Live blog: Reason Wiggo smashed Knighthood gong AND SPoTY trophy; Apple Watch saves cyclist; Worlds junior TT champ goes wrong way AND wins; Rapha Yorkshire kit; Dropping the wattage bomb; Fast… but ugly TT lids; UCI gets a grip on socks +more

Like much of the cycling world Rapha are in Yorkshire this week hanging out in Harrogate enjoying the Road World Champs and as you’d expect they’ve created a range of special Yorkshire themed kit to celebrate that fact.

The mini range comprises mens and women’s Yorkshire Classic Flyweight Jerseys at £90 a pop; a rather natty cotton Yorkshire Musette at £20; a Yorkshire cap (no, it’s not flat - they missed a trick there) also £20; and a Yorkshire t-shirt at £30.

The print design for the jerseys, cap and bag are derived from the Dales according to Rapha - think cubist puddles – they look pretty snazzy actually. The jerseys are made from a light weight, high wicking material so if you’re actually wearing one in Yorkshire don’t forget to stick a good thick vest on underneath. And pack a waterproof.

We’re sort of surprised Rapha don’t aren’t also producing a special Yorkshire umbrella. It's be a winner. 

December 2012 was a month when Sir Bradley Wiggins was in the public eye - beyond the cycling world - as never before.

The end of a year in which he became the first British rider to win the Tour de France and followed that up less than a fortnight later by winning his fourth Olympic gold medal as he took the time trial at London 2012 saw him voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, as well as being knighted in the New Year's Honours List.

If you've been following him recently on his Eurosport podcast, or during his appearances in the network's coverage of the Tour de France and, more recently, the Vuelta, you've probably noticed that Wiggins in 2019 seems more at ease with himself than he did back then.

He's now revealed on his podcast that he has smashed both that Sports Personality trophy, as well as well as the medal he received when the Queen knighted him at Buckingham Palace back in 2013. 

" I smashed my Sports Personality trophy, I smashed my knighthood in front of my kids and chucked them in the flower bed to make a point to them," he said.

"I wanted to show them that it's not the material items that we now polish on the mantelpiece for the rest of our lives to elevate dad in our household as something special."

An avid collector of cycling memorabilia - £45,000 for a Giro d'Italia winner's jersey anyone? - plus in the past, guitars and classic scooters, among other things, Wiggins has certainly had a good few of those materialistic baubles to polish in his time.

He's possibly the most complex figure in British sport of the past 40-odd years, with perhaps only Paul Gascoigne challenging him for that title.  By destroying those baubles, will he have found a bit more peace in himself?

Antonio Tiberi, dubbed the ‘New Nibali’ by the Italian press, overcame a disastrous start in Harrogate this afternoon to win the Men’s Junior Time Trial title at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships.

Immediately after rolling down the start ramp, the 18-year-old realised his cranks were broken but kept supreme coolness to place his bike next to his team car at the first corner, waiting patiently for the mechanic to hand him a spare bike.

Nightmare start for Antonio Tiberi - he’s had to change bike before even getting round the first corner!

Respect for keeping so calm in such a high stress situation. #Yorkshire2019 pic.twitter.com/OE4RnUzjNT

— UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 23, 2019

The incident cost him a huge amount of time before he had hardly begun the two laps of the Harrogate circuit, and at the first time check he clocked what would be the 25^th quickest time of the day, 35.56 seconds down on the fastest.

Many riders would have given up after that disastrous start, but not Tiberi, who rode a stunning time trial that had him in the hot seat as the final group of riders set off, including his compatriot and defending champion Andrea Piccolo, the defending champion.

None would better Tiberi’s time, however, with Enzo Leijsne of the Netherlands finishing second, 8 seconds down on the Italian’s time of 38:28, with Germany’s Marco Brenner taking bronze, 5 seconds further back.

As reported earlier today on the live blog, there was drama in the Women’s Junior Time Trial too, with the Russian rider Aigul Gareeva going the wrong way on the final right hand turn and ending up in the deviation where race vehicles are directed, but fortunately having enough in hand to win the rainbow jersey by 4 seconds.

I know which tent I’d rather be in. #trekcxcup @thirdspacebrews @TrekBikes pic.twitter.com/BOHxhevaXl

— Casey Kohner (@CaseyKohner) September 21, 2019

This amazing edit was created by Tannus Armour for International Dog Day.

It's amazing how fast the dogs are over such rrruff terrain!

Russia’s Aigul Gareeva took a wrong turn in the Junior Women’s Time Trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Harrogate this morning – but still managed to win the gold medal.

Gareeva, one of the final riders out on the course, had been set to shatter the best time set moments before by the Dutch rider Shirin van Anrooij and still beat here with more than 3.61 seconds in hand despite going straight on at the final corner.

When you do this....
...but win anyway!!

What a ride from Aigul Gareeva! #Yorkshire2019 pic.twitter.com/LTNlO00pAz

— UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 23, 2019

The mistake happened at the point on the course, the deviation, where vehicles are required to exit, with the Russian going straight on despite the marshal signalling for her to go right. She immediately realised her error, the mistake costing her 10-15 seconds.

Great Britain’s Elynor Backstedt, who nearly crashed early on after her back wheel slid out on a corner and she almost hit the barriers, finished 10.93 seconds behind the winner to take the bronze medal for the second year running.

Today was London’s biggest ever #CarFreeDay! London stood with cities all over the world in reimagining our amazing city without cars and embraced walking, cycling and even dancing #LetLondonBreathe pic.twitter.com/cqDyp9q9xn

— London Gov (@LDN_gov) September 22, 2019

 

 

 

 

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@trekcxcup has been hot and dry in its short history while it seems @jinglecross has been blessed with thunder showers during its World Cup tenure. Well this time the cross conditions everyone hoped for arrived in Waterloo. Beautiful and epic racing amongst the stars of cross. Huge congrats to @katkanash for the win. Much respect to @maghroch for fighting to keep the World Cup points competition close. So many stories in the fight for the podium

A post shared by tenspeedhero (@tenspeedhero) on Sep 22, 2019 at 5:10pm PDT

It was a tad muddy over at the 2nd round of the UCI World Cup CX in Waterloo, USA. 

Rising British star Evie Richards slogged her way through the heavy mud to take third in the elite women's race while Eli Iserbyt and Toon Aerts swapped the lead of the men's race before Iserbyt broke free to take the win.

Might as well just throw that skinsuit in the bin though. No amount of Vanish will fix that.

 

 

 

 

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Wow! Crazy days in America with two Worldcup wins. Thanks to @pauwelssauzen_bingoal staff and all the others for the support (Belga/@cyclephotos)

A post shared by Eli Iserbyt (@iserbyteli) on Sep 22, 2019 at 8:08pm PDT

.@mathieuvdpoel's attack on Moskesstraat #PrimusClassic pic.twitter.com/aEYtv7EW58

— McEEV (@GosuSM) September 21, 2019

So, Van der Poel looks to be in decent form ahead of the Yorkshire Worlds next weekend.

Here he is casually dropping Sagan and Van Avermaet up a cobbled climb without looking remotely bothered.