Welcome to Friday’s live blog with Simon MacMichael, Jack Sexty and the rest off the team.
Scientists urge WADA to ban spinach due to steroid-like effects; Coast To Coast In A Day sportive tomorrow (and 2020 entries open Monday); Dutch gov’t tells cyclists to leave phone in pocket as ban comes in + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond in the road.cc Live Blog
Fri, Jun 28, 2019 21:33
SUMMARY
28 June 2019, 21:33
Alex Dowsett wins national time trial championship for the sixth time
Alex Dowsett, who has been named in Katusha team for the Tour de France, will be riding the time trial stages in the colours of British national champion after winning the event for the sixth time in Norfolk yesterday.
Afterwards he said: “There were a few years where getting this jersey came quite easy and I guess I took it for granted. I think I will enjoy wearing it this time more than the other times I’ve had them. Today was a fight.
“I think I was down after one-third of the distance and this was a bit of a worry because I’d given a lot in this part of the course.
“Then at two-thirds it was touch and go, but then I brought it home well. We have some real fast guys in the Uk and the calibre of riders coming through is huge, so I don’t know when the last time in the national stripes will be so I’m going to enjoy every moment of this.”
28 June 2019, 21:33
Dowsett's new moniker recognised by the UCI...
May as well head to the registry/deed poll and get it properly changed now it’s been acknowledged at the highest level. Need all helps at the tdf I can get. https://t.co/iOtxJzhHPX
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) June 28, 2019
The new self-proclaimed ‘Alex van der Dowsaerttpoel’ (we presume the name is in tribute to a certain very talented Dutchman) has pretty much been knighted with the esteemed title…
28 June 2019, 21:33
Oregon cyclist sues city after workman places cable across cycle path
A cyclist is suing the city a Portland, Oregon, after a workman stretched a metal cable across a cycle path while it was closed for repairs.
James Thorne says the city was negligent in connection with the May 2018 incident, which happened in Kelley Point Park.
His lawsuit alleges that the cable was not clearly visible to riders, and that the city had failed to notify park users that the path was closed,
He sustained injuries to his back, neck and elbows and also had to undergo surgery on his left shoulder and right wrist.
Thorne is seeking $1 million in noneconomic damages for “pain, discomfort and interference with ordinary activities,” plus $86,000 in medical expenses, almost $85,000 in lost wages and $12,000 for damage to his bike.
28 June 2019, 21:33
Bloody cyclists, holding up traffic, rescuing ducks...
Rescued some ducklings this morning. First time I’ve been cheered for holding up traffic on me bike. from r/bicycling
This Redditer described his heroic act as the “first time I’ve been cheered for holding up traffic on me bike”.
*We’ve been told on certain browsers Reddit vids don’t appear to work, so here’s the link JIC
28 June 2019, 21:33
Glaston-bike
Lovely day for a bike ride! DH pic.twitter.com/zGJhpI3zbv
— Glastonbury Live (@GlastoLive) June 28, 2019
28 June 2019, 21:33
Dutch government tells cyclists to leave their phone in their pocket as ban comes in
The Dutch government has launched a publicity campaign urging cyclists to “Leave your phone in your pocket and save yourself a €95 fine” ahead of a new law banning people from using a mobile phone while riding a bike coming into force on Monday, reports dutchnews.nl.
The country’s transport minister, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, said: ‘In the traffic, an accident is just around the corner and this is why it’s important for all road users – including cyclists – to keep their eyes and minds on the road and not on their telephone screen.
“We often think that we can multi-task in traffic, but we really can’t, so please drive in ‘mono’ mode. I have a clear message for all cyclists: keep your phone, and your €95 in your pocket.”
28 June 2019, 21:33
Four-year doping bans for Denifl and Preidler
Professional cyclists Stefan Denifl and Georg Preidler have both been banned for four years for blood doping.
The two riders were provisionally suspended by the UCI in March after admitting being part of the Operation Aderlass blood doping investigation in their native Austria.
Denifl has been stripped of results including a stage win at the 2017 Vuelta.
28 June 2019, 21:33
First Look: Cannondale SuperSix Evo 2020
Cannondale has totally redesigned its flagship carbon road race bike with an all-new frame that is more aerodynamic, stiffer and comfortable than the bike first introduced in 2011 and last updated in 2015, with wider tyre clearance and revised geometry with choice of rim or disc brakes.
28 June 2019, 21:33
Froome is fed up...
Working on my patience #recovery #cycling pic.twitter.com/wFMDRcyIfN
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) June 28, 2019
…and dreaming of getting back on the bike again. Let’s hope the doctor’s predictions were correct.
28 June 2019, 21:33
Scientists call for spinach ban for athletes due to steroid-like effects
Scientists have called for spinach to be banned for athletes after discovering steroid-like effects.
Vice reports that researchers at the Freie Universität Berlin have recommended that a chemical called ecdysterone that is found in spinach should be added to WADA’s prohibited list due to potentially steroid-like effects.
They said: “Our hypothesis was that we would see an increase in performance, but we didn’t expect it to be that big. We recommended to WADA in our report that the substance be added to the doping list. We think that if it increases performance, then that unfair advantage should be eliminated.”
You’d have to be eating Popeye-esque quantities of the green stuff to feel the benefits, though – 4 kilograms a day, in fact, or 40 of the 100 gram bags it often comes in at the supermarket.
28 June 2019, 21:33
Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal to jointly lead Team Ineos at Tour de France
Team Ineos will go into the Tour de france, which starts in Brussels a week tomorrow, with Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal as joint leaders – and they have a very strong supporting cast to back them up. Find out all about it here.
28 June 2019, 21:33
The eighth Coast To Coast In A Day sportive is tomorrow - and entries for 2020 open on Monday
With midsummer upon us, we’re coming into the height of the sportive season and tomorrow sees the eighth edition of one that combines one of the country’s bucket list cycle routes with some of its toughest climbs – the Coast To Coast In A Day.
1,000 riders will enjoy what is forecast to be glorious weather as they ride 150 miles from Seascale on the Cumbrian coast across to Whitby on the North Sea with 4,500 metres of climbing in between, including the Hardknott and Wrynose Passes before tackling the North Yorkshire Moors.
Organised by Open Cycling, the event sells out each year – the 2020 edition takes place on 20th June and if you want to get ride it, entries open next Monday 1 July. Find out more on Open Cycling’s Facebook page.
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
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.
25 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
Rendel Harris 55 seconds ago
@MaxiMinimalist Really? So this applies only to drivers from Bouches-du-Rhône, Haute-Garonne and Vaucluse, drivers from the other sixteen départements that make up the south are fine?
Velophaart_95 6 minutes ago
Yeah, it's great isn't it........
Velophaart_95 7 minutes ago
Handling a bike across a bit of grass is a bit different to descending rock gardens, and drop off in a XCO World Cup....... The top XC guys are on another level to elite road racers.......(Pidcock is an outlier) MvdP has struggled in recent years after spending too long away from it.
ktache 26 minutes ago
45 years without being hit wasn't a bad run. I hope you are back on the bike and are dealing well with the fear.
Krislord 2 hours ago
I’m pretty much expecting this is a restructuring and everything will continue as it was before. Whether pricing and discounting stays the same I don’t know, but the business was acquired recently and this feels like part of that rather than the end. I’m surprised by the negative comments - I prefer my lecol bibs to my Rapha ones. Our club use lecol for our kit and I’ve found the quality is pretty good - I don’t know who else does club kit but I’ve been pretty happy with what was produced for us.
Pub bike 2 hours ago
Given how rubbish Wandsworth Council is for active travel they actually did surprisingly well on the Healthy Streets Scorecard: https://www.healthystreetsscorecard.london/results/your_borough/wandsworth/ but this score seems to be mainly based on the roll out of (widely ignored) 20 mph speed limits. I suspect this is a temporary lull and the score will shortly plummet as even other similarly apathetic car-centric boroughs will start to outperform WBC. And the Blade Mews debacle is just ridiculous institutional anti-cyclist bias.
Freddy56 3 hours ago
In my 5th year with a pair of their Roubaix gloves. They are starting to look a bit tatty not but have outlasted, by 2 my Castelli winter gloves.
ChasP 3 hours ago
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8l5gme7lyo Judge wants to avoid banning motorcyclist from driving cars... why???
JLasTSR 3 hours ago
I am the Harold Lepper of the BMW story, I don't remember the accident nor the next 5 hours I have little flashes of memory in that time like snapshots. I was unconscious for a minute or two after I had wound up lying on the wrong side of the road after bouncing off the car. I would never ride on the wrong side of the road nor cut a corner it is not the way I ride a bike. I would use my lanes width if safe to do so. I can only guess what happened, I have a flash of memory of checking behind just before the corner to check no car behind as I would be moving to primary thought he corner, another flash of memory going I need full brakes and it won't be enough. I think I would have adjusted my line to the middle of the road hoping they would stop just over the give way line. They actually stopped right across my lane and about 2 feet into the opposite carriage way and the back of their car was just still in the side road. If I had stayed to the far left I would still have hit them. As the Judge said to Miss Sim if he was on the wrong side of the road why did he not cycle round your car? Surely where he hit you suggests he was veering away from your emerging car. Prosecution pointed out that I was braking so hard my back wheel was off the ground, she said she didn't think I had braked. Prosecution asked if she would pull out in the same situation again she said yes 4 times then the 5th time said perhaps not. Prosecution said that it looks like the cyclist was passing this sign on the CCTV about 8m from the accident on the left side of the road, she said it did but it was deceptive the cyclist was nearer the middle of the road. Prosecution paused then said so you deliberately pulled out into the path of oncoming traffic. They tried to muddy the water because they said I overtook another cyclist before the junction, which I believe is correct I have a vague recollection that it was moving very slowly and was more of a moped looking machine. It bumbles into view several seconds after the collision. Navigates round her BMW and was never heard of again! The verdict was reported to me just now that she has been found guilty has been banned from driving for 12 months and has been given a community order of 100 hours work. I think she saw me behind the moped as she approached the junction and before the junction had decided she had time to get out of the junction if the way was clear to the left, so she pulled out thinking she had time when she had given me about 10 yards to stop.
Rendel Harris 3 hours ago
Surprised there's no mention of The Texan's crossfield detour in 2003, say what you like about him (and who doesn't?), the man could handle a bike…
25 thoughts on “Scientists urge WADA to ban spinach due to steroid-like effects; Coast To Coast In A Day sportive tomorrow (and 2020 entries open Monday); Dutch gov’t tells cyclists to leave phone in pocket as ban comes in + more”
With the Portland thing
With the Portland thing (America’s big cycling city) it would appear that the cable was the closure, no hanging signs or tape, no cones, no standing signs. A bit like doing a temporary road closure by sinking solid black metal posts in a road, hoping that was enough and wondering why it was destroying cars and injuring the occupants. And then being sued.
$12000 damages for his bike?
$12000 damages for his bike?
Rick_Rude wrote:
10k bike plus accessories and the frame snapped.
Then again America, so they start high with their claims.
Holding up traffic like that?
Holding up traffic like that? He should have got a bill.
hawkinspeter wrote:
What do the Inland Revenue and a duck have in common?
They can both stick their bills up their ass.
Dowsett has been observing
Dowsett has been observing for a few weeks/months on Twitter that having ‘van’, ‘aert’ or ‘poel’ in your name is an unfair advantage this season (e.g. Lampaert, van Aert, van der Poel, Poels, Evenepoel).
Given that he specified his name in the morning before doing the race, should we regard this ‘name-doping’ as unfair preparation?
jollygoodvelo wrote:
Well if all the other top riders are on it…
Anyone know the specifics on
Anyone know the specifics on the Dutch thing?
[Edit] France24 have it that you have to be moving.
[Extra Edit] Holland-Cycling has a bit more-
https://www.holland-cycling.com/blog/300-mobile-phone-use-on-bike-illegal
The last bit: The new law applies to holding or operating your device. So if you want to use your navigation, take pictures or make a video while you are riding, make sure you use a holder on your handle bars or helmet. Just don’t press any buttons while you’re riding!
About that new Dutch law: it
About that new Dutch law: it applies to all mobile electronic devices. So you’re also not allowed to take your GPS out of its holder (which makes sense).
Presumably that would also
Presumably that would also make it illegal to operate the compouter functions (speed etc) of a GPS-equipped bike computer while moving.
Depends on what they mean by
Depends on what they mean by “mobile electronic devices”. If that’s meant literally, then it could apply to turning on/off bike lights which I doubt they would want. I think they mean “mobile” as in “mobile telecommunications” which could exclude GPS devices.
I think it’d be clearer if they specified not staring at a screen (e.g. more than a second or two) whilst moving.
We’d need to consult the
We’d need to consult the original Dutch to see whether it includes eg Bluetooth-equipped devices. In any case, we can hope that the law will be applied pragmatically.
Bmblbzzz wrote:
If it follows the usual pattern, it’ll be applied pragmatically if you are old and white, mostly ok if you are young and white and incredibly aggressively if you are none of the above.
So how many people are being
So how many people are being killed/injured by people on bikes using phones, just so we know the data and risk factor? Are they going to apply the same law for pedestrians, if not, why not, surely the risk is pretty much the same isn’t it if not more so? oh wait, peds using phones utterly ignoring their environment and hurting people doesn’t count!
The fine for 20% over a 50km/h limit in an urban(other) area is €48, doing 60km/h in a 50km/h zone is €75,
The equivalent fine of €95 is for doing 42km/h in a 30 zone or 64km/h in a 50 zone, so in the lower speed limit (residential), one were there’s greater danger posed by motorists, if you’re 40% over the posted speed limit that gets you the same penalty as a person using a mobile phone whilst cycling, seems legit!
Oh do shut up.
Oh do shut up.
fukawitribe wrote:
if you’re responding to my post then no I won’t. This is a forum to discuss the subject maters at hand. Instead of dribbling like you’ve lost your marbles why not enter into a normal conversation/discussion, is it too hard for you?
Seems that the squirrels are
Seems that the squirrels are further up the food chain than ducklings in some places. At least the DfT seem to think so.
Grey squirrels are vermin!
Grey squirrels are vermin!
I really want to know why the
I really want to know why the squirrel did cross the road.
Was it because it was nuts or to show that it wasn’t chicken?
hawkinspeter wrote:
maybe an initiation ritual?
giff77 wrote:
Not as tough as the pheasant initiation.
Froomy is finally catching up
Froomy is finally catching up with GoT; hence the expression.
Ha, I’d always thought that
Ha, I’d always thought that gangs of cats waited by the side of the road, telling one of them “wait, wait, wait.. go, go go” whenever a car was close enough.
An official overview of the
An official overview of the new dutch law is here: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2019/06/28/%E2%80%98laat-je-telefoon-lekker-zitten-en-hou-95-euro-in-je-zak%E2%80%99
The term used is “vasthouden”, i.e. holding the device, so using it should be fine, as long as you’re not holding it. And the article explicitly states that /operating/ a device that is in a holder is OK:
“Als een mobiel apparaat in een houder zit mag het wel worden gebruikt, bijvoorbeeld voor navigatie of handsfree bellen.”
I.e.: “If a mobile device is in a holder, then it may be used. For example for navigation or hands-free calls”.
So… seems pretty sensible.
Just how much did the spinach
Just how much did the spinach growers pay for that research?