Welcome to Monday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
Live blog: Cycling UK criticise government’s “reannouncement” of huge road spending with nothing for cycling infra; Ellen van Dijk’s stolen bike turns up… four months later; World Champs Strava stats; Rohan Dennis officially leaves Bahrain-Merida +more
All the news from the site and beyond as we start a new week
Mon, Sep 30, 2019 21:54
SUMMARY
30 September 2019, 21:54
ICYMI: some of our top stories from the weekend
A very wet men’s road race at the World Champs capped off a big week for British cycling…
Denmark’s Mads Pedersen wins the rainbow jersey
Weather forces re-routing of World Championship road race
New Forest sportive organiser accused of vandalism after spray painting arrows on road
Geraint Thomas to skip next year’s Tour de France and target Giro d’Italia?
Police appeal to identify Fife cyclist left in critical condition after collision with van
30 September 2019, 21:54
Froome is back out on the road
Good to be back on the road again #cycling pic.twitter.com/E8eY7HQGVd
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) September 29, 2019
The four-time Tour de France champ’s remarkable recovery continues as he shares a snap of himself out on the road. He’s announced his first race back will be the Criterium de Saitama in Japan on the 27th October.
30 September 2019, 21:54
Bahrain-Merida admit they actually terminated Rohan Dennis' contract on 13th September
TEAM BAHRAIN MERIDA terminates contract with Rohan Dennis.
Full story: https://t.co/oURPLhCs4T
— Team Bahrain Merida (@Bahrain_Merida) September 29, 2019
In their ‘full story’, Bahrain-Merida say: “The team terminated its contract with Mr Dennis on 13th September 2019. This termination has not previously been made public to allow Mr Dennis an undisturbed preparation for the UCI 2019 Road World Championships. Mr Dennis has referred the termination to the UCI Arbitral Board. Against this background, no further comment will be made at this time.”
We have a small suspicion that this might not in fact be the ‘full story’, so will be looking to find out more details in due course…
30 September 2019, 21:54
Tory conference road spending announcement makes no mention of cycling infrastructure
This morning’s news. I don’t get why there is always money for more roads. But not for buses. Or for bikes. Or for freaking alternatives to more roads for more cars which just alienates everyone who isn’t using cars, can’t afford, doesn’t want to use, or just can’t use cars
— citymobility (@citycyclists) September 30, 2019
The Chancellor has this morning announced an”infrastructure revolution” on the second day of the Conservative Conference, including £25 billion to invest in England’s roads; none of which feature any mention of investment in cycling and walking, which hasn’t gone unnoticed on social media.
Sajid Javid promised improvements to 14 major roads, with a ‘national roads fund’ already set aside provisionally assuming this government stays in power for any length of time to have the work actioned.
The first projects to be funded will be completing the A66 Trans-Pennine expressway and the A46 Newark bypass, improving the M60 Simister Island interchange in Manchester and starting construction on the A428 to improve travel between Cambridge and Milton Keynes; the only mention of public or sustainable transport was a £220 million spending boost to improve bus services, and £50 million for Britain’s first all electric bus service.
Government doesn’t get the climate emergency. Building roads rather than improving conditions for walking and cycling misses the point. If you don’t invest in alternatives to driving, people will keep using polluting, climate-busting cars to get around. https://t.co/c7yDgAh55I
— Caroline Russell (@CarolineRussell) September 30, 2019
We’ve asked Cycling UK for their view on the spending announcements – do you think the government has got it all wrong?
30 September 2019, 21:54
When will this woman take a break?
Neem dit vooral niet te serieus maar ik sta idd aan de start in Gieten @SP_Gieten bij de cross (gewoon omdat ik crossen leuk vind!) Uiteraard gewoon in het zwart geel van @MitcheltonSCOTT!) maar vandaag eerste rondje in op de wegfiets https://t.co/QgjsQjCgQO
— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) September 30, 2019
Not content with winning the Women’s World Championships on Saturday with one of the most audacious solo attacks we’ve ever seen, Annemiek van Vleuten is set to bunny-hop into some Elite cyclocross racing.
Because, you know, we can all do that just for fun…
30 September 2019, 21:54
He is human after all.
But can he do it on a cold rainy Sunday in Yorkshire?
Unfortunately no, but we’re betting that this isn’t the last time we’ll see VdP on the attack in the hunt for a stripy jumper.
30 September 2019, 21:54
Could have done with this yesterday...
Wakefield this morning … what a difference 24 hours makes …
World championship level trolling from the weather in Yorkshire; it’s an absolutely beautiful morning pic.twitter.com/3p1fRB4zw1
— Simon MacMichael (@simonmacmichael) September 30, 2019
30 September 2019, 21:54
No words for Mads Pederson
The only thing we’ve seen on social media from the new world champ is this succinct Insta post, simply featuring a rainbow and a gold medal – simple but effective nonetheless.
30 September 2019, 21:54
Art demo on Bath's George street featuring 69 wheels represents micrograms of nitrus oxide in the air
The street in road.cc’s native Bath has been recorded as one of the most polluted in the city, and artist Alison Harper has demonstrated this by spreading 69 painted bike wheels across the railings next to the road. This represents the 69 micrograms of nitrus oxide recorded per cubic metre in the area, while the level that is recommended safe under European guidelines is 40.
“The red wheels are a symbol of a potent danger that, although invisible, affects us all and suggests we need a change in our behaviour”, reads the accompanying banner.
We took these pictures at around 10:15 this morning – naturally we had to wait a while to get some clear shots because of the traffic…
30 September 2019, 21:54
Brutal Strava data trickling through from World Champs men's road race
The stats are ridiculous, but even they don’t tell half the story of yesterday’s half ride/half swim through a rain-sodden Yorkshire. Of the few that actually finished, the highest-placed finisher to share Strava data so far is third-placed Stefan Küng. He recorded a ride distance of 272.49km which took 6 hours and 53 mins, burning a whopping 7,575 calories.
Sixth-placed Michael Valgren simply titled his ride ‘MADS P’ in tribute to his victorious countryman Mads Pederson, also posting power data which showed that his weighted average power was 294 watts for his soggy seven hour jaunt in the saddle.
30 September 2019, 21:54
Stolen Pro bike found by German police
’Hello, this is the German police speaking’
’ UH OH… ‘ ()
’We found your stolen bike!
:It’s found!! https://t.co/1mndtyLtHs pic.twitter.com/oiTKNQXQup
— Ellen van Dijk (@ellenvdijk) September 30, 2019
The sinking feeling of having a bike stolen is, unfortunately, one that many of us know all too well. When Ellen van Dijk’s Trek Madone team bike was stolen at the Lotto Ladies Tour in Germany back in June, the chances of her seeing it again were pretty slim… but it turned up, almost four months later!
It’s particularly good timing for Trek-Segafredo’s van Dijk, who is recovering from a broken humerus and pelvis that she suffered at the Boels Ladies Tour earlier in the month – hopefully she’ll be able to get reacquaint with the bike indoors before she gets back out on the road.
First though, it does look like it needs is a good wash as it appears the thief rode it in a canal. Or around Yorkshire last weekend, perhaps…
30 September 2019, 21:54
Cycling UK respond to government spending announcement, saying it's "at odds with their stated commitments to tackle congestion"
Cycling UK policy director Roger Geffen has expressed disappointment that Sajid Javid this morning said there would be huge planned investments in A roads and motorways, without any significant announcements involving sustainable transport; there’s also the fact that it’s nothing new, with the previous government setting aside the spending in their Road Investment Strategy 2, and announced by former Chancellor Phillip Hammond, months ago.
Geffen told road.cc:
“Javid’s reannouncement of £25bn for England’s motorways and trunk roads is far from new news – and was first announced by Theresa May’s Government’s in their Road Investment Strategy 2. Though some of the funding might improve cycling and walking facilities, the reality is that the RIS is just another example of the Government’s imbalance on transport spending, which is at odds with their stated commitments to tackle congestion, air pollution, physical inactivity and climate change.
“Investing in cycling and walking at a local level will help the Government meet their targets on all of these commitments – building new motorways will not. There must be a rebalance in transport spending, with at least 5% of the transport budget being immediately invested in cycling and walking and this then doubling over the next 10 years.”
30 September 2019, 21:54
Canyon to launch new Aeroad aero road bike
Canyon has had a new version of its Aeroad – the CFR Disc RO65 – approved by the UCI, indicating that a launch is not too far away.
30 September 2019, 21:54
Wiggo's 2020 predictions
Top predictions for the 2020 cycling season @SirWiggo sees the return of a stronger Chris Froome and a huge year for two youngsters… pic.twitter.com/1CKjIJYIsi
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) September 30, 2019
Sir Bradders thinks next year will be a big one for Chris Froome, Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel… what do you reckon to his predictions?
30 September 2019, 21:54
Sagan says he 'misread' finish at yesterday's brutal World Champs road race
While he congratulated the new world champion Mads Pedersen on Instagram yesterday, Sagan more recently told Tutto Bici: “I thought that Van der Poel and Trentin would be involved in a photo finish and that the race would have ended in a sprint. I definitely misjudged, things didn’t go as I expected or imagined. During the last lap I got it wrong, I wanted to test myself and understand how I was compared to the others, it’s in my character to improvise; I wasn’t in bad form, I felt good but I missed when would have been the right time to act, the one that probably would have made me win the fourth world title.
“I was convinced that more teams would reach the end in better shape and it would work differently, but due to the weather conditions there were a lot of riders missing and several national teams were short of men.”
30 September 2019, 21:54
What a photo
Saw this astonishing photo of Annemiek van Vleuten in the middle of her epic break at the #UCIWorldChampionships, and thought it worth a wider audience. Taken by Sarah Ryan. pic.twitter.com/84SU7pfdAN
— Brian Cookson OBE (@BrianCooksonOBE) September 30, 2019
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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 9 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 9 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 10 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 12 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 13 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 13 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 14 hours ago
They may have looked, but did they see?
jackcycles 14 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 14 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 14 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.
17 thoughts on “Live blog: Cycling UK criticise government’s “reannouncement” of huge road spending with nothing for cycling infra; Ellen van Dijk’s stolen bike turns up… four months later; World Champs Strava stats; Rohan Dennis officially leaves Bahrain-Merida +more”
Why yes, I do think the
Why yes, I do think the government has got it all wrong.
Oh, did you mean just the road building bit – well yes, that’s completely ignoring the return on investment of building cycling infrastructure. I daresay that the roads do require investment as well, but the priority should be to get as many people as possible cycling. Long-term, the costs of cycle infrastructure would be offset by reduced NHS expenditure.
However, the Tory/Labour agendas don’t even recognise that there may be another mode of transport than driving.
“We’ve asked Cycling UK for
“We’ve asked Cycling UK for their view on the spending announcements – do you think the government has got it all wrong?”
Well, I don’t know what CUK’s official position is, but mine is that this is the worst government in my life for a thousand reasons, but including its appalling failure on transport, and this announcement hasn’t changed my mind. This is quite clearly an election bribe, and like the 40 new hospitals which turns out to be six mostly refurbished, disintegrates on examination. It’s funny, but when labour proposes anything like this it is a completely reckless waste of hard-working taxpayers’ money. I’ll be writing to my MP making it very clear that these fake spending announcements aren’t going to fool most people, and definitely not me.
Never mind that study after study shows that building more roads creates more driving, more pollution, more congestion, more danger death and injury, reduces health increases obesity and is only a sensible investment if you make some pretty wild assumptions; this government is going to build more roads. Never mind that study after study shows that spending on cycling and walking is twenty times more beneficial than spending on roads, they’re going to spend all the money on roads.
We should all be outraged.
burtthebike wrote:
…
We should all be outraged.
— burtthebikeAgree and yes, I am truly outraged at the shocking (and shameless) lies, deception and collusion by our so-called elected representatives, including my own MP. They deserve to be put in the stocks, not taking cash from lobbyists and other firms for ‘consulting’ and other nefarious activities. The fossil fuel industry is a big player, of course.
It’s simple: the people in this government doesn’t give a f..k about other people. Today I see that Owen Paterson, another corrupt Shropshire MP bereft of morals, is in the news. That’s no surprise.
I know it’s not as sexy but
I know it’s not as sexy but could we spend a bit of cash repairing and even rebuilding the roads we already have. It is generally the councils responsibility for the smaller roads and they have been massively squeezed under austerity. Fix what you already have.
ktache wrote:
Fixing and updating roads is likely more environmentally friendly as well, if there’s going to be cars driving, keep them at a steady moderately efficient speed, at least then they won’t be flooring it to get up to speed after every minor issue as a lot of drivers seem to now.
ktache wrote:
Local authorities are responsible for roads that are not trunk roads or motorways. But they don’t have the money to fix anything. And we’re staring down the gun barrel of a social care crisis. Again, no money for local authorities and a big-business-rich-individual-focused government that doesn’t give a shit.
Really enjoyed the World
Really enjoyed the World Champs. Every race was interesting – even the TTs! van Vleuten’s solo will live long in the memory, as will the brutality of yesterday’s race. A huge success despite the weather, and that finishing course shows that you don’t need Alpine climbs or to be in Flanders to have a race that cracks the very best.
From what I heard on the radio this is just a re-announcement of the £25billion that Phillip Hammond had already announced. Plus a simple Google search can prove it:-
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/budget-announcement-philip-hammond-to-unveil-biggest-ever-cash-injection-for-englands-roads-a3973536.html
And politicians wonder why they have such a bad name.
Fishpastesarnie wrote:
It’s the 99% of politicians that give the rest a bad name.
Pre-election guff from a
Pre-election guff from a desperate-for-votes UK government.
It’s a gammon budget pure and
It’s a gammon budget pure and simple. No surprises whatsoever.
And they’re still polling higher than the opposition. How many years do we have to wait for these fuckers to die before we get a reasonable government and policies back? Or is the damage too much for that now??
Tbf whilst not leaping
Tbf whilst not leaping instantly on the ‘thing is bad’ bandwagon, whilst the money itself isnt a new thing, the former chancellor never really clarified what he was going to exactly spend it on, so saying you’ll spend £220 million of that 25billion on buses is a new thing even if it’s old money,as is spending £5 billion on broadband/5g, that’s right it’s not wholly going on roads fwiw either, try explaining that to the road money only funds roads lot,maybe they’ll advertise it as funding the information super highway instead…
Heard a spokestwat on the radio this morning say “everybody wants more roads”.
Erm no, I want less cars, less dependency on cars, more affordable public transport, better infrastructure, better policing and so on…
No, lets build more bypasses to feed into the congested smog infested sho=tihole town centres and meccano out of town retail shitholes!!!
People are stupid!
People are stupid!
A local MP got lots of praise from a middle class sporting club near me for her unwavering support of the building of 2 pitches and a ‘sports hub’ i.e. changing room. This project was after selling and demolisihing a University site (including 10 times the sports infrastructure) and building 3,000 houses. My friends bigging her up didn’t seem impressed when I showed the type of human she is, constantly voting against improved rights for LGBT people and people of a less financial position.
Just to point out that to
Just to point out that to just make a 32 mile section of the M4 into a “smart” motorway is going to cost an estimated 864.2 million pounds.
Think how many miles of cycle routes could be built for that, maybe even some that could be described as “quality” for that sort of money.
Smart motorways are bloody
Smart motorways are bloody lethal. The problem no-one has considered is that there’s lag between a car breaking down and the gantry lighting up to close the lane, so its very easy to arrive at 60mph+ to find a stationary vehicle in front of you. Particularly if you’re tucked in behind a lorry that pulls into the 2nd lane at the last minute – you’re expecting a slower moving vehicle ahead, not a stationary one, perhaps with no stop lights showing.
Not aware of any fatalities yet but it has to be only a matter of time.
Rather like the change made to rural speed limits for 7.5t+ vehicles this is another example of govt prioritising capacity over safety.
Just seen Sajid Javid making
Just seen Sajid Javid making all kinds of astonishing spending commitments that would have embarrassed Croesus, but not a flicker of a smile crossed his face as he told lie after lie. Is there no kind of acting award for such a towering performance? Apparently the magic money tree is fertilised with tory bs.