigrants to weigh in on a perceived conflict between cyclists and drivers in the Shropshire village of Badger (read our article about it here). The article is titled: “The village leaving lycra louts in a spin: Cycling clubs adore the idyllic lanes that run through an exclusive Shropshire village but one local is so fed up they are laying them with BOOBY TRAPS”.
The article mentions how the village was a ‘peaceful idyllic location’ before a saboteur began laying tacks on the roads, presumably to deter cyclists from riding through. There is confusingly an interview with an anonymous local who claims cyclists are “clogging lanes by riding two or three abreast”, yet in a later paragraph another anonymous resident accuses the cyclists of riding too fast downhill through the village. 

Even more alarming is the comments section, in which the most liked ones include gems such as: “We’re that sick of them in the village where I live that we use a mixture of sharp sand and gravel on the bends in the road”, and: “Absolutely, ridiculous to put pins on the road… Should use landmines!”, and:  “I want to just push them over and steal their bikes as they have no thought for any other road users.”

We can only hope these particular keyboard warriors don’t have driving licences, as it makes for quite worrying reading. 

Did my own little gran tour back home in Monaco. Now its time to pin The Numbers on the Jersey again for @TeamDiData here are some stats. 21 days including 5 active rest days rides. Longest ride was 7,5h. 2 travel days. Let the racing begin
Thx to @AlexanderKamp1 for the company pic.twitter.com/cXRnYEnWIm

— Michael Valgren Hundahl (@MichaelValgren) May 27, 2019

Michael Valgren clocked up some pretty impressive numbers during a 21-day training block.
The Dane logged a staggering 2,248km with 39,400m of climbing. That resulted in a TSS of 3,776 and a calorie burn of 63,807Kcal.
So, there are some numbers to aim for! It makes us tired just looking at them…

Deceuninck – Quick-Step is the most successful team of the season so far and it has confirmed it’ll continue to be supported by Specialized for another two years, taking this partnership through to the 2021 season.

Specialized has been a partner of the Quick-Step team for the past 11 years and Deceuninck – Quick-Step team boss is obviously happy to continue this winning partnership, which has seen Specialized develop several key new bikes like the Tarmac, Roubaix and Venge.

“We are very happy to announce that we have signed for two more years with Specialized. Deceuninck – Quick-Step and Specialized have had a long and beautiful history together. Having a company which listens to, embraces, and builds bikes and equipment to the needs of us and our riders is one of the keys to our success,” says Deceuninck – Quick-Step CEO, Patrick Lefevere.

“We have no doubt we are racing the best bikes in the world and the support that we continually receive from them is unrivalled. They always take on board our thoughts and feedback and use it to develop equipment that is at the cutting edge of cycling technology. We look forward to enjoying many more memorable victories together!”

“We have been very honored to be partners with Deceuninck- Quick-Step and Patrick Lefevere for so many years. Not only has the team achieved iconic victories on Specialized bikes, they have also been a key part of our development process for our bikes and equipment.  As we look to the future of our company and our sport, we look to Patrick and his team to be key partners for success, added Scott Jackson, Specialized Road Sports Marketing Manager.

Giro de Italia 2019: Cómo acabó la bici de Roglic en la baca del Movistar | Deportes | EL PAÍS https://t.co/r34J00JPej pic.twitter.com/0o3e9TzpqU

— Carlos Arribas (@carlosarribas) May 27, 2019

This rare sight of a rival team rider’s bike on another team’s car happened thanks originally to a mechanical suffered by Primož Roglič, whose Bianchi is wracked up on the Movistar vehicle in the photo above. The odd sequence of events materialised on stage 15 when Roglič needed a new bike, so teammate Antwan Tolhoek gave him his because the Jumbo-Visma car was way back from the lead group, handing out drinks to riders in the main peloton. 

Tolhoek was then left on the side of the road with Roglič’ bike, so Movistar stepped in and gave the stricken rider one of their Canyon bikes to finish the stage. According to El Pais, the Movistar mechanic even swapped the Shimano pedals over for Tolhoek, as the Movistar bike was fitted with Look pedals. Movistar then loaded up the broken Bianchi onto their team car. So there you have it! 

And luckily no damage was done on this occasion. Don’t know about you but I would be feeling a little twitchy going downhill with only my foot to slow me down.

⠀
Cycling… downhill… with no brakes… behind a truck…
What could go wrong?
⠀⠀ pic.twitter.com/1LNX2p7UhJ

— ⓑιcιcletⓞ (@Bicicleto_ZGZ) May 27, 2019

Some cyclists rode up the Gavia today to check and see if it was really blocked…..it was.

Photo: Saliinvetta pic.twitter.com/COn316PSrV

— Race Radio (@TheRaceRadio) May 27, 2019

“Surely these Giro organisers are just being snowflakes about ‘elf and safety?” thought these intrepid cyclists; however it turned out there was something behind the decision to reroute stage 16 away from the Gavia after all…

.@vincenzonibali @Bahrain_Merida – attack on Mortirolo

Time: 2’18”
Avg Speed: 11.6km/h
Max Speed: 16.4km/h
Avg Power: 450W
Power-to-weight: 6.92W/kg
Max Power: 680W
Gradient: 16%#VelonLive #Giro #cycling pic.twitter.com/JfHX97czNO

— Velon CC (@VelonCC) May 28, 2019

Huge power for the Italian as he attacked up the brutal Mortirolo.  

Another absorbing day in the mountains (read our report on Stage 16 here) brought the end game of the 102nd edition of the Giro d’Italia into sharper focus, with four stages left – one of those, on paper, unlikely to see major action in the overall – before Sunday’s relatively short, 17-kilometre time trial in Verona.

Before the weekend, Roglic was many people’s clear favourite for the overall, with the big question being whether any of his rivals would be able to take sufficient time out of him to maintain an advantage on the final day.

As things stand, the question is whether the Slovenian, his confidence rocked by a mechanical problem followed by a crash on the way into Como on Sunday, and losing more time today, will enter that closing stage with a realistic chance of overhauling riders in front of him.

Nibali, now 22 seconds in front of Roglic, would be a realistic target, assuming the Jumbo-Visma rider does not lose more time.

Carapaz, now 2 minutes 9 seconds up on the Slovenian, would be perhaps 30 or 40 seconds out of reach given their comparative results in both the time trials so far in the race, both of which Roglic won.

The other scenario to consider is how Carapaz will fare with the burden of leading a Grand Tour in its final week, a new experience for the Ecuadorian. His Movistar team have so far played a tactical blinder, though, and he has a superdomestique working for him in the shape of Mikel Landa, fourth overall.

Nibali – twice a Giro champion, and also a winner of the Tour de France and Vuelta – knows how to bide his time, however, as witnessed in the 2016 race when a victory on Stage 19 set him up to take the maglia rosa on the penultimate day.

It could well be that the race will only be settled in that final time trial in Verona – but right now, if we were putting money on it, we’d guess the tussle would be between Nibali and Carapaz, with Roglic having to settle for aiming for a hat-trick of victories against the clock.

Then again, this is the Giro – and as we saw last year, anything is possible in the closing days.

Our story earlier today about a study in Canada that claimed cyclists wearing hi-vis gear with an arrow on the back get more space from overtaking drivers stirred up a bit of a response on Twitter … including this well-illustrated point from Ernie Marples.

Yeah, sure… pic.twitter.com/133sTC7cZf

— Ernie Marples (@ErnieMarples) May 28, 2019

A cyclist in Swansea has described how he came off his bike after riding into a fishing line stretched across a popular cycle route – and warned that had a child ridden into it, the consequences could have been much more serious.

Jonathan Ace, 38,  told Wales Online that his cycle helmet was cracked and he was left with “a banging headache” after the incident on the city’s promenade this morning.

He said: “I was just out for a general bike ride but fortunately at the time I was having water so I wasn’t going flat out.

“It cracked my helmet and I was only going between 10 and 12mph. It’s frightening if I had been going about 18 or 20mph it could have been a different story.

“The wire hit me on my chest and pushed me off the bike. There was fishing braid wrapped around my bike afterwards and it was all caught in the pedals and wheels.

“I’ve got scratch marks on the bike too. I had a banging headache after it and thought ‘shall I just go home?’ but I decided to just carry on.”

“The wire would have been neck height on a child,” he added. “It’s stupid. I don’t understand what these people get out of it.

“I’ve fallen off to the side of the bike but if had been a child then they would have flipped over like a somersault.

“Where is the sense in these people doing it?”

South Wales Police have been notified of the incident.