With the Tour de France starting tomorrow, here’s all the latest from our team in Brussels ahead of the Grand Depart.
road.cc live blog from Brussels Grand Depart: Sagan drops teammates on TDF training ride; media, fans and cats descend on Team Movistar camp to catch a glimpse of the world champ; more Tour de France tat; all the best Tour tech + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond ahead of the Tour de France starting tomorrow
Fri, Jul 05, 2019 20:40
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SUMMARY
5 July 2019, 20:40
(Not) Geraint Thomas gets a new bike just in time for the Tour
Geraint Thomas is currently preparing to defend his Tour de France title.
Meanwhile, @geraintthomas has just got a new bike…
Pleased to be getting @geraintthomas, one of the most patient people on Twitter, on a bike this July… He’s #NowaCyclist pic.twitter.com/xrIEGReU1q
— Evans Cycles (@EvansCycles) July 4, 2019
5 July 2019, 20:40
Behind the scenes at Silverstone as Team Ineos go wind tunnel testing
“We know when you’re going at 45-50kph the number one thing that slows you down is air.”
Take a sneak peek behind the scenes with Team Ineos and Swiss Side as they give a bit of an insight into aerodynamic testing.
5 July 2019, 20:40
Geraint Thomas is announced as new brand ambassador for Continental Tyres
In his first action as brand ambassador Geraint provides a glimpse into the world of professional downhill racing in a short film called “Confidence”. As Geraint himself said: “follow guys riding Continental tyres, they will stick when others will not. And sticking’s is what you want.” Let’s hope he remains upright for the next three weeks…
5 July 2019, 20:40
Day two in Brussels - the media, fans and their cats all descend on the Team Movistar camp
Going to check out the world champion’s bike is a special occasion… so guess it’s only right to bring your cat with you. We caught Valverde and his Movistar teammates just before they set off for a training ride around Brussels, with plenty of fans (human and feline) there to catch a glimpse of their heroes.
5 July 2019, 20:40
Tour de France tat part 2: a polka dot goat
We think it’s a goat anyway, and despite his rotund build this one is still supposedly good at climbing. Yours for 15 euros…
5 July 2019, 20:40
Tour TT rigs: 1x, crazy 3D-printed cockpits and massive chainrings galore
We’ve been having a gander at the TT bikes at the team hotels – with the second stage being a team time trial the riders and mechanics are making sure everything is tip-top. First up, the Cervelo P5 of Nicolas Roche with massive 58/46t chainrings…
The mechanics told us Sunweb’s bikes for the Tour were also specially painted in the UK with a much thinner and more delicate paint than the standard P5 to save some weight. We also spied this very neatly integrated Elite TT bottle and cage, different to the Chrono CX bottle set that joe public can buy.
At the Katusha Alpecin camp, Alex Dowsett and co will be running a SRAM Red eTap AXS 1x set-up for their TTT. We also spotted a few riders using non-standard chainring sizes over at Trek Segafredo yesterday, clearly SRAM are happy to customise for their pro teams.
The award for the craziest cockpit of the Tour so far goes to Rohan Dennis. His Merida Warp has 3D-printed bars, moulded to the shape of his forearms with some padding in there for extra comfort. There’s even a computer mount built in…
5 July 2019, 20:40
Dan Martin's Colnago V2R
Martin’s all-round race bike is a beauty, dressed with Campagnolo 12 speed Super Record EPS and a non-standard 54/39 chainset. We also spotted Martin is running the special edition Tour de France Look Keo blades with ceramic bearings, the first time we’ve spotted them in the wild…
5 July 2019, 20:40
Brussels names street after transgender cyclist Willy de Bruyn
Green Alley in Brussels between Gare du Nord and Tour & Taxis, will be renamed today after Belgian cyclist Willy De Bruyn, born Elvira.
Elvira was born intersexual, meaning she has a combination of male and female biological traits.
She became the female world champion in 1934 and 1936.
By the end of 1936, Elvira was more interested in her identity, and was at last recognized as a man on 24 March 1937 after a name change.
5 July 2019, 20:40
Team Dimension Data get a few new members
The Velokhaya Life Cycling Academy – or Velokhaya for short – is a not-for-profit organisation based in Khayelitsha, South Africa.
They use their cycling-based programmes to involve youth in a positive, after-school activity.
Yesterday, at the Team Dimension Data team presentation in Brussels ahead of the Tour de France they were given the chance to join their heroes up on stage.
The Beginning | Inspire
A journey from a rural township in South Africa, to @LeTour for @Velokhaya.
“We’re not crying, you’re crying” – #BicyclesChangeLives pic.twitter.com/Ei4hwdmrrW
— Team Dimension Data (@TeamDiData) July 5, 2019
5 July 2019, 20:40
Tour de France tat part 3 - pants
What better way to pay homage to Le Tour with some yellow boxer shorts? Just 18 euros to you monsieur.
5 July 2019, 20:40
Let the madness begin ...
The 106th Tour de France starts in Brussels tomorrow. Here’s our previews of the opening three stages.
Stage 1
Saturday 6 July
Brussels – Brussels (192 km)
The opening stage features two climbs that over the years have so often proved decisive in the Tour of Flanders, the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg, but today they feature early on rather than in the final. Nevertheless, it will as always be a nervous start for the peloton, and we can expect a lot of jostling for position ahead of both ascents as riders try and keep themselves out of trouble.
On the way back into Belgium’s capital, the race passes the battlefield of Waterloo, as well the suburb of Wouluwe-Saint-Pierre, the childhood home of Eddy Merckx, who spent more days in yellow than anyone else in Tour de France history. The peloton will be going full gas to reel in the day’s break ahead of what looks set to be a bunch sprint finish in the city’s Royal Park.
Stage 2
Sunday 7 July
Brussels – Brussels (TTT) (27.6 km)
A change in the race lead is highly possible today, and even this early, time gaps between teams with overall ambitions may have an impact later on – but last year’s team time trial in Cholet saw just 11 seconds separating the fastest five teams, with the now-defunct BMC taking the win.
Today’s stage starts at the Palais-Royale in the Belgian capital and finishes outside its most emblematic building – the Atomium, built in 1958. Whoever is in the overall lead today will be sporting the iconic structure on the yellow jersey, with the one awarded after each stage each marking people and places in the race’s history.
Stage 3
Monday 8 July
Binche – Epernay (215 km)
Another stage with a Spring Classics flavour – today, the Ardennes, with four punchy climbs within the final 40 kilometres as the race heads into France. It’s not going to end in a bunch sprint, for sure. There’s a time bonus available on one of those, 15 seconds from the line – remember Geraint Thomas banking some of those last year on his way to victory?
There’s also a 15 per cent slope approaching the line. One for Julian Alaphilippe … or a final Tour de France stage for Alejandro in the rainbow jersey? The Champagne for the stage winner should go down particularly well tonight – Epernay is at the epicentre of the wine-growing region.
5 July 2019, 20:40
Peter Sagan trains so hard he drops his team mates
On our way to another team hotel, we spotted none other than Peter Sagan himself out training on his time trial bike one last time before the Tour de France Grand Depart tomorrow. Sagan was chugging along at one hell of a pace in front of a gang of Astana riders, and shortly afterwards the rest of his own team arrived with Peter nowhere to be seen. Save something for the race son!
5 July 2019, 20:40
That's all for now
…from us in Brussels – we’ll be bringing you race reports from tomorrow till the end of the Tour and plenty of tech articles and videos on all the bike porn we’ve managed to borrow while we’ve been here. Au revoir/saluu!
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Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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Latest Comments
Gm_Crop 17 minutes ago
I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
IanGlasgow 20 minutes ago
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Bill H 2 hours ago
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
pbunyon 2 hours ago
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
chrisonabike 2 hours ago
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
belugabob 2 hours ago
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
Astralstroll 5 hours ago
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
Mr Anderson 6 hours ago
@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.
MaxiMinimalist 6 hours ago
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.