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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
@No Reply I had the same problem, but it seems to be sorted now.
@No Reply I had the same problem, but it seems to be sorted now.
@JMcWatt This may well be true. Nothing drives me crazy more than cosmetic updates and facelifts that don't really bring any new value about. Maybe they do attract new customers, but also discourage existing ones. I was never a regular customer of CRC, but if I had been, I would surely have been mad seeing confusing changes. If I don't understand the website and have to re-learn the process anyway, why not switch to another shop?
It was such a small things that brought about the ruination of CRC, one decision made by the owners and management. In 2013 the decision was made to redesign the website, this change was the beginning of the end for CRC. They replaced a proven platform that had helped turn a Northern Irish bike shop into the world’s biggest online cycling retailer with a more complex system that never delivered the same growth. Sales momentum stalled, Wiggle overtook them, and within three years CRC was being bought by the rival it had once outperformed. This was very much the strategic mistake that broke the growth engine.
@Smoggysteve "I normally wouldn’t condone buying a cheap Chinese copy..." Actually, I think I'd go with the Seconda strap line here: "Beware of expensive imitations."
The survey is shite. I have got to a point where it will not let me continue because I have done everything correctly so far.
Yes, it uses the same technology that is used to prevent that behaviour by motorists...🙄
@SecretSam yeah, the same one you find in cars
@SecretSam yeah, the same one you find in cars
I have an idea who it might have been.
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