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TdF Beefeaters win UCI Fans’ Award with THAT video; Hope in Lotus tie-up; British Cycling slams e-car 'green' number plate plans; 6 Day London – how to watch on BBC; Lookalike trophies; 'Auction for Kennaugh's Dogma F1 + more on live blog

All today's news from the site and beyond.....
Tue, Oct 22, 2019 20:12
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Beefeater Bend
22 October 2019, 18:35
6 Day London starts tonight - and it's live on the BBC

6 Day London starts today - and it is live on the BBC. Head here for details of how to follow Mark Cavendish, Elia Viviani, Caleb Ewan and the other stars competing this week.

Laura Kenny, Katie Archibald and other top female track stars will be riding at the weekend too.

22 October 2019, 16:48
TdF Beefeaters win Fans’ Award at UCI World Cycling Gala for THAT video

Great Britain's own TdF Beefeaters have won the Fans’ Award, voted for on Facebook, at the UCI World Cycling Gala in Gulin, China today for their video shot on the Galibier during this year’s Tour de France when they led fans from all over the world – and a T-Rex – in a memorable rendition of Dutch Euro-pop anthem, Links Recht.

Chapeau, guys!

22 October 2019, 16:08
Lookalikes.PNG
Lookalikes

Sir,

Has anyone noticed the remarkable similarity between the Muhammad Ali Trophy in boxing (left) and cycling’s Giro d’Italia’s Trofeo Senza Fine (right)? Might they, perhaps, be related?

Yours, etc

(with apologies to Private Eye)

22 October 2019, 16:07
22 October 2019, 14:58
Green number plates, yay or nay? This calls for a poll...
 
22 October 2019, 13:59
British Cycling not impressed by green number plate idea

Today the Department for Transport has floated the idea of electric car drivers getting green number plates. Making them easily identifiable will make it possible for local authorities to allow e-car drivers to benefit from incentives such as cheaper parking, and even using bus lanes according to the DfT.

The announcements haven't impressed British Cycling, Chris Boardman and numerous environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth, with Boardman saying e-cars "don't touch the worst pollution or congestion." 

Do you think this is an empty gesture, or a genuine possible solution to tackling some pollution?

 

 

22 October 2019, 15:00
South Staffs bike shop have £40k worth of stock stolen in the early hours

Fishface Cycles in Wombourne, near Wolverhampton shared the bad news on their Facebook page that they were broken into at around 4:30am this morning. No photos of the bikes have been shared yet, but hopefully they can be made too hot to handle.

22 October 2019, 13:25
Hope partner with Lotus "to push the boundaries of what’s possible on two wheels"
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A slightly ambiguous presser that's just landed in our inbox tells us Hope Technology, renowned mostly for their high-end wheels and hubs, will partner with British car makers Lotus to explore the limits of bicycle design and tech. It will be the first time Lotus have worked in the bike industry for 25 years, during the days of the groundbreaking Lotus 108 that Chris Boardman rode to a 56.375 kilometre hour record in 1996 - the bike was so fast it was promptly banned by the UCI. 

While they don't go as far as to say what products might be in the pipeline, Hope say this much: "The joint venture has been established to explore new ways to push the boundaries of bicycle design and technology. At its heart will be a collaborative programme of research and development, data analysis and knowledge-sharing, covering topics such as lightweight engineering, aerodynamics and advanced material manufacturing.

"While Lotus is best known as a car company, it has a proud and highly successful history in cycling through its Lotus Engineering division. In the Nineties, Lotus was instrumental in the design and development of bikes for cycling legend Chris Boardman at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, where he won gold, and in the 1994 Tour de France, where he won the prologue time trial to the famous yellow jersey. The Lotus Sport bike – instantly recognisable for its aerodynamic design – remains to this day an iconic symbol of outstanding British sporting success."

22 October 2019, 09:44
E-Couriers protesting against Royal Mail turn out for premier of new Ken Loach film

Loach's new film, 'Sorry we missed you', explores the exploitative world of the gig economy and zero hours contracts, and workers who are currently fighting for better employment rights are hopeful it will shine a light on the practice. 

Loach is seen here at the London premier of his film with a group of Royal Mail eCouriers, represented by the IWGB union. Royal Mail's eCourier subsidary, which employs e-bike, e-van and motorbike couriers, treats them as independent contractors, meaning they don't get the same employment rights as other Royal Mail workers. Drivers/riders are expected to maintain their own vehicles, and IWGB claim the current circumstances are 'unlawful.'

IWGB Vice President and eCourier courier Max Dewhurst said last month: “eCourier management know that we are all entitled to basic workers' rights, but refuse to abide by the law, and instead, treat us with absolute contempt. Couriers are often dismissed without cause, pressured by controllers and forced to pay absurd charges. This has to stop and if managers don't agree to come to the negotiating table voluntarily, we will be forced to drag them there through industrial action.”

22 October 2019, 10:54
Raising the bar...
22 October 2019, 11:46
Fair point?

Two-times Transcon winner James Hayden says he'd much rather see a raffle rather than an auction to allow those who don't have wads of cash to participate... what do you think? 

22 October 2019, 10:16
Peter Kennaugh's 2017 Pinarello Dogma up for 'silent auction'

Kennaugh's Dogma F10 from his final season at Team Sky is being auctioned off, with proceeds going to a male cancer awareness charity. The winner will also get a signed jersey. 

To enter the silent auction, you DM the Twitter account above with your highest offer. We assume there's some sort of reserve so it's probably sensible offers only; but if you were saving up for a new superbike anyway this might be an economical way of going about getting one, and all for a good cause. 

22 October 2019, 13:47
Sunday CX highlights

Some of the best bits from the Women's elite race in Round 3 of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Bern. T'was a muddy one...

22 October 2019, 14:37
Factor Bikes open new UK showroom and HQ
factor bikes o2 vam4

The new facility at Hethel Engineering Centre in Norfolk will provide a Retul bike fitting service, opportunities to test Factor bikes before purchasing and offer custom paint schemes with their bike build service. John Bailey of Factor says: “It is 12 years since Factor Bikes started its journey in the UK, and it has travelled the world. Coming back to our roots in this centre of engineering excellence, marks the start of an exciting new chapter in Factor Bikes’ history. We hear the roar of cars on the Lotus test track behind us daily, which provides a constant reminder of Factor’s F1 heritage. As we look forward to Factor’s future in the UK, it feels like Factor Bikes has come home.”

 

22 October 2019, 08:15
Cyclist's 'strong reaction' to being rammed by a driver is dividing opinion online...

We think this may have done the rounds before, but it's once again making people question their moral compass on social media.

Can this kind of violence ever be condoned? 

22 October 2019, 08:03
Raúl Alarcón on provisional suspension list for 'use of prohibited methods and/or substances'
raul alarcon wikipedia

The 33-year-old Pro Continental rider is included in the UCI's latest list of riders to receive provisional suspensions for possible doping violations. 

Jack Sexty

After cobbling together a few hundred quid during his student days off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story), Jack bought his first road bike at the age of 20 and has been hooked ever since. He was Staff Writer at 220 Triathlon magazine for two years before joining road.cc in 2017, and reports on all things tech as well as editing the road.cc live blog. He is also the news editor of our electric-powered sister site eBikeTips. Jack's preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking (the latter being another long story), and on Sunday afternoons he can often be found on an M5 service station indulging in his favourite post-race meal of 20 chicken nuggets, a sausage roll, caramel shortbread and a large strawberry milkshake. 

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