Wiggins’ motorhome on sale for £50k… but sold for £47k at auction in 2017; Ganna breaks pursuit WR; ‘Confirmed’ UAE Tour coronavirus cases… not confirmed; Cycle scheme halts Sophos sale; Pothole gets birthday cake + candles + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Ford tease new anti-dooring technology
It looks a fair bit more useful than Ford’s frankly ridiculous Emoji Jacket, and you can read our full story on it here.
Taff Trail robberies: Cycling UK accuse police of "victim shaming" by urging cyclists to avoid parts of the trail
A backlash last week against the police and Cardiff University’s response to a spate of robberies on the Taff Trail between Cardiff and Brecon has prompted Cycling UK to accuse police of “victim shaming”.
Police were recommending cyclists seek alternative routes at night, and Gwenda Owen of Cycling UK Wales told the BBC they should instead be addressing crime rather than discouraging trail users at night. She said: “The police message that went out is unfortunate.
“It’s victim shaming – it’s not addressing the problem.
“I think it needs to be policed. The problem needs to be resolved.”
South Wales police are still giving vague advice on social media, tell people to avoid the area until investigations have been completed. The Cardiffian also reports that hikers and dog walkers say the advice has not being publicised enough outside of social media – South Wales Police reported seven robberies in the five weeks between January 17th and February 21st on the Taff Trail.
UAE Tour Update - Riders reportedly required to sign a form saying they can't speak to the media
You’ll soon be asked to sign a form that says you can’t speak to the media…. but what if you are the media?
— Nathan Haas (@NathanPeterHaas) February 28, 2020
We’re not sure who is asking the riders to sign these forms, but it looks like we won’t be getting updates live from the riders.
Todos los miembros de Movistar Team en #UAETour pasaron anoche -hacia las 3am 🇦🇪- los preceptivos controles de COVID-19. Salvo novedad en las próximas horas, los resultados se esperan el sábado.
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) February 28, 2020
Luckily for us (unluckily for him), journalist Matt Rendell is bored and on Twitter, trying to make light of the situation.
We’re going to be tested soon. Should I be thinking about masking agents, or drinking loads of water to thin the blood?
— Matt Rendell (@mrendell) February 28, 2020
It seems that some if not all riders were tested late last night and results are expected by Saturday.
Sadiq Khan celebrates 'tripling protected space for cycling'
Record numbers of people are cycling in London so having safe space to do this is essential. I’m so proud that we’ve tripled the amount of protected space for cycling, months ahead of schedule, making it safer & more convenient for Londoners across our city to get on their bikes. pic.twitter.com/22Ztb4BnP6
— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) February 28, 2020
The London Mayor and his Walking & Cycling Commissioner Will Norman tweeted their pride at London’s cycling network tripling in under four years – full story here.
£15 million boost for cycling in new Scottish budget
Cycling UK have praised the announcement, which comes after an agreement between the Scottish Green Party and the government to make extra funds available for cycling in the Budget. It means more than £20m a year will be available for local authorities to spend cycling infrastructure, taking the travel budget in Scotland above £100m for the first time.
Cycling UK said the initial £5.5m per year increase would not be enough to tackle climate change in Scotland, and needed to increase to at least £20m in 2020/21. The extra £15 million now means that all 32 of Scotland’s local authorities have an increased budget to build dedicated cycling infrastructure.
Jim Densham, Cycling UK’s campaigns and policy manager in Scotland said: “Yesterday’s breakthrough between the Scottish Green Party and Government on the Budget is good news for the future of cycling and walking, and shows Scotland’s ambitions to cut emissions and get more people active is not just hot air.
“Cycling UK is extremely pleased that there is more money for local authorities across Scotland to spend on cycling. If spent well this can encourage more people to be active on their shorter everyday journeys and help them reduce their carbon footprints.”
Danish world-breaking pursuit team's questionable headgear
3:44.672 😳https://t.co/uaqcfpssnC
— Rasmus Staghøj (@Staghoj) February 27, 2020
Is a world record even worth it if you have to wear one of these? The latest version of POC’s Tempor has popped up on the heads of the Huub-Wattbike team and others in the past few months, so we’re guessing there must be method behind the aesthetic madness at least…
“For He’s a Jolly Good Hollow”: Derby Cycling Group mark first anniversary of pothole not getting fixed
The campaign group had a “small celebratory party” for the giant crater dubbed Borrowash Basin, that they say has not been fixed by Taylor Wimpey a year after being reported as dangerous.
Derby Cycling Group said on their website: “After waiting a year for a dangerous hole on a cycle route in Borrowash to be fixed by the local developers (Taylor Wimpey), a small group of DCG members decided to commemorate the anniversary by holding a birthday party for the hole.
“Over the last year, Taylor Wimpey have been chased many times to make the necessary repairs but no effective action has been taken despite promises that “contractors would be working on the repairs as a matter of urgency”. From being a nice new pothole with smart barriers, the hole has become sorrier and sorrier looking with rubbish collecting in the hole, the barriers falling over, and a resulting general air of neglect.”
Balloons were put around the pothole’s barricade, and a cake was made with just one candle on it to mark the anniversary: “hopefully we won’t need more at a further event in 2021”, say DCG.
It’s not the first time locals have used inventive methods to bring attention to pothole inaction: an ‘artist’ calling themselves Wanksy prompted the council to act when he/she started paining penises around potholes, and villagers and parish councillors in an Oxfordshire village staged a protest by filling potholes with rubber ducks back in 2017.
Check out our interview with the man they call Mr Pothole for more info on the problem blighting Britain’s roads, and if you come across holes that need filling report them to Fill That Hole or go direct to the Highways Agency.
Greta Thunberg: some perspective
The idea Greta Thunberg is a bad example because she skips school is ludicrous.
When I skipped school I went to the video store and smoked out of my bedroom window.
When Greta skips school she mobilises an entire generation into caring about the biggest issue facing humanity.
— Matt Haig (@matthaig1) February 28, 2020
Not directly cycling-related; but being as the environment may be one of, or even the sole reason you took up cycling in the first place, we reckon this tweet is pretty succinct.
For those not aware, Greta Thunberg is speaking at a huge climate march in Bristol today, with crowds reportedly numbering 30,000.
Greta Thunberg addresses 30,000 at climate strike in Bristol. pic.twitter.com/GfPtghSfOZ
— The Ecologist (@the_ecologist) February 28, 2020
Brakes put on sale of Sophos to US firm... because of the Cycle to Work scheme
The Oxfordshire-based security software giants were all set to finalise a $3 billion sale to the US private equity firm Thoma Bravo… but the plans were punctured at the last minute because Sophos are signed up with the Cycle to Work scheme. It turns out Sophos’ lawyers must have failed to do the required due diligence work with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – with whom the Cycle to Work scheme is regulated – while the sale was put through.
While it’s more of a stumbling block than something that will derail the whole process, this will all need to be patched up and repaired before they can get the show back on the road. Under UK financial regulations, any person or company acquiring control of an ‘authorised entity’ have to seek approval from the FCA.
Sophos’ shares remain on the UK stock exchange, with an updated timetable for its removal set to be released soon.
Filippo Ganna breaks individual pursuit world record in qualifying
⏱️ 4:01.934 😲
That’s a new world record for @GannaFilippo during individual pursuit qualifying #Berlin2020 👏🇮🇹pic.twitter.com/tnWcWj4wSr
— Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) February 28, 2020
We’ve just done some light research (i.e. gone on Wikipedia) and discovered that Ganna’s mark of 4:01.934 would have been the Team Pursuit world record as recently as 1996. This was just the qualifying rounds, and there’s talk of the magic 4 minute mark being broken in the finals…
More coronavirus news: Michael Morkov kept in solitary confinement in Berlin after leaving UAE
Evening Express report that Morkov left the UAE Tour before it was cancelled to take part in the Track World Championships, and is now been kept in solitary confinement at his team’s hotel in Berlin after arriving on Thursday. Movistar’s Alberto Torres was due to travel to Berlin, but stayed after the lockdown was imposed.
Thomas de Gendt's summary of professional cycling: "I work in the advertising business"
When people ask what i do for a living i tell them i work in the advertisement business. I make advertisements and create content for multi-million euro companies. When it is good enough it gets broadcasted live. They are more impressed by this than when i tell them i’m a cyclist
— Thomas De Gendt (@DeGendtThomas) February 28, 2020
Fancy Bradley Wiggins' motorhome? Yours for £50k
Frost Van Centre in Newcastle upon-Tyne have acquired the former Mercedes motorhome belonging to the 2012 Tour de France champion, and believe they have “a piece of exceptional sporting memorabilia” on their hands with a very high spec list for its discerning buyer.
Wiggins used to whip around in the van to travel between events, although he can’t have done so too much because it’s only got 8,423 miles on the clock. Frost describe the features as ‘incredible’, with ‘Wiggo’-branded leather seats in Union Jack colours, carbon fibre components, four TVs, a full kitchen and a toilet and shower.
There’s also a fitted double bed in the back, and an extra large storage area. The conversion was completed by Mclaren Sports Homes.
Frost believe the vehicle would have originally been worth £80,000, but they’re selling it on for £49,999 – check out the listing here.
Important breaking Bradley Wiggins motorhome update: Wagon sold at auction for £3k LESS than the current price in 2017
We’ve suspended our Friday evening plans to bring you a vital update for anyone considering purchasing Bradley Wiggins’ motorhome for the princely sum of £49,999 from Frost Van Centre… with massive thanks to Awavey in the comments for jogging our memory of a story we actually written ourselves (Friday beers had already begun in the office, cut us some slack), it turns out that the motorhome actually sold at auction for £47,000 back in 2017 with just 5,500 miles on the clock – you can read our story on it here.
That means a buyer will be paying almost £3,000 more for a motorhome with at least two previous owners (and the last one presumably wasn’t mega famous), and with an extra three thousand miles on the clock.
Time for the asking price to be altered, or like a fine wine do you reckon modded motorhomes once owned by Tour de France winners get better and more valuable with age? We’ve contacted Frost Van Centre for comment.
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We also have a greater volume of traffic, including on residential roads which were once quiet. Spending billions on infrastructure such as protected cycle tracks and modal filters is the only thing that will lead to mass cycling. Look at London. Why is there mass cycling there? Infrastructure. The Netherlands? The same reason. And often the only way to achieve meaningful change is reallocating some space and priority from motor vehicles, which is why the government's 'don't scare the horses' attitude is concerning.
You think there might be a clue to that in the name "City Light Set"? Marking it down because it's no good for fast riding on unlit roads seems somewhat akin to buying a micro-hatchback and then complaining that it's rubbish at pulling a plough.
This is like something from a kids' activity book. "The editor has a bit of a hangover this morning. Can you help him match the headline to the correct story?"
@kinderje Are you aware that -ise endings are actually the newer form, having supplanted -ize (as used by Shakespeare, the King James Bible and Jane Austen, amongst many others) in the mid 19th century? Etymologically there is a far better argument for -ize endings for words with Greek and Latin roots than the -ise ending which arose from Victorian publishers imitating French verb endings. Both endings are now regarded as acceptable in British English, although the Oxford style guide recommends -ize. It is most certainly not incorrect.
@Backladder Given that the makers are selling it as being useable on any ride on open roads, it doesn't seem unreasonable to try to test it in those conditions.
'Leasting'? That's a whole 4 letters less.
Although usually the easiest thing of all would be for them just to stop for a few moments while you cycle past them (which requires a lot less space to do safely than them passing you), but most people seem allergic to stopping, even for the briefest time.
@Backladder Oh I think I can guess - the nearest indoor velodrome to road.cc HQ looks to be some distance away in Wales, whereas Odd Down Cycle Track (where this test was conducted) is just 2 miles away.
There are a number of causes of "the divide between motorists and cyclists". Only one is to do with the technology (of bicycles and cars) and that's the nature of the car, which is designed to induce the sort of dangerous and careless behaviours that providing humans with a lot of power and glamour fetches out of us. Other causes are much more insidious - A culture of hyper-individualism bordering on solipsism, with violently ultra-selfish and aggressive anti-heroes being promoted in every mass media channel as the ideal. A "news" media that overwhelmingly seeks, creates and offers pariahs and scapegoats to the rabid individualists, which pariahs and scapegoats includes all kinds of those perceived as less powerful and therefore easy victims, including cyclists. The near complete lack of any curb upon the dangerous antics of vast numbers of media-maddened motorists by the forces of law and order, many of whom are actually members themselves of the mass media maddened motorist ilk. ******** No amount of a more rational discourse about active travel or the means of making it safer will change these root causes of the vast numbers of deaths and maiming due to inept, incompetent and deliberately violent antics of vast numbers of motorists allowed their dangerous "weapons of choice". Yet many other highly damaging aspects of modern societies would be solved by a much more effective curbing of mass media mob-building and goading along with a serious attempt to prevent motorists and a whole range of other damagers from behaving as badly as so many do. It'll not happen, of course. Large and powerful elements of the modern world obtain far too much ultra-riches and power from current conditions for them to allow any significant change. And vast numbers of the population have long had their minds, attitudes and behaviours captured and directed by various oligarchical monsters and their mass media propaganda horns. About the only chance of safe active travel becoming extant is for the population at large to become mostly too poor to afford a car, ironically one other likely outcome of the machinations of those same power and money-mad monsters that have created the car-issue in the first place. Their need for zero-sum socio-economic arrangements degrades everything, including the wallet-contents of the masses.
@Astralstroll The hierarchy of road users does not mean priority of road users except in certain circumstances, e.g. stopping to let pedestrians cross junctions before turning. It doesn't mean that cyclists have priority over motor vehicles at all times any more than the pedestrians have priority over cyclists at all times. It certainly doesn't mean that you have priority in the circumstances you describe; personally, unless the driver is being a complete dick, on a narrow country lane I accept that it is easier for me to turn around and go back to the nearest passing place, which is never that far if you're on a bike, than for a tractor or other large vehicle to reverse back down the road for my benefit.
24 thoughts on “Wiggins’ motorhome on sale for £50k… but sold for £47k at auction in 2017; Ganna breaks pursuit WR; ‘Confirmed’ UAE Tour coronavirus cases… not confirmed; Cycle scheme halts Sophos sale; Pothole gets birthday cake + candles + more on the live blog”
Has anyone seen that advert
Has anyone seen that advert for some new SUV and they’re pushing that its got special tech which allows it to see otherwise invisible dogs and joggers at night time?
(Apparently the fact it’s got headlights just isn’t good enough, or something…)
Cars are becoming the new
Cars are becoming the new guide dog aren’t they? God forbid drivers had to look away from their phone…
There were some roadworks
There were some roadworks near me (two-lane down to single lane each way with traffic lights) which had three birthdays. People put baloons and a “Happy 3rd Birthday” banner up around it.
Apparently took ages due to the road collapse spanning two different sections of land (two different owners each needing to give permission).
I have projects around the
I have projects around the house that celebrate birthdays. A couple are coming up for their bar mitzvah.
“Ford tease new anti-dooring
“Ford tease new anti-dooring technology”
I know drivers are getting dumber all the time, but should we really be pandering to them at this level? If they are too stupid to look in the mirror, they shouldn’t be on the road.
eburtthebike wrote:
I get your point, but if it saves a few doorings then I’m perfectly happy with car buyers spending a bit more.
The trouble is the initial
The trouble is the initial tech is from the blind spot warnings, how far back do those sensors check, If i’m doing 18mph that is several cars back when they start to open the doors. (Although if I’m doing that in the dooring zone without being ultra careful some of that is back on me)
Anti-dooring tech was
Anti-dooring tech was developed years ago, and demonstrated every week on “The Dukes of Hazzard”. Just weld the doors shut, make ‘em climb out the windows. That will solve it.
A decent “Bloody Cyclists”
A decent “Bloody Cyclists” story for you – CTW scheme scuppers multi-million dollar acquisition – https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/27/sophos_selloff_stopped_by_bike_scheme/
Is that the same Wiggo
Is that the same Wiggo motorhome that sold for £47,000 back in 2017 via auction when it had only done 5,500 miles… ?
Yes it is, thanks for jogging
Yes it is, thanks for jogging my memory… not really, I just didn’t do news for road.cc then! Update coming shortly…
I tried to save you the
I tried to save you the trouble by linking to the original article
, but the £ sign in the link was causing havoc within the comments 
I had the exact same thought
I had the exact same thought
Greta doesn’t skip school,
Greta doesn’t skip school, she’s schooling politicians all round the world. Including the US President. She’s just trying to help the slow learners.
The issue I have with Greta
The issue I have with Greta Thunberg is that whilst she is highlighting climate change, which needs addressing, I feel tht she is poisoning young impressionable minds. Bear with me on this. In our modern snowflake generation, much is said regarding not giving children too much bad news. The way Greta slags off the rest of the world and paints a picture of doom and gloom can, and will, give children nightmares. They will go to bed after seeing her, thinking the world is going to end. As I said, I do agree climate change is a massive issue, and needs addressing, but not in this manner. Also, I do not agree with kids bunking off school to go see her. Their parents should be fined, as they would if they took them on holiday in term time. We don’t have kids, but we both still pay a hell of a lot of tax towards education, as seen in black and white on my annual tax summary. Why should I pay tax, for kids to bunk off school to go see an overbearing, priviledged smacked-ass kid preach horrific stuff to them?
Bollocks. The issue you have
Bollocks. The issue you have is not that she is frightening children, it’s that she is frightening adults like yourself. It’s that she’s highlighting what we have done and holding us accountable for failing her generation. As for school, that was the point. Adults have not acted to prevent climate catastrophe, so what is the point of going to school if you have no future? It’s that action that reinforces the inadequacy of our response to the problem we created. If you’re uncomfortable with the role reversals, where the children discipline the adults for their behaviour, do the adult thing and accept responsibility.
She does manage to bring a
She does manage to bring a certain anger and resentment out of a certain group of people.
Good luck to her. I hope she can acheive her aims, and make the world really listen.
I do admire her chutzpah.
I wrote a paper on climate
I wrote a paper on climate change as an engineering student in 1988. Since then, we’ve done very little substantive. Typically politicians see no further than the next election and the general population is addicted to easy transport and stuff from China. I’d include myself here with my carbon bike, plenty of lycra gear and aversion to commuting – by and large I just ride for fun and cycling does very little to reduce my footprint.
Greta Thunberg has been just about the only person able to make people with power pay any attention. Those who think “this needs something doing but not when it actually comes to having to face the consequences” are sadly mistaken. Perhaps when Miami is under water, or some other major city, you’ll realise that Greta is right and we adults have been fiddling while Rome burns for more than 30 years. Even Margaret Thatcher got this.
So worry less about the tax you have paid being wasted by school strikes and more about the impending costs we will face when the destruction of human habitats means competition for our Western privileged lifestyles from even more desperate migrants.
And as for ickle kiddy-winkies being unable to sleep, most generations have something to keep them awake. Mine: cold war. My parents: the actual war (WW2). Both recoverable given time. My kids face something that may be irrevocable given the science of tipping points into positive feedback loops.
Sorry for the horrific stuff from an overbearing, privileged, smacked-ass (wot?) middle aged bloke. Hope you sleep soundly.
Seriously “biker fill”?? You
Seriously “biker fill”?? You don’t have kids, but because (you think) you “pay a hell of a lot of taxes” you believe you have the right to dictate how people should educate their children? Fines for “bunking off”?? Horse sh!t!!! Your world is so obviously insular it’s frickin scary, just like the fact that people like you exist in 2020…
“snowflake” is a term used by boomers like you to dismiss the opinions of people who you consider to be threatening to your perception of a normal way of life because they happen to be ok with voicing an opinion which you find uncomfortable – largely because you’re part of the problem and you know it – guilt is powerful emotion isn’t it?
You sound like the motorists that don’t ride bikes but know how they should be ridden – cos “cyclists don’t pay no road tax”. The education system in this country is designed to produce drones that work in factories to turn out profits for the pensions of Daily (hate) Mail readers like you. There is a different, more positive way, but you wouldn’t know cos you ain’t got kids…
News flash ‘biker fill’ – Greta has a message and the kids that will be responsible for doping you up in a care home and then disposing of your rancid corpse once you expire are listening to her, so before you strap your ‘specialiZed tarmac ultra glitter Roubaix Never Been Carbon Fibre Poseurfest’ to the roof of your wife’s maroon Range Rover Evoque and stuff another ‘Full English’ breakfast down your fat neck which has been manufactured from processed animal carcasses with an environmental impact equal to the Exxon Valdise disaster, just think – your opinion counts for jack sh*t if you have no experience in any of the crap you just spouted…
Educate yourself by reading a couple of books – start with ‘Sapiens’ and ‘Homo Deus’ by Yuval Noah Harari and then consider the possible impact of IR35 on your salary instead of watching “Celebrity-Come-Dine-with-me-on-an-antiques-cruise-ship-Eastenders-love-island-Christmas-special-on-ice” repeat on Channel 5…
Damn, that went from a stern
Damn, that went from a stern talking to, up to “somebody crapped in my cornflakes and I’m blaming you” in about half a paragraph. Outstanding!
Volùme up to 11 for a first
Volùme up to 11 for a first post. Where does he go from here?
I don’t know, but we may have
I don’t know, but we may have found the angry young man from the Billy Joel song!
Wow. You are a very angry
Wow. You are a very angry person. Are you also a vegan by any chance too?
biker phil wrote:
When I was a kid, we had the threat of nuclear holocaust hanging over our heads. Nothing like the threat of slowly dying from radiation sickness whilst scouring the blasted cities for the last remaining can of beans to give you sweet dreams.
Greta is just a voice and figurehead trying to get people to recognise the absurdity of trashing our own environment. She didn’t create the problems – she’s just pointing out that politicians/leaders are doing sweet F.A. to address the issues as it’ll cost them some profit margins.
It really bugs me that some people are attacking the person (Greta) rather than focussing on the message. It doesn’t matter who says it – we need to clean up our act and aim for long-term sustainability. It’s just retarded, short-term thinking to focus on business profits instead.