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Latest addition to ‘Can you carry it by bike?’: Mattresses (you might need a cycling mate); Vingegaard will “decide for himself” if he’s going to Tour de France, says Visma-Lease a Bike DS; Why cyclists don’t use the cycle lane + more on the live blog
SUMMARY

It's official: Eden Hazard rode Mont Ventoux via the easier Sault route
After yesterday’s top story of former Chelsea and Real Madrid forward Eden Hazard, who hung up his football boots last year only to don the jersey of Intermarché-Wanty (his favourite team, allegedly) and climbed Mont Ventoux, we can now confirm that he, along with his brothers, completed the feat via the easier Sault route from the east side, with an average gradient of 4.4 per cent.
Eden Hazard climbs Mont Ventoux 🤩🚴
Watch the football superstar conquer the mythical mountain with his CUBE bike 💪 pic.twitter.com/npfAstRg7l
— Intermarché-Wanty (@IntermarcheW) June 3, 2024
"When cyclists tell you someone is an a*******, believe them"
When cyclists tell you someone is an arsehole, believe them. https://t.co/icSWJVp3vJ
— Harry (@Harry_is_human) June 3, 2024
Why cyclists don't use cycle lane (Manchester edition)
“Why cyclists don’t use cycle lanes”, reason number 362 🤦 https://t.co/TFmlPKIGPn
— Shez (@Sh3zz4) June 3, 2024
“He has to be the old Jonas again”: Visma-Lease a Bike DS says Vingegaard will decide for himself whether or not he’ll go to Tour de France
After yesterday’s news that two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard was left out of the Denmark cycling squad going to Paris Olympics, along with some uncertainty over his Tour de France ambitions, an ever darker shadow has now been cast on the reigning champion’s chances of being there at the Grand Départ at Florence on 29 June.
The 27-year-old cyclist had started the season in fine form, winning two stage races, O Gran Camiño and the Tirreno-Adriatico, but was last seen in action at the Tour of the Basque Country, where he suffered serious injuries, including multiple fractures in the horror crash which also involved many other top riders such as Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s sportive director Merijn Zeeman has said that whether Vingegaard will go to the Tour or not is going to be his decision. In fact, the team is relying so heavily on Vingegaard that they are ready to wait until the last week for him to make the decision and subsequently announce their team.
The Dutch DS who’s served in this role since 2012 and will be leaving the team at the end of this season to become the CEO of football club AZ Alkmaar, told Wielerrevue: “Ultimately, the point is that in the last weeks of preparation during the altitude training camp in Tignes, he must be completely available for everything we do with the Tour team.
“He must be able to perform the toughest endurance training; the intensity, the intervals, the long endurance rides. A rider who may not be at his own top level, but who is ready for it both physically and mentally. He has to be looking forward to it and have the feeling: I am completely back and can fight with the best for three weeks. If that is not the case, Jonas cannot ride.”
Zeeman noted that Vingegaard has been training in the French Alps with his teammates Christophe Laporte and Wout van Aert, who’s also recovering from his own injuries sustained in the nasty crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen.
He continued: “Jonas will decide for himself whether or not he will go to the Tour. He has to feel for himself whether he is completely ready for it in all respects and whether he is the old Jonas again. The choice is his. We will never force a rider to take a to compete.
“I don’t think that decision can be made until a week before the start of the Tour. We do not have another rider of his level and with his characteristics in the team. Jonas is so extremely talented that he can grow to a high level very quickly if he is taxable. That means he has a special place for us and we will indeed be waiting for a long time.”
“Why would you put the secret uncovered bike on the roof rack and ALSO ride it in a filmed race!?!”: Reaction to THAT video where we got told off by Ineos for filming their new mystery Pinarello bike
I mean, it’s only fair isn’t it? Ineos has been relying on the Dogma F line from Pinarello since 2014, back in its Sky days, and as is the case with many manufacturers, the Italian bike brand likes to keep its latest and greatest models hush and under the wraps.
However, our role as cycling journalists is to bring you any sneak peeks we can get under those wraps, and when Jamie did manage to get a cheeky look at the new Pinarello Dogma F, sat atop one of Ineos’ team cars, he was privy to a very interesting encounter with the Ineos staff, who told him and the rest of our video team to immediately stop recording — not just the new model, but also the old one!
> Ineos Grenadiers race new Pinarello Dogma at Dauphiné
Which has brought together a collection of some very pressing questions in our YouTube comments. “Ridiculous. Why would you put the secret uncovered bike on the roof rack and ALSO ride it in a filmed race!?! What a shit show,” wrote one person, while another said: “Don’t get what the fuss is about with the filming, you’re in a public space so nothing wrong with that. Tell the team to tell the tv cameras not to film any Ineos rider throughout the race then.”
Indeed, as another person mentioned, I don’t think they can stop anyone from filming on a public road? Meanwhile, pointing out at the heftier, bulkier bottom bracket that can be seen in the new Dogma F, one person wrote: “Maybe there’s a hidden motor in that bulging bottom bracket hence no cameras allowed…”
I guess we can rule that out as the team hasn’t been anywhere near winning many races recently…
So if you want to check out Jamie’s video and the new Pinarello Dogma F in detail, well, as much we were allowed, you can watch it here.
Cyclist in critical condition after collision on major motorway, second cyclist also taken to hospital


An investigation is underway into a collision which saw two cyclists taken to hospital, one of the riders in a critical condition, after emergency services were called to a crash involving the two people on bikes and an Audi being driven on the M9 in Scotland.
Is it an Emonda? Is it a Madone? ANDROMEDA?! Gah! Here's all we know about Trek’s new mystery road bike so far


Trek is set to launch a new road bike that was ridden to victory on its debut outing by Lidl-Trek’s Mads Petersen in the Dauphiné yesterday, but what is this new bike that appears to say both ‘Madone’ and ‘Emonda’ on the top tube, and what do we know about it so far? And let us know your predictions for what the bike will be eventually called!
> Trek’s new road bike: what is it and what do we know so far?
Police release image of suspects accused of violent attack on cyclist near Box Hill which left victim seriously injured with punctured lung when masked thugs on motorbike pushed him off popular cycle path


A cyclist from Surrey has raised the alarm after being violently attacked by masked thugs on motorbikes while using a segregated cycling route near Box Hill, the rider suffering broken bones and a punctured lung when he was aggressively shoved from his bike on Wednesday evening.
British cyclist to miss Tour of Britain after being hit by driver who tried to "squeeze huge 4x4 past at high speed" on country lane blind bend before returning to "verbally abuse and threaten" female rider


A British professional cyclist set to compete at the Tour of Britain Women which begins this week will not be racing after suffering injuries when she was hit by an impatient driver who tried to overtake at “high speed” on a blind bend in a narrow country lane.
Kate Richardson, who rides for Lifeplus Wahoo and won last month’s Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix, shared the news on Instagram where she recalled the incident that is now being investigated by the police. According to her Strava, she had been training near Holmfirth in Yorkshire yesterday morning when she was hit by the motorist and suffered a refractured scapula, road rash and an “incredibly bruised and swollen right hip”.
Derek Gee pips Romain Grégoire to take his first WorldTour victory and win stage 3 of Critérium du Dauphiné
Israel-Premier Tech’s Derek Gee has won his first WorldTour race as he pulled one last surge out of his legs to pip Groupama-FDJ’s Romain Grégoire and claim bragging rights at the third stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
With 400 metres to go, Gee was the first one in the peloton to react as he launched an attack on his own, which was followed by no one else but Grégoire who got past him and tried to turn his chase into a runaway win. But the 26-year-old Canadian doggedly stayed with him and in the final moments pulled one last attack out of his bag to get past Grégoire.
Wow, what a battle between Derek Gee and Romain Gregoire! The Giro Hero Derek takes the W, first pro win outside of the nationals and WT win right away! #Dauphine pic.twitter.com/HOm4Gulmde
— Eemeli (@LosBrolin) June 4, 2024
A brand-new addition to the ‘#CarryShitOlympics’ series: Mattresses (disclaimer: you might need a cycling mate)
Leave it to the Dutch to find the most innovative ways to transport seemingly impossible things by this wonderful thing called the bike. And just like that, we have a new addition to our series of ‘Can you carry it by bike?’.
This video shared shared by Sikkom, a Twitter account based in the Dutch city of Groningen, shows two cyclists — apparently students — finding a superb way of carrying a mattress back home by resting it over their heads and holding it from the edges.
💚Groningen en het studentenleven
Eem een matrasje vervoeren op z’n Gronings. Inclusief stukje tegen het verkeer in. Kan alleen in Stad. pic.twitter.com/zNYjD7vFUO
— Sikkom (@Sikkom050) June 3, 2024
“Groningen and student life… Transport a mattress the Groningen way,” the account wrote.
A person replied under the video saying that they saw two cyclists carry a sofa in a similar way as well, maybe there’s something to learn over here?
This adds mattress to a long list of objects that you’d consider almost impossible to carry on a bike, including a fridge, a television set, gas cannister, watermelon, wachine machine, even a Specialized MTB! Or if you’d take a page out of Simon’s book, you can hire a cargo bike and get a big old chest of drawer all the way across London.
In fact, ferrying big loads using cargo bikes — something we are big fans of here at road.cc — has already become something of a common occurrence in the capital, and has even received backing from Transport for London (TfL).
“Cargo bikes support the Mayor’s ambition for London to reach net zero carbon by 2030 and contribute to the wider ambitions of having healthier, safer streets as set out in the Mayor’s Transport Strategy,” TfL said in its Cargo Bike Action Plan published in March last year.
Major companies including Amazon and DHL now use cargo bikes for last-mile fulfilment in the city, but independent traders are also increasingly turning to them as a means of transporting themselves and the tools of their trade around the capital, with Cargo Revolution highlighting several case studies.
So, have you carried something unusual on a bike that’s drawn a look or two from passerby? And if yes, then feel free to share with us what was the object in the comments.
Japan 1935, koloriert: #carryshitolympics
Quelle: https://t.co/mNBHLEeAGy pic.twitter.com/9mQdCb0ySG
— Jota Pluralis (@Llusafin) April 12, 2023
But you can’t move a two seater sofa on a bike…. #tern #gsd #terngsd #betterbybike #leavethecarathome #bikelife #ebike #cargobike #cargobikesofinstagram #bosch #cargoline #deepcar #sheffield pic.twitter.com/myjjKXFZ3a
— Wanton and furious cycling (@Twisted_Fish90) April 14, 2023
You can’t carry a washing machine on a bicycl… Oh.
Spotted in #Oxford #quaxing #carryshitolympics pic.twitter.com/4YS5A9hWPP
— Cllr Emily Kerr 💚 (@EmilyKerr36) September 13, 2023
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7 Comments
Latest Comments
@robgodd The poor guy himself suffered a traumatic brain injury and his skull was so badly shattered a significant portion of it had to be removed - do me a favour, have a look around cycling helmet manufacturers and see if any of them claim the foam hats they produce will protect against or even mitigate that level of injury. I'll wait if you like, but I can save us both the time and tell you what you'll find: none of them. Not a single one of them will. Because they don't, and they *can't* based on simple physics. Once the point of failure in a material is reached all(or as near as makes no odds) of the additional force beyond that necessary threshhold transfers through to the object beneath. Since bicycle helmets are rated for forces roughly equivalent to being dropped straight down from a stationary start 1.5m above a hard surface. Now, I'm not an expert in vehicle crash investigation, but I'm *fairly* sure that any impact or series of impacts powerful enough to render a quarder of your skull into gravel, put you in a weeks-long coma, give you massive amnesia, and leave you with ongoing symptoms of traumatic brain injury are a little bit, a teeny-weeny amount, a little smidgeon-widgeon more than what bike helmets are rated for. That's why none of the companies that make them claim they will help in such circumstances: because they know it would be a lie, and that unlike uninformed punters, carbrained journalists, or "medical professionals" who think wearing a helmet would save you from a broken arm(an actual scenario encountered by a mate, who's nurse at the A&E tutted and harrumphed her way through his whole treatment due to his lack of helmet despite his bonce having come through *being hit by a car* - another scenario bike helmets are worthless in - completely unscathed), the lawyers for those companies know their business and understand that if you lie in advertising you will get sued into the ground.
The Battle of Ypres April 1915. The German infantry division advanced using das Brumptstadt Fahrarden. The slow speed kept them behind the cloud of chlorine gas as it drifted towards the Commonwealth trenches. The offensive cleaved a two mile gap in the Western Front. The use of cycles was copied by the Japanese as they invaded Singapore and Burmah. By then war technology had embraced wider low pressure tyres, carbon frames and hydration gels. The German forces decided not to incorporate cycling as part of Operation Session, as bike theft in London and the South East was rife and would have caused huge casualties. Ironically superior advancement of tyre technology led to a British victory at El Alamein. This technology played a key part in the US Marines victory at Iwo Jima.
The appropriate response to Google pissing on your cereal is not a fancy new sugar that removes the taste of urine. Stop using Google products where you can. Firefox browser and DuckDuckGo search engine have had noticeable upticks in market share by explicitly NOT pushing AI.
my thoughts exactly...I wonder how that approach is working, with motor vehicle drivers...🤔
I do not wish to diminish the personal tragedy, but one never hear calls for pedestrians or even hikers to wear clothing with integrated lightening rods.
RE Andy Burnam / Heidi Alexander - this is the best thing in many ways - set an example (even if currently it leads to lots of online name-calling). And imagine some of the political alternatives! The folks in the apparently second-placed party seem incredibly unlikely to be doing so. And even the current "new Greens" seem less interested in ... y'know, environmental things. OTOH I wish Heidi could be bolder. And I fear that like anyone ambitious enough to get to the top (exception B Johnson - well, I guess there was the Corbyn bicycle...) Burnam will be trimming his transport policy sails to fit the wind (should that be "bunker-fuel-burning engines"?)
@mattsccm Bull bars aren't banned, they just have to conform to regulations so they are deformable or have plates that allow crumple give on contact, rather than rigid steel bars that can smash into pedestrians and cyclists with no give at all, catch them and drag them under the wheels. If you think that's a problem, do one. Why should who is responsible for a collision remove the responsibility of people driving a tonne of machinery on the road from having safety features to at least mitigate some of the effects of a collision?
I'd be willing to bet that's lazy use of stock photography rather than deliberate misinformation, but the result is still the same.
@smallbeer You obviously don't realise how many bulls there are wandering around Chelsea, in and out of the china shops, that he needs to protect his Range Rover from.
I agree, it's bloody 'elf and safety overreach, can't help some people, I put some meat, sorry, neat decoration on the front of mine and the polis were round poking their noses in like that (mind you, that was a mistake...) (etc)
7 thoughts on “Latest addition to ‘Can you carry it by bike?’: Mattresses (you might need a cycling mate); Vingegaard will “decide for himself” if he’s going to Tour de France, says Visma-Lease a Bike DS; Why cyclists don’t use the cycle lane + more on the live blog”
” Londons cycling bubble has
” Londons cycling bubble has burst, call in the administrators “
That picture of Charlie
That picture of Charlie Mullins – tell me it’s his Tussaud’s waxwork and not actually him. Please.
Maybe I’m being dense, but
Maybe I’m being dense, but what’s the objection to that Manchester cycle lane?
In the full image (hidden by
In the full image (hidden by the twitter letterbox) there is a curb perpendicular to the cycle lane at the bottom of the picture which would make access…difficult… for anyone not able to do sick bunny hops.
According to the signage, the
According to the signage, the cyclists are on the gravel.
quiff wrote:
That method of carrying a
That method of carrying a mattress by two cyclist in the Netherlands is not ‘innovative’. I’m sure many others would have thought of the same method. The difference is, in the Netherlands, it is enabled.