Welcome to Tuesday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
Live blog: Videos: EF Education First riders on why pro cyclists shave legs; Mountain biker jumps over Tour de France peloton, 2019 edition; Did this roundabout help wreck TdF chances of Pinot and others? + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond…
Tue, Jul 16, 2019 19:38
SUMMARY
16 July 2019, 19:38
Geraint Thomas congratulates teammates on top tactics in crosswinds
Boys on fire today in the crosswinds Great to be up to second at the first rest day #tdf2019 pic.twitter.com/TA7BHGpGY3
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) 15 July 2019
Ineos caught a few GC contenders naping yesterday, with Thomas and Egan Bernal sitting in second and third place in the overall standings – is it now (one of) theirs to lose?
16 July 2019, 19:38
Wout van Aert's Stage 10 win on Strava
The prodigious 24-year-old Belgian bagged his first Tour de France stage win yesterday, and has shared the news on Strava. No power data but the upload shows van Aert bagged plenty of KOMs and rode at an average speed of 44.3km/h, keeping a cadence of 92rpm over the 222km, five hour ride.
16 July 2019, 19:38
DO your worst Chris...
So many tempting replies but I’m resisting… https://t.co/ZgSblfKSGr
— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) 16 July 2019
It’s fair to say some of the replies aren’t exactly sympathetic to Johnson either…
Chris Boardman probably took it back as there is such a thing as bad publicity.
— Francis Martin (@korkymaster) 15 July 2019
16 July 2019, 19:38
Ffordd Pen Llech, the street in North Wales with a 37% gradient, finally recognised as the world's steepest
The Welsh town of Harlech has wrestled the title of world’s steepest street from Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand, with Ffordd Pen Llech now being officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the steepest.
Locals in the sleepy seaside town near Snowdonia were long convinced their street was steeper than Baldwin Street, which has held the title for over a decade, and the official measurements have finally proved so. Ffordd Pen Llech was shown to have a gradient of 1:2:67, or 37.5% over fall, while Baldwin Street’s ratio is 1:2:86. Guinness measure the steepness by taking average of the steepest section over a distance of 10 metres.
Residents are already experiencing a mini tourism boom thanks to the street’s notoriety, and hope it continues to ramp up (here all week). Speaking to Guinness World Records, visiting Belgian cyclist Uerslype Hendrik said: “The first day of vacation we went to the shop and I bought some postcards for Belgium – and we heard about this climb. It feels very good to climb up.”
Anyone ever been daft enough to try and ride it, or got any photos? Do let us know in the comments, we’re curious…
16 July 2019, 19:38
My hill's steeper than yours etc...
The announcement that Harlech is now the steepest street in the world has got plenty of attention; and plenty of correction attempts on social media. Yes Te Aute in New Zealand, Aproz in Switzerland the Scanuppia in Italy may have more savage gradients in places, but this record is for the steepest residential ‘street’, not just a hill. People actually live at the foot of Ffordd Pen Llech, rather than just fail to get up it on a bike!
16 July 2019, 19:38
e-road bikes for Tour rest day
Sagan and co are heading out for a rest day spin, not on their normal road bikes, but the brand new Specialized Turbo Creo SL e-road bike launched today. Neat marketing trick for sure, or a benefit for very tired legs maybe?
16 July 2019, 19:38
Driver who chased cyclist and knocked him from bike, breaking his pelvis, pleads guilty to assault
Incident happened in Renfrew in February – full story here .
16 July 2019, 19:38
NYPD pledges no further crackdown on cyclists after rider deaths
A senior officer from the New York Police Department (NYPD) has promised there will be no more crackdowns on cyclists following the death of a rider.
The force has come under intense criticism from campaigners in recent months for its policy of responding to cyclist fatalities in road traffic collisions – some involving hit-and-run drivers – by ticketing riders in the area in subsequent days.
Streetsblog reports that NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan, speaking at a meeting hosted by WNYC and Gothamist, said: “It is absolutely insensitive of us to go back to a scene where a bicyclist has been killed and summons bicyclists. … I completely agree. So moving forward, the enforcement is not going to be on bicyclists.
“We may do education of cyclists if we see someone doing something dangerous, but the enforcement for 72 hours after [a crash] will be strictly on the vehicles.”
"It’s insensitive of us to go to a scene where a cyclist has been killed & summons bikes," @NYPDChiefofDept sending a clear message – we're committed to making NYC streets safer for all. Enforcement immediately following a fatal bike collision will now be on vehicles only. pic.twitter.com/SkWwdo2utA
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) July 12, 2019
16 July 2019, 19:38
Did this roundabout put paid to the chances of Pinot and other Tour de France hopefuls?
Here’s an intriguing angle on yesterday’s chaotic Tour de France stage that saw the race split into echelons and saw Thibaut Pinot and other GC hopefuls lose 1 minute 40 seconds or more to the likes of Geraint Thomas and Julian Alaphilippe; did some of those riders ultimately lose time because they went the wrong way around a roundabout?
Most of the overall contenders were positioned at the fornt of the bunch approaching the roundabout just under 40km from yhe finish in Albi. Thomas, Alaphilippe and others who would be in the front group took the shorter, right hand route; Pinot and others went left, which according to Groupama-FDJ boss Marc Madiot led to him dropping from 20th to 60th position in the peloton.
With EF Education First driving the pace immediately afterwards there was no chance for Pinot and other riders including Jakob Fuglsang and Richie Porte to move back to the front, and when the split happened, they were on the wrong side of it.
The roundabout where Pinot and some other favorites went left, when right was faster. Just after that hell broke loose when EF started echelon @inrng @davidopoczynski pic.twitter.com/aORJ5rYHyX
— Jonas Creteur (@jonas_creteur) July 15, 2019
Some riders including Pinot's Groupama-FDJ went left on a roundabout when the right side was faster, went from 20th place to 60th place in seconds https://t.co/2BAHJuRa2K
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) July 15, 2019
16 July 2019, 19:38
Get involved in Cyclescheme's weekly challenges ahead of Cycle to Work Day for the chance to bag yourself some prizes
In the build-up to Cycle to Work Day on the 8th August, Cyclesheme are running weekly challenges with the chance to win prizes when you complete each challenge.
We’re now in week three, and simply by uploading a two-wheeled activity to Love to Ride and taking a photo you could win yourself a brand spanking new Ribble Hybrid AL e-bike with an RRP of £1,899! You have until 21st July to enter this one, and next week will be celebrating women’s cycling with a Trek FX Sports bike to be won.
Check out the Cycle to Work website here, and here’s that link again to get hooked up with Love to Ride so you can start uploading for the chance to get your hands on the prizes.
16 July 2019, 19:38
Tour Gap 2019 edition - Mountain biker jumps over peloton
Mountain bikers jumping over the Tour de France peloton mid-stage has become a bit of a thing in recent years – in 2013, French freeride mountain biker Romain Marandet jumped over a group including eventual winner Chris Froome of Team Sky during the 100th edition of the race, and there was another example last year, albeit on a BMX bike.
The latest, shown in the video above, features another French mountain biker, Valentin Anouilh, and took place early on during yesterday’s Stage 10 of the race, which started in his home town of Saint-Flour in the Auvergne.
16 July 2019, 19:38
Rest day research - pros to follow on Strava
Want to know which Tour de France pros to follow on the internet’s foremost social fitness network? Look no further than this feature, where we list every rider at this year’s Tour who is actively posting their rides stage-by-stage…
16 July 2019, 19:38
Shots fired: “The biggest problem here in France is trying to find good coffee”, says Richie Porte
#TDF2019 What would your perfect rest look like? We asked the pros! Here’s episode 1 with @richie_porte! pic.twitter.com/gYE8zKHcai
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) July 16, 2019
The Aussie was describing his perfect rest day, but we didn’t expect him to go full savage on the hosts for their lack of coffee-making skills. Still, Porte claims they managed to find somewhere that would sell him a caffeine hit up to his high standards eventually…
16 July 2019, 19:38
Michael Woods and Rigoberto Uran from EF Education First explain why cyclists shave their legs
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Jack has 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 the website 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
jamesha100 8 hours ago
Same here. I have a helmet with built in front and rear lights and have a red light clipped onto my bag plus lights attached to my bike front and rear but still have drivers putting me in danger. My commute is about two miles and I normally have around four incidents a week where I have to brake hard or take other evasive action to avoid being hit by distracted drivers. A big percentage of these are drivers coming on to roundabouts when I am already on them.
geomannie 531 8 hours ago
Glasgow's South City Way sounds great, does it not? As a user from before and after I wholeheartedly welcome the construction of the segregated route, but so much of the detailed construction is poor, if not unsafe. I provide a link to a presentation I made when construction was half complete (a personal view) and the construction errors remain outstanding to this day: crossed by high speed flared road junctions, poor colour differentiation, car door zone risks and so on. And yet cyclists come because they feel safe. It's a complex subject but IMHO the feeling of safety (or lack of) is a critical component. https://drive.proton.me/urls/B67AK44G90#CFueBGjscoWr
Jetmans Dad 8 hours ago
I can only conclude that you haven't been into a city in the last few years. Food delivery riders in particular are riding overpowered "eBikes" that are basically mopeds ... powered only via the throttle without pedalling at significantly more than 15mph. Problem is they look like normal bikes/ebikes and not like mopeds so that is what people describe them as. My reading of the article is that it is those vehicles that are being talked about here.
AidanR 9 hours ago
I have the Trace and Tracer, which have essentially the same design, albeit smaller and less powerful. The controls are a little complicated but only because there are loads of options. In reality, once you've chosen your level of brightness, you'll only cycle through 1 or 2 options and it's dead simple. The lights are rock solid, bright, with good runtimes. The only thing I find annoying is charging them - if your fingers are slightly wet or greasy, getting the rubber out of the way of the charging port is a pain in the arse.
mdavidford 11 hours ago
Dance and padel is all very well, but when is Strava going to let me record my gardening?
mdavidford 11 hours ago
You can use it to check whether it's raining.
Rendel Harris 11 hours ago
If it's dusk, i.e. post-sunset, then the cyclists should have lights on and thus the colour of their top is irrelevant. If you want to complain about cyclists not having lights when it's mandatory then by all means do but their top has nothing to do with it.
Bright Strider 11 hours ago
All of my Exposure lights with a button allow cycling through the modes with a short press. I have five of those; it would be odd if Exposure didn’t allow this functionality with the Boost 3. I also have two Exposure Burners if I remember correctly: they are rear lights for joysticks that clip on and are powered through the joystick charging port. They don’t have a button. None of my Exposure lights have failed. I looked at the Boost 3 review photos but none showed the button, so far as I could tell. I also have Moon lights. Good experience generally. One did fail, possibly because it was so thin it used to fall through the holes in my helmet onto the ground. Also, the UI and charge indicators vary for my Moon lights. Perhaps the latest ones are more consistent. My worst lights ever were from See.Sense.
STATO 12 hours ago
Steve really doesnt like exposure products does he? Boost and Strada marked down for being too complicated. While the Zenith and Six Pack reviewed by his colleagues give them rave reviews (as most exposure products have on road.cc), the Zenith even touted as 'even more intuitive to use' with the same controls.
Hirsute 13 hours ago
They are more interested in dog shit. https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/people/lancaster-police-launch-search-for-person-who-sprayed-dog-faeces-with-pink-paint-5605519
18 thoughts on “Live blog: Videos: EF Education First riders on why pro cyclists shave legs; Mountain biker jumps over Tour de France peloton, 2019 edition; Did this roundabout help wreck TdF chances of Pinot and others? + more”
37.5% gradient? Pretty sure
37.5% gradient?
Pretty sure I don’t have a gear low enough for that..
brooksby wrote:
Someone will be on here soon humblebragging about something they did on 53-11.
Usually starts with ‘I’m not the strongest cyclist but….’
I’d love to ride up it, but
I’d love to ride up it, but that looks like a no entry sign in the picture, what a shame…
ChasP wrote:
When the chaps at another Youtube channel did it with Dan Evans, the road was specifically closed for the attempts. The local council will need to look at it now as a 1.5 tonne car will be hard to stop on those gradients if cyclists decide to ignore that sign to climb it.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
I think that now it’s had this publicity, the council ought to consider changing the one-way direction. I’d have thought it safest to wear the clutch out going up rather than the brakes going down, especially if you only find out there’s ice/snow on the road when you’re already committed!
I’m not the strongest cyclist
I’m not the strongest cyclist but I’ve got to the top of Monks Hill in Weston. However, I went up the less steep side, had a look at the steep side and didn’t trust my rim brakes enough to go down it – probably a bit of vertigo kicking in as well.
There doesn’t seem to be much on the web about it, but I did find this: https://thecyclehub.net/6th-rule-saturday-cycling-find-good-hill-climb/
We found Ffordd Pen Llech on
We found Ffordd Pen Llech on Sunday, scary enough walking down it, not sure I’m brave enough to try riding up! It is one way but it’s a very quiet road for some reason … would be fine riding up if you’ve got the legs for it. And no, the photos don’t do it justice
Celebrating a poor road
Celebrating a poor road routing now are we
I have noticed that ITV are
I have noticed that ITV are showing their higlight show of the TdF on ITV1, a bit after midnight mind, but cycling on a main channel away from ITV4.
I’ve ridden it. Dropped down
I’ve ridden it. Dropped down it first to check out the lie of the land and then turned around and rode back up. I was 51 at the time riding 34/32 on 700×28 tyres on my 2015 GT Grade Alloy 105 (which is a 10kg bike upgraded with a 105 50/34 chainset). Like Rosedale and Hardknott (and Mow Cop and others) it is a case of gritting your teeth, hauling on the bars and mashing the pedals for a relatively short time. The burn comes afterwards.
If you complied with no-entry signs you’d never manage all of the 100 Greatest Climbs, Constitution Hill in Swansea is similarly signed at the bottom.
Panslanepaul wrote:
Constitution hill is a belter. Slipped on a cobble and fell off last time i had a go at it.
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.6207858,-3.9550701,3a,75y,339.02h,83.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVF2gv0GStwigWov4pQXr0Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
A few of us rode it in June.
A few of us rode it in June. Its not too bad. Its just a case of pick your easiest gear, try not to spin out and accept itll be steep for the next couple of minutes.
Its harder work getting out of the village. Its not quite as steep but its WAY longer.
Its well worth riding this climb but as you drop down into the village youll realise theres plenty of steep climbing to do once youve made it up the worlds steepest road.
Whats not to love?
Last time I rode something I
Last time I rode something I thought was doing to push me to crawling speed I did it on flats just incase I had to bail out! It’s also a lot easier to get started again on steep stuff with flats.
How much pulling power do you
How much pulling power do you lose though RR?
37% grade.
37% grade.
Choice 1: Road bike. You make it. Bragging rights and free beer for life.
Choice 2: Road bike. You fail and walk up. You’re human – accept it!
Choice 3: Road bike: You fail, come to a halt, brain turns to porridge, CLIPTASTROPHY! – You are the talk of every club ride ever, “Do you remember when … What a wanker!”
Choice 4: MTB. It’s what it’s for. Zero bragging rights.
Choice 5: Fixie/single speed. You already have your excuse, absolutely no-one expects you to make it. Serious bragging rights for attempting with bonuses for distance (that will get longer depending on time elapsed and alcohol consumed).
And I thought the one I have
And I thought the one I have here in Stavanger is hard enough topping out at around 30-32% (can’t find the actual figures at the moment) . . but when the “Hammer Series” comes through Stavanger thy use it, and they go up it 10 times. On their first lap, I’m sure they are going up faster than I dare go down, and that’s me running decent grippy tyres and good stopping disc brakes.
There’s a 70 degree bend right at the bottom of the steepest part, and it’s blind, with hedging, and the road is 2 way for traffic, even if only for access to properties.
I have the power to get up (in the granny gear) but generally find my front wheel trying to lift and that is scary.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.1862989,-2.8904539,3a,75y,328.27h,84.78t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s4U0LzZ7PFhjIKH00BQ57bA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
This is the hill in Chester where, back in the late ’50s, we old-school time trialists, after the cafe stop would see how far we could get up (not IF you could get up). We measured success by which back door we could reach. You needed a ‘catcher’ ready ‘cos we were strapped in to toeclips. :))
Richie Porte: rider sponsored
Richie Porte: rider sponsored by coffee company in slagging-off-other-coffee-manufacturers shock.