Welcome to Monday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
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Live blog: Brains G – Cardiff brewery honours hometown hero Thomas with bespoke beer ahead of Tour de France; French heatwave claims two cyclists’ lives; Alice Barnes shows that even GB champs don’t need to litter with their gel wrappers + more
SUMMARY

Weekend catch-up
Here are some of our top stories from the weekend…


World Tour pro Lachlan Morton wins “unimaginably hard” GBDURO bike-packing event
Cyclist dies after crashing on Wrynose Pass descent during Coast To Coast In A Day sportive
Big rise reported in cyclists seeking insurance after pedestrian collision legal case
Near Miss of the Day 284: Punishment pass while riding with a 14–year-old
If the national champ can do it, so can you...
The contents of @BarnesAlice pockets after her nationals win.
I call that responsible. pic.twitter.com/nGQ4VGfooI— Owen Rogers (@OwenRogers) 30 June 2019
Alice Barnes triumphed on the 136km British National Road Champs course yesterday, becoming the first woman since Emma Pooley in 2010 to win both the senior national time trial and road race in the same year. She also shown that it can be done without littering, as some wannabe pros seem to think it’s ok to do, with journalist Owen Rogers capturing the contents of her back pocket after she crossed the line.
On another note, wonder if Alice would have won by a greater margin if she’d have got through that Rice Krispie Square?
An unfamiliar sight...
I’m happy to see my brother Juraj win the Slovak championship and I’d like to thank the thousands of fans that cheered for us along the route. In a few days, we head to Brussels with the team for the @letour Grand Départ. (Thanks to https://t.co/LoKelSecLw for the nice photos) pic.twitter.com/AAPqbdqJE9
— Peter Sagan (@petosagan) 30 June 2019
…but one to get used to in 2019, as it’s just occurred to us this will be the first time for three years that Sagan has lined up for a Tour de France without a world champion’s jersey. Here he is in his bog standard, run-of-the-mill Bora-Hansgrohe kit while supporting his brother to a Slovak national champs win, looking like a normal professional cyclist but way cooler…
Ever seen a better save than this?
With a moto behind showing the speedometer approaching 80km/h, the next thing we see is two-time Ironman world champ Jan Frodeno having a scary wobble as he approaches a corner on the 185km Ironman Frankfurt bike course. Frodeno keeps a cool head, hops over a road divider and manages to keep control of his bike as he briefly goes cross-country and pops out the other side unscathed.
While Frodeno shown handling skills every bit as impressive as a single discipline pro cyclist, the same can’t be said of Brit Kimberley Morrison’s flat-fixing skills – skip to 3hrs 24 mins in the feed above, and you will see Morrison struggling to fill her tube with a flat-fixing sealant that doesn’t appear to want to go into the valve. She eventually reaches for a tube when it becomes apparent the damage is too great for the sealant to work, but doesn’t seem to have the equipment to inflate the tyre. According to the results she eventually finished the bike course in over six and a half hours, about an hour and a half slower than most of her fellow female pros…
Bit rude...
I like our kit, so it’s a no from me https://t.co/BQpowngCig
— Simon Geschke (@simongeschke) July 1, 2019
Simon Geschke was pretty reserved in his reply to this weird attempted burn. Here’s the kit below in the CCC team’s Tour de France reveal, and we reckon it don’t look half bad.
Our #TDF2019 roster is in! We’re proud to present the eight riders ready to take on @LeTour
@PaddyBevin
@ADM_RossodiBuja
@simongeschke
@sergepauwels
@joeyrosskopf
@michaelschaer
@GregVanAvermaet
@lukaswisniowskihttps://t.co/S9dNpcQYC8#RideForMore pic.twitter.com/KLgbP17DKz
— CCC Team (@CCCProTeam) July 1, 2019
Be in with a chance to win a load of wheels, kit and more from Pacenti with our latest mega comp


Enter here for another chance to win some excellent wheels and gear from Pacenti Cycle Design. Best of luck folks!
Once again, if the British champ can do it so can you
It’s a shame that things like this have to be pointed out and isn’t the norm. Drives me mad when people are throwing rubbish! If it comes out your pocket it can easily go back in! Thanks for all the kind words none the less https://t.co/cYEn1OX2Hh
— Alice Barnes (@BarnesAlice) July 1, 2019
Newly-crowned national TT and road champ Alice Barnes responded to the tweet showing the contents of her pockets: “It’s a shame that things like this have to be pointed out and isn’t the norm.”
She’s recently commented on her double victory in the TT and road race this morning, saying “it still hasn’t sunk in”.
Double British National Champion So many people to thank for this. Still hasn’t sunk in! pic.twitter.com/HftAFMN028
— Alice Barnes (@BarnesAlice) July 1, 2019
A good day indeed!


Ben Swift has uploaded his National Champs winning ride to Strava, making it official.
Jokes aside, the stats are staggering, with an average power of 291w for 4hrs21min over a distance of 196km!
With Ineos teammate Ian Stannard up the road, Swift put in a 1,185w sprint to drop John Archibald and bridge across to Stannard. Sensing his opportuntity, Swift continued to push well over 500w to ride straight past his teammate, covering the final 900m at 374w, a fabulous effort after 4 hours of racing.
French heatwave claims lives of two cyclists
This weekend saw the highest temperature ever recorded in France – 45.9 degrees Celsius – and now it has emerged that the heatwave has sadly claimed the lives of two cyclists, reports The Independent.
One of the victims, a 53-year-old man, died while he was taking part in a race in the Ariege department on Saturday, and with several other competitors falling ill, organisers cancelled the event.
The other fatality happened in the Vaucluse – the department where Mont Ventoux is located – with a rider dying after reportedly collapsing due to the heat.
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Latest Comments
Gustav Gullholm.. that's not a good look mate
@Chris RideFar I think what you meant to say was "REMOVE this and put it on PODCAST CC".
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.
@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?"
@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.
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.
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.
The photos in this review look they are for a different bag?
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?
I only watched the last one, that's enough for me! A punishment pass and a clueless passenger. Did you op snap that one?
11 thoughts on “Live blog: Brains G – Cardiff brewery honours hometown hero Thomas with bespoke beer ahead of Tour de France; French heatwave claims two cyclists’ lives; Alice Barnes shows that even GB champs don’t need to litter with their gel wrappers + more”
“Ever seen a better save than
“Ever seen a better save than this?” yes managing to mention Alice Barnes’ win after not covering it yesterday
antigee wrote:
it was Sunday, imagine everyone was out riding their bike? Please request a refund of your road.cc monthly fee for this month by way of compensation.
check12 wrote:
They must have filed the Ben Swift wins national road race title article from the cafe stop mid ride then clearly…
Awavey wrote:
We’re a one man band on Sunday, rather than my colleague working a 12 hour day we decided to cover Alice’ win in the morning.
Jack Sexty wrote:
I’ll look forward to reading it later then 😉 you can cover the u23 winners in it too
It wasn’t the organisers that
It wasn’t the organisers that cancelled the Ariegoise, it was the prefecture (the county council) as they couldn’t cope with the number falling ill from the heat during the ride. The organisers were charging €10 for people to change to the shorter course…
Great to see some pro riders
Great to see some pro riders raising the issue of gel wrapper rubbish. It is a complete load of nonsense that this is acceptable, pro rider or not. Commentators always seem to excuse the behaviour of litter dropping, saying that the rider mess will be cleaned up later. Yet even on the TdF it can be hours before a road sweeper comes through…and by then most light rubbish has been blown into the surrounding countryside to cause many issues for wildlife and litter that will be around for many years to come. No excuses, end of.
Ever seen a better save than
Ever seen a better save than WHAT? no bloody video!
Bob’s Bikes wrote:
It’s a FarceBook video – try these links:
https://www.facebook.com/IRONMANnow/videos/2122925761150614/
https://www.facebook.com/IRONMANnow/videos/318476015707963/
Just back from riding in
Just back from riding in France during the heatwave – which is doable with lots of water.
For anyone else doing this, riding between villages is ok before noon because you can stop at fountains and douse yourself. Climbing cols is riskier in the heat because there are often long stretches with no water. Starting early helps, but 5am temps were as high as 27C.
For reference, I drank a liter an hour, plus water for dousing, and kept power below 250W to reduce head/core overheating. I found it cooler with a helmet than without.
Izoard N and S were ok, ran out of water on the Agnel and drank melted snow.
Lots of electrolytes needed, skipped caffeine and alcohol (boo) plus slept on kitchen floor (coolest place in house).
Thank you Hawkinspeter for
Thank you Hawkinspeter for the feed