“Build it and they’ll come”: Cyclists outnumber cars two to one on Cycleway C9; Manchester United, Tadej Pogačar or Primož Roglič? Ineos reportedly in talks to sign both; David Beckham and Ronaldo compete in pro cycling + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Hacked by Spectator"
That’s what road.cc user NotNigel says. I think you might be on to something there…
Cheers for making the morning bit better with this banger of a meme though. After last week’s ‘technical difficulties’, I can only hope it’s all going smoothly for everyone else and we have put our miseries to bed. Anyway, we’ve gotta laugh, otherwise we’d cry!
“This shouldn’t be normal, but it is”: Chris Boardman blasts “common criminal behaviour” after overtaking driver “almost kills” cyclists – “protected by hi-vis” – on charity ride
The “common criminal behaviour” of dangerous drivers around cyclists needs to be eradicated before we “lose a vital transport choice”, says National Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman.
The former Olympic champion made the comments in response to a video posted on social media today by the National Foundation for Retired Service Animals (NFRSA), which showed the charity’s founder Lady Bathurst, cycling the length of Britain to raise awareness for the foundation, on the receiving end of an extremely close pass by an oncoming driver overtaking a lorry at speed.
Man convicted after mother of bike theft victim holds three-day protest outside his house
A mother whose son’s bicycle was stolen by a prolific bike thief took the novel approach to catching the guilty party of holding a three-day protest outside his house, featuring signs asking ‘Where’s my bike, Dave?’, after she grew tired of the police’s lack of action despite significant evidence.
> Man convicted after mother of bike theft victim holds three-day protest outside his house
"Cancelling Man United bid for Tadej Pogačar?": Ineos Grenadiers reportedly showing interest in signing Pogačar from UAE
While the uncertainty around the future of Jumbo-Visma has dominated the recent weeks of this silly season, involving the will-they-won’t-they merger with Soudal Quick-Step, Remco Evenepoel’s alleged hate for the team, and apparently “long-time cycling fan” Tim Cook managing to get himself in the picture too (I hate the name Jumbo-Vismac), but Ineos have now decided to share some spotlight too.
According to Pogačar’s agent, British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe-owned Ineos Grenadiers had made enquiries at the beginning of the season to sign the two-time Tour de France winner.
Ah, Ratcliffe and failed bids, here we go again.
Blah blah blah..
Pogacar + Thomas, Rodriguez, Kwiato, Turner, Tarling, De Plus and Sheffield would slap and you know it— Katie (@medicinexthings) September 28, 2023
Long ago in the distant summer, the CEO of petrochemical giant seemed so sure of getting his hands on the Manchester club that he had reportedly tasked British Cycling’s former performance director, Ineos Grenadiers general manager and current Ineos director of sport Dave Brailsford to make them the number one club in the world once again”.
(What I would do to live in that timeline, but instead we still have the Glazers, yay!)
We all know how that has turned out, the owners of Manchester United, the Glazers family from the States turned down the bids. So what should Ratcliffe do with all that spare cash lying around? Well of course, sign one of the biggest cycling talents for his cycling team!
Pogačar’s agent has now also confirmed that the British team, earlier known as Team Sky and one of the most dominant teams the men’s sport had seen until the rise of the all-conquering Jumbo-Visma this year, came knocking between the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana to ask about his situation.
> Jumbo-Visma clean up at the Vuelta – Are they the most dominant cycling team of all time?
The Slovenian men’s champion is under contract with UAE Team Emirates until 2027 after turning pro with the side back in 2019, and then instantly giving the world a glimpse of his sheer talent and strength in the Vuelta a España, winning three stages before taking the yellow jersey in the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021.
Speaking to GCN, Pogačar’s agent Alex Carera said: “At this time he is under contract with UAE until 2027. If Ineos are interested in him before that date then they need to talk to UAE Team Emirates.
“For sure they’re interested if he’s not under contract because Ineos’ goal is to be one of the best teams in the world. If you want to be the best then you need the best riders. If they are interested in Tadej they must find a deal with UAE first of all.”
Meanwhile, Tadej Pogačar and Urška Žigart, aka the peloton’s power couple, have spent the last couple days in the Swiss and French Alps raising money for the children affected by the earthquake in Syria and Turkey, surpassing the fundraising goal and raising over €550,000.
Massive thanks to everyone who followed along and donated as Urska & I joined this year’s #PlumeStrong Cycling Challenge.
We surpassed our fundraising goal together with @plume and have so far raised €550.000 to benefit children affected by the Turkey-Syria earthquake.
1/2 pic.twitter.com/br5op2oZuG
— Tadej Pogačar (@TamauPogi) September 22, 2023
So what’s the move now Jim? Use up the money from the failed £5 billion bid for United and try to get one of the strongest riders in the world on your team? Doesn’t sound like a bad plan to me…
What's better than one Slovenian? Two Slovenians! Ineos Grenadiers in talks for Primož Roglič after Jumbo Visma allows him to leave
How things change in cycling! A few months ago, Roglič, after winning the Giro d’Italia in dramatic (wait, there could be more motor-themed drama to come!) fashion, was primed to ride the Vuelta and win his second Grand Tour of the year. Then it was announced that Vingegaard will do the Vuelta as well, the Danish fresh off the back of winning his second yellow jersey in as many years and aiming to do a milestone-worthy Tour-Vuelta double.
Enter Supp Kuss, derailing both of their plans and swooping in like the Eagle of Durango to win the Vuelta himself, but leaving heaps and piles of more tension and controversies in his wake.
And one of the chief players of the tension was Roglič, many saying that the Slovenian wasn’t the most pleased with the team’s decision to keep Kuss in the lead when he thought he had the legs to go and win it for himself (we’ll never if he actually had the legs to beat Vinegaard though).
> Jumbo-Visma clean up at the Vuelta – Are they the most dominant cycling team of all time?
Now, his shot at glory gone and the future of Jumbo-Visma ever so uncertain, Roglič has reportedly been allowed to go, and chase a new future for himself in a different team, Dutch news outlet Wielerflits reports.
Which team, then, would the 33-year-old go to then? Well, of course, Ineos Grenadiers!
If Wielerflits is to be believed, the British team is looking to get Roglič on board. But didn’t they just get linked with Pogačar as well? Well, if one thing’s for certain, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, CEO of chemical giant Ineos, seems to have a lot of options to go for (you’d have to use that Man United bid money somewhere right?), but will they succeed in landing either of the two Slovenians, only time will tell.
Meanwhile, Roglič has also been reportedly in talks with Movistar and Lidl-Trek, with Bahrain Victorious and Jayco-AlUla also serious about signing him.
"Build it and they'll come": Double the number of cyclists than cars on Cycleway C9 than cars as cyclists celebrate one week of it being made permanent by blowing candles
Nothing to see here, just an age-old adage proving its veracity.
A week ago, Cycleway C9, running on the key east-west stretch of commute in west London, between Hammersmith and Chiswick, and making it possible for hundreds, no, thousands of people to commute using a bicycle, was made permanent after 18 months of being temporary.
And already, the number of cyclists have nearly doubled on C9 as compared to the numbers of people driving their cars!
Big news!! C9 has had nearly DOUBLE as many cyclists as cars on it over the last five days. Look at this Telraam data below, or the detail on https://t.co/6ixDcKkn4d
What is C9 and why should you care? A thread! 🧵🪡 (1/4) pic.twitter.com/H6YZHWbGNB
— Cllr Emily Kerr 💚 (@EmilyKerr36) September 28, 2023
According to the Telraam traffic counter of King Street, in the past one week cyclists have outnumbered cars almost by two to one, showing the impact safe, segregated and welcoming infrastructure can have in bringing about a wide-scale behavioural shift.
Channel 5 broadcaster and live blog regular Jeremy Vine also retweeted a video of cyclists outnumbering drivers during rush hour on the stretch of cycleway.
More bikes than cars sometimes. Amazing. https://t.co/aprIAHhpIo
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) September 28, 2023
But not just that, take a moment to zoom in, and think about the impact it can have on individuals, completely changing their lives. This wonderful video by London Cycling Campaign, shows a stroke survivor, an 86-year-old lady, and a father of three share their stories of joy after the building of C9.
✨⭐ Exactly 1 week since #Cycleway9 was officially made permanent: HUGE CONGRATS Hounslow Council @LBofHounslow ⭐✨
🚲 2500+ people now cycle here every day
🥰 “It’s made all the difference”: hear what it means pic.twitter.com/uDeVMMirnS
— London Cycling Campaign (@London_Cycling) September 28, 2023
“Before I couldn’t do very much, go to shops or anything like that. I felt really stuck at home, because I couldn’t keep asking people for lifts,” said 86-year-old Clare. “It’s made all the difference now. I can go to shops, I can go to Marks and Spencer, I can go to my eye people, I can even go to the hospital at Charing Cross.”
“Now, all year round, we go for cycling,” said Nick, a stroke survivor, before thanking Sadiq Khan and all the way down.
They proceeded to blow candles on what I would say look very cute and delicious cupcakes topped with an even cuter miniature of a bicycle.
All hail the two-wheeled tool of freedom!
Before vs after removing a protected cycle lane
A supercut showing the impact of removing a protected cycle lane in Edinburgh. The city should be rolling out bollard protection widely, instead politicians sickly pander to the car lobby, even consulting on re-opening filtered streets to rat runners.
Carsick Edinburgh 🤮 pic.twitter.com/Jh6uHepuxH
— Dave McCraw (@david_mccraw) September 28, 2023
David Beckham and Ronaldo now compete in pro cycling?
While one has retired after an impressive career winning multiple trophies across two continents, and the other, still in the twilight of his career is seeing himself out in the Middle East, there are namesakes of the two still fighting for the top spots in a sport much more difficult than football (according to Arsène Wenger).
In the CSC Velodrome in Hangzhou, Indian cyclists David Beckham and Ronaldo duked it out in the Asian Games, putting up performances to light up the track.
David Beckham Elkatohchoongo managed to outpace his Kazakhstani rival, Sergey Ponomaryov, by a mere 0.188 seconds, and secured a spot in the quarter-finals. However, he was beaten by Japanese rider Kaiya Ota.
Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam, failed to progress beyond the round of 16 after losing to Andrey Chugay of Kazhakstan, thus brining both their campaigns to an end at the Asian Games.
In the Men’s Individual Sprint 1/16 Heat, @Davidbeckhamt20 showcased his sprinting prowess as he powered past Sergey from Kazakhstan 🇰🇿
He is now all set to compete in the quarterfinals! 🏁🙌
Let’s #Cheer4India 🇮🇳#JeetegaBharat#Hallabol#BharatAtAG22 pic.twitter.com/p5AAWn9pLd
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) September 27, 2023
🐝 + 🐺 = ?
🐝 + 🐺 = ? pic.twitter.com/xHHIXTzQLc
— Pro Cycling Trumps (@procycletrumps) September 28, 2023
Cyclist deaths fall to lowest level on record, but latest stats show overall road deaths up 10% in a year
The Department for Transport’s road casualty statistics show 91 cyclists lost their lives on Britain’s roads in 2022…
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Latest Comments
A very well explored article, raising some super important points. It would generally be a good thing if certain high level races in particular had actual dope testing. This would benefit the reputation of the sport, but perhaps more importantly , protect riders’ health. The desire for short term performance often overrides longer term consideration of consequence. We don’t want any more Tom Simpson incidents. So, some regulation and enforcement could be seen as good, but heaven forbid we should end up with a UCI type structure that spends too much time and money on things that don’t matter so much (handlebar width, max gearing) versus simple things like approving race routes which ca do much more to enhance rider and spectator safety.
So good that a great man (literally) like LeBron enjoys something as down-to-earth as cycling. Tailwinds!
Didn't look like chips to me anyway - surely those were wedges?
Isn't that a bit of a dead giveaway when they're infiltrating trafficking gangs and the like?
If Soudal Quick Step want to get a proper handle on British food, I recommend that they try saag mutta aloo (spinach, green peas and potatoes) - madras hot with fresh chillies, bhindi bhaji and maybe a vegetable paratha or a couple of chapatis. If they are unimpressed with fish and chips then they are eating them from the wrong shop. They are barely scratching the surface.
You might need to add an extra layer of tape if you go walking on Belgian or French cobbled roads.
@mdavidford still in the mushroom kingdom?
@eburtthebike Does that not come with the exemption provided for certain motorcyclists under Section 16(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 *? I'd have thought second thought would immediately be taken if someone brought that one up? * Exempting turban-wearing Sikhs from mandatory motorcycle helmet laws.
"Whether you're a keen cyclist or you haven't ridden a bike in years" Aren't those the same thing...
34 thoughts on ““Build it and they’ll come”: Cyclists outnumber cars two to one on Cycleway C9; Manchester United, Tadej Pogačar or Primož Roglič? Ineos reportedly in talks to sign both; David Beckham and Ronaldo compete in pro cycling + more on the live blog”
Hacked by that Spectator lot.
Hacked by that Spectator lot..
Able to upload an image lucky
Able to upload an image lucky, lucky bastard.
Big thumbs up for London
Big thumbs up for London Cycling Campaign video and the C9 details (or is that “big heart” here on road.cc?)
Adwitiya wrote:
Um… no? Loading pages on Road.cc still takes multiple minutes for me, Dynamic stuff like leaving a comment of going to a different page in the BTL thread also take multiple minutes and has a 50/50 chance of crashing the page, and there are still double-posts on new threads, so that multiple AJAX request issue is still around.
Anyone else, or just me?
Not just you
Not just you
Same issues. I go and browse
Same issues. I go and browse other sites on a different tab whilst waiting for Road.cc to load.
Plus one: still getting error
Plus one: still getting error messages, assuming all is lost and then duplicate posting.
fitted a Scwalbe Marathon
fitted a Scwalbe Marathon while waiting for the above to say it had been posted.
got a bike delivered from
got a bike delivered from Ribble while the above post was going through
Managed to sell my 11s
Managed to sell my 11s Ultegra cranks on Ebay while waiting for this box to come up
Cycled to London and tried
Cycled to London and tried out the C9, while waiting for this page to show
Sent my reply in the post to
Sent my reply in the post to road.cc headquarters, while waiting for the site to load my comment
I’ve just been for another
I’ve just been for another haircut waiting for the quote/reply box to come up in the comments.
I tried to like your post but
I tried to like your post but it just sat there and span.
Secret_squirrel wrote:
That’s what happens when I try to leave a comment or go to the next page in the thread.
Wtjs had positive action from
Wtjs had positive action from Lancashire constabulary by the time my like was acknowledged.
eburtthebike got the
eburtthebike got the government’s report on driving offences while I was waiting for this reply box to open
Drove from Montgomery to
Drove from Montgomery to Aberystwyth and damn me it still hasn’t loaded
Drove from Montgomery to
Drove from Montgomery to Aberystwyth and damn me it still hasn’t loaded
It’s just Road CC giving us a
It’s just Road CC giving us a reminder of the good old days of dial up without that horrible dial up sounds.
Although I must say, catching a flight to Australia and landing to find my meesage still hadn’t been published is bad even by dial up standards.
Actual scene this week at
Actual scene this week at Road CC Towers
All very funny, I mean really
All very funny, I mean really, but I reckon somebody is having a worse time than us. Best of luck!
David9694 wrote:
That takes me back!
Backladder wrote:
Me too actually, my first proper job in 1988 involved keeping a ComputerVision CADDS4X system fed with tapes and plotter film, the tapes & drives were only slightly smaller than that. After it all moved to Sun SPARCstations in 1990, everything got a lot smaller & faster and they let me loose (trusted me) on much cooler stuff.
It can seem crazy to car
It can seem crazy to car people never have cycled how comfortable can cycling get, if you provide them with proper infrastucture and with modern bikes having stuff that they didn’t have last time they cycled on their kids bikes like led lights, gears and brakes that work, rims that stay true or even e-assist.
As such infra is made of course they will be tempted to use it.
I make and drink a cup of
I make and drink a cup of coffee.
Including growing the coffee beans.
So … there are cars on C9
So … there are cars on C9 already then?
That didn’t take long.
The war on motorists: the
The war on motorists: the secret history of a myth as old as cars themselves
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/28/the-war-on-motorists-the-secret-history-of-a-myth-as-old-as-cars-themselves
Ineos’s next GC rider – https
Ineos’s next GC rider – https://twitter.com/DeGendtThomas/status/1707389445165711414
Well that’s nothing, you lot
Well that’s nothing, you lot have had it easy.. I tried to like a post at 4am this morning before the birds were up.. since then I’ve boarded a flight to India, done some shopping in Jaipur, almost got run over a twenty nine times, nipped to the beach, had a cocktail, boarded a flight home, and then, when I got back home and put a repeat of Homes Under the Hammer on the screen was still loading..
Huh, that’s nothing. I popped
Huh, that’s nothing. I popped up to the International Space Station, ate some freeze dried pasta, did a few experiments, had a chat in Russian with the cosmonauts, came back down to earth – and the site was still bloody loading. And then it had adverts all over it. Grrrr.
Pasta on the space station –
Pasta on the space station – chinney reckon.
Fix the bloody site.
Fix the bloody site.
According to the traffic
According to the traffic counts the road astride C9 is lightly used – and less than the cycle lane. Shouldn’t the brexitty press start complaining that the road should be ‘torn down’ so that ‘hard working tax payers’ can get about more easily on their cycles?