- News

Pinarello bike porn: Filippo Ganna’s supersonic Olympic TT machine; Pizza taped to top tubes and potato pouches; Anna van der Breggen stopped from riding course by official; G up for “one more push”; 3D scanners aero gains + more on the live blog
SUMMARY

Wout van Aert's Tour de France skinsuit up for auction...but it will cost you
Jumbo-Visma have put their kit from the Tour de France up for auction to raise money for Jeugdfonds Sport & Cultuur, a charity which helps children from less privileged backgrounds participate in sport. The standout item is one of Wout van Aert’s skinsuits used during the Tour. You’ll need a large wallet though…with five days to go the bidding is already up to €1,800 (plus a nine per cent fee).
Second on GC, Jonas Vingegaard’s jersey is also up for auction and is up to €1,300, at the time of writing. Cruelly, you can also bid for one of Primoz Roglic’s skinsuits he wore during his punishing first week, possibly with crash holes included…
In fact, if you want anything it’ll cost you…Mike Teunissen’s signed bottle is the cheapest item going…and it’s still €65. No word on if the UCI will take action against the Dutch leadout man for lobbing a bidon to a fan via an auction, but that’s surely a retrospective disqualification.
Swiss sweep women's MTB podium at Tokyo 2020
Switzerland have taken a clean sweep of the medals at the women’s mountain biking event in Tokyo, with five-time world champion Jolanda Neff taking gold, more than a minute ahead of runner-up Sina Frei and with Linda Indergand third. Team GB’s Evie Richards finished seventh, 3:23 after the winner.
🥇🇨🇭
🥈🇨🇭
🥉🇨🇭Incredible! 🚵♀️
Watch now on BBC Red Button: https://t.co/exTFCNe7w7 #bbcolympics #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/BVgJb1KDvl
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 27, 2021
On-bike nutrition done right: Pizza taped to top tubes and potato pouches at triathlon event


Gels and bars stuck to the top tube? Fine, we’ve seen it before. French bikepackers bundling baguettes back in their pockets? All good. Pizza slices taped to the top tube? That’s a new one…and as for raw potatoes packed into a pouch for a crunchy mid-ride snack…Louise Short snapped these unconventional nutrition strategies on triathletes’ bikes at the Outlaw event in Nottingham at the weekend.


This Soreen malt loaf looks so sticky it doesn’t need any help securing itself, although that top tube will need a good scrub later. Apparently the crows were loving the generously provided buffet while the athletes were in the water for the swim…


Ash Van Bassman won the comments section: “I assume for Kona, pizza bike triathlete adds pineapple to make it a Hawaiian?” Although based on some of the anti-pineapple comments from Friday’s live blog, that joke probably won’t land here…
Italian national team uses 3D scanner tech to get aero for Tokyo
Italy’s pursuit of gold medals in Tokyo has led them to lean on the expertise of Russian manufacturer Thor3D’s 3D scanning tech to reduce aero drag. The team has put its Pinarello bikes and Hardskin clothing under detailed analysis by the 3D technology to digitalise each athlete and reduce their drag as much as possible by optimising riders’ equipment and position.
3D Natives reports the process involved riders being scanned while riding in their race position and wearing their full race kit, and was complete in two minutes. From the pictures and data, Pinarello designed custom-made bars for each rider and optimise their positioning. Because Filippo Ganna clearly needs extra help destroying the rest of the world…
Christina Mackenzie set for second Land's End to John O'Groats record attempt in bid to break 19-year-old record
National 12 Hour Champion in 2020, Christina Mackenzie (Stirling Bike Club) will start her second attempt on the End to End record this Wednesday (28th July) at 0800. Her first attempt in 2019 was close to record pace until the Helmsdale climb with about 50 miles to go. pic.twitter.com/qNInFrHgvW
— Mr Broadwith (@24HourMaths) July 27, 2021
Christina Mackenzie is back for another attempt at the Land’s End to John O’Groats record this week. Back in 2019, the national 12-hour champ was within touching distance of beating the current best time of 52 hours, 45 minutes, set in 2002 by Lynne Taylor. That time Mackenzie faded at the end to finish two hours, 30 minutes off Taylor’s time, but she’s back in the South West to have another shot at the 19-year-old record tomorrow. All the best, Christina.
Rapha Women's 100 is back for a ninth edition


Rapha’s celebration of women’s cycling, the Rapha Women’s 100, is returning this September for a ninth edition. Since its inception in 2013, the Women’s 100 has inspired thousands of cyclists to come together and ride 100km on the same day. Back again after Covid restrictions, the ninth edition will see group rides hosted from Rapha’s Clubhouses and partner cafes across the world, from Down Under to San Fransisco. Full details and sign-up information will be announced soon…
More Dutch misfortune as Anna van der Breggen stopped by official, varying reports of a fall
ITT medal hopeful Anna van der Breggen is the latest Dutch rider to suffer Olympic misfortune after she was stopped by an official while training ahead of tomorrow’s competition. Wielerflits reports the official caused Van der Breggen to fall, although other sources have disputed this.
The current TT world champ appears to be uninjured after the incident at the Fuji Speedway circuit. Japanese cycling coach Kyosuke Takei told the Dutch outlet: “Everyone had to stop due to a mistake by the organiser. And in the tumult with the guards, Anna was threatened and overthrown.”
Geraint Thomas also reported problems with practising on the TT course. In a slightly cryptic tweet, the GB rider wrote: “Come recon the TT from 15:00-17:00 they said…” before following up with a second post saying he hadn’t crashed, just that “it was a little chaotic.”
BREAKING (the rules) news
Eyewitnesses News out of the fucking bike lane pic.twitter.com/le9WjD58QC
— Good Idea Dave (@DaveCoIon) July 26, 2021
Geraint Thomas recalls Olympic Games road race crash that forced him to abandon


Geraint Thomas has spoken to Eurosport ahead of tomorrow’s time trial and promised to give “one more push” to challenge for a third Olympic medal of his career. Thomas won gold in the Team Pursuit in 2008 and 2012 but crashed out of Saturday’s road race after teammate Tao Geoghegan Hart fell ahead of the Welshman.
“We were just going down a fast bit of road, there was a little bit of metal in the middle and Tao hit that and lost his front wheel and I was directly behind him,” G told Eurosport.
“I could have tried to land on top of him – it would have cushioned my blow. But yeah, we were both on the deck and really unfortunate – just a freak accident. I knew I wasn’t bad, like broken something, but when you hit the floor at that sort of speed it’s never nice. I knocked myself about a bit, just a normal crash but it’s just disappointing. After the Tour and everything, looking to come here, change of scene and with the GB team I was really motivated to try and get something out of it.
“It’s not that I’ve had a bad season. I’ve won two races, I’ve been up there on the podium a few other times as well as that. But the main two targets is what you dream about and they’re the ones where I’ve ended up on the floor so it is tough but it is part of the sport. Like life in general, you don’t always get what you deserve. You just need to keep trying.
“This year has been tough mentally but I’ve still got one more chance on Wednesday with the TT so I’ll just rest up now and hopefully get something out of that. One more push, at least stay on the bike.”
Misfortune and crashes have shadowed Thomas throughout his career, including at the Tour de France earlier this month where the 2018 winner dislocated his shoulder in a fall on stage three. He will roll down the start ramp as one of the two British riders competing in tomorrow morning’s TT. Geoghegan Hart is the other to take on the course against a stacked line-up, including world champ Filippo Ganna, Wout van Aert and Rohan Dennis…
Get the gold paint ready? Pinarello bike porn: Filippo Ganna's supersonic Olympic TT machine
Well, well, well. Riding a machine like this beauty is a pretty nice perk of the job when you’re as fast as Filippo Ganna. The Italian powerhouse will be gunning, or should I say Gannaing, for an Olympic gold medal to go with his rainbow jersey, in the early hours of tomorrow morning over in Tokyo.
The Ineos Grenadier has been near unbeatable for the past couple of years in races against the clock, racking up five Giro d’Italia stage wins in the discipline and melting cycling fans’ brains globally with his thermonuclear wattages. And, if gold medals were won on style alone, the imposing Italian thrashing this piece of Pinarello perfection would earn a place on the top step of the podium with ease. If anything, it’s a shame that the glossy red paint job will have to be replaced by a fresh gold look…Alright, I’ll stop getting ahead of myself…
To win, Ganna will have to beat Tour de France conqueror Wout van Aert, Ineos teammate Rohan Dennis and well, almost every other great time trialist from across the world. We can’t wait…
Alex Dowsett's TT preview
Rohan Dennis to win gold? Patrick Bevin a dark horse for a medal? Alex Dowsett has given us the goods with this TT preview detailing everything you need to know ahead of the two big races tomorrow…Including rumours of a tropical storm…
Boris Johnson announces those convicted of anti-social behaviour will be "out there in one of those fluorescent-jacketed chain gangs"
“I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be out there in one of those fluorescent-jacketed chain gangs visibly paying your debt to society”.
Boris Johnson outlines his planned reforms for dealing with people convicted of anti-social behaviour.https://t.co/fgFiRXQhAn pic.twitter.com/KN0JFfnXEV
— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 27, 2021
You can tell you’re a cyclist when you read Sky News and your first instinct is the PM has ordered people convicted of anti-social behaviour to get their cleats ready…”out there in one of those fluorescent-jacketed chain gangs visibly paying your debt to society” sounds like a pretty cool punishment to us. Come on, mate, don’t skip your turn. Start paying your debt to society…
27 July 2021, 08:07
27 July 2021, 08:07
27 July 2021, 08:07
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.
24 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
@C3a Presumably it's to do with turnover stability while moving. I saw a Tentbox today, just being driven through Garstang. I can certainly see the advantage of these boxes over tents, because I have suffered lifelong from the 'Get orf my land' brigade, and there's a much greater tolerance among them for those 'camping' in vehicles than for those much more worthy real campers in tents. Add to that the convenience of just stopping in any old free spot by the roadside, where there isn't a decent site for a tent, and you can see the attraction.
Most of the cars that I have owned have had a roof-box limit (bars, box and contents) of 70kg. How does a textbox fit with that? Is the limit only applicable when the vehicle is moving?
@Chris RideFar For starters, by being 1,5 m above the ground you are mostly protected from dew. In many countries it also protects you from frost or really low temperatures. You'd be surprised how much of a difference it actually makes. Bugs, ants, spiders etc. are another thing, as is the purely mental feeling of security by being isolated from the ground. You'd be surprised how much that means to some of us and our better halves ;-) Sleeping on the ground also means more mechanical damage to the floor from rocks, hard roots etc., which could make a big difference in some areas and on longer trips, where a ripped tent floor could really break your holiday. I'm not saying a roof tent is the answer to all one's troubles with camping. But these factors definitely to make a difference to many of us.
When was the last time you had a groundsheet with a built in mattress? The point is predictable comfort.
Is it because cars and driving are about convenience (for a price), so there is mileage in selling more (quite expensive) related things that are about convenience?
@FionaJJ that's the crux of the issue i guess. Minority causes can have this where the mainstream has the power to steamroll you (figuratively and literally). There's always "fear of angering the giant" (or alienating the decision makers / majority, where any politician has the temptation to gain attention by criticising this. And business salespeople stand to gain by selling "convenience and status" instead). But ... it's also easy to keep getting "small wins" while losing the main argument. (That would be where rules and public space remain suited to or are further modified to reinforce motor dependency and thus reduce active travel - even if perhaps it's now autonomous vehicles and "they're more efficient / much safer than human drivers").
@Secret_squirrel If you put it on the ground, you don't need a "giant solid base". I still don't get the point of it.
@chrisonabike I'd personally prefer it if she were bolder, but on the spectrum of terrible to brilliant options for Transport Secretary, having someone who believes in cycling, but is a bit timid about it, is a net positive. Yes, those of us who can see opportunities missed or delayed will be frustrated, but it could easily have been much worse. That doesn't mean there's not a role for encouragement and constructive criticism. Agreed Chris Boardman has a good approach. He is ambitious, but communicates it in a way that is meaningful to the majority, and makes it hard for all but the most brazen anti-cycling activists to disagree with his ambitions.
24 thoughts on “Pinarello bike porn: Filippo Ganna’s supersonic Olympic TT machine; Pizza taped to top tubes and potato pouches; Anna van der Breggen stopped from riding course by official; G up for “one more push”; 3D scanners aero gains + more on the live blog”
Triathletes are indeed a
Triathletes are indeed a different breed
Finally, a purpose for those
Finally, a purpose for those flat-topped top tubes! 😉
Pizza and malt loaf, fair
Pizza and malt loaf, fair enough. But raw potato seems like a great way to DNF… (unless they are actually boiled new potatoes or similar?)
Given how hot it’s been
Given how hot it’s been recently, perhaps they were hoping they would be perfect jackets by the time they were done with the swim.
I think it was just the one fundamentalist, wasn’t it?
OnYerBike wrote:
Maybe they are to lob at close-passers
Loving the comment about
Loving the comment about crows having a feast. It would be the type of thing I’d to, thinking I’d come up with a genius idea only to discover later there’s a good reason it’s not normally done
I assumed it was a spoof, the
I assumed it was a spoof, the Pizza doesn’t look very aero?
Evie Richards finished 7th in
Evie Richards finished 7th in the MTB XC race the Swiss swept the podium for, which is TeamGBs highest placed finish in the womens race in Olympic MTB XC history, in case you missed it.
And the BBC commentary after
And the BBC commentary after she crossed the line smiling from ear to ear…
“Disappointment there for Evie Richards, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Tom Pidcock’s ride…”
Totally agree it was an odd
Totally agree it was an odd line of questioning. I’ve noticed similar things in other interviews too. The interviewer talking to Georgia Taylor-Brown was asking about her disappointment in not winning gold and what might have been. In context, she was beaming having just won a triathlon silver medal after running from 5th to 2nd following a late puncture on the bicycle leg and having said that she had been hoping for a top 5. It was a great performance, and it seemed to me an inability to read the room and celebrate the success she’d had. Not to mention that the winner was super strong and seemed unlikely to have been beaten anyway.
I’m guessing the spuds are
I’m guessing the spuds are boiled in their skins rather than raw? Although given the temperature the water in my bidons was reaching last week you could probably pop one in there and boil up a quick mid-race hot snack.
Was going to say the same.
Was going to say the same. Pretty good idea too, I might use it, though I’d probably go for baked myself.
Rendel Harris wrote:
My bike got so hot in the sun resting against a wall last week that I heard a telltale “Pssstttt” as the rear inner tube went flat. Turned out a puncture patch I’d repaired a hole with ages ago and forgotten about had come unglued in the heat!
CamelBack’s Podium Chill and
CamelBack’s Podium Chill and Ice are my go to during the heatwaves, stored in the fridge overnight or during the day, stays cool just long enough.
Reduces ice build up during what the flip side of the year brings
Compulsory cycling!
Compulsory cycling! 😉
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2021/jul/27/uk-covid-live-news-updates-vaccines-delta-variant-testing
Boris Johnson says people guilty of antisocial behaviour should be in hi-vis ‘chain gangs’
Johnson is guilty of
Johnson is guilty of antisocial behaviour, but he already poses in hi-viz (and lab coats, and milkman’s coat, and car factory worker one-piece) for cynical photo opps.
Disturbing the neighbours
Disturbing the neighbours while rowing with his girlfriend, lying about £350M a week, lying about the lack of checks on goods GB-NI, handing out public money to party contacts and donors, joking about 80-year-olds dying of Covid, lying about who paid for refurbishments to his flat…
The list goes on. He isn’t in any position to criticise anyone else.
Wasn’t there going to be some
Wasn’t there going to be some sort of road.cc crackdown on the needless politicisation of the comments section?
Rich_cb wrote:
But saying that Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a lying liar who lies a lot about all sorts of stuff (and dissembles about the rest of it) isn’t political. It’s just a statement of fact.
(What’s that, Boris? How many children do you have?)
No issue with your original
No issue with your original post, news stories with amusing cycling related quips attached are live blog bread and butter.
HarrogateSpa’s sad attempt to prove he hates Boris more than anyone else is another matter though.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
My sister was one of those neighbours. She has moved away from there now, thankfully.
I’d say his own behaviour is pretty anti-social. The lying seems to be a core part of his selfish, abusive personality. He’s following his father, it seems. Is there anything he hasn’t lied about or corrupted in some way?
HarrogateSpa wrote:
Don’t forget hiding in walk-in refrigerators.
Beat me to it!
Beat me to it!
and not forgetting Anna
and not forgetting Anna Shackley will be the 1st British rider competing in tomorrow mornings TT races in the womens event, which takes place ahead of the mens race.
Btw does anyone believe G had the Olympics as a target this year ?