- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
Top Gear in St Petersburg (picture - BBC)Top Gear back on Sunday with bike vs electric car and hovercraft challenge in St Petersburg
Top Gear returns to BBC Two this Sunday – and the opening episode of the new series will see Richard Hammond back in the saddle as he attempts to show Jeremy Clarkson and James May once again that a bicycle is the quickest way of getting around a city.
Seven years ago, Hammond cycled flat out in a cross-London dash to City Airport to beat both of his co-hosts, with Clarkson second in a speedboat and May, who drove a Mercedes ML 4x4 pushed into fourth place by The Stig, who took public transport.
This time the action switches to Russia’s second city, St Petersburg. Once again, Hammond will be pedalling, this time a road bike with drop handlebars.
Clarkson is in a hovercraft – floating on a cushion of his own hot air, presumably – and May is in a Renault Twizy electric vehicle. The Stig, meanwhile, is on the city’s metro system.
The episode airs on BBC Two at 8pm this Sunday evening, and for the first time the new season will be launched globally on the same day.
If you missed the London challenge when it screened back in 2008, here are YouTube highlights of it.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Would that be the same EHRC that has three times refused to investigate complaints from the Muslim Council of Britain of over 300 instances of...
But someone who uses their bike for shopping, visiting friends, going to the pub plus a bit of gentle leisure riding in their holidays could easily...
then for balance...
Happens on unmoderated forum. Forums I have run stamp on anti-social behaviour, and would rather stray into over-moderation than under moderation....
Reading has the double deckers and they are shit. It does have a reasonable amount of Sheffield stands on the North entrance... I've never had a...
Hi...
Well, Garmin eTrex Legend was perfectly capable of rerouting. They used routes and tracks back then, so in BaseCamp you put up to 50 points on the...
This afternoon I cycled on the new bit of cycle lane by Reading uni. It is short and disappears just before the traffic lights, no surprises there....
yep, from the strava route, if that was the right route linked in the article. Just before the cafe stop - which after an experience like that, I'd...
good grief ...