Phrase “Well done Peloton” makes Roger’s Profanisaurus; Strava reveals “Quitter’s Day”; Cyclists' eating disorders; NZ has worst drivers; Contador's new bike brand+ more on the live blog

“New Zealand has the worst drivers”, Australia says hold my beer…

We get the impression that the drivers just sort of resent the bikes just being on the road. As a consequence they make no effort whatsoever to pull out and they drive incredibly close.

About 15 years ago whilst touring via the Atlantic costal road in the Alentejo region of Portugal, I had a terrible 3 or 4 days of riding.  Seemingly every single car on a standard and pretty busy 'B' type road doing not less than 70-80mph and very, very close passing.  Bloody frightening.  However, on the final day of this nightmare road, a police car pulled up alongside me, one of the officers wound down the window and said something in Portuguese to me - I thought I was getting nicked for not obeying some local law.  However, I muttered 'sorry, I only speak English' and they then sped off down the road.

About 3 miles later I saw that the policemen had parked up by the side of the road and were pulling up every speeding, close passing motorist going.  As I passed them I gave a big smile and said 'obrigado!'  One of the officers smiled back and saluted me.  And guess what? From then on, all cars were now slowing and giving me plenty of room.   Now that is how you do that.   

Ooh, stripey...  but wait, isn't that the Aqua Blue logo?

On the subject of weight. I don't suffer from cycling's culture (looks at remains of icecream, christmas cake, crisps and cheese for tea, thinks about dinner...)

The UCI sets a minimum weight limit for racing bikes, so why not set something similar for riders?

I know it is more complicated than setting a flat minimum weight, but something like a height/min weight index, or BMI (I know the limitations of BMI), or maybe a minimum body fat percentage etc. You get the idea?

If you had a committee of medical doctors/dieticians/ nutritionists etc I am sure they could come up with some sort of system and include a race ‘weight in’ and then a table of permitted losses throughout longer races like a grand tour. This could ensure that competitors stayed within a defined healthy regime and would prevent there being an advantage to dangerously low body fat percentages/ anorexia etc.

PP

Awavey, change the routes at the Grand Tours. More time trialling, more flat stages etc. Track athletes tend to be nearer to normal body shape. The problem is (and I'm guilty as a fan) that we love to see the high mountain stages and brutality in the tours so the athletes have evolved and it's a scientific power vs weight to suit the profiles that have been set.

I agree with Brad...as do many health professionals it would seem.

You shouldn't need the physique of a small boy to be competitive....although as someone with a "sprinter's" build I would say that

Just because the sport was less professional doesn't mean it was 'better'. Look at motorsports in the 70s, get out/off and get on the gaspers. Meanwhile today anyone smoking wouldn't be fit enough to ride or drive.

The trouble is the sports genies come out of the bottle and won't go back in. If you won't get to an unhealthy weight someone else will and beat you. To me at 73kg it's in thinkable that Wiggins who is 4 to 5 inches taller could get to 67 kg as I'm nowhere near being 'solid' and I'm nearer the slender side. Thing is I'm not aiming for gold medals so I'll never have the motivation to do what it takes.

The world of the elite is probably pretty unfathomable to most but history tells us cyclists will do anything to win.

So the point Brad makes isn't worthy of discussion then Simon?

When i watched cycling in the 70's it was much more big powerful riders, sports science and the routes now make things very different. If there is concern about diet and the strains the body is put through then maybe more could be done to change things. Take Rugby as an example, the laws have been changed to prevent so many deaths, why not be open to discussing change rather than throw tired cliches about?

Wiggo complaining about the weight he chose to be to compete and win the biggest races? Oh, cry me a yellow-coloured river of money!

Not that it matters, if you wait 5 minutes he'll be back on screen with a different opinion. For someone who doesn't like the attention he certainly likes to get in front of a microphone.

As for shedding light on the sport, pull the other one. He could talk about some injections he had or the doping stories his DS Sean Yates won't tell...

Ah, would that be Sir Bradley "I would never use drugs"* Wiggins?

*to be later refined to something like "I meant I would never inject drugs"...err, and then to something like "I would never use drugs which were not prescribed"

Contador's new bike decked out with Lightweight wheels and parts... a competitor to the Boardman Pro Carbon this will not be.

Rick, Sir Bradley speaks very highly of you!

I 'trained' to do Mont Ventoux on Tom Simpson day back in 2017, Brad was there and I got a photo. I was nearly 2 stone lighter than I stand today and at 6ft tall was 72kg. I was amazed at how thin Brad looked compared to me, my legs were twice the size of his. The fact that he could produce so much power from such a frame amazes me.

I think it is more than fine for him to say he's enjoyed being able to let go and enjoy food, beer, time with his family etc. and shed more light onto the sport...

Oh fuck off Wiggins. You were born for it and you still moan about it despite religiously following it and knowing exactly what awaited you.

And you also went into a 'grey' area. Shup up and enjoy the fact you made it.