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Movistar pro drafts speedy food delivery rider smashing it in sandals; Who heard this over Christmas dinner?; Mud, Glorious Mud! All the best of festive cyclo-cross; Cycle lane gift; Richie Porte targets “dream” farewell at Giro + more on the live blog
SUMMARY

Movistar pro drafts speedy food delivery rider smashing it in sandals
Delivery guy vs. pro cyclist 💪💪 pic.twitter.com/EEeGd1osNm
— Cycling Today (@CyclingTodayEn) December 27, 2021
e-bike or not, that’s one speedy delivery cyclist. You’d have no problems with cold food here, not just because of his lightning-quick riding, but also the 37 degree temperature reading on the Movistar pro’s Garmin.
The video is from somewhere where iFood runs delivery service like Uber Eats or Deliveroo, that means likely Mexico, Brazil, Colombia or Argentina… our fingers are crossed it is one of the Spanish team’s overseas riders drafting, and not just a keen local with all the kit.
With sandals powering the pedals, and just a baseball cap up top, the delivery cyclist nonchalantly spins ahead of the WorldTour kit-covered rider behind…go give him a turn on the front…
It reminds us of that time EF Education-Nippo’s Rigoberto Urán was drafted by a backpack-wearing local in khakis and work boots at 45km/h…
Who heard this over Christmas dinner?
It’s Christmas #2 with family, I’m listening to a relative tell me how cycling isn’t a proper sport due to the use of motors and they all dope. 🙄 More wine needed stat! #couchpeloton #cycling pic.twitter.com/dD9RnCBEZC
— Anna Mac (@AnnamacB) December 27, 2021
Anyone lucky enough to get dragged into this? Four pigs in blankets deep and suddenly you’re defending Tadej Pogačar’s back-to-back yellow jerseys…
Mud, Glorious Mud! All the best of festive cyclo-cross
It was a BIG Boxing Day for the Great Britain Cycling Team yesterday! 👏🇬🇧
Incredible wins for @camerooney_ and @Backstedt_Zoe in Dendermonde, as well as a second place for Nathan Smith! 🤘
Full results 📄 https://t.co/qMzIz4HUzR
📸 CorVos/SWpix#CXWorldCup pic.twitter.com/3V7kSi0gZd
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) December 27, 2021
Britain’s cyclo-cross future looks bright. Very bright indeed. The present isn’t too shabby either…Tom Pidcock finished second behind Wout van Aert at yesterday’s Telenet Superprestige Heusden-Zolder. Van Aert, doubling up from the much-anticipated Dendermonde Boxing Day cross, made it two wins in as many days, and five unbeaten since he returned to the discipline. Mathieu van der Poel was second at Dendermonde on his comeback from injury.
But back to Britain’s bright future…before the big boys contested Sunday’s event, rising star Zoe Backstead and U23 prospect Cameron Mason won the women’s junior and men’s U23 races respectively. Mason copied Van Aert by winning at Zolder yesterday too…one to keep an eye on…
Since you couldn’t watch my race on tv or in real life yesterday, I decided to edit my video super quick for you all. Hope you enjoy it 👇 https://t.co/oVoAJZgtBH @TrinityRacing_ @iamspecialized @ZippSpeed @SRAMroad @wahoofitness @maap_cc @BritishCycling @oakley
— Cameron Mason (@camerooney_) December 27, 2021
How's your Tuesday going?
Let that be a lesson to you! Don’t ride through puddles!!! Got stopped dead in my tracks and nearly went in head first 🤣 @Absolutemtb1 pic.twitter.com/2MFOP4olGO
— Drunkdale (@thedrunkdale) December 27, 2021
Coventry's newest permanent cycle lane
Not only is the new #Coventry Coundon cycleway high quality and direct for people cycling, it has improved the surface for pedestrians and brings new native hedging to the street. 22 new trees are also being planted soon.
Well done @coventrycc contractors and @pedropete99! pic.twitter.com/L2Aqma4XNy
— Adam Tranter (@adamtranter) December 21, 2021
West Midlands Walking and Cycling Commissioner Adam Tranter brought us the news of this new segregated cycle lane in Coventry just before Christmas. What a great gift…
Amazingly in the age of Twitter barely anyone had anything other than positives…(apart from one person sceptical the shrubs won’t grow into the cycle lane come summer)…
Richie Porte targets "dream" farewell at Giro d'Italia
2022 will be Richie Porte’s final season as a pro cyclist after a career spanning 15 years and some of the biggest teams in the sport. The Tasmanian is targeting a full circle farewell at the Giro d’Italia, the Grand Tour he got his breakthrough at in 2010.
“The one thing the team really wants out of it is for me to enjoy my last year,” Porte told 7News. “If I can close the circle there [at the Giro d’Italia], that would be a dream. It’s a race I’ve always enjoyed.
“It’s nice to still be at the pointy end of bike races at 36 against these young kids who are so incredibly talented.”
Porte will not be riding the Tour de France in his final season and also suggested adding to his impressive palmares of week-long stage races is high on the agenda. Having already won last year’s Critérium du Dauphiné, as well as two editions of Paris-Nice, Tour de Suisse in 2018, Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Tour de Romandie and two Tour Down Under titles, a Tirreno-Adriatico win in March would all but complete the set.
If whispers of a rescheduled Tour Down Under before World Champs in September do turn out to be true, who’d bet against one final Willunga win too?
The Aussie has certainly been training hard. Christmas Day apart Porte has ridden his bike every day this month, racking up almost 100 hours…
Here was Boxing Day’s ‘Morning Ride’…


Spot the difference...
You really can’t tell the difference. pic.twitter.com/ZCHB9lRmJk
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) December 26, 2021
Want a new perspective on the world? Talk to Primož Roglič...


Tom Dumoulin has attributed a large part of his new perspective on pro cycling to a chat with teammate and fellow time trial extraordinaire Primož Roglič. Speaking to L’Equipe, the 2017 Giro d’Italia winner detailed his past year, 12 months that started with him walking away from the sport.
Now back and targeting a Grand Tour return in 2021, Dumoulin said his all-conquering teammate helped reset his focus on what is important in life. “I love talking with Primož,” Dumoulin said.
“When you talk to him about your problems, he really listens. I’ve never seen him judge anyone. He gives his feelings, talks about his experience. I want to see it now as an adventure, a story that I write, for me and for me alone. Something that you are lucky enough to experience only once in your life and of which you have to accept the best and the worst.”
Dumoulin will begin 2022 in Portugal for Volta ao Algarve and stressed he wants to target general classification at races once again.
Pablo Escobar's brother dreamed of winning the Tour de France before becoming trusted lieutenant of multi-million pound drug smuggling empire
The Independent had an interesting feature yesterday, informed by Matt Rendell’s Kings of the Mountains, in which reporter Graham Keeley profiled Roberto Escobar, Pablo’s brother, who before joining the drug smuggling cartel rode for Biciletas Ositto and dreamed of winning the yellow jersey.
Keeley writes that Escobar’s career became embroiled in the carnage of the cocaine trade in 1980s and 90s Colombia. Now 74, there is a section of Rendell’s book which explains Roberto still listens to the Tour on the radio religiously.
“Now they realise that I was good (as a cyclist),” he told El Pais in an interview where he outlined how his past as number two in the Medellin cartel weighs heavy on his shoulders.
Some wholesome Christmas content to brighten up your bank holiday
Happiness is watching your 3 year old learn to bike with pedals on a car free Lakeshore Drive. Very proud Dad moment. #MoreGirlsOnBikes pic.twitter.com/XNRbOav0zh
— Allen Cowgill (@AllenCowgill) December 27, 2021
67 years on...85-year-old man reunited with bike his parents gave him when he was ten
An 85-year-old man in France has been reunited with a bike he last saw aged 18 after a friend was called by a junk dealer who had found the bicycle. Joseph Carayon was gifted the bike for Christmas by his parents when he was ten years old, but parted with it eight years later.
That was until fellow Abelhan resident Thomas Christiny found the bicycle while hunting for antiques…
“I often recover old objects and I love to hunt for antiques,” Christiny told Connexion France. “I have a friend who contacted me saying that he had found an old bike and that on this bike there was a plate with the writing ‘Joseph Carayon, Abeilhan, Hérault’.
“Jojo is an emblematic figure here, he is 85 and works every morning delivering the newspaper about the village. The bike was in good condition.”
He pumped up the tyres and reunited Carayon with the bike his father had assembled from spare parts when he returned from World War Two. The relieved owner has since given it a fresh paint of coat and keeps it safe in his garage.
Tom Pidcock's #1 fan
What cycling is all about! 🤩 @Tompid. (IG mark_condor1) pic.twitter.com/Sm1GQ68IfW
— Cyclingtakes (@cyclingtakes) December 28, 2021
28 December 2021, 09:13
If today's live blog wasn't enough...
Best of the live blog 2021: UK's new steepest climb; Olympic controversy; Groin-BREAKING NEWS; Mr Loophole getting schooled; Cleat set-up from Hell; Jeremy Vine; Surrey traffic cops + all our live blog favourites
Check out all the top stories from a jam-packed 2021 on the road.cc live blog
28 December 2021, 09:13
28 December 2021, 09:13
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Except that it doesn't say anything about fire risk, and unassisted bikes can just as easily be ridden in a dangerous manner (in which case, punish the offenders, not everyone else). They don't seem to have given any particular reason* for it, apart from a vague reference to changes in the law. If they'd said "There's a fire risk from dodgy ones and we don't have the capacity to check which are which" then people might not be so annoyed. As it is, it just gives the impression that they've made an arbitrary decision without much thought or reasoning at all. Tim, on the other hand, is just trouble, and deserves to have special measures taken against him. [* Apparently there was a letter to parents that hasn't been posted, but whatever the contents of that, it doesn't seem to have made the reasoning any clearer to them, judging by the social media comments.]
Fair enough - sometimes it's more obvious to them as is writing than them as is reading.
I'm intrigued what the data says for Scotland. Last year in Stirling, I had my bike (plus tailfin setup and camping kit) removed from the station cycle park and left against a rail to see if I noticed it. Thankfully I did and quickly made my way to get my train. I reported it online to PS when I got home, it was left for less than a hour and I mentioned that as a solo female traveller the most unnerving bit, was someone clearly watching me. Despite it being logged and a PS email to arrange a call back, the call back never came. They then had the nerve to text me a response questionnaire on how they'd done.
@mdavidford This is the instagram post. All seems very reasonable to me in view of the fire risk the batteries pose and the possibility of scooters and e-bikes being ridden in a dangerous manner when it's crowded at the start and end of the day. Children are still being encouraged to cycle to school but I'm a bit concerned that they are singling out tim for the lunch ban.
@mdavidford I thought you may have detected a hint of sarcasm there! Seriously though the standard of driving is much higher in London than Marrakesh.
That's terrifying!! I'm pretty sure I'd have ridden (or perhaps fallen or jumped) into the concrete ditch on the right; I wouldn't have even tried to stay on the carriageway. ********** Years ago in Laos I was riding into Vang Vieng at about 15mph when a lorry came straight towards me at full pelt (I was on the correct - right - side of the road). I made the instant decision to ride into the water-filled ditch on my right that ran immediately parallel to the road, having no idea of its depth. The water was only about 10 inches deep and I slowed down covered in muck but still upright. I then went back to see why the driver had chosen my side of the road, as he wasn't overtaking. Turns out there wasn't his side of the road - just a massive hole where it had been...
Whenever I see a near miss like this I can't stop myself thinking of all the excuses, sorry, reasons the police might give for not taking action if it happened in this country. List so far : We are not allowed to judge distances so we don't know how close the lorry was. At this point the lorry driver is going to have to inconvenience somebody. Lorry didn't cross the white line so it was the cyclists fault for not being in the cycle lane. Lorry was established. A close pass is not an offence. Am I getting cynical in my old age? Well done to the cyclist for staying alive.
This short sample of bargains tells the cycling community that retail prices are way too expensive. As fot Giant, they seem unable to get rid of their ageing inventory.
"...the delivery lorry in his lane, attempting to overtake another lorry..." "...the lorry does not decelerate or seek to move back to its own lane..." but "... as the driver narrowly avoids him." Come on @Callum Devereux Do better.
Bath cyclist view. Whilst being a very lovely city to live in, it is at times (and places) a car infested hell-scape which is easy just to accept when you live here. I pretty much walk and cycle within the city, and only get the car out if I have to (miserable at times). With narrow roads, lots of on-street parking, no outer ring road (geography; through traffic), a river splitting the city N/S, plenty of good private/state schools and some pretty steep hills, it's a toxic mix of inconsiderate entitled drivers and rat-runs; for years the traffic problem has been in the council's 'too difficult' box. They may not get it 100% right, but the current Lib Dem council are pushing ahead with new pedestrian crossings, shutting rat-runs, implementing 20mph speed limits, scooter/bike hire scheme and installing cycle lanes; it drives the car-lobby wild and their human right to drive wherever, whenever and however is violated (I include people who live around me in this group; "how will we get around?"). The local Greens seem to just side with the noisy NIMBYs, regardless of whether it's 'green', as it probably helps their election prospects. As a cyclist, you need your wits about you and where to go to avoid toxic traffic; I've felt safer cycling in London. I think this new park route links the cycle route(s) from the centre of town up towards Weston and the hospital reasonably well; bit of uphill in the park (noting that a N route is recommended). The 'antis' point out that there are already 2 parallel cycle routes, the river path and the section of the U Bristol Rd that has dedicated cycle lanes (they're still screaming about that one). The river path feeds cyclists towards the 2-tunnels route S and the Bristol Bath cycle path; tbh, it has a lot of pedestrian traffic and is pretty narrow and bumpy (tree roots) between Windsor Bridge and Locksbrook (apparently will be upgraded). The U Bristol Rd lanes incl floating bus stops etc (wouldn't be cheap to remove), but at the W end they just stop and turf you out onto a pretty busy road. Cyclists travelling from Newbridge may just stick to the U Bristol Rd, and enjoy the respite offered by the cycle lane stretch, or could head down to the river path. I dislike the car zealots so much (one resident group has taken their self-funded LTN complaint to the High Court) that anything that sticks one up their proverbial is fine by me. If I can make an effort to get about the city by means other than a car (I even invested in a ebike to use a bike more; kills off the hill problem), then perhaps they could to.
4 thoughts on “Movistar pro drafts speedy food delivery rider smashing it in sandals; Who heard this over Christmas dinner?; Mud, Glorious Mud! All the best of festive cyclo-cross; Cycle lane gift; Richie Porte targets “dream” farewell at Giro + more on the live blog”
Errm, that 37 is soeed in km
Errm, take a close look: that 37.9 is km/h not C! I’m sure it’s a warm night, but not that warm!
Bitsy squirrel story.
Bitey squirrel story.
Doesn’t end well.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/28/stripe-the-bitey-squirrel-meets-a-sad-end-after-terrorising-welsh-town
ktache wrote:
…and so it begins
hawkinspeter wrote:
I think whippets are needed.