Trek joins Specialized in slashing prices; Ed Laverack aiming to reclaim Sa Calobra KOM from Tom Pidcock’s “crazy” time; “It’s a great problem for us”: Van Rysel delighted with interest in sold out RCR; Where’s Cav?; Giro teams + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Hill-climbing star Ed Laverack going back to Sa Calobra to try to reclaim KOM from Tom Pidcock's "crazy" time
Former British hill climb champion Ed Laverack, and former holder of the Sa Calobra Strava KOM, is returning to Mallorca this spring to try to reclaim his crown from Ineos Grenadiers’ multi-discipline talent, Tom Pidcock.
Perhaps the most competitive KOM in the world due to its popularity with the pros and peloton loads of amateur riders making the pilgrimage to its wiggly slopes, Laverack claimed the Sa Calobra best time two years ago in 2022. However, eight months later and there was a new king of that particular mountain, Pidcock rocking up on a winter training camp, ascending the legendary climb in 22:46 to knock almost two minutes off the benchmark.
Speaking about the challenge in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Laverack said: “Two years ago I went there with the goal of setting my fastest time. Tom Pidcock smashed my time by one minute 50 seconds, at the time I was gutted but at the same time I was very very motivated to see how much faster I can go and how much can I chip away at that advantage that Pidcock had set.
“Things have aligned and I feel like I’m in a good place to give it a stab.”
Naturally, Laverack is also squeezing in a hill climb while he’s on the island, taking on Kill the Hill up Puig Major too.
Those pesky horse lanes, popping up all over London...
"Huge fan" Remco Evenepoel watches Arsenal batter Chelsea 5-0
“Something not many people know is how I’ve always been a huge fan of Arsenal since being a kid,” the world TT champ wrote on Instagram. “To let off some steam after my injury and before we leave on training camp to prepare for my next goals, I went to watch Arsenal for the first time and what a game it was. Time to get back to work now and come back as strong as possible for the second part of the season.”
Declan Rice-cakes, Martin Øde(mud)gaard and Tri Havertz were presumably as grateful for the support as you are grateful to have got past those questionable puns…
"It's a great problem for us": Van Rysel delighted with interest in sold out RCR, as brand reveals first batch totalled 15 bikes
Last night we were at the opening of Van Rysel’s first London store, a custom-built retail space in Decathlon’s Surrey Quays store, featuring the brand’s entire range (including the RCR Pro team edition Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale have ridden to 11 victories so far in 2024), workshop, bike fitting studio and more.
The brand told us the first batch of £9,000 RCR Pro team edition replicas, which sold out in minutes, consisted of 15 units, CEO and founder Nicolas Pierron telling road.cc it’s “a great problem to have”. Moving forward, all bikes will be Van Rysel branded, the Triban name being dropped as “it’s difficult to have a different brand on the same project”.
“For the next generation, we decided to have just one brand,” Pierron explained, outlining his hope that Van Rysel will be a “game changer” in the cycling market and can be right near the top of the industry in the next few years, with a wide range of models from the WorldTour race-winning top-of-the-range RCR to the more “accessible, affordable bikes”.
“Bikes are very expensive and for us we have a different strategy,” he said. “I think Van Rysel will be a real game changer in the market.”
With the immediate success Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale have experienced using Van Rysel bikes, it’s impossible not to look ahead to the Tour de France this summer, especially when you’re based in Lille and supply a French WorldTour team.
“This project we’ve been looking at for many years, it’s just an incredible project,” Pierron continued. “It’s a big asset for us to feel that our product is the best-in-class product. The Tour de France is, I think, the biggest event in the world. So yes, I would like to win one stage in the Tour de France, one stage in the Giro, that would be the dream.”
Giant sues Stages Cycling and recruits four top executives from the now-shutdown US power meter brand
Ineos Grenadiers announce Giro d'Italia squad to support Geraint Thomas' maglia rosa charge
[Zac Williams/SWpix.com]
It’s almost Giro time already… 2024 is flying by…
Ineos Grenadiers will head to the race with last year’s second-placed rider Geraint Thomas, the 37-year-old facing the unenviable task of having to try to work out how to beat Tadej Pogačar. The team says it will be targeting the GC, plus some stage win opportunities, TT powerhouse Filippo Ganna, Jhonatan Narváez, Thymen Arensman, Tobias Foss, Magnus Sheffield, Connor Swift and Ben Swift joining Thomas in Turin a week on Saturday.
“Obviously Tadej Pogačar is the pre-race favourite and has a strong team around him, and that changes the dynamic of the race a bit,” Thomas acknowledged. “But that also means all eyes will be on him over three long weeks of hard racing. Our plan is to be aggressive, take the race on and look for every opportunity to add pressure and take time.
“With the plan to race the Giro and then go straight into the Tour, there has been a different approach and slower build-up this season. But I am feeling good and not thinking beyond the coming weeks in Italy. My only focus now is the Giro and arriving there in my best shape possible.”
Disturbing (leg-)breaking climb news: the UK's steepest climb Bamford Clough may now be shut off with barriers
What a shame, I’ll never get the chance to try to ride up the 500m wall that hits 22 per cent wall and maxes out at 36 per cent at its steepest point… *winks to camera*… a real shame…
Getting reports coming in the the barriers that have always been at the top and bottom of Bamford Clough have now been made permanent and sealed into the ground closing it off completetly. Boo. Will try and get out at the weekend and have a look.
— Simon Warren (@100Climbs) April 25, 2024
Anyone done the climb? A reminder of what you would have been up against…
> “There is no way on earth I can ride up that”: 36 per cent monster Britain’s new steepest climb?
Ouch.
FLIPPING ECK
They’ve resurfaced Bamford Clough.
This is more than 35% and is much harder than HARD KNOTTS
None of us were able to cycle up it pic.twitter.com/oHdsYKbUUV
— Stan (@geckobike) September 5, 2021
"The nationwide investment that is being put into delivering high-quality routes is paying off": Chris Boardman says active travel a "win-win" as Sport England stats suggest two per cent increase in number of people walking or cycling journeys
Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman has reacted to Sport England’s research showing that over a million more adults have walked or cycled for travel and compared to 12 months ago (equating to a 2.1 per cent increase).
“Today’s Active Lives figures show that, year-on-year, one million more adults are choosing walking, wheeling and cycling as a way to get from A to B. The nationwide investment that is being put into delivering high-quality routes is paying off,” Boardman commented.
“By enabling more people to build activity into their daily lives we’re making the nation healthier, happier and greener. It’s a win-win for us all.”
Cavendish absent again as Team dsm–firmenich PostNL win again (pulling off impressive 1-2)
Just like Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at Tour de Romandie yesterday, Team dsm–firmenich PostNL joined the 1-2 party in Turkey, Tobias Lund Andresen winning the stage ahead of Fabio Jakobsen. No sign of Cav however, the Manx Missile coming home near the back of the peloton in 76th. Still no victory since that Colombia stage in February, and not even a top 10 since either.
𝓣𝓮𝓪𝓶𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓴 by Team dsm-firmenich PostNL 🎨
Hang it in the Louvre 😍#KeepChallenging #TUR2024🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/7WEjxYTFKg
— Team dsm-firmenich PostNL (@dsmfirmpostnl) April 25, 2024
Not another cyclocross talent landing on the road scene... Thibau Nys wins Tour de Romandie summit finish
A first WorldTour win for Thiabu Nys today, the son of cyclocross legend Sven Nys and a junior and U23 cyclocross world champion in his own right. The Lidl-Trek talent took it from the breakaway on stage two, beating escape companion Andrea Vendrame, while Luke Plapp did his best to spoil the day from the peloton.
Thibau Nys’ FIRST World Tour win! 🥇🙌
The Lidl-Trek rider achieves the BIGGEST win of his career in Stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie! 👏👏👏#TDR2024 pic.twitter.com/JdlXnmplmA
— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 25, 2024
"It's really encouraging to see the public taking responsibility for road safety": Police force praises cyclists and other road users for reporting mobile phone-using drivers
Trek joins Specialized in slashing prices
Earlier in the week Specialized cut prices across the board, with discounts of up to 50 per cent off bikes and riding gear. Well, Trek has too, a “TrekFest” sale offering up to 30 per cent off until 30 April (on selected items). It’s like Black Friday all over again…
That’s the good news. The bad news for those of us tarmac-concerned is that road bikes don’t appear to be part of the price cuts. Ah well, maybe you’ve already got a bike and are just in the market for some tempting kit or parts?
On the off-road side of things, you can find plenty of savings on mountain bikes (in very specific colours), the Powerfly FS 7 Gen 3 down to £4,850.13 (in “Matte/Gloss Supernova”) and more than £1,700 off the Rail 9.5 Gen 4 (in “Hex Blue”).
There are plenty of discounts for roadies too, 40 results in the road bike gear section, to be precise. Lights, pedals, bottle cages, helmets, shoes, wheels, saddles and more.
Trek has £60 off the Bontrager Velocis shoe, £105 off the Bontrager XXX shoe, its Bontrager Aeolus XXX 2 Disc Tubular Road Wheelset down to £549.99 from £1,099, and 30 per cent savings across the Bontrager helmet range. Tyres too have been slashed (a bad choice of words… that’s enough to send a shiver down your spine, I know), the Pirelli P Zero race TLR is down to £57.99 from £71.99, and £13.50 to £21 off other tyres such as the Bontrager R4 Classics Hard-Case Lite and R3 Hard-Case Lite.
Pumps, Lidl-Trek pro team water bottles, bar tape, inner tubes… you get the picture, they’ve all seen their prices cut.
Some of the seemingly endless bike industry sales are because of the over-ordering that came from increased demand when we were all locked away looking for activities to get us outside during the pandemic, buying bikes and bike stuff. Too much stock that’s hard to shift given the economic situation, inflation hitting people’s bank balances and reducing spending = price cuts to try to shift said stock… Low prices, flash sales, clearouts, it’s all left us wondering…
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Latest Comments
I do not in anyway support the Daily Telegraph's continually mad anti-cycling journalism but, it must be said, that this particular section of cycle lane on King Street in Hammersmith has been an absolute disaster ever since it re-opened. It certainly wasn't perfect for cyclists before but ever since they remodelled the cycle lane to run as a two way lane on one side of the road it has become much much more dangerous and confusing for pedestrians, drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists alike. I'm not saying that all cycling infrastructure is badly designed but, on my 12 mile commute from home in South London to work at the West end of King Street, this cycleway is where I feel most unsafe. It's not an inditement on active travel but it should be a lesson in planning because it's been closed on 5 or 6 occasions since to be remodelled to correct issues that should've been obvious before it opened. I have been using this road to get to work since long before the re-modelling and it has definitely, in my opinion, worsened not just the safety of cyclists but also the relationship between drivers and cyclists in this area.
In principle, it shouldn't matter if you're familiar with a particular junction - that's precisely why we have (relatively) uniform signage across the country (I had this from a driver recently - Him: sorry, I don't know the area. Me: but a no entry sign is the same everywhere...). But in practice in a busy environment like this, simply adding another sign saying look out for cyclists is limited help. I don't love cycling on contraflows / a two way cyclelane on a one way street for that reason. In fact there's a crossing I don't love as a pedestrian which is look right (bikes) look left (bikes) look right (cars), island, catch breath, look left (cars), look left (bikes). (Yes, you could wait for a green man, but then it's still look everywhere (Deliveroo)).
I'm not familiar with Jeremy Vine's favourite cycle lane. However I do have sympathy with drivers if they have to deal with "Look both ways for cyclists" as well as "One Way" and "No Entry" signs. Especially if the driver is not familiar with the junction.
@mitsky Alas for a second there I was awarding the motorist in the window there points for wearing hi-vis in their car, then I realised they were also wearing a motoring helmet...
While I understand it in context, I quite liked this to conclude a bike light review: "it’s a reliable set for the price, so long as you aren’t looking to ride in the dark"
@Bungle_52 My note on the description states "CD20 Driving without reasonable consideration for other road users" I've chased the police to explain which specific action this relates to, close passing and cutting me up or driving onto the pavement near pedestrians.
@mitsky Do happen to know what offence the points and fine were for?
@Mr Anderson Agreed. Perfect example is this parent doing an, approximately, 700 METRE school run. I worked t out by finding where the vehicle was parked on the residential road when I first encountered it. Whilst I can't be 100% sure, I am certain the children had no physical disability that would prevent them walking. https://youtu.be/R-dp-G6W8Jk
"Old Man Mountain kit is built tough, and comes with a lifetime warranty – which really matters, when it may well be subject to being battered over many tens of thousands of miles of awful terrain, carrying the equivalent weight of a small-ish child." Obviously it depends how the manufacturer applies its warranty, and OMM might be great - but worth noting that "lifetime warranty" is often less generous than it initially sounds - it's the reasonable lifetime of the product, and only warrants against manufacturing defects. So being battered over tens of thousands of miles is not necessarily going to be covered.
20 thoughts on “Trek joins Specialized in slashing prices; Ed Laverack aiming to reclaim Sa Calobra KOM from Tom Pidcock’s “crazy” time; “It’s a great problem for us”: Van Rysel delighted with interest in sold out RCR; Where’s Cav?; Giro teams + more on the live blog”
It seems a cyclist was
It seems a cyclist was injured by those runaway horses. No details on how badly, that I can find. Most news outlets seem to be more interested in the condition of the horses and the property damage to taxis and buses. And in trying to pin blame on construction workers, rather than asking why the fuck does the army waste its limited budget on keeping dangerous animals in the centre of a major world city, so they can parade up and down in front of those parasites in Buckingham Palace.
Tourism ££££.
Tourism ££££.
Want to know which Royal
Want to know which Royal Palace gets the most international tourists?
It’s Versaille.
So in the interests of the British tourism industry, let’s follow the French lead!
the little onion wrote:
Well, yeah, but they had to get rid of the Royal family first!
[Whisper] I think that’s the
[Whisper] I think that’s the point the little onion was making [/whisper]
I’m overwhelmingly indifferent to the house of Hannover, but I’m willing to don the Phrygian cap when Rishi Antoinette inevitably tells the people “Let them eat shareholder value”
ROOTminus1 wrote:
D’oh! <slaps forehead>
And the view from across the
And the view from across the pond… 😉
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/04/horses-loose-in-london-today-running-escape.html
When I first heard, I
When I first heard, I immediately thought that Chris Morris was back for a reprise of The Day Today!
Strident and outspoken
Strident and outspoken republican me, but I don’t mind watching Trooping the Colour, I like a military marching band, my canal commute takes me past a few barracks and they occasionally practice. Very little on TV on a Saturday morning too, until I discovered Radio 6’s excellent They Huey Show, tell your friends. But what got me after all the horses, bringing up the rear were 2 lads with the most incredibly shiny axes. So incongruous, had to look them up, ceremonial farriers axes, tablet prevents me from easily posting a pic, I’m sure they more practical ones back in the day. Specifically for the dispatching of horses.
ktache wrote:
Not just the humane dispatch of horses & mules lost in theatre (which was the purpose of the spike on the back), the blade was also used to cut off a hoof which had the individual animal’s serial number branded on it, in order for it to be accounted for and prove that it had died rather than been sold. Yep, even horses & mules had number plates. The RAVC still have an axe as part of the dress uniform.
What caught my eye about the
What caught my eye about the leaderboard of Sa Calobra was #7; Sam Hill. Is that the Enduro and DH legend Sam Hill, Mr Flat-pedals-win-medals?
I’d like to use the cycle
I’d like to use the cycle lane
Talk me through how you thought that this action was ok.
The bit at the start and end
The bit at the start and end looks like a cycle lane, but the bit they drive on looks just like a patched filter lane for traffic lights.
I’m hoping I’ve just missed
I’m hoping I’ve just missed the joke – you’re not really suggesting this was a mistake?
I can just imagine the futile argument I would have gotten into (and the black eye I’d no doubt have received) if they’d done that in front of me.
I dunno, probably not I
I dunno, probably not I assume they were picking up the scaffolding as there was other space they could have parked in, but I half expected the rider to get to the front and be looking at a bemused driver with a vacant stare as their brain tried to work out what they were driving on
as that middle bit looks terrible for a “cycle lane”, half chewed up tarmac, with the other half is that shell grip ? barely any paint markings, no signs. if you just saw the clip from the moment the truck turns onto it, to the moment he passes by them. How if youve never seen that setup before, do you go oh yeah thats totally still just a cycle lane, instead of thats just part of the road with a bit of a cycle painted on it the cycle lane feeds into ?
On the London horses, and how
On the London horses, and how they are startled by noise, I’m interested that the conversation has been about banning horses from London, rather than reducing motor noise.
mattw wrote:
I regularly see the Household Cavalry and Royal Artillery horses exercising when I’m out and about in London and they are absolutely fine with motor noise and busy traffic, apparently this incident arose because a load of building materials was accidentally dropped from a height and landed right next to them.
On the wider point of making the streets quieter of course absolutely on side!
That may have been the cause
That may have been the cause of the initial startling, but they were never going to calm down quickly with all those cyclists. Not to mention empty carrier bags.
What got me was that Radio2s Jeremy Vine show did half an hour about it on Wednesday and not playing of the Rolling Stone’s Wild Horses, the Osmand’s Crazy Horses or America’s Horse with No Name.
I regularly see them on the
I regularly see them on the commute alongside the Serpentine. It’s quite odd because on a typical ride in the country if I see a horse it’s dead slow, check if they’re happy for you to pass, no freewheel noises, don’t look at them funny and hope they don’t have an aversion to lycra / helmets etc*. These chaps seem generally pretty unfazed. Still massive though, so I give them a wide berth.
* once did a charity ride for an assistance dog charity and a charity ambassador turned up for a photo with our group with a dog who didn’t like helmets or gloves…
Well done Trek and
Well done Trek and Specialized for fucking up the 2nd hand market too!