Chris Froome suffers on “steepest climb in the world”; Frustration as School of Rock star’s death reported as “cycling accident”; Bike theft video; Simon Yates wins Giro stage; Foo Fighters Brompton; Pop-up lane made permanent + more on the live blog

Sometimes you have to help the van driver make the right decision. pic.twitter.com/Cw7ZbQm270

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) May 28, 2021

It has been a while since we shared some Jeremy Vine 360 camera goodness on the live blog, so here we go…Vine has a word with the driver of the van who just has to get in front of the cyclist ahead of the road narrowing. The broadcaster famous for his cycling escapades gets called a twat for his troubles…all for the cause, I guess. 10/10 for the deadpan: “and I can’t really argue with that”…

However, not everyone was impressed by Jeremy’s riding…one reply pointed out that he  ignored a no entry sign as he turned into the side street…  

Totally my fault. I was shaken by the dangerous driving and verbal abuse.

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) May 28, 2021

As we said, this isn’t the first time Jeremy has featured on our live blog…most recently, a month ago, he shared a clip of him almost being taken out by a London taxi driver on his commute to work. Who could forget this classic? The motorist spotted driving straight down the segregated Hyde Park cycle lane which Tony Devenish had a pop at on Monday.

And, after yesterday’s ‘cyclists dismount’ silliness, here’s the time the pedalling presenter denied graffitiing ‘F*** Off’ on a sign in West London…

Sagan when someone tries to join the breakaway #Giro pic.twitter.com/Qa5T55LqdO

— Cycling Memes (@Cycling_Memes1) May 27, 2021

Points jersey leader Peter Sagan found himself slapped with a hefty fine and docked UCI points for ‘intimidation, improper conduct against other riders’. The exact incident that has been punished is not entirely clear, although clips posted on social media suggest the three-time world champion had a few choice words for riders trying to make the breakaway on stage 18.

The stage was 60km old by the time the break finally established a lead over the peloton, at which point Sagan, his teammate Daniel Oss and Filippo Ganna came to the front of the bunch to block any further moves. As a result of his conduct Sagan was fined 1000 Swiss Francs (£785) by the race jury and docked 50 UCI points.

Some have suggested a proper punishment would have been taking away some of Sagan’s points towards winning the ciclamino sprinters’ jersey, which he currently leads by 22 points from Davide Cimolai and 25 from Fernando Gaviria.

“Today was an important stage and the key was not to lose points for the ciclamino jersey. We kept under control the sprinters that were close in the points classification and held on to the ciclamino. On Friday and Saturday, we have two hard mountain stages,” Sagan told Bora-Hansgrohe.

Some good news from Australia…pop-up cycle lanes across Sydney that were introduced during the pandemic are to be made permanent. Some of the temporary lanes will be in place for a minimum of two years, while the two most popular routes are to be made permanent.

“When COVID hit, we worked with the state government to install pop-up cycleways – a key element of its emergency transport response,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said. “These cycleways have shown us we can make roads safer for riders, calm traffic and create attractive environments that leave room for people, provide space for outdoor dining and support surrounding businesses.”

9news reports the pop-up lanes have contributed to a 40 per cent increase in people cycling across Greater Sydney and that cycling on the most popular cycleway along Pitt Street is up 500 per cent.

This positive news from Oz makes a change from the usual cycling stories in our archives…earlier this week we reported that a cyclist in Queensland was fined A$1000 (£704) for talking on her phone while riding…

𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗢𝗡, YOU’RE UP NEXT!!

Join me at The Concorde This Sunday from 2pm for Drum & Bass On The Bike Episode 4.. 🏖https://t.co/Z5Tb3ZcrhX pic.twitter.com/R54AT1ylTN

— Domonic (@domwhiting) May 28, 2021

Dom Whitting’s Drum & Bass On The Bike is back this weekend..and what better location than a sunny Sunday by the seaside? The bumper bank holiday crowds will be treated to Dom’s set from his modified bike with the decks fitted on the handlebars…

These were the scenes in Bristol for his last episode…

Although the #Giro will not climb the #Mottarone, the riders will pay tribute to the 14 victims of the #Stresa cable car crash. They have unanimously decided to donate all prize money from today’s stage to little #Eitan and to the families affected by this terrible tragedy.#CPA pic.twitter.com/uxf7stov5f

— CPA Cycling (@cpacycling) May 28, 2021

The CPA has announced the riders at the Giro have unanimously decided to donate all prize money from today’s stage to the families affected by the Mottarone cable car incident. Earlier this week, the route for the stage was altered away from the summit following the tragedy last Sunday that killed 14 people.

Yesterday, stage 18 winner Alberto Bettiol dedicated his victory to his former agent who passed away last year as well as the victims of the crash.  “I also want to give a thought to all the victims in the Mottarone cable car and all the families,” an emotional Bettiol told reporters at the finish.

🇮🇹 #Giro

There’s something 💜 at our bus for @petosagan… 🚲 @iamspecialized #iamspecialized pic.twitter.com/5Tim02mYk0

— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) May 28, 2021

Too bad if Sagan had been docked points classification points for his “intimidating” behaviour on stage 18… 

A pair of would-be bike thieves were fought off by the bravery of one Toronto cyclist determined to stop his ride being nicked. The 39-year-old man fought off the attack by two men in the entrance of the building near Bathurst Street on April 17. The pair cornered the cyclist before trying to wrestle the bicycle off its owner but were left empty handed after the man put up a fight.

Both thieves were described as being 18-22 years old and covered their faces with baseball caps and face masks. After a short struggle they eventually give up and walked off with their tail between their legs…

Yesterday, we reported the bike theft struggle for victims of the crime in the UK’s bike theft capital, Cambridge. Roughly 4,000 bicycles are reported stolen in Cambridge in a typical year, with Camcycle estimating the cost for residents is more than £1.5 million.

David Millar has announced new investment from angel investor Mikkel B.Rasmussen as CHPT3 relaunches this summer with a new e-commerce store and a new product line aimed at women and sustainability, particularly within the US and Asian markets. Speaking about the investment, Millar said he hopes CHPT3 will become one of the leading global brands in cycling in the next five years.

The “Most Days” summer collection coming next week is the first time the company has produced women’s cycle wear and is the first step in a plan to bring CHPT3 kit specific for mountain bikers, gravel cycling and urban cyclists too.

“With Mikkel’s lead and guidance, we have introduced a human first focus to everything we do, from taking responsibility regards sustainability and forming a business model that is built to last, to the naming of our products and introducing a women’s range that is in total parity with the men’s range,” Millar said.

“Millions of people are discovering their love for cycling these years. Yet, cycling can feel so exclusive and elitist and can put people off before they’ve even got on a bike. The cycling industry has managed to position cycling as a sport of suffering, pain, and herd-like behaviour. CHPT3 is for people that want to break free of that narrow code and make cycling a broad part of their lifestyle. CHPT3 is for both men and women. It serves many types of cycling, always with a focus to make cycling a positive, playful force in the life of our users.”

The CEO of RCS Sport, Paolo Bellino, the Director of the #Giro Mauro Vegni, the Director of the #GiroE Roberto Salvador, together with the Mayor of Stresa, Marcella Severino, laid a wreath – at the start of the Funivia – to remember the people died in this tragedy. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/o232spa49t

— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 28, 2021

I want to talk about Kevin Clark for a minute. Headlines like this—news coverage like this—are inexcusable.https://t.co/UyrMVuCAn7

— Peter Flax (@Pflax1) May 27, 2021

 There has been frustration online in the aftermath of School of Rock star Kevin Clark’s death about the way it has been reported. A quick scan of the headlines and coverage from yesterday shows numerous titles and websites reporting the incident as an accident or failing to mention the involvement of a driver.

‘School of Rock drummer Kevin Clark dies in bike accident’ and ‘School of Rock star dies aged 32 after being hit by car’ are just two examples of headlines from UK-based outlets that do not follow the new Road Collision Reporting Guidelines launched last week.

Co-ordinated by road.cc contributor Laura Laker, the guidelines encourage media reports to avoid using the word “accident” to describe “crashes” or “collisions” to remove the association with chance. It also suggests reporters should acknowledge the role of motorists by avoiding describing “drivers” simply by their vehicle.

Commenting on the coverage of Kevin Clark’s death, Peter Flax wrote: “There are tons of stories out now that say that Clark was hit by a car and died in an accident. This is not some trivial nitpick on word choice. It’s about the media (and our culture) treating the death of riders and pedestrians differently than folks killed in any other manner.

“Reporters and editors have no fucking clue if this was an accident. What we know is that a 20-year old-woman driving a Hyundai Sonata at 1:30 am hit and killed him. I get where the bias comes from. Nearly all adults drive. In nearly all of these cases, the driver didn’t wake up intending to kill someone. So there’s this great unconscious desire to label these crashes as Acts of God. That’s what the word ‘accident’ says—nobody’s fault.”

Steepest climb in the world? We could do with some fact-checking on that claim…Chris Froome has released some more training footage from his Tour de France prep in Tenerife. Including riding up what the four-time Tour champion claims is “the steepest climb in the world” as he grinds up at walking pace. Now, admittedly that’s probably just the words of a bike rider on the limit, begging for an end to their suffering…rather you than me, Chris.

And we’re LIVE!
Check out the full video 👉 Training On “The Steepest Climb In The World” 😬 (plus other nutrition and training tips) 🎥https://t.co/6bsVNBTc4t pic.twitter.com/rBSUs8vbid

— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) May 28, 2021

Back in 2017, a little-known climb in Lombardy was crowned the world’s hardest climb by La Flamme Rouge…San Glisente Pozza near Brescia averages 18 per cent for more than 10km…mind-bogglingly and leg-shreddingly steep… However, for out-and-out steepness you have to head to New Zealand to climb Baldwin Street’s 35 per cent ramp. The Welsh town of Harlech thought they had that record but Ffordd Pen Lech was stripped of its crown earlier this year when an updated method saw the gradient downgraded from 37.5 per cent to a tame 28.6…that’s practically flat.

Apart from questionable claims about the world’s steepest climb, Froome did offer some interesting insight into his training. Now down to 68kg, he explained the goal is to drop to 67kg before the Tour in July.

Talking about how he is managing to hit race weight Froome said: “In total we’re doing about two hours of intensity in a six-and-a-half hour ride. At the end of the ride we’re targeting fat burning once we were empty from the intervals and to do another two hours just on water. When you’re already flat and tired, to push on and do another two hours of very low intensity.” Yikes…

Last month we shared news of a Radiohead-inspired Brompton that was announced along with a host of other musical artists…including the Foo Fighters and Enrique Iglesias…The bidding for the Foo Fighters design starts today via Greenhouse Auctions with all money going to Crew Nation, a global relief fund launched by Live Nation to support live music crews affected by the pandemic.

The slick Foo Fighters’ Brompton was designed by Taylor Hawkins, the band’s drummer and is inspired by their latest album Medicine at Midnight. The Colour and the Shape will be familiar to fans who want to tick off the miles around town One by One…

📽️ @SimonYatess holds on, @JooAlmeida98 has a shot at it, @Eganbernal retains the lead. Here is the last kilometre of today’s stage

📽️ @SimonYatess resiste, @JooAlmeida98 attacca, @Eganbernal difende la Rosa. Ultimo km

Powered by @supersapiensinc #Giro pic.twitter.com/MhoTSrmG3h

— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 28, 2021

Simon Yates attacked 6km from home to win the penultimate road stage of the Giro d’Italia atop Alpe di Mera. Yates followed João Almeida when the Portuguese upped the pace on the final climb, before dropping him in the final 4km. Almeida rallied to close the gap, but Yates held on for a famous victory. Egan Bernal limited his losses well to finish 28 seconds behind Yates and four ahead of his nearest rival Damiano Caruso.

This all means ahead of tomorrow’s final mountain showdown that Bernal leads Caruso by 2:29. The Italian will be looking over his shoulder as Yates is now just 20 seconds behind the Bahrain-Victorious rider. Tomorrow’s stage features three first category climbs, including a 7km ramp to the finish at Alpe Motta. Who will be wearing pink this time tomorrow?