Welcome to Wednesday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
Live blog: Harvard University launches major study into distracted drivers, Phil prepares for first Tour de France without Paul, Channel 5 under fire over forthcoming ‘Cyclists: Scourge Of The Streets?’ documentary + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond…
Wed, Jul 03, 2019 10:31
SUMMARY
3 July 2019, 10:31
Last year's Le Tour hero Lawson Craddock left out of EF Education First team
United. Motivated. Confident.
It’s nearly @LeTour time and we’re ready.
Here’s your first look at our team for the big lap around France (via Belgium ) this July.
Details: https://t.co/xxtKwS0spQ pic.twitter.com/GNFTRqgnCz
— EF Education First Pro Cycling (@EFprocycling) July 2, 2019
Craddock fractured his scapula on stage 1 of last year’s Tour de France, but battled terrible pain to finish the tour and unusually becoming the first rider to complete every single stage in last place (he also raised huged amounts for charity for his efforts).
Unfortunately his heroic efforts in 2018 weren’t enough to earn him a place on the team this year, and there was also no call-up for Taylor Phinney. We heard a few rumblings that perhaps Lachlan Morton’s huge victory at the GBDURO last week was simply a very very hard training ride ahead of the tour, but it appears that wasn’t to be with Morton also not making the roster. Probably for the best…
3 July 2019, 10:31
Wrong way!
When @AdamBlythe89 takes the peloton the wrong way at the @BritishCycling national champs and it makes it onto @ladbible pic.twitter.com/CyOqafGfqv
— Hannah Walker (@spannawalker) July 2, 2019
We missed this from the British Road Champs last week, but according to Hannah Walker it appears Adam Blythe lead most of the peloton the wrong way at this particular junction… where were the marshals though?
3 July 2019, 10:31
Cavendish says he's heartbroken at being left out of Dimension Data's Tour de France team, but will support teammates nonetheless
1/4 Well what can I say? I’m absolutely heart-broken by the decision that means I won’t be @letour this year. As I have done for my entire career, I targeted a specific time to be at peak form. This has pretty much always resulted in me hitting my goals or coming damn close.
— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) July 2, 2019
30-time Tour de France stage winner Cavendish is the most high-profile omission from this year’s race, and this will be the first year since 2006 he hasn’t started. In a thoughtful Twitter thread, Cavendish praised his team’s charity efforts with Qhubeka but explained that it hurts all the more because he believed he was approaching peak form:
“I’m absolutely heart-broken by the decision that means I won’t be Le Tour this year. As I have done for my entire career, I targeted a specific time to be at peak form. This has pretty much always resulted in me hitting my goals or coming damn close.
“Predominantly at the most beautiful, special race that is Le Tour de France, where 30 of these victories have defined my career. After a long, difficult fight back from trying to compete for the whole of last season with Epstein Barr Virus and after following a specific training program to peak in July, I feel I was in the perfect place. Nevertheless, I truly came to (Team Dimension Data) with the purpose of making a difference, by mobilising entire communities in Africa with bicycles through our incredible charity Quebuka.
“Though I won’t be there, as always I’ll be supporting my teammates with all I have, wishing them safety and success in France and hoping we can get even more children on bicycles. Thank you all for your support.”
Clearly a popular face at the Tour, hundreds have commented that Cavendish will be missed this year, including Koen de Kort of Trek-Segafredo and Joanna Rowsell Shand.
Will miss you here mate. Not the same without you
— Koen de Kort (@koendekort) July 2, 2019
Ever the professional. Will miss watching you race this year.
— Joanna Rowsell Shand (@JoRowsellShand) July 2, 2019
3 July 2019, 10:31
Peta Cavendish defends husband against critics on social media
How do you know any of those things? You are speculating based on no fact.
— Peta Cavendish (@petatodd) July 2, 2019
She also took time to respond to some fans, including the poor chap below, and judging by the comments being retweeted is also frustrated with the way Dimension Data handled the selection process.
Don’t be sad Evan! I understand how you feel and it’s tough right now…but you must keep your chin up. Mark is safe, fit and well and we can’t wait to see you cheering him on again really soon. https://t.co/5MahKpTJkO
— Peta Cavendish (@petatodd) July 2, 2019
3 July 2019, 10:31
DealClincher: £2,600 off this brilliant Specialized Roubaix Pro
Fancy yourself a shiny new road bike? The Roubaix is perfect for bumpy UK roads and this one comes with the marvelous Dura-Ace R9120 groupset and Roval CL 32 carbon tubeless-ready wheels.
3 July 2019, 10:31
Channel 5 under fire over 'Cyclists: Scourge Of The Streets?' documentary
Channel 5 is being criticised on social media today after it emerged that the network is screening next Tuesday evening a documentary under the title ‘Cyclists: Scourge Of The Streets?’
Clearly, it’s impossible to judge the programme until after it airs, but the title doesn’t eexactly fill us with hope that it will be sympathetic to people on bikes.
We’ll have more on this shortly but in the meantime, this tweet is one of manyy outlining concerns about the show on Twitter.
Dear Media – where do I even begin with this. having a show like this https://t.co/VQzuVfgQke is not helpful to moms like me (or any other human)- who CYCLE. We are human beings. Parents, families. friends. colleagues. HUMANS. @Chris_Boardman @ShanazeReade
— CycleCharterCoord (@CyclingCharCoor) July 3, 2019
3 July 2019, 10:31
Parking, Cambridge style ...
Mums all parked up for a picnic. Christ's Pieces, Cambridge. Just now. pic.twitter.com/HKVoqEzhQD
— Cab Davidson #FBPE (@gnomeicide) July 3, 2019
3 July 2019, 10:31
(Puts on Bruce Forsyth voice) "Cuddly toy, cuddly toy?"
Not how I planned to get one of these this year Merci @MaillotjauneLCL pic.twitter.com/QVJI742g1V
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) July 3, 2019
3 July 2019, 10:31
It's going to be a poignant Tour de France for Phil without Paul ...
Grass is cut, bags are packed, Brussels tomorrow. The NBC team will be great, but my 47th Tour will be different. It will be a great race this year and it will honour Paul's name. But who will make my coffee at 06.30 every day for next month?
— Phil Liggett (@PhilLiggett) July 2, 2019
3 July 2019, 10:31
Harvard University launches major study into distracted drivers
Q: “Are things getting better or worse with distracted driving?”
A: “They’re getting worse.”
This piece is worth reading … and the eye-opener is that in may US states, while texting at the wheel nay be banned, using a handheld mobile isn’t.
Read the full article here.
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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).
7 Comments
Latest Comments
chrisonabike 26 minutes ago
@yodhrin I believe the fairer summary is "we don't know - but making the main point advocating a form of PPE with relatively limited protection - and to a group of likely experienced cyclists - isn't very helpful..." I've only read one of the reports but that suggested the skull removal was to alleviate pressure from major brain swelling. And a given helmet *might* be better than the standard. So I think "don't know" is fairest.
yodhrin 9 hours ago
@robgodd The poor guy himself suffered a traumatic brain injury and his skull was so badly shattered a significant portion of it had to be removed - do me a favour, have a look around cycling helmet manufacturers and see if any of them claim the foam hats they produce will protect against or even mitigate that level of injury. I'll wait if you like, but I can save us both the time and tell you what you'll find: none of them. Not a single one of them will. Because they don't, and they *can't* based on simple physics. Once the point of failure in a material is reached all(or as near as makes no odds) of the additional force beyond that necessary threshhold transfers through to the object beneath. Since bicycle helmets are rated for forces roughly equivalent to being dropped straight down from a stationary start 1.5m above a hard surface. Now, I'm not an expert in vehicle crash investigation, but I'm *fairly* sure that any impact or series of impacts powerful enough to render a quarder of your skull into gravel, put you in a weeks-long coma, give you massive amnesia, and leave you with ongoing symptoms of traumatic brain injury are a little bit, a teeny-weeny amount, a little smidgeon-widgeon more than what bike helmets are rated for. That's why none of the companies that make them claim they will help in such circumstances: because they know it would be a lie, and that unlike uninformed punters, carbrained journalists, or "medical professionals" who think wearing a helmet would save you from a broken arm(an actual scenario encountered by a mate, who's nurse at the A&E tutted and harrumphed her way through his whole treatment due to his lack of helmet despite his bonce having come through *being hit by a car* - another scenario bike helmets are worthless in - completely unscathed), the lawyers for those companies know their business and understand that if you lie in advertising you will get sued into the ground.
Mr Blackbird 11 hours ago
The Battle of Ypres April 1915. The German infantry division advanced using das Brumptstadt Fahrarden. The slow speed kept them behind the cloud of chlorine gas as it drifted towards the Commonwealth trenches. The offensive cleaved a two mile gap in the Western Front. The use of cycles was copied by the Japanese as they invaded Singapore and Burmah. By then war technology had embraced wider low pressure tyres, carbon frames and hydration gels. The German forces decided not to incorporate cycling as part of Operation Session, as bike theft in London and the South East was rife and would have caused huge casualties. Ironically superior advancement of tyre technology led to a British victory at El Alamein. This technology played a key part in the US Marines victory at Iwo Jima.
ROOTminus1 11 hours ago
The appropriate response to Google pissing on your cereal is not a fancy new sugar that removes the taste of urine. Stop using Google products where you can. Firefox browser and DuckDuckGo search engine have had noticeable upticks in market share by explicitly NOT pushing AI.
belugabob 11 hours ago
my thoughts exactly...I wonder how that approach is working, with motor vehicle drivers...🤔
Anonymousattorney 11 hours ago
I do not wish to diminish the personal tragedy, but one never hear calls for pedestrians or even hikers to wear clothing with integrated lightening rods.
chrisonabike 12 hours ago
RE Andy Burnam / Heidi Alexander - this is the best thing in many ways - set an example (even if currently it leads to lots of online name-calling). And imagine some of the political alternatives! The folks in the apparently second-placed party seem incredibly unlikely to be doing so. And even the current "new Greens" seem less interested in ... y'know, environmental things. OTOH I wish Heidi could be bolder. And I fear that like anyone ambitious enough to get to the top (exception B Johnson - well, I guess there was the Corbyn bicycle...) Burnam will be trimming his transport policy sails to fit the wind (should that be "bunker-fuel-burning engines"?)
Rendel Harris 12 hours ago
@mattsccm Bull bars aren't banned, they just have to conform to regulations so they are deformable or have plates that allow crumple give on contact, rather than rigid steel bars that can smash into pedestrians and cyclists with no give at all, catch them and drag them under the wheels. If you think that's a problem, do one. Why should who is responsible for a collision remove the responsibility of people driving a tonne of machinery on the road from having safety features to at least mitigate some of the effects of a collision?
AidanR 12 hours ago
I'd be willing to bet that's lazy use of stock photography rather than deliberate misinformation, but the result is still the same.
Backladder 12 hours ago
@smallbeer You obviously don't realise how many bulls there are wandering around Chelsea, in and out of the china shops, that he needs to protect his Range Rover from.
7 thoughts on “Live blog: Harvard University launches major study into distracted drivers, Phil prepares for first Tour de France without Paul, Channel 5 under fire over forthcoming ‘Cyclists: Scourge Of The Streets?’ documentary + more”
Clearly we know nothing about
Clearly we know nothing about what’s going on at Di Data ref Cavendish, however it does seem odd that for the past two years suffering with that disease he’s had he’s been picked to go to the tour and this year, when he’s over it, has been working toward July..(and you’d presume must be showing better numbers) they don’t. Makes me wonder other cards DiData have to play at the TdF? It’s a team of super domestiques.
It’s not been a good year for the team at all, so why not at least send Cav and get the publicity he brings to the team. Or maybe their plan is just to win nothing, hunt for top tens and be noticed by nobody.
I was hoping to see Cav at
I was hoping to see Cav at the tour, I thought after a quiet build up he might come in and be a bit of a surprise on a couple of stages, but I guess sometimes the team needs to go with more known quantities.
Strange descision on the face
Strange descision on the face of it with cavendish.
Seems like a few teams are
Seems like a few teams are scrapping leader support for an all-out raid on breakaway stage wins. But still, I agree with peted76, strange to not take Cavendish given his near-constant presence in the media. Add to that his ability to look after himself in the sprints and it just looks strange.
DiData need a decent TdF showing. You’d have been forgiven for thinking that they hadn’t even turned up to the Giro…
Yay, another bit of anti
Yay, another bit of anti cyclist bullshit on mainstream media.
“Channel 5 under fire over
“Channel 5 under fire over ‘Cyclists: Scourge Of The Streets?’ documentary”
As someone who rarely watches television (chewing gum for the mind) I really can’t comment on Channel 5’s approach, but I hope this title is exceedingly ironic and actually comes to the only possible conclusion that cyclists aren’t, but drivers are.
Is Chris growing his hair out
Is Chris growing his hair out?