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Live blog: Fans arrested for endangering riders on Alpe d’Huez; Ex-pro’s journey from paracetamol to MDMA; Video of crash that forced Nibali to abandon + more
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Fri, Jul 20, 2018 14:30
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Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn’t especially like cake.
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Latest Comments
mdavidford 19 minutes ago
Possible it's been sneakily updated since your comment (though there's no 'article updated at...' bit at the top), but it is mentioned in the current version, albeit quite deep in to the article:
DS2025 1 hour ago
'... fragile man” subject to bouts of dizziness and vertigo.' Not sure what you have to declare to the authorities in the US regarding medical issues and driving but I do hope he has fully complied before making such a public admission, I would hate for a court to pick up on it!
Daveyraveygravey 2 hours ago
You didn't mention the headline the Atlanta Journal chose to use..." A driver passed too close to cyclists. Now he could die in prison." Talk about car brain...
Clem Fandango 3 hours ago
@Pub bike - kind of the point isn't it. They create demand and expectation by operating at a loss & burning through VC & hedge fund money, then when that dries up, fees go up & costs get cut (ie their gig workers get exploited even more) corners get cut and society gets to deal with the "e.bike" problem (and the contribution to the dying high street). We all know Amazon, Uber, Deliveroo et al are exploitative enterprises, and we all agree that they should treat their workers fairly and ensure laws are adhered to. But equally, we don't want to pay more than we have become used to, or wait longer for that item...... It takes all of us.
Pub bike 3 hours ago
@Clem Fandango If the delivery companies were forced to employ the workers (e.g. by HMRC), pay them properly, and ensure the riders didn't break the law I wonder how long the companies would last?
mdavidford 4 hours ago
I think there is an important distinction with the use of the word 'bike'. 'Bike' is typically only used to refer to motorbikes where it's already clear from context that that's what's being talked about. If you said, absent any other context, "they were riding a bike", that would generally be understood as referring to a pedal cycle. On the other hand, if you referred to a 'bike' on, say, a motorbike forum, that would be clearly understood to refer *only* to a motorbike, and *not* to a pedal cycle. By contrast, 'ebike' tends to get used either to refer only to EAPCs, or to a grouping that includes *both* electric bikes that are EAPCs *and* those that aren't (and are therefore electric motorcycles). That tends to muddy the waters and lead to people thinking that they all need to be treated the same. So it would be good practice to avoid using the term 'ebike' to refer to things that aren't EAPCs, and prefer 'emotorbike' instead, for clarity. (It might, similarly to 'bike', be fine to use 'ebike' in contexts where it's clear that you're *only* referring to emotorbikes, but I'd suggest that that is (currently) rare.)
super_davo 4 hours ago
@tomlew Got to say I agree. The original Coros had some very good points squashed by major limitations. Those seem to have been addressed in the new model, along with some genuinely innovative stuff like the way it links to your phone and uses its processor and data connection for certain functions. It also looks pretty cool. So yeah, its double in price, but I wouldn't have picked the old one over an Edge 540 at a similar price; and the new one seems to compete square on with the Edge 1050/Ace/Hammerhead. When you look at it like that, it actually seems reasonably competitively priced.
mark1a 4 hours ago
DCR has reported in a hands-on first look that the voice control worked well in varied conditions, presumably as a consequence of putting the mic at the back, out of the wind. I can also see that it’s possible to disable the “OK Garmin” trigger phrase and initiate a voice command after assigning a di2 shifter button. I have one on the way, so I’ll see what it’s like in use, I already have a buyer lined up for my Edge 1050.
jaymack 4 hours ago
I thought this an interesting product when it was first launched but I still can't get over the worry of 'will it be there when you get back from the loo/cafe/shop'?
slownomad 4 hours ago
Can you justify your claim that, "Under UK law, the term ‘e-bike’ refers to an electrically assisted pedal cycle (EAPC)"? Because that kind of false equivalence seems to me to be the hub (sorry) of the whole problem. As far as I know, the law actually avoids 'e-bike' and instead refers to EAPCs specifically because 'e-bike' is not a clearly-defined term. In fact, like 'bike', it can mean pedal cycles to some people (including most readers of this article), and motorbikes to others. That is not the law making the two terms equivalent. So the problem is that, properly used, including in UK law, 'e-bike' is not the same as EAPC. If people, including Restore Britain, only understood that, we'd have a chance of the two main types of e-bike being properly regulated under the very different pieces of legislation that apply to each of them. And people who continue to claim the term for their specific use are just reducing the chances of that.
18 thoughts on “Live blog: Fans arrested for endangering riders on Alpe d’Huez; Ex-pro’s journey from paracetamol to MDMA; Video of crash that forced Nibali to abandon + more”
That Nibali incident is
That Nibali incident is outrageous. How can so called fans sleep at night knowing that they’ve caused the retirement of a GC contender? These are not fans, they’re animals.
Same goes for the twat in the
Same goes for the twat in the green shorts who gave Froome a sideways push as he rode past.
srchar wrote:
He got busted! https://as.com/ciclismo/2018/07/19/tour_francia/1532020428_071632.html
These “fans” are a disgrace
These “fans” are a disgrace
I can only assume these are the same fans who accuse Team Sky of ruining the sport.
Sometimes I wonder if the French would be happier with a Tour de France with only French riders. Though, I’m sure they’d still be unhappy if a Frenchman from a different département won.
Canyon48 wrote:
I expect the one who pushed Froomedog was, but the one who took out Nibali wasn’t. I assume you didn’t think through that one properly.
don simon wrote:
That was the one I was referring to 😛
I’m not sure what was going on with all the flags though, Bardet was having a pretty tough time with flags on long poles being draped in his face quite a few times.
Well that’s cleared that one
Well that’s cleared that one up then…
cant really see the crash,
cant really see the crash, but what it does show is how much of a complete of time videoing anything on a mobile phone is.
enjoy the moment, dont waste your time getting a few flashy images of very little..
Trying to pick my way through
Trying to pick my way through that footage above it looks like Nibali’s bars may have caught on a camera strap flapping around loosely rather than out of the way around someone’s neck! Feel for him, shit way to leave the event.
Stepping through the video it
Stepping through the video it appears Nibali either got caught on something dangling from the crowd or was directly pushed. He was not that close to the motorbikes or other riders.
He falls a fraction of a second after this frame.
When these Grand Tour
When these Grand Tour organisers going to supervise the crowds on these stages is when hell freezes over probably, now that they have partly caused a top rider to retire! Wtf?
Good work Watlina, I only saw
Good work Watlina, I only saw that Nibali was out of shot when he actually fell. Your still frame looks like a flag getting caught in his back wheel.
The person dragging Nibali to his feet was certainly well-intentioned, and maybe it was necessary to get him out of the road for his own safety. It’s not the ideal procedure where there’s a back injury, though.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
It looks nasty when he goes down. Because of his slow speed he just falls straight down sideways on to the road. You can see the pain as he puts his hand straight on to his back. Can’t belive he actually carried on.
Seeing the Dutch fans yet
Seeing the Dutch fans letting flares off in the faces of the lead rider on Wednesday and again on D’huez, this is an assault and those letting them off should be arrested and heavily fined.
RIP to Monty Young, yet another of the old guard to pass away, there are so few left now from those heady days of the late 40s/50s/60s. Glad that Condor live on and in their original address.
As for the Kiwi druggie, sounds like the judge is another wet through type, yeah remorseful my arese, remoreseful that he was caught. Should have got a far heavier sentence, don’t want skanks like that ‘reconnecting’ with cycling thank you very much!
You say that but the phone
You say that but the phone videos are the best shots we have of the Nibali crash.
Enjoy the racing and maybe set your phone on video but try and take it all in. Whenever I’ve been on the Alpe it’s been a great day but you need the TV coverage to show you what actually happened. Live sport is all too fast.
And yes anyone with a flare needs to be arrested. You’d think that would be pretty easy.
fenix wrote:
You are quite right. Unfortunately (I speak from experience having lived in France for over 20 years) the way the Gendarmerie opperates is to nothing to prevent offences being commited, and often stand around and watch them happening, and then act afterwards if they decide to act, ie are directed to.
<pedantry_alert>
Re: “Glad that Condor live on and in their original address” – As I first remember it, back when some of us still lived in black & white and Madame Thatcher was in her grisly pomp…Condor Cycles used to be on the other side of Grays Inn Road, I can then remember them moving to a larger address a couple of doors along – before they moved to their current location.
</pedantry_alert>
HowardR wrote:
You may be right, but whatever, Condors always were, and still are quality*, wherever the exact location of their shop was.
*For the definition of quality, please read “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance”