Welcome to your Monday live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
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Live blog: “outrageous claims” – Tao Geoghegan Hart lays into Eurosport commentator Carlton Kirby, cyclists blamed for countryside litter – Twitter responds, Colnago e-bike, Jason Kenny, Jeremy Vine on close-passes, TdY teams, Peloton baby + more
SUMMARY

In case you missed it: weekend catch-up
– “Looks like shit. But saves my life” – German government’s helmet advert sparks sexism row
– BMC Roadmachine 02 TWO – First Look
– Bristol taxi driver who cut up cyclist and braked in front of him has licence revoked (+ video)
– Porn Pedallers to carry on riding – despite being stripped of British Cycling affiliation
Super tight skills
Apologies it’s in super annoying meme form (we couldn’t find the original source) but this is too good not too share!
'Youths on pedal cycles' help Wednesfield Police catch thief
Yesterday officers were helped by youths on pedal cycles & many other members of public in catching a thief (£300 theft) from Bentley Bridge who security were chasing for a while. They kept the suspect in view and assisted us in the footchase before he was caught and arrested pic.twitter.com/QcQg7PBcsn
— Wednesfield Police (@WednesfieldWMP) March 24, 2019
The youngsters were congratulated by the force on Twitter, as they helped chase down a thief who had stolen over £300 worth of goods. Bloody hoodlums…
Jeremy Vine's latest unpleasant encounter
Brentford today … angry guy in grey car can’t see why he should wait till it’s safe to overtake … hoots horn, shouts abuse … and 100 yards later I’m in front again anyway. What is the point? pic.twitter.com/RRu5rosVP4
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) March 24, 2019
This time it’s a driver who doesn’t get the concept of taking the lane (and is caught soon after he risks an overtake on the clogged up London street anyway)
Telegraph article suggests "Littering cyclists and joggers could be to blame for countryside rubbish problem"
The headline does anyway, while the sources in the article cover a few different potential causes. According to the Telegraph, cyclists and joggers could be targeted as part of a new Government initiative to work out who is leaving waste behind in countryside. It’s garnering quite a few sarcastic responses on Twitter…
Yep, I regularly cycle to MacDonalds, get a load of food, then cycle to the off license, get some beer, and then cycle to a lay by or car park and spread it around the place.
— Jon (@samuriinbred) March 24, 2019
Me too. That is in fact my main Friday occupation. I’ve also been known to drag washing machines behind the bike and throw them down embankments, along with piles of grass clippings, black bags of household rubbish and several hubcaps.
— Helen Blackman (@HelenBlackman) March 24, 2019
While folk littering with gel wrappers is no doubt annoying, is it really up there with fly-tipping? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Colnago to launch an e-bike?
What blasphemy is this? One of the world’s most iconic cycling brands appears set to launch an e-bike.
Colnago is using social media to tease the arrival of its new E64 Performance, which we’ll go out on a limb and guess is the company’s attempt to tap into the rapidly growing e-bike market.
e-bikes are very much the SUVs of the car world with every manufacturer seemingly keen to add at least one to their range to not miss out
We’ve asked Colnago for more details but they just shrugged their shoulders in reply.
A new bike is coming very soon! https://t.co/rFjZ7dTFUE. Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/TkvUUUeBXs
— Colnago (@Colnagoworld) March 25, 2019
Yoann Offredo's condition described as not life-threatening after GP de Denain crash
Medical update about @OffredoYoann
Le point sur la situation de Yoann Offredo. #GPDenain pic.twitter.com/2DsagK73lS
— Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team (@TeamWantyGobert) March 24, 2019
The Wanty-Groupe Gobert rider was air lifted to hospital after the crash yesterday, but thankfully it seems like he’s in a stable condition.
Jason Kenny recounts last month’s near miss on BBC TV
Jason Kenny has recounted to the BBC the near miss he and his infant son Albie encountered while out cycling last month.
As we reported at the time, the six-time Olympic champion tweeted that he had been on a Sunday bike ride with his son when they were “almost run over by a van driver who drove at us, then proceeded to angrily inform me it was my fault we nearly died.”
Eurosport reports that Kenny expanded on the incident on BBC One today, saying: “Someone felt they had right of way and decided that gave them the right to kind of jump on the throttle and drive at us, which was a scary experience.
“I’m a bit annoyed at myself because I lost my temper at the time. We had a heated debate about the incident and then the person drove away.
“I think there seems to be a bad feeling against cyclists and it’s really strange because they’re only people,” he continued.
“We met a young boy and young girl who recently lost their mum, and it’s really sad when you see that side of it. She got hit by a car and that’s someone’s mum, not just a cyclist. It is really sad when you see the consequences of that.
“This person has obviously just seen red, ‘I’ve got right of way, I’m going to go’, and you might have right of way technically – whether you do or don’t is often debatable – but it doesn’t give you the right to smash someone and potentially kill someone, which is what is going to happen if you run someone off their bike.
“I think it’s just taking a breath and think about the consequences,” he concluded.
Teams announced for Tour de Yorkshire
Teams have been announced for May’s Tour de Yorkshire and the Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race.
Here they are listed below, but we already know there will be one change – Team Sky will be racing as Team Ineos, with the Tour de Yorkshire being its first race following the management company’s sale to the petrochemical business.
Tour de Yorkshire


Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race


This again...
@emmachamberlain at her soul cycling class. pic.twitter.com/bcRWeK1p3o
— just merder. (@StasaZlatanovic) March 24, 2019
You might remember an ‘interpretive spinning’ vid doing the rounds on social media a few weeks ago. Well now here’s the synchronised version…
Air pollution: London mother launches petition for second inquest into daughter''s death
A mother from London has launched a petition calling for a second coroner’s inquest into the death of her daughter, who passed away at nine years of age in what was originally believed to be an asthma-related case. She talks about the background to the petition, which you can sign here, in this video.
This is the video I showed Trinity School in Lewisham this morning. You could hear a pin drop. “If she wins so does everyone else”. It was a dreadfully high price to pay in my opinion to high but the suffering couldn’t go on. Every time she fought back from a coma we were warned. pic.twitter.com/MaRgbFKTet
— The Ella Roberta Family Foundation (@rosamund_ElsFdn) March 25, 2019
Free baby with your Peloton
If you’re after one, guess that does make the two grand plus 40 quid a month price tag seem a little fairer…
Not much love for Eurosport commentator Carlton Kirby amongst the Team Sky ranks it seems...
I’d love to see this Eurosport commentator substantiate even 1% of the outrageous claims he makes. I’ve just turned Catalunya on and he’s already come out with ‘I think he fell victim to his agent, so now he’s at x team’.
— Tao Geoghegan Hart (@taogeoghegan) March 25, 2019
The prodigious British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart laid into Kirby’s “outrageous claims”, and Owain Doull also chipped in to describe Kirby as a “proper muppet”. Controversial!
Thomas De Gendt bosses Volta a Catalunya opener and solos into 3-minute overall lead
Thomas De Gendt launched a solo attack from the break with 60 kilometres remaining of today’s opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya, covering 163 kilometres and starting and finishing in Calella – and the Lotto-Soudal rider now finds himself with a lead of almost three minutes on his rivals.
@DeGendtThomas, guanyador de la primera etapa de la #VoltaCatalunya 2019.
De Gendt, ganador de la primera etapa de la Volta 2019.
De Gendt, Volta 2019 Stage 1 winner. pic.twitter.com/fFcEf0AgHK
— Volta a Catalunya (@VoltaCatalunya) March 25, 2019
Among the big names the Belgian put time into today were Alejandro Valverde, fourth overall and 2 minutes 56 second down in fourth place overall, and Team Sky’s Egan Bernal, a further 1 second back.
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Latest Comments
The article does say that the parrot lived in Scarponi's son's warehouse. It is sad that Franky reportedly died in the factory fire, but apparrotly he had been warned several times about smoking near to packaging materials. Although the parrot (a blue and yellow macaw) is native to Central and South America, it could probably survive in the wild in Europe, as long as winters weren't too harsh. But this article proves beyond all doubt that parrots are polycyclic.
Clever is not a synonym for enormous ;-)
Try Specsavers
Personally, I think the belkin one was a vast improvement over pretty much all the rabobank offerings - blue and orange - bleuch! Although the blanco kit was much better than either of them (or the subsequent visma ones).
Why do these medical professionals never mention shit driving or infrastructure? And why do they never say anything about all the other activities that helmets might also help with e.g. Driving or being a pedestrian.
I have the current generation of 4iiii heart-rate monitor. It's very good . Will I , when the current one eventually fails , buy this new 4iiii , no. Why you may ask . Well it looks like a proprietary fastener . We all know about proprietary standards and the absolute hassle of sourcing replacements and the associated costs.
I like castorama and Astana kits pictured here.
Much as I agree with your comment and opinion, I don't think he's actually having a go at you, rather the article author, given that you didn't say anything about the Grenadier and the author did. If we could have back the previous reply facility, where it was obvious if somebody was making a standalone comment or replying to someone else, it would eliminate these misunderstandings.
Do you work for INEOS by any chance? Each to their own but the INEOS kit has been widely derided, on cycling forums opinion is 90% against at least. No idea why you think Steve's kit in the profile picture is so bad, it's a perfectly neutral black and grey top with a yellow band, you could say it was boring but that's about it. The Grenadier is a foul machine that shouldn't be allowed on sale for numerous reasons, including its disgraceful fuel consumption (15-20 mpg for the petrol version) and its extreme size and weight that puts other road users, particularly cyclists, in danger. Oh and it is totally a Land Rover wannabe, when Jaguar Land Rover announced that they were ceasing production of Land Rovers at their Solihull plant Jim Ratcliffe asked if he could buy the tooling and carry on producing them, when he was told to get lost he started planning to build his own, so that comment is perfectly justifiable.
I am entitled to express my opinion. I don't like the idea of the INEOS association with cycling or the way Ratcliffe and INEOS treat their staff and do all they can do avoid taxation in the UK. I think my comment is very relevant.



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36 thoughts on “Live blog: “outrageous claims” – Tao Geoghegan Hart lays into Eurosport commentator Carlton Kirby, cyclists blamed for countryside litter – Twitter responds, Colnago e-bike, Jason Kenny, Jeremy Vine on close-passes, TdY teams, Peloton baby + more”
I think the guy on the tiny
I think the guy on the tiny cycle is the owner of Wenger-2-Rad (http://www.wenger-2-rad.ch/html3/home.php), a bike shop near Basel Station. I’ve been in there a number of times, he has pictures of his circus act, http://www.triwengos.ch – where three o fthem ride on a tiny bike!
Re: the Jeremy Vine video,
Re: the Jeremy Vine video, the only reason he is taking the (correct) line in the road is beause the cycle path is blocked with (mostly legally) parked cars. The impatient driver should question why paint is wasted on cycle paths if cars are allowed to block them.
Jem PT wrote:
And there’s the crux of the matter: the Highway Code states that drivers ‘should’ avoid parking on cycle lanes which are marked by non-solid lines. This is about as effective as asking Ted Bundy if he’d mind awfully not raping and strangling innocent young women.
The Highway Code is a shining, towering monument to crippling naivety. For 88 years, the British road traffic system has been based on the hilarious notion that drivers can be reasoned with, and that if asked nicely, they’ll ‘do the decent thing’. That the roads are some sort of fair play area where everyone observes some transport-orientated version of the Queensbury Rules.
Well, it might have worked. If there hadn’t been Thatcherism and then Blairism (i.e. a slightly pink version of Thatcherism), and four decades of public policy based on the notion that if you want something, you take it and if anyone gets in your way, the first response is physical force.
But there was Thatcherism, and there was Blairism.
And the Highway Code is about as effective a ‘brake’ on the self-centred thuggery that is now standard practice on Britain’s roads, as trying to stop a thunderstorm by blowing on it.
Bullies understand one thing: violence.
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
We don’t cut peoples hands off or lives short any more. However, in theory, we have punishments based on other kinds of deprivation. If they were applied, appropriately (often advocated in comments here) I think that bullies would understand that too. In the long term, improving our sense of community would be a better goal.
Apart from that, you deserve several upvotes.
janusz0 wrote:
Well, of course we ‘don’t cut people’s hands off or lives short’. But it’s such an interesting phenomenon to see people claim that that doesn’t mean we don’t use violence. If I do something ‘wrong’, I’ll be put in prison. If my ‘crime’ is not sufficiently grave to merit a custodial sentence, I’ll be fined and if I refuse to pay that, then I’ll go to prison.
Exactly what do you think that forcible incarceration is, if it’s not a form of violence?
So when people say ‘violence is never the answer’, what they effectively mean – even if they don’t realise they’re saying it – is that violence is only ‘the answer’ if it’s carried out by the state. Indeed, a monopoly on the ‘legitimate’ use of force is one of the very definitions of the modern nation-state, from Weber and Hobbes onwards.
This ‘legitimacy’ is entirely arbitrary and you won’t be surprised to learn that under certain circumstances, it is not a doctrine with which I agree, since when the definition is perverted by – for example – a legislative class that receives enormous campaign contributions from the Road Haulage Association and from the petrochemical corporations, then it gives rise to injustice.
Which brings me back to: bullies only understand one thing.
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
To quote myself: “punishments based on other kinds of deprivation.”
No, they will understand other deterrents too.
janusz0 wrote:
Well, of course we ‘don’t cut people’s hands off or lives short’. But it’s such an interesting phenomenon to see people claim that that doesn’t mean we don’t use violence. If I do something ‘wrong’, I’ll be put in prison. If my ‘crime’ is not sufficiently grave to merit a custodial sentence, I’ll be fined and if I refuse to pay that, then I’ll go to prison.
Exactly what do you think that forcible incarceration is, if it’s not a form of violence?— janusz0
To quote myself: “punishments based on other kinds of deprivation.”— Legs_Eleven_Worcester
Deprivation of liberty is a form of violence.
See above.
So when people say ‘violence is never the answer’, what they effectively mean – even if they don’t realise they’re saying it – is that violence is only ‘the answer’ if it’s carried out by the state. Indeed, a monopoly on the ‘legitimate’ use of force is one of the very definitions of the modern nation-state, from Weber and Hobbes onwards.
This ‘legitimacy’ is entirely arbitrary and you won’t be surprised to learn that under certain circumstances, it is not a doctrine with which I agree, since when the definition is perverted by – for example – a legislative class that receives enormous campaign contributions from the Road Haulage Association and from the petrochemical corporations, then it gives rise to injustice.
Which brings me back to: bullies only understand one thing.
— janusz0 No, they will understand other deterrents too.— Legs_Eleven_Worcester went on:
*shrug*
There’s really not much I can do.
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
Good ‘tinternet. Full of rubbish like linking the chances of me getting knocked over directly to Thatcherism (Conservative) and then Blairism (Labour, in case anyone forgets). One couldn’t make it up, oh hang, someone just did.
Bobbinogs wrote:
Isn’t Blair considered to have been further to the right than Thatcher? The Labour that you’re trying to highlight is not left wing, look at the trouble Corbyn is having in trying to take Labour back to the left.
Look, there’s even an article on the internet https://www.ft.com/content/8352aa06-e7cc-11e6-893c-082c54a7f539 But yes, I agree, who needs reports when we can just write any old bollocks on the internet?
Thatcher made selfishness an attractive attribute to have, evil fucker!
don simon fbpe wrote:
I still don’t understand why Blair is walking free and not being treated as a war criminal.
Unfortunately, selfishness is the most effective way to get more money/power/bikes, so there is already an incentive for people to act like arseholes. That’s what makes Thatcher even worse in that surely the govt. should be trying to reduce the huge gulf between rich and poor, not increase it.
HawkinsPeter wrote:
Only if you haven’t got the ability of thinking any further ahead than the next pay cheque.
don simon fbpe wrote:
I was thinking more about the type of person that has plenty of money and doesn’t need to worry about their next “pay cheque”, but spends all of their time trying to figure out how to separate more people from their money.
don simon fbpe wrote:
‘Not thinking any further ahead than the next pay cheque’ isn’t necessarily a sign of selfishness… By about the third week in the month, all I can think about is when my next pay cheque is coming
Bobbinogs wrote:
Yes. And no doubt Hitler ‘was a socialist’.
I am sorry, but I don’t think it would make any difference to your ability to understand, if I were to use small words.
It’s the dedication of the
It’s the dedication of the cyclists that impresses me, making multiple journeys with fully laden cargo bicycles/trailers, just to dump all that buiding waste.
I did litter picking on the M3 back in the mid 90s, it took many days to clear the mile downstream of fleet services. Bloody cyclists.
ktache wrote:
Chapeau sir! I imagine that that’s riskier than cycling around the Old Street squareabout. Were you a “menace to society” earning remission?
janusz0 wrote:
Being on the hard shoulder is safer than most out of town single lane 50/60mph roads and certainly safer than many urban roads besides. The BS touted by the police and others about how dangerous the HS is especially when they come across a person on a bike there annoys me immensely, the statistics simply don’t back that up.
Thank you for thinking so
Thank you for thinking so highly of me, crappy temping job. We started at 8 but weren’t allowed on the motorway until 9, you had to come off the motorway if it was raining, so we spent a lot of time in Fleet services. Spring weather, started coldish with rain, then April showers with glorious sunshine and eventually early summer warmth. Did go a bit deaf in my right ear, build up of wax, could hear for the first few hours and then it blocked itself off.
Cleared the motorway slab ditches the next year, better weather and far enough away from the vehicles that you didn’t always feel you were on the motorway.
The most dangerous was changing the coloured cats eyes on the A34 and 303, we had a rollling roadblock, with crash cart (the big metal squashable thing that might stop a truck) but some hairy moments as motorist weaved between the protecting vehicles at juctions, where there are coloured cats eyes. How dare anyone expects drivers to slow down, what with all of theose flashing yellow lights. It was the temps doing the changing of the eyes, lot af bending down and I had a bad back, though the worst aspect was that my “mate” a bitter ex army bloke, laughed at his own jokes and he found himself very funny.
Did one days traffic management, me who put out the cones and signs of course, and get them back 6 hours later while some other blokes drilled cores out of bridges. The 2 Highways blokes had obviously worked together for many years, stuck in the same cab, and hated each others guts. Every comment was so barbed and full of spite. Didn’t get much reading done that day.
Simpler times.
As part of a voluntary local
As part of a voluntary local litter clearing operation weekend before last I cleared the verges and hedgerows of a stretch of rural road about 2/3 mile long (sorry, about 1km long – we’re cyclists, aren’t we?) along which pass many cyclists every day. In the 5 large black bags of stuff I collected (plus a few choice items too big to fit into a bag) I found not a single gel wrapper or other item that would indicate a cyclist (or runner) as the guilty party. Of course, some bits such as confectionary wrappers could have been dropped by a cyclist, but it didn’t look likely (chocolate melts in a jersey pocket, why carry and discard disposable bottles of water or pop when you have a bidon, is extra strong export lager really your preferred booster?). And most of the stuff just couldn’t have been deposited by a cyclist (oh, ok, you couild cart it around on a tourer I suppose, or make some other determined littering effort). Given it’s sometimes suggested that cyclists spread litter I was actually on the lookout for cycling related litter and my conclusion (on the basis of a small sample, admittedly) was that cyclists cause very little of the litter eyesore that is indeed a blight.
Nothing controversial about
Nothing controversial about TGH or Doull’s comments – Kirby is an absolute bellend. They’ll both be straight in the Twitter block list though – he’s like the Social Media Stasi – he Brooks no criticism
I’ve found the same as
I’ve found the same as billon2wheels above.
On the mostly rural roads I ride and walk the majority of roadside litter is beer/energy drink cans and plastic bottles. Also coffee cups, crisp packets and chocolate wrappers. I can’t think of the last time I saw something I could attribute specifically to a cyclist but the clickbait-writing morons at the Torygraph won’t let the facts get in the way of a good bit of cyclist-bashing.
Can’t see them crying themselves to sleep over that.
Well I contribute my liitle
Well I contribute my liitle bit – every day, on my commute into work, I take along any soft drink bottle I can find and then pee in it and randomly drop it off in hope that some poor dehydrated driver mistakes it for lemonade…. hey it isn’t easy peeing in a bottle and pedaling at the same time you know.
I can only imagine that the
I can only imagine that the Telegraph article was written by a friend of Matthew Paris, who considered that it was perfectly justifiable to decapitate cyclists because he assumed they littered.
https://road.cc/content/news/3069-what%E2%80%99s-smug-and-deserves-be-decapitated%E2%80%9D-matthew-parris-gets-most-press-complaints
Of course, that would explain why every cycle path in the UK has to be swept clean of accumulated debris at least twice a day, and four times on Saturday and Sunday.
I’d like to think that in the
I’d like to think that in the future, people will look at the 20th/21st centuries and the ‘age of global capitalism’ and label it a mistake. How investors should insisted on profits over morals or society, how failing companies can buy other failing companies and call it growth and success, just to delay the inevitable. The needs of the worlds inhabitants are not being met, we’re killing our earth.. but it’s okay as we’ve all got iPads, a Starbucks on every corner and can get whatever we like online and on credit. The rich get richer and the gulf between the haves and the have nots widens. Orders for ‘super yachts’ are going ballistic while there’s more homeless on our streets and mental health issues than ever before.
It’s not about Labour or Conservaties or their leaders, it’s about the way we allow our society to be funded/lobbied/supported and behave.
peted76 wrote:
Oh, dear fucking God.
And people like you have the vote.
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
Oh, dear fucking God.
And people like you have the vote.
— peted76
How’s the view from up on your high, high horse?
ficklewhippet wrote:
It’s quite nice, actually.
But I prefer my usual spot, over in the ‘People Who Actually Have a Fucking Clue About Politics’ box.
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
I think you will find that many of us don’t mind what you write on the front of the box in crayon, as long as you actually stay in the box.
Bobbinogs wrote:
It’s a very exclusive box. At least, on this site.
But that’s only because I’m apparently ‘an advocate for the system’.
That’s right!
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
How’s the view from up on your high, high horse?
[/quote]
It’s quite nice, actually.
But I prefer my usual spot, over in the ‘People Who Actually Have a Fucking Clue About Politics’ box.
[/quote]
It’s one thing to be intelligent and informed, but quite another to be arrogant and opinionated.
burtthebike wrote:
It’s quite nice, actually.
But I prefer my usual spot, over in the ‘People Who Actually Have a Fucking Clue About Politics’ box.
[/quote]
It’s one thing to be intelligent and informed, but quite another to be arrogant and opinionated.
[/quote]
I daresay.
burtthebike wrote:
It’s quite nice, actually.
But I prefer my usual spot, over in the ‘People Who Actually Have a Fucking Clue About Politics’ box.
[/quote]
It’s one thing to be intelligent and informed, but quite another to be arrogant and opinionated.
[/quote]
I daresay.
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
Oh, dear fucking God.
And people like you have the vote.
— peted76
LOL Yessir I do.
It’s people like you I worry about, acting as advocates for the system. You’re one choice away from shouting at strangers in the street.
peted76 wrote:
I’m an ‘advocate for the system’?
*thumbs up*
Attaboy!
WOW!
WOW!
Keep spouting on then, Dear Leader.
ficklewhippet wrote:
QED.