Welcome to Tuesday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
Live blog: Driver who allegedly rammed Andrew Gilligan off bike due in court, Wiggins urges Brailsford to sign “hottest property in cycling” van der Poel, Belgian road champ praises disc brakes, weekend catch-up + more
All today’s news from the site and beyone as we start the week proper after the Easter Break…
Tue, Apr 23, 2019 17:16
SUMMARY
23 April 2019, 17:16
Weekend catch-up
If you’ve been out doing your own riding in the glorious sunshine and recovering with beers and bbq’s, here’s what you may have missed in the world of cycling over the long weekend…
Incredible finish to Amstel Gold Race – one of the best ends to a race ever?
Team Sky’s Tao Geoghegan Hart takes first professional victory at Tour of the Alps
Sunday Times claims “victory” for drivers as number of people cycling on English roads drops
The gear and preparation that propelled Victor Campenaerts to the Hour Record
23 April 2019, 17:16
Brazilian bike company uses a strike by truck drivers to demonstrate cost savings of bike transportation
This video shows how the cost benefit of bikes can make sense in the wake of national truck strike, with Brazilian bike manufacturer Caloi working out how much money on gas is saved when bikes are used instead.
23 April 2019, 17:16
Bradley Wiggins: Brailsford "must sign" Van der Poel after hugely impressive breakthrough year
The 24-year-old Dutchman has put together some mighty performances already in 2019, winning Dwars door Vlaanderen, De Brabantse Pijl and Grand Prix de Denain.and then topping them all with one of the best finishes to a race we’ve ever seen at the Amstel Gold over the weekend.
On his latest Eurosport podcast, Wiggins explains why he thinks van der Poel would be a great acquisition for Team Sky, soon to be Team INEOS: “He’s just impressed us every week.”
“He is the hottest property in cycling at the moment other than Alaphilippe. He’s a bigger potential. It’s weird to call him a potential because he’s already winning these big races. It’s scary to think what he might actually achieve by the time he’s (Philippe) Gilbert’s age.”
The host Graham Willgoss asked who would be the better signing out of Van der Poel or Julian Alaphilippe, and again Wiggins favoured the former, saying: “I would pick Van der Poel. That’s no slouch on Alaphilippe, he’s phenomenal as well. But I think he could win a Grand Tour one day. It’s a little bit sad to think that they both may end up at Sky. It’s a bit like Manchester City and football. It’s nice having this spread of riders.”
23 April 2019, 17:16
“Disc brakes big advantage over teams that don’t have them” says Deceuninck - QuickStep rider
If you’ve watched any pro racing this year, you’ll have seen a lot more bikes with disc brakes. Every Deceuninck – QuickStep victory, and there have been a few, has been on a Specialized bike with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 hydraulic disc brakes, prompting Shimano to release this promotional video.
It reveals that the disc brakes take a lot more time and work to get right but that the benefits are worth it. And those benefits? “You can brake later, you can make more speed with them,” according to Belgian national champion Yves Lampert, in a video produced by Shimano and shared a few days ago.
23 April 2019, 17:16
Bontrager's Bat Cage is now made out of recycled fishing nets
The bat cage has been around since 1997, and now a new manufacturing process and partnership with Bureo means they’re giving a new life to discarded fishing nets. Bureo collects end-of-life fishing nets and recycles them into tiny pellets that can be used for injection-moulded plastic products like the Bat Cage, sunglasses, skateboards, and more.
“Bat Cage may be a small product, but it’s the little hinge that swings a big door. This year alone, it will put 44,000 square feet of discarded fishing nets to good use. That’s making a real difference, and Bat Cage is just the beginning”, says Trek’s Justin Henkel. They cost £9.99 each, head over to Trek’s website to buy yours.
23 April 2019, 17:16
UCI List snooping... Time Alpe D'Huez 01D and 21D added, suggesting disc brake versions are coming
We went to the launch of Time’s Alpe D’Huez ‘altitude bike’ last year, and after perusing the latest version of the UCI approved list it appears that a disc version is on the horizon. The top-end 01 and more affordable 21 versions both have an additional listing with a ‘D’ added to the end of the name, which we can only assume means ‘disc’. We’ll update with confirmation when we get it.
23 April 2019, 17:16
Italy have been out in Yorkshire previewing the World Championship course
A lovely day in @Yorkshire2019 , it’s always nice to wear this special jersey #FCI @Coninews @ItaliaTeam_it pic.twitter.com/Y6kklnCE6J
— ELIA VIVIANI (@eliaviviani) April 23, 2019
23 April 2019, 17:16
Driver in court accused of ramming Andrew Gilligan off his bike
A driver was due to appear in court today to face charges of assault and dangerous driving after allegedly ramming former London cycling commissioner Andrew Gilligan off his bike.
The Evening Standard reports that the incident happened in Bishopsgate on 4 April 2018 and left Gilligan, now a senior correspondent for The Sunday Times, feeling “very, very shaken” and needing hospital treatment for cuts to his shins.
Chukwudi Uzorh, aged 28 and from Camden, who was driving a Nissan Juke at the time, was due to appear at City of London Magistrates’ Court today.
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Jack is group editor across road.cc, off.road.cc and ebiketips, overseeing all three sites in the F-At Digital group to make sure everything’s up to scratch. He’s been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of road.cc including tech, news and video, and also contributed to ebiketips before being named editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town, and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master’s degree in print journalism, and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it’s a long story).
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Latest Comments
wtjs 3 hours ago
@FionaJJ These officers deployed next-level stupidity, and it must be difficult for the police to find people this dim. It doesn't even need rolling-roads or whatever, just a reputable bike computer on a quickly changed mount for the difficult cases where a proper EAPC has been modded, although you would need to look hard in Lancashire to find a police officer who knows how to make a pedal cycle go. Most illegal electric motorbikes are immediately obvious, not least because the crim is wearing a face mask. I saw an obvious one tonight coming out of Garstang Sainsbury's, not pedalling but without a face mask because everybody knows that the police only come into the town to hide away in the police station 200 yards away.
bikeman01 4 hours ago
Gustav Gullholm.. that's not a good look mate
mdavidford 6 hours ago
@Chris RideFar I think what you meant to say was "REMOVE this and put it on PODCAST CC".
jaymack 8 hours ago
As Mary Whitehouse never said - one doesn't have to read the article if one doesn't want to read about an off-road bicycle.
Rendel Harris 9 hours ago
@FionaJJ In London they're allowed to stop on single and double yellows to deliver packages or empty pillar boxes; in practice they take this as carte blanche to park wherever and whenever they want, such as this chap on the Brixton Road who pulled into the bus/cycle/motorcycle lane without indicating, as I approached at 20mph, to park on a red route, response to a remonstrance, "I suppose you never get post delivered do ya?"
FionaJJ 9 hours ago
@Rendel Harris We have a pavement parking ban, but around here at least, royal mail vans are already exempt, subject to certain caveats, such as allowing at least 1.5m, and only being stopped to do their work.
FionaJJ 9 hours ago
It was already embarrassing for the police that they made such a mess of their attempt to determine whether a bike was legal or not, but I had assumed it was a group of well intentioned, but under-trained officers acting on their own initiative, having spotted something they thought looked not quite right. I'm now discovering this was a planned activity, something sufficiently organised to have been given a name - Operation FRISLEN, designed specifically to identify and remove illegal e-bikes and scooters. It's apparent that the officers were sent out without adequate training, never mind the kind of equipment that should be used for this sort of work. I'm not saying they always need specialist equipment to spot all illegal bikes, but at least if they'd been given a demonstration with that equipment, they'd have realised why their approach was not going to end well.
Geoff Ingram 11 hours ago
Have put drop bars on a 2001 B1 mtb, a 2007 stumpy hardtail and a 2010 stumpy full suss. In all cases fairly basic conversións leaving gearing and wheels broadly the same and concentrating on correct positioning of bars and fit. Oddly, with all 3 I was happy with the result when recently done, but after a few months found that the extra speed on easy trails was more than offset by the lack of ability (probably mine) on tougher routes and finally preferred flat bar with slammed and inverted stem as best overall compromise. Good fun playing around, though.
mark1a 12 hours ago
The photos in this review look they are for a different bag?
mattw 13 hours ago
This is a strange reactionary knee jerk overall. But what is this "are essentially motorbikes in disguise" waffle? "One letter claimed that high-powered electric ‘e-bikes’ were “essentially motorbikes” in disguise, with many being used without lights, helmets, or any hi-vis clothing." Surely, they simply ARE motorbikes?
10 thoughts on “Live blog: Driver who allegedly rammed Andrew Gilligan off bike due in court, Wiggins urges Brailsford to sign “hottest property in cycling” van der Poel, Belgian road champ praises disc brakes, weekend catch-up + more”
Surely Van der Poel would be
Surely Van der Poel would be better at a team that has a mix of one-day and GT success? I would prefer to see him at Lotto Jumbo, Astana or Mitchelton Scott than at Ineos. It’s a shame the days of riders’ dominating the classics and grand tours are gone: he could possibly have done both.
Would any team in the World
Would any team in the World Tour allow VDP to ride ‘cross in the winter? I’m struggling to think of a rider who juggles both at the moment.
Rapha Nadal wrote:
Stybar for starters, although not to the level of VDP.
lesterama wrote:
Ah, yes! Thank you.
The best thing for the sport
The best thing for the sport would be to leave VdP and Alaphillipe racing the way they do now, not pumped full of asthma medication and TUEs and dragging Froome around every July.
Jackson wrote:
So you’ve investigated the confidential records of every team to ensure they don’t use TUE’s have you? If not, then you’re a bit naive tbh, especially considering the record of many of sky’s rivals over the years.
StoopidUserName wrote:
The best thing for the sport would be to leave VdP and Alaphillipe racing the way they do now, not pumped full of asthma medication and TUEs and dragging Froome around every July.
— StoopidUserName So you’ve investigated the confidential records of every team to ensure they don’t use TUE’s have you? If not, then you’re a bit naive tbh, especially considering the record of many of sky’s rivals over the years.— Jackson
Agreed, we know MIS (or Orica Greenedge) forgot to submit theirs sometimes.
https://road.cc/content/news/187985-britains-simon-yates-tests-positive-banned-drug
To think Sky are alone is naive. To think Sky are the worst for this is not based on any evidence in the public domain that I have seen.
That they get more abuse than any other team when, for example, another World Tour team has a rider facing a ban for EPO seems illogical.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/trek-segafredo-suspend-pantano-after-epo-positive/
Sniffer wrote:
That they get more abuse than any other team when they change sponsors too, funny how not an eyelid was bat for Direct Energie when Total stepped in.
I remember, during the fuel
I remember, during the fuel protests here, encountering many more “new” commuters, riding into Birmingham on the 5, rather portly, older and on very flash “racers”. I’m guessing that once they had the oppertunity to fill up their executive gas guzzlers, they never looked back. At least I never saw them again.
I wonder what Andrew Gilligan
I wonder what Andrew Gilligan, a “senior correspondent at the Sunday Times”, feels about his papers article about drivers winning the war against cyclists. I suppose he is proof of the fact though.