Paris-Nice Stage 2: Belkin’s Moreno Hofland wins sprint, FDJ’s Nacer Bouhanni keeps overall lead

@chrisonabike Yes does it mean those without it are intrinsically less safe because they don't appear on the motorists' "radar" (in both senses of the word)? This is the problem with bike radars - they aren't addressing the root cause. The problem isn't cyclists being informed just before a motorist smacks into them for which the cyclists can do very little. The problem is motorists not taking evasive action before they (almost?) collide with the cyclist. Radar should be mandatory for cars.

I watched it in thé Dauphiné but didn't get that feeling.

Incoming Betteridge's Law here ("No"). I don't know if this becomes a "thing" but let's say it did: Pro: see round corners etc. And and increasing number of bikes (not just ebikes) have batteries / wireless / other tech anyway... Con: could easily become yet another way to relocate responsibility for safety from drivers, without substantially or reliably improving safety for others. Why? Not guaranteed (both your system AND all the other road users' systems need to be exist / be working / be enabled). How well does the bike interface work anyway (vibration could be masked by road noise; does everyone have both hands on the handlebars at all times? If it becomes prevalent it's easy to see the police / lawyers reaching for "bicycle didn't have (the latest version of) this thus the cyclist was irresponsible / brought it on themselves". For those who are "chips-with-everything" / "Internet-of-everything"-skeptical (that boat has sailed...) this would be yet another driver for "you used to buy a bike now you buy another smartphone".

100% agree, I have Assos and they work a lot better for me, yes they’re more expensive but a lot comfier and last a lot longer. So cost per ride Assos win hands down over Le Col.

@mikecassie I bought a pair that lasted 2 rides before the stitching wore through. I complained about this and they basically said sorry, its your saddle, no one else has this issue. I've got various pairs of Assos bib shorts that have lasted me years with zero issues. They were just awfully designs. The stitching was loose and right over the location where your leg would interface with the saddle if there was going to be any friction. Looking at my assos bibs, all the seams are placed where your movement isn't going to cause problems and all of them are tight to the point of being recessed to make sure that any rubbing isn't on an exposed thread. Le Col offered me 20% off a new pair of their bibs which I politely declined as I didn't think 2 short rides was worth paying 80% of RRP for.

@darnac I know cycling is a team sport to a considerable degree but I have always thought that taking the time on the fourth rider gives too much advantage to the richest teams, the ones who can afford to have three or more Galácticos backing up their leader. Having individual times for each rider seems to me closer to the spirit of the race, i.e. the man who goes round the whole parcours in the lowest time wins. With the old system you could end up with a somewhat absurd situation where rider A actually rode the Tour a minute quicker than their rivals but rider B takes the title because their fourth man in the TTT finished 1.01 ahead of rider A's fourth man. Besides, having watched this format in the Dauphiné, it definitely does make it more exciting and at a time when the standard moan is that with one rider, or two at most, dominant the racing has become too boring that's not really a bad thing.

@nick_stokie Pretty impossible to hide that in the last km of the Tour with maybe 100 cameras on them not to mention everyone's phones.

The "same time in the last kilometre" rule feels exploitable if a team was cunning. Given the last section is uphill then full team effort to the 1km red kite before the most powerful rider does the last 1km solo. If the others were to sit up and coast in they would get a slower individual time. If they had a 'soft' crash into each other or a mechanical (who verifies this?) then then get the better finish time of the more powerful rider. Not very sporting but...

Well you wouldn't want your tyres to be unstable, would you?

I get thé feeling that thé over-riding motivation for changing thé format is to mâke it more 'exciting' on TV