“It feels like twenty trucks have run over it”: Remco Evenepoel reveals “difficult to accept” shoulder injury after ‘dooring’ crash, as “his condition is getting worse while everyone else is improving”; Pidcock in Q36.5 colours + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“My dancing idol is Patrick Swayze”: Peter Sagan signs up for Strictly Slovakia – but how have other pro cyclists who swapped their bikes for the ballroom fared?
Come on now — who had Peter Sagan ready to swap his S-Works 7s for some shiny dancing shoes and take part in Let’s Dance, Slovakia’s version of Strictly Come Dancing, on their 2025 bingo?
“Oh my god it’s CyclingMikey!”: Driver holds up mobile phone to point camera at road safety campaigner and show him on FaceTime video to starstruck callee
I imagine when they say there is no such thing as bad press, this is what they mean.
Because after a year which saw almost every major news publication in Britain dip their feet in the “controversial” — and also illegal — waters of using mobile phones while driving and the consequences when a cyclist decides to stick a camera on their head and report the perpetrators to the authorities, CyclingMikey has become a rather popular figure on the streets of London.
After interview features in The Times, The Telegraph, the Evening Standard, and the Guardian, as well as compliments and endorsements from BBC Radio 2 host Jeremy Vine, Mike van Erp, the Dutch-born Londoner has risen in popularity even beyond the niche circles of active travel (or, anti-active travel) communities for catching drivers breaking traffic rules, such as using a handheld mobile device.
And while on the lookout for such drivers in an old video from 2023 (anyone remember the ‘Didn’t Happen of the Year Awards’ fail?) that was shared on Twitter this morning, Mikey came face-to-face with one who not only was unabashedly holding the phone, but also on a FaceTime video call with someone who recognised Van Erp and couldn’t help himself from screaming: “Oh my god, it’s CyclingMikey — oh my god!”
His phone callee recognised me! Then he showed him me on FaceTime.
It’s the second time I caught someone in this vehicle using their phone. I bet he was bricking it when his friend told him who I was. pic.twitter.com/5C0czXvIEV— CyclingMikey the Unspeakable (@MikeyCycling) January 10, 2025
The oblivious driver, who had previously retorted with the question of “Are you the police?” when confronted by Mikey, plainly asks “Who?” and then holds up the phone to show CyclingMikey to his callee via the front camera, before driving off.
Mikey revealed that this wasn’t the first time he caught someone driving that car, even letting out a laugh when realising the fact. Honestly, I’m astounded by the man’s computer-like memory of the licence plates he’s filmed.
“His phone callee recognised me! Then he showed him me on FaceTime,” Van Erp wrote. “It’s the second time I caught someone in this vehicle using their phone. I bet he was bricking it when his friend told him who I was.”
Last week, CyclingMikey was featured in Daily Mail’s “top 12 villains of 2024” list, a belated New Year celebration from the newspaper’s online counterpart, rounding up an awkward and truly confounding compilation, including the likes of the Post Office, VAR, Oasis, Gregg Wallace… and Paddington Bear — amongst everything else villainous in this world.
Perhaps the list might make some sense when you factor in some of the other entries — the person who threw a milkshake at Schrodinger’s Nigel Farage, who somehow bravely walked it off but was also simultaneously frightened at the time, as well as Just Stop Oil campaigners.
“Does this mean I’m one of the good guys?” a rather confused and possibly amused Mikey posted on social media after reading the Mail’s review.
Locals support ban on “malicious” cycling in town centres where police claim cyclists “rifle through” – but cyclists call for clampdown on “speeding vehicles” and worry PSPO could target safe cycling
Grauniad gonna Grauniad… Newspaper gets both rider and race wrong in reporting on the World Photography Awards’ cycling picture of the year
Just how? Not a typo, not a formatting error, not even just one mistake — no, The Guardian got both the rider and the race wrong when reporting on the World Sports Photography Awards 2025 winners.
The fantastic shot of Wout Van Aert being cheered on by the staff from the Gaston Van De Walle butchers shop in Kluisbergen at the E3 Saxo Classic last year, clicked by Gaëtan Flamme, which was awarded the Gold Award in Cycling category was captioned by the Guardian as: “Tim Van Dijke raced past a Butchers [sic] shop in Kluisbergen during the Tour of Flanders.”
The errors have been corrected on the website now, but a keen-eyed reader was quick enough to screenshot it and share it on social media.
road.cc Recommends Components of the Year 2024/25: The best groupsets, grips, saddles and more from the last 12 months
Explore the best cycling components available – the top products that made it into road.cc Recommends in 2024. From groupsets to grips, saddles and power-measuring pedals, this selection covers a broad range of premium equipment. There’s something here for everyone.
“I’m going to buy him a mug with a chocolate egg in it. I’m going to get ‘best security in the world’ written on it”
Road tax for Swiss cyclists?
New cycle parking shows how to reclaim space from motor traffic
Quite into this brand new cycle parking which has just sprung up in my ward (on highway).
— Cllr Emily Kerr 💚 (@emilykerr36.bsky.social) 9 January 2025 at 14:11
Part from Brompton’s latest e-bike used to build drones for UK military, resulting in product launch delays and cyclists having to wait months
Who would’ve thought that building a seemingly faultless controller for your company’s latest e-bike would actually result in delays in its rollout… because the British army wanted to use the same design and part to fit in its drones to be used against Russia’s war in Ukraine.
This conspiracy theory-like news was revealed by Brompton’s CEO Will Butler-Adams on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme. He said that his company got “bumped down the list” as the UK military needed a “lot of drones” — not just to send to Ukraine and counter Russia’s drone activity, but also for the latest ‘sport’ adopted by the army, “drone racing”.
“We make electric bikes, and inside our electric bikes we have controllers. The controller is made in the UK – designed by us and made by a British company,” Butler-Adams said.
“We were launching a new bike – our G line – and it was delayed by two months because a controller manufacturer was also making stuff for the MoD [Ministry of Defence].
“Actually it was making stuff for drones, and they needed a lot of drones, and therefore we got bumped down the list.”
Brompton’s £3,499 G Line e-bike apparently has a controller good enough to be used in the UK military’s drones
The bike part needed for the drones is a controller, or control switch, that communicates with the bike’s battery-powered motor that makes the G Line bike easier to pedal.
The controller — which is said to be remarkably quick at communicating with the motor — was designed by the Greenford-based bike manufacturer most notable for its fleet of popular folding bikes, but the production for the part was outsourced.
“It feels like twenty trucks have run over it”: Remco Evenepoel reveals “difficult to accept” injury after ‘dooring’ crash, as “his condition is getting worse and worse while everyone else is improving”
No one was expecting Remco Evenepoel, after achieving an unprecedented feat in men’s cycling by winning gold medals in the road race and the time trial at the Paris Olympics, would become an exemplar of the precarious nature of a pro cyclist’s career where events completely outside your control have a devastating impact on your performance, but that’s how the tragic situation has played out after the dooring crash in Belgium with a bpost van which resulted in fractures to his ribs, right shoulder blade and right hand.
His pre-season training has been completely derailed, and some of the races Evenepoel would have liked to ride this year are now off the table. But if his recovery goes well — which at the moment seems like it is — Evenepoel aims to be back in action for the Ardennes classics.
> Remco Evenepoel calls for drivers to use Dutch Reach after suffering multiple fractures in dooring incident on training ride
“The Ardennes classics are difficult to return to. But I know those races well, so that’s a plus and positive,” he told Wielerflits. “I’m going to start a little earlier, in the Brabantse Pijl. Also for the motivation, because that’s a race close to home.
“After that, the Amstel Gold Race, the Walloon Arrow and Liège-Bastogne-Liège will follow. A one-day race is easier than Paris-Nice or a Giro d’Italia. That’s why the Giro is completely off the table. I know that I have three months now. That’s enough space to be good in the Brabantse Pijl. Liège is also only two weeks later. It’s a risk, but we have confidence in it.”
He shared his feelings about missing the Spanish winter training camps, saying: “That was and is very difficult to accept. I am literally lying in bed, my condition is getting worse by the day, while everyone else is improving their form. The gap is growing by the day. I have not done any exercise for five weeks now. Not on the bike, not in the gym. And before that I went on holiday. That means that I have not done anything for about ten weeks now.
“It is difficult to live with that. I have experienced it before. These are low points in my career. The contrast with my successful summer is great. Although I know what needs to be done. I am also more positive by the day. Around New Year I also sought out the sun, knowing that it might be the last relaxation for the coming months. But that did me good.”
Evenepoel added: “If there is one thing I can be happy about, it is that this injury occurred in December. We also had to decide now and that is why I am not riding any spring races. I want to be 200 per cent ready for the Tour de France . Maybe we will add the Tour de Romandie after the four hilly classics, to have a few more racing days in my legs.
“After that we want to copy last year’s preparation. I have no doubt that if I follow that path, I will be in very good shape for the Tour. There are still seven months until then. There is time. That is why the Tour is the main goal now. If things do not go well in the Ardennes classics, then it is part of the process towards the Tour de France. That is how I am looking at it in the coming period.”
Despite all the setbacks, Evenepoel is at least elated about his scan results, which are coming out positive. “I had my scan on Thursday morning,” he said. “There’s positive news, because the result was good. After that, I could immediately start my first session with the physiotherapist in Herentals.
“My rehabilitation can finally begin now. We are taking it day by day. We want to be sure that everything is 100% recovered. I have to strengthen my muscles. A nerve on the outside of my shoulder has been hit. As a result, the outside feels a bit dead. The pain is bearable, except when I get up. Then it feels like twenty trucks have run over it. There is also no muscle reaction yet. We have to keep an eye on that. But the most important thing is that I can start now.”
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Very brief look at this but I'm not sure it says anything much new, or particularly useful. Yes, they point to "some women who rode a hire bike possibly didn't ride before but might ride after". OTOH the *number* of women vs men surveyed didn't appear to be stated (except for one graph with a n=... - which was a lot less than the 5000 mentioned, and there only about half as many women responding there). Otherwise I think it just covers what regularly comes up (albeit perhaps it has to be repeated): - much fewer women from minority ethnic backgrounds. - Women care about socially safe parking locations far more than men do. - Women feel less safe on the roads due to external issues that they have no control over: traffic, road conditions and infrastructure, and harassment.
Interesting counterpoint to the 'hire bike menace' narrative (obviously with the caveat that the report authors have a vested interest in selling the benefits, but...) Appears hire bike schemes go some way to addressing the cycling gender imbalance and, given the point about parking immediately outside the destination, dockless schemes particularly so. https://micromobilitybiz.com/forest-report-finds-shared-e-bikes-are-helping-close-london-cycling-gender-gap/
@chrisonabike True, things went back to normal once the pandemic was over. In this case, however the problems are still ongoing, and aren't likely to be resolved in the near future. If anything, they're going to get worse. Food shortages are predicted because of the effect that the heatwave has had on crops. This is bound to push prices up. The Straits of Hormuz aren't likely to reopen anytime soon and the strategic oil reserves are running low. Russia is having to import petrol because its own refineries have been badly hit, so that's even more competition for an even more scarce resource. I think that more and more people are going to see cycling as a way of cutting household bills.
I think if "grown up" cyclists * are quibbling about ASLs we've very much missed the road safety point anyway. (Not to mention the wider "better transport choices" picture). ASLs are poor-to-useless "cycling infra", even for their design intent. If the idea is "for less confident cyclists" then a design that requires that you re-position in front of the motor traffic - waiting to accelerate - seems unhelpful. Of course they're only designed to help when traffic is stopped, and you can reach the front in time and if vehicles aren't already occupying them. As we're noting here drivers frequently ignore them - whether that be deliberate, a lack of road craft, because they were concentrating on following the vehicle in front, or because the paint has rubbed off. * Aside: shouldn't cycling also be safe and accessible for kids? Or should they only be allowed to do this when accompanied by sufficient qualified adults? Or be limited to parks and otherwise being driven around by their carers? Perhaps there is another way...?
Hi Bungle, I saw you follow-up comment. I can't imaging there's a tolerance of 4 seconds on camera enforced lights, seems an odd decision - an offence is committed if a vehicle starts crossing on a red, any tolerance is discretionary. There does seem to be some odd thinking about 'advanced stop lines' where the rules relating to them are identical to a regular stop line, as explained correctly elsewhere in the Highway Code. It does seem a regular offence. Where I live it doesn't help that some of them are very faint and disappear in rain.
@ktache Not sure he's totally ruled out of the worlds yet (though I think it would be best if he doesn't), normal recovery time is about eight weeks but surgery can halve that...depending on the nature of the break he could be just about fit to ride by the time of the elite men's race, but he'll have missed a lot of training. Hopefully his managers and team will persuade him to wait until Lombardia, if not just to knock it off for the rest of the year.
@Bungle_52 The Met told me a couple of years ago when rejecting a submission that they needed a clear three seconds of red visible before they would consider it for an RLJ prosecution. I pointed out to them that this meant that at 30 mph a driver could see a light change to red from 40 metres away and still get through without sanction, or 55 m if they accelerated to 40 as most do. They just replied "them's our rules..."
@Ben Graham I have just checked the footage from my report. The driver crosses the 1st stop line 4 seconds after the light turns red. All on camera from behind the vehicle. No further action. So I assume the margin is at least 4 seconds.
Oh, and active travel funding per head (in England at least) is laughable compared to other places. Plus it is delivered intermittently. It's more like a Blue Peter contest...
Yup, I see those opportunities being missed all the time in Edinburgh. When it gets really bad, dig it all up and put it back down again how it was. Contrast with what seems to happen in NL - when things are dug up the whole thing seems to get a "let's redo this according to the current standards" treatment. They even coordinate with the utilities, so that after a refurb the street isn't immediately dug up again because of leaking pipes / we suddenly realised the new estate being planned for round the corner will want broadband etc. Pros and cons of course - you may wait longer there for changes as smaller changes may be deferred until a major redo is due. (Though in the UK case you likely wouldn't get them at all...) It seems we "can't have nice things" in the UK in part because a) we have greater motor traffic speeds/volumes spead across "streets" / within urban areas b) the funding and organisational responsibility differs. Are we in the "Sam Vimes boots" territory (being too poor to afford better products which not only save money over time but actually work)? There is long term money pressure on LAs and it seems that due to poor construction and maintenance we have to regularly pour money into (pot-)holes in the road. And it seems there's no budget to check up on or enforce adequate standards from utilities work or even private building.
20 thoughts on ““It feels like twenty trucks have run over it”: Remco Evenepoel reveals “difficult to accept” shoulder injury after ‘dooring’ crash, as “his condition is getting worse while everyone else is improving”; Pidcock in Q36.5 colours + more on the live blog”
I put this on yesterdays live
I put this on yesterdays live blog early this morning:
‘Hero’ security guard slashed with angle grinder while trying to stop bike thief (Metro)
Nasty.
Nasty.
The Met may evan take action, as it was a non-cyclist ABH-ed.
That little hug at the end ?
That little hug at the end ?
“And while on the lookout for
I’m certain that is not a new incident with CM as I remember a similar recognition (“Oh my god thats CyclingMikey!”) one a while ago but I can’t find it now.
mitsky wrote:
Pidcock “stuck with his old
Pidcock “stuck with his old INEOS kit”. Really?
Another find on Singletrack’s
Another find on Singletrack’s Fresh Goods Friday.
It would seem that some bloke called Jo Burt has done a book.
Though I can’t see why this would be relevant or in any way interesting to anyone here…
https://www.isolapress.com/shop/mint-sauce
Peter Sagan in a suit looks
Peter Sagan in a suit looks like he’s going to hypnotise you and steal all your money…
Or drive you to a flat
Or drive you to a flat viewing in an ‘up and coming area’ in his Foxtons Mini.
Or go into his Swiss uncle’s
Or go into his Swiss uncle’s business
Winning three world
Winning three world championships is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman….
(No subject)
Aren’t those new bike stands
Aren’t those new bike stands too close to the pavement? Certainly to lock the top tube frame to, it’s like a back wheel only solution, unless you leave part of your bike on the pavement.
The other thing about those
The other thing about those bike stands is where are they? It looks like a residential street. So who is going to use them? No one would be daft enough to leave their cycle locked up outside over night, or even for prolonged periods. That should be a cycle hangar ( although they are not theft proof either) Bike stands need to be close to where people want to lock their cycles temporarily; like a gym, shops, public building, office etc.
And no mention of the
And no mention of the Sinclair C5 40th anniversary ? It had pedals, was based on a recumbent, essentially an early ebike/vehicle.
Imagine what the roads would be like if they’d taken off in popularity, maybe Panorama should investigate.
The roads would have been
The roads would have been terrible. C5s have minimal ground clearance and struggle on rough surfaces. So all the traffic calming would have had to go – the pot holes would have been filled – great, right?
No, because then all the C5s would have gone extinct as they’re underpowered and heavy so slow up hills (in fact slow everywhere, unless fitted with the aftermarket rocket engine) and they’d have all been wiped out by MGIF drivers or gone under lorries (they’re a lot lower than my recumbent).
At which point it would be happy days for driving…
I like the idea but sadly while as a kid I thought they looked amazing they are a pretty miserable vehicle practically. (Did I mention the tiny range, or that the leg length is not adjustable?)
I know that was Sir Clive’s
I know that was Sir Clive’s vision though – an actual mainstream car replacement.
Problem is even with his manufacturing links and doing it at scale velomobiles are likely to be very expensive when compared to “basic bike”. I love the idea – and the average modern velomobile is both far faster unpowered than a C5 and many have as much or more luggage capacity. But it turns out that they’re niche in the modern world. They’re bulky, awkward to move about from the outside, an issue to park securely, very few will take more than one person (though those look cool, in a Thunderbirds way).
We have overcome some of those challenges with cars (eg. garages, trailers for carrying more) but I don’t see that kind of thing ever being more than a niche. Even if we had all the suitable cycle infra that they are much better ridden on (there’s a limit to the ground clearance you can get without making the CofG too high / width and turning circle too great).
This the Canadian version of
This a state version of the onion right ?
“House Bill 124 is titled:
AN ACT REVISING BICYCLE LAWS; PROVIDING THAT BICYCLES MUST BE RIDDEN OPPOSITE THE FLOW OF TRAFFIC UNLESS RIDDEN WITH A FLAG VEHICLE ESCORT; AND REPEALING SECTIONS 61-8-602 AND 61-8-605, MCA”
Mental
Mental
My wife forgot to tell me
My wife forgot to tell me about this and now the 48 hour deadline has passed.
No ved either.