All I want for Christmas is this beautiful bike lane; WorldTour pro handed four-year doping ban; Qhubeka-NextHash ends sponsorship hunt — team set to fold; ‘But cyclists’ Xmas special; Only two sleeps until WVA v MVDP v Pidcock + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
What day is it, Alex?
IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!!! eve
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) December 24, 2021
Qhubeka-NextHash ends sponsorship hunt — team set to fold
Let’s get the serious news out of the way early before the mulled wine turns the blog into a sloppy minefield of bad grammar and silly stories (no change from usual then…)
Qhubeka-NextHash have given up the hunt for a sponsor, ending hopes of keeping the team running beyond 2021. Earlier in the month the team was refused a UCI licence for 2022, signalling the beginning of the end for ‘Africa’s Team’, which helped get 30,000 people bikes through Qhubeka’s charity work.
Yesterday, a statement sent out to riders was leaked, in which team boss Doug Ryder told riders and staff, “I am very sad to send this message. We have tried everything to find sponsors for our team for next season, right up until the last few days, but nothing has materialised in time.”
The team faced a similar last-minute scramble for a sponsor last off-season but survived thanks to Assos’ intervention. The team was rewarded at the Giro where Victor Campenaerts, Giacomo Nizzolo and Mauro Schmid won stages. All three have already confirmed moves to new teams for 2022.
Only two sleeps until Wout van Aert v Mathieu van der Poel v Tom Pidock
Who is ready for Dendermonde? pic.twitter.com/KKUC5OxMla
— Cyclocross Social (@Cyclocrosss) December 23, 2021
This is all anyone cares about this weekend, right? The trident of terror going head to head in the Dendermonde mud. 2pm GMT, GCN Race Pass…grab yourself some leftovers and try not to fall asleep before it gets underway…
World Tour pro handed four-year ban for doping
UCI hands Mexican rider Villalobos four-year ban for doping. Two-times Mexican national champion Luis Villalobos has been banned for four years after cycling’s governing body UCI said on Wednesday he had been found guilty of an anti-doping rule violation. pic.twitter.com/4ZwXRiFyMB
— Sports Crunch (@SportsCrunch_US) December 22, 2021
Two-time Mexican national champion and former EF Pro Cycling rider Luis Villalobos has been banned for four years by the UCI. Villalobos, who rode for EF Pro Cycling for one year between 2019 and 2020, tested positive for a presence of GHRP-6, a prohibited growth hormone-releasing substance, from a sample provided while he rode for the US-based Aevolo team in 2019.
The 23-year-old was provisionally suspended in May last year and was suspended by EF Pro Cycling too. “The Tribunal found the rider guilty of an anti-doping rule violation (presence of GHRP-6) and imposed a four-year period of ineligibility on the rider,” the UCI said in a statement.
“If we’d have known, we would not have signed Luis,” EF Education-Nippo CEO Jonathan Vaughters said last year. “The burden of this is on the UCI because there is no internal testing program that has access to the level of equipment needed to screen for GHRP-6.”
The sequel we all needed to see
Just another ordinary day at Robin Hood Island. pic.twitter.com/UNnlvQG0F0
— James Goes Cycling🚴🏻⛵️🇪🇺 (@JamesKPatterson) December 22, 2021
Remember this ‘but cyclists’ special from yesterday? Well, here’s the full incident…
And for those wondering how the feck you end up upside on a traffic island ….the answer has been revealed- you drive like a tw*t! pic.twitter.com/s3fj1uSSO7
— James Goes Cycling🚴🏻⛵️🇪🇺 (@JamesKPatterson) December 23, 2021
All I want for Christmas is this beautiful bike lane
This two way, segregated, King Street cycle way 9 was all I wanted for 🎄 @LBHF 🙏 🙏 It’s a beauty. pic.twitter.com/dzaG23mpts
— Andrew Pendleton (@AJPendleton) December 23, 2021
Don’t worry, I haven’t passed out in a pool of mulled wine just yet… I got distracted by a best of the live blog 2021 feature which will be coming to your screens soon…keep your eyes peeled…
Back to the main order of business…Andrew Pendleton got what he asked for this Christmas — a segregated bike lane with all the trimmings.
Jeremy Vine is a fan of this one too, calling it: “Wonderful. It will make the street better for everyone.”
The reindeer must have worked hard to drag all that white paint and wands down from the North Pole…maybe we’ll have to include proper infra in our ‘2022 Christmas gift ideas for cyclists who have family members in government’…niche, I know.
I reckon it’s about time for a beverage…
Feeling festive?
Who else is happy that Christmas is coming? 😁 pic.twitter.com/MZncmA1Z6V
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) December 23, 2021
24 December 2021, 09:14
24 December 2021, 09:14
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Latest Comments
Two car crashes, 12 motorists killed ..... but hey, cyclists are the big danger on our roads.
As an aside, Baroness Ludford's dramatic sensationalist language is perhaps an illustration of why many of our politicians are so useless. So much easier to utter eye-catching statements and headline grabbing soundbites, rather than quietly working, getting things done and making a positive difference.
Given there is a marked crossing there, I do think the cyclists should be stopping. That said, there is a reasonable argument that the marked crossing is not necessary. Bicycle Dutch has a good post on the subject (I'm not going to post a link as otherwise this comment may never see the light of day, but just google 'Bicycle Dutch How hard is it to cross the cycle path'). In essence, forcing cyclists to stop wastes a lot of energy compared to a pedestrian stopping, and it's generally not hard for a pedestrian to find a suitable gap in which to cross. So not having a marked crossing, and simply expecting pedestrians to cross when it's sensible to do so, normally works pretty well and keeps everyone moving better. That aligns with what we see in the video - in all cases, it is only a matter of seconds before the pedestrians are able to cross despite cyclists not stopping. If the pedestrians weren't expecting cyclists to stop (because there was no marked crossing) then the pedestrians would not feel endangered.
@Smoggysteve Yes - the infrastructure is designed in such a way that it encourages people to speed through and ignore pedestrians. Though that doesn't absolve those who do so of any blame.
Except I'm not making that argument. I said exactly the opposite - that it's poor that people aren't giving the pedestrians space. 🤷♂️ And I agree that people should be moderating their speed on approach to the crossing and being prepared to stop if necessary. I was merely saying that the language of people being 'terrorised' and 'endangered' is, for the most part, hyperbole - they're being inconvenienced by having to wait a while for an opportunity to cross, but very rarely are they actually being 'endangered'. In fact, generally, when they do step out on to the crossing, people do slow or stop sufficiently to allow them to cross. And a number of those clips actually show people negotiating the crossing with no real problem, even while cyclists continue to make progress either side of them - unlike with a motor vehicle it isn't always necessary for a cyclist to come to a complete stop for both to navigate the crossing safely. [Edit: in retrospect, posting my comment as a reply to lesterama's may have been a mistake, as everyone tends to assume that on the internet a reply is always a challenge, so it might have read that I was contesting what they said, but it wasn't intended that way.]
I am not arguing against circuit racing. It is a good idea for less well resourced events. I am arguing that for better resourced events, the introduction of circuit racing would achieve no significant improvement as well as totally change their nature and appeal to television viewers.
@mdavidford But one is creating the conditions for the other to perpetuate. You could be pedantic and state that - even under the HWC - cars, cyclist etc are under no obligation to stop to allow pedestrians to cross - UNLESS they are already ON the crossing. In most cases here that rule is followed. I am highlighting that this is a situation where there is a high volume of cycle traffic moving steadily along this route. there is no means to stop it to allow others to cross other than courtesy (which we all know isn't exactly a common trait among many city folk especially London). So, infrastructure wise, there should be another method of allowing pedestrians to navigate this crossing since this is clearly insufficient
@Smoggysteve I disagree. Would you suggest the same thing for a zebra crossing because its a busy road full of cars? Its very simple, you stop for pedestrians. Sure you can argue that perhaps the infrastructure needs changing but until that happens you can't excuse bad cycling with "well the infrastructure should be different". It isn't at the moment. Surely you can see the irony of blaming everything but the cyclists here when we as cyclists have to constantly hear about how its not drivers fault when they put our lives/safety at risk. Its really simple, you see a crossing like that and you prepare to stop. You don't prepare to stop when the cyclist 2m in front of you stops, you prepare to stop because there is something that might require you to.
Both can be true at once: poorly designed infrastructure AND poor behaviour.
@Clem Fandango yeah, they're talking utter bollocks. If it wasn't culture war fuel then the DM wouldn't love it so much. If you want a pretty good litmus test on what is "culture war" BS, read the daily mail for a few weeks. Immigrants, Labour, cyclists. Thats their bread and butter.
21 thoughts on “All I want for Christmas is this beautiful bike lane; WorldTour pro handed four-year doping ban; Qhubeka-NextHash ends sponsorship hunt — team set to fold; ‘But cyclists’ Xmas special; Only two sleeps until WVA v MVDP v Pidcock + more on the live blog”
Very disappointing about
Very disappointing about Qhubeka-NextHash. As Rendel said in response to the previous story when the team’s licence was refused, it’s an indictment of the world we live in that planet wreckers and dictatorships are suitable and successful team sponsors but teams trying to do something good live a hand-to-mouth existence.
Stable teams are necessary – riders need to be paid reliably, sponsors need to know that their investment is safe, events and TV need to be sure that everyone will show up. But this feels brutal.
So agree with your comment.
So agree with your comment. Couldn’t the UCI ban dictorships and planet wreckers from being sponsors? Also isn’t it wrong to have countries (read dictatorships) sponsor sporting teams as it’s basically politicising sport?
I expect nothing positive
I expect nothing positive from the UCI given the president’s chumminess with various regimes. See https://cyclingtips.com/2020/06/the-uci-just-gave-its-highest-award-to-a-dictator/ for details (and a really excellent article, not that I’m disloyal to road.cc, but other interesting sites do exist).
Robin Hood Island north of
Robin Hood Island north of Shirley near Solihull is a nightmare of peculiar lane arrangements and too many intersecting desired paths of travel.
So any motorist is normally on edge negotiating that roundabout which needs your full attention.
What was spectacularly lacking therefore was attention.
It was interesting to see the interaction of a small, oddly shaped car with the high SUV (Solihull’s finest). One wonders if it would pass the elk test after that performance?
(The elk test caused the Mercedes A Class to be withdrawn and delayed due to falling over during a swerve test some 20 years ago).
I wonder if the driver
I wonder if the driver pressed the accelerator instead of the brake? Is there a cloud of revved engine exhaust just before impact?
Frightening, any which way.
Either they were distracted,
Either they were distracted, or thought they would “bypass” the stationary traffic and was lokking over their shoulder for space and zoomed without realising they were too close to the car in front.
However Aygo(?) V Range Rover and Aygo winning should be worrisome for all the people who claim they want these large cars for their “safety”.
The acceleration was quite
The acceleration was quite strong yet the path of the car indicated a deliberate lane change. Perhaps instead of signaling they accidentally resumed cruise control? The Discovery steering wheel controls look hellishly complex.
Just Googling, some Land Rovers have adaptive cruise control with stop and go assist. Perhaps they had engaged that and it got confused???
I don’t think it’s necessary
I don’t think it’s necessary to invent an excuse for the driver here, incompetence and impatience are sufficient.
This demonstrates how
This demonstrates how unstable these high cars are (despite the excuse for buying them that they are safer!).
Following on from a few weeks
Following on from a few weeks ago. According to the BBC, Tesla are now disabling the Gaming whilst driving feature. Seems they didn’t want “yet another” investigation into their cars and the functions they allow as they already have several pending.
Just wanted to wish a warm
Just wanted to wish a warm “Merry Christmas” to everyone at Road.cc, all subscribers and commenters, and all your families. Have a good one, Nige.
Merry Christmas to you too!
Merry Christmas to you too!
Cheers!
Cheers!
All the best to you to and to everyone on road.cc.
Garage at Large wrote:
Is that the road.cc community you’ve frequently described as “a warped echo chamber” and that you continually attack with nonsense and lies?
Yes – but there’s the bloated
Yes – but there’s the bloated, tired 26th for that, surely?
chrisonatrike wrote:
Yeah…but didn’t fancy letting the sexist racist pro-car alt-right Trump supporter think that he could make up for a year’s worth of polluting a really good website with his foul opinions with tuppence-worth of hypocritical good wishes.
A very happy Christmas to you though Chris, and all others on here who are interested in sharing, discussing and debating about cycling, rather than trolling!
Looks like the season of
Looks like the season of ‘goodwill to all men’ is in full swing in that there London.
Merry Christmas Rendel!
I took the message as an
I took the message as an olive branch/ cry for help. Maybe he momentarily got control of his account from his mum and Mr Poophole?♂️
Merry Christmas to all! And
Merry Christmas to all! And if you’ve had enough of the company – take a ride.
Merry Christmas to you too
Merry Christmas to you too Nige.
Driver claimed they gave me
Driver claimed they gave me loads of room – pannier was level with the right side of the 3 in 30