Police bike theft unit disbanded: “…feeling is public do not care if their bikes get stolen”, Colombian Team Sky sponsorship looks "very unlikely”, Stravadown (again), Geraint Thomas’s cycling essentials, Copenhagen wheel spotted, Crap contraflows +more

British Transport Police (BTP) will reportedly shut down a unit dedicated to targeting bike thieves in London and the south east – so the force can concentrate on fighting violent crime instead.

A BTP source told The Sunday Times: “Cycle theft is no longer seen as a priority: the feeling is that the public do not care if their bikes get stolen.”

But the source added: “Officers on the team are angry. They see cycle theft as a major problem that will get worse without a dedicated team.”

Sam Jones, senior campaigns officer at Cycling UK, expressed disappointment at the decision.

He said: “Bicycles are not just playthings. For many people, they are the means to reach work or education, and for some, their profession is reliant on access to a bike.”

The Italians have launched their second line of PSN jerseys, made with premium dyed stretch Italian fabric. Further details have been added including colour inserts on the sleeves, reflective logos an piping along the back pockets. They've also released new Zenith, Magenta and Forest sock colours to match the new jerseys. See the full range on the La Passione website here. 

Speaking to Marca, Brailsford said that any sponsorship agreement between his team and the nation of Colombia was "very unlikely" despite recent developments. Brailsford met with the Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez and a representative of the oil company Ecopetrol last week, as we reported on Friday. 

The Marca report suggests that guerrilla groups sabotaging Ecopetrol pipelines recently has affected their finances, while the Colombian government would be unlikely to invest so much money in a single sport despite despite the country experiencing a cycling boom. Sky's new recruit Ivan Sosa came second in the Tour Colombia 2.1 which concluded at the weekend, and they already have a potential Colombian star of the future in 22-year-old Egan Bernal. Despite these most recent comments, Brailsford did say it's only a mater of time before there's a Colombian-backed World Tour team. 

Here are directions for how to manually export your activity from Garmin to Strava: https://t.co/TWK2qnBnYU

— Strava Support (@StravaSupport) February 16, 2019

Well for lots of cyclists, runners, Nordic skiers or whatever people use Strava for nowadays, a whole day's effort was virtually lost as the 'social network for athletes' was failing to upload activities. The saying goes if it's not on Strava then it didn't happen', and it mostly seemed not to be happening for those syncing to Strava from a Garmin GPS cycle computer/watch or Android devices from having a peruse of the social media anger generated on other platforms yesterday. Strava Support were busy directing people to their manual upload instructions, a process that will now feel convoluted in the age of instant Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity. How did you cope, were you forced into reverting to the archaic method of plugging your device into a computer, or were you happy to keep your ride to yourself on this occasion? Do let us know your tales of woe in the comments, but for now here's a selection of our favourite overreactions...

The sun's out and basically all of the UK have gone outside and broke #strava

— Paul David Chambers (@MannersCost) February 17, 2019

When @Strava goes down on a Sunday pic.twitter.com/9q8I2hPI8Q

— Katie Mann (@realKatieMann) February 17, 2019

Crisis across the UK. Emergence of swarms of fair weather riders leads to @Strava crash and the horror of lost activities.

— Lancashire Road Club (@LancsRC) February 17, 2019

When you want to show off about your first ever 10k and Strava is down pic.twitter.com/FjBzCyMoPo

— Aimi Brookes (@Littlegingerbud) February 17, 2019

#strava is down! Can't gloat without evidence! pic.twitter.com/nHZv46uqBb

— Kam Birring (@kambirring) February 17, 2019

And while lots of us were unable to humble-brag quite so effectively yesterday, plenty of (presumably not Garmin or Android-using) pros and famous faces were out in force to rub salt into the wounds - Andre Greipel uploaded his data from a 100 mile stage from the Tour of Oman, cyclists-turned-triathlete Cameron Wurf simply did 30 miles of 'TT touring' (perhaps trying to emulate his friend Chris Froome's 116 mile gravel ride on a Pinarello Bolide) and Romain Bardet bagged a KOM during a 95 mile epic through the South of France. We were most impressed by Sir Dave Brailsford's efforts though (check out the pic above and the link here), consisting of a 56 mile ride in Colombia which took in the infamous Medellin to Las Palmas climb, with an average power of 229 watts and average speed of 19.7mph. It's pretty impressive for what will be Brailsford's downtime as he's out managing his team for the Tour Colombia 2.1 - check out this article where Brailsford reveals the secrets of his own training, which include a mostly low carb diet and riding at a low cadence to build strength in winter.