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).
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Latest Comments
chrisonabike 4 hours ago
"All that's required is an to roads policing" - that's a big all... Although no doubt the "idiots just keep coming" aspect does apply: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9lel2wz93o "Man charged after car crashes through bowling alley" - luckily they only skittled over skittles.
chrisonabike 4 hours ago
Almost any change to roads and streets is accompanied by a period of heightened danger, and in the UK "look out for cyclists" will need to be learned... practically. And over the time it takes for cyclists to become a regular feature. OTOH once (if...) good designs are in and frequent enough such that drivers encounter them AND the cyclists on them regularly (another big if) I don't think they should be much more difficult than a footway to deal with. These things are all over NL - don't have the collision stats but they should. (NL isn't perfect but collecting info on the safety of designs to feed back into better designs as required is part of the "sustainable safety" philosophy - if they're really a killer I think they'd be altering these.)
wtjs 5 hours ago
I'm in the happy position of agreeing with everybody here! I've never considered a bike with a stand, yet I'm impressed by the ingenuity and adaptability of this axle. I tow a Yak Bob with a Robert Axle, employing my El Cheapo Vitus gravel bike and I just have to be very careful where I stop. Hedges are generally a dead loss, and I seek walls, telegraph poles and signposts and generally lean the widest part of the Bob against it. One very awkward task is removing the two steel pins which lock the trailer arms onto the special mounting slots on the Robert axle, and when you have one out, the sodding weight in the trailer can twist the whole caboodle and bend the Bob fitting before you can get the other out and unhitch. I doubt if a stand would help with that. You can imagine that this combo is a real pain when you have to get it over the bridge at railway stations, and it nearly resulted in Merseyrail nearly parting me and the trailer on the platform from the bike on the train. It's a long story for another time. Another axle example recently featured on here, with a 12mm front axle bearing the Herculean weight limit of a monster American front rack.
HoarseMann 7 hours ago
This has nothing to do with the type of bike - it's the type of behaviour that's the problem. Banning the sale of such bikes will not curtail the behaviour. They'll just find another type of vehicle and continue to drive dangerously as there's such a lack of enforcement. I'd sooner see them ban the bally. But really, all that's required is an improvement to roads policing.
AidanR 7 hours ago
The EAPC Bill is welcome, but full of holes. What's to stop an overpowered but temporarily limited e-bike being sold and subsequently delimited? This is often a trivial process.
Sredlums 8 hours ago
@KiwiMike Yeah, in my over four decades of riding all over Europe I've never 'been for a ride in the countryside'. That must be it. Or, and I know this is a wild concept, you just accept that I just voiced my personal experiences and never missed a kickstand, like I wrote. Anyway, what's the big horror of laying your bike on its side for the very few occasions where there is nothing to lean your bike against?
mdavidford 8 hours ago
They may have looked, but did they see?
jackcycles 9 hours ago
Ds2025: where they are going wrong is that they are crushing the motorbike rather than the person sat on top of it. If they did the latter this issue would be solved in less than 24 hours.
Rod Marton 9 hours ago
I came this way today with the car boot sale in operation. There was a marshal at the entrance, who stopped a car turning right across the cycleway as I was approaching. So that certainly works. I think it necessary for the marshal to be there, I couldn't say if the driver would have turned if he hadn't been there but you always have to suspect the worst. Unfortunately there is no marshal at the exit, and there was certainly a car stopped across the cycleway as I was approaching it. But he pulled onto the road before I reached it, and the following car stayed off the cycleway as I went through. Ideally there should have been a marshal there too. On the whole, though, it's a really high standard piece of infrastructure. Just a pity it doesn't extend a bit further.
eburtthebike 9 hours ago
“absolute carnage” So right! Just look at the bodies piled up, blood running in the gutters and injured people limping away. It's a bit of a problem with a road, delaying some people for minutes at a time: it isn't carnage, let alone 'absolute carnage'. Anyone who exaggerates so ridiculously really shouldn't be allowed to comment in public, unless they want to demonstrate their idiocy to all and sundry.
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?