Live blog: Anonymous employees launch Make Evans Great Again Insta account; Worst bike rack ever – or is it? Anti-dooring tech coming to Tesla cars? $250 ‘folding’ Trek Domane; Pat Nevin reveals he ‘nearly killed’ Roman Abramovich; Man riding on M27 +more

Its not like you’d have been out on the town a couple of days after new year’s eve, surely not! But if you still somehow managed to miss out on our top stories over the weekend, then here are your highlights…

Chris Froome insists “recovery is going well”

Round the world cyclist Josh Quigley happy the driver who hit him from behind will not be charged

How Oslo has all but eliminated cyclist and pedestrian deaths

RideLondon boss urges Surrey residents to back event in council’s consultation

Time Out slammed on social media for ‘How not to be a dick’ when cycling article

Mobike lost 200,000 bikes last year

Speaking to GQ, Thomas said watching the BBC documentary on his 2019 Tour assault was ‘like reliving the whole thing again’, and said the whole thing ended up being quite last-minute even though he’d thought about documenting his Tour efforts for a while. The Tour was of course eventually won by his 22-year-old teammate Egan Bernal.

You can watch ‘The Road will Decide’ for free on BBC iPlayer here, and if you skip to 10:24 you will also be treated to a fleeting cameo from two of road.cc’s finest. Fame at last… 

The shortcut-seeking cyclist was spotted on Sunday morning at Junction 11 of the M27 around the Fareham area, with police being called to the scene just before 11am. A Hampshire Constabulary spokesman told The Daily Echo: “We were first called at 10.56am today to a report of a concern for the welfare of a man seen cycling on the M275 near Portchester. It was further reported that the man was on the westbound M27 at Fareham.

“Officers attended. The man was escorted from the carriageway and is now safe.”

It’s not the first case of cyclists taking the motorway in the UK, and strangely probably won’t be the last: in April 2018 police stopped a man who was found riding on the M1 in Sheffield who was trying to get to London, and back in 2016 a foreign family of four were escorted from the hard shoulder of the A74(M) in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. 

Catch up with the latest behind the scenes action from Tom Pidcock and co.

In the first edition of things you didn’t expect to read today, Nevin – who also made 193 appearances for Chelsea in the 80’s before finding a career in the media – revealed he very nearly ran over the club’s current owner in his car while Abramovich was cycling. 

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Nevin (above) says the incident happened on the Isle of Arran as he was driving up the coast: “”About three years ago I was on holiday in Arran and I was driving up the north side of Arran. Every time you go on holiday there you drive round the whole island.

“I came round a corner at the top just before Lochranza and I nearly hit a guy on a bike. I just got out the way at the last moment, I could have killed the guy. It was Roman Abramovich.

“What a story that would have been if I had killed Roman Abramovich. I just missed him.

“His yacht was off the coast and he was cycling round. He doesn’t know to this day that it was me.”

Although Russian oil billionaire Abramovich is famously aloof, we suspect that there’s a fair chance he will now be made aware that it was indeed Nevin who nearly took him out that day… 

Yeah, but we have a winner!

Bloody #cycling menaces! pic.twitter.com/3vZoFAjc41

— ButCyclists (@but_cyclists) January 5, 2020

The Twitter account posts photos mostly of motor vehicles in precarious, dangerous and/or illegal positions to demonstrate that bad bike manners aren’t necessarily our biggest issue… and this one may top the lot.

What the Dutch?

Edition:
transporting a party tent… pic.twitter.com/vdR0IwdcM6

— Cycling Professor (@fietsprofessor) January 6, 2020

The best way to transport a party tent to the venue? By bike of course! 

 

 

 

 

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Also… fresh new @nike shoes for 2020… these might be up there with one of my best designs

A post shared by Adam Blythe (@adamblythe89) on Jan 1, 2020 at 12:27am PST

The tireless recently-retired former pro Adam Blythe is anything but retired in every other aspect of his life: recently taking up a marketing executive role at Chpt3, still repping for Madison brands such as Genesis bikes and doing the odd bit of presenting, all while being a dad of three. All his hard work does open a few doors though, one of the most recent being these special custom Nike-branded shoes he’s knocked up. We’re not sure if he’s actually bought these or not, but in any case to our knowledge Nike-branded cycling shoes are actually made by DMT. 

 

 

 

 

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New bike day… maybe doing a custom paint job on this… what do you rekon I should do? I’m thinking BRIGHT!!! White wall tyres will be on soon @genesisbikesuk (saddle is 2cm to High here)

A post shared by Adam Blythe (@adamblythe89) on Jan 6, 2020 at 1:40am PST

Today Blythe has also posted his latest gift from Genesis, this garish Zero Disc with full Dura-Ace groupset, deep dish DT Swiss wheels and a ridiculously massive and slammed stem. New bike day, bad back day… 

Vinther announced his retirement in a Facebook post after battling for 9 months to get his race fitness back following a crash in March where he suffered a serious concussion. He wrote: “2019 has been a nightmare year for me. After a crash in March, I suffered a bad concussion, I haven’t been able to ride 100% since then. I have symptoms every day, even 9 months later. My career as a cyclist is over.

“Can I ever push my body again, get the pulse up high, and feel alive like before? It’s been a terrible year to get through. Way harder than even my loved ones are aware.

“It is with deep sadness I have to say goodbye to the sport that I love. Cycling has given me lots of ups and downs, and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. Not only my victories, but also all the amazing riders I’ve beaten in my career. Most importantly, I am proud to have helped young talents – who were far better than me – up to the highest level.

If there’s anything cycling has taught me, it’s that you have to fight on no matter how black it looks. I would like to say thank you to everyone who has been part of my journey. A special thanks to my parents for the infinite support, and all my coaches for shaping me as a rider and human being. Of course also a huge thanks goes to my girlfriend, for supporting me this year where everything has been so difficult.”

57-year-old Anthony Rogers was last seen on CCTV cycling into Kinloss from Forres before vanishing on December 31st, and his body was found by police at 12:30pm on Saturday. 

Mr Rogers was a keen cyclist and well known in his local area. His disappearance was said to be extremely out of character and sparked a huge search; Mr Rogers’ family have been informed that his body has now been found and identified. 

L’Equipe reports that if his Alpecin-Fenix team are invited, the 24-year-old Dutchman is more than ready to ride the most prestigious of the five monuments. He told Gazetta Dello Sport on Friday: “I still watch it in full on television. But since the early 2000s, it’s always been dry. I would like to participate in a wet Roubaix. Rain, mud, cobblestones, a man-to-man battle on the pedals. It would be wonderful!” 

When he’s done winning everything on the cyclocross circuit this winter, it’s reported that Van der Poel is likely to make his 2020 road debut at the Strade Bianche on the 7th March if his team are given a wildcard, and his first World Tour race of the season should be the Tour of Catalonia between the 23rd-29th March. This will all be a big sideshow though, as his primary goal in 2020 will be to win Olympic gold in mountain bike race in Tokyo.

Never knew a folding bike could look so good until I saw this on Craigslist from r/bicycling

Struggling to come up with the £££’s for an actual Trek Domane? Consider this bargain folding version, kindly advertised on Craigslist by someone who definitely isn’t just trying to shift a completely broken bike onto some poor unsuspecting soul. Brompton eat your heart out…

A number of our Facebook followers claim that the ‘folding’ Trek Domane isn’t actually a Trek Domane at all. Over on Twitter, Pete Law suggested it may be an early On One model from Planet X with a Trek sticker on the downtube. But our own Dave Atkinson is certain it is a Trek Domane AL3. here’s a non-folding version… 

What do you reckon? I think we’ve got the mystery of the decade on our hands and we’re only six days in… 

If you’ve been experiencing slower-than-usual service from the online German bike retailer recently, this is most likely why: Canyon say they were the target of “a massive criminal cyber attack” just before the turn of the year, perpetrated by a professionally organised group. They do say that orders via the web shop could continue to be placed as usual, and the attack has now been identified and stopped. 

CEO Richard Arnold said: “Due to the encryption of our IT infrastructure, work and business processes were temporarily massively affected. Our Koblenz site was directly affected, as were all our international companies with the exception of the US company, as it operates its own IT system. Unfortunately, we expect delays in customer contact and delivery in the next few days. We are making every effort to keep the impact on our customers and fans as low as possible and to get back to normal operations as quickly as possible

“We regret this incident very much and apologize that Canyon is currently not able to offer its usual standard of service.”

Full story to follow. 

Please consider a feature to look for bicyclist with the side cameras when car is parked and lock the door to prevent “dooring” if there is a bicycle approaching the blind spot. “Dooring” in large cities is major cause of injuries. Happened to me.

— Burhan Halilov (@7400N) January 5, 2020

The Tesla CEO was asked on Twitter if he would consider fitting cars with side cameras to prevent ‘dooring’, i.e. car drivers or passengers opening their car doors without looking, which has had fatal consequences for cyclists in some cases. His one-word reply was enough for some to take it as confirmation that the update is coming. The Tesla-themed news website Teslarati claims that a quick over-the-air software update could enable the vehicle’s cameras to help prevent dooring, and the car’s sound system could also be used to warn drivers and passengers about hazards when opening the doors. 

The most effective way for drivers and car passengers to prevent dooring without resorting to technology is the Dutch Reach technique. This involves opening the car door with the hand farthest away from the door handle, thus forcing you to twist and look behind you when opening – more info on Cycling UK’s website here. 

 

 

 

 

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Even though our buying department is full of incompetent and inexperienced people our stores across the country are filled with knowledge and have a huge passion for cycling. Low end brands like @vikingbikes and @schwinnbikes cheapen our image as a company, We know there is a market for lower priced bikes more than anyone but when the bike continues to fail straight from the box it’s time to re think our buying tactics (or buyers) Admin ~ Area manager #MEGA #makingevansgreatagain #viking #schwinn #evanscycles #snowflakes #newbuyersplease #cluelessbuyers #freshstart #2020 #evanscycles #sportsdirect

A post shared by Making Evans Great Again (@makeevansgreatagain) on Dec 30, 2019 at 5:11am PST

The account has racked up nearly 500 followers in two weeks, and levels a number of accusations against the senior management at Evans Cycles, who were taken over by Sports Direct in late 2018. Originating as a joke between colleagues at Evans’ Gatwick store according to the account holders, they’ve now gone as far as to have merchanidise made including ‘Make Evans Great Again’ baseball caps; although they insist this is in no way a reflection of the account admins’ views of the President of the United States, and simply topical play-on words that dovetailed with their predicament. 

As well as the post above criticising Evans’ buying department for filling stores with cheaper brands, in another post they say: 

“As we near the end of 2019 we look back over the last year at the ups and downs at Evans. Moving forward, We hope we grow bigger and better in 2020 and really come together more as a company!

“Communication in any business is key, and with poor communication comes poor company structure and everyone becomes more and more divided. The stores, warehouse and contact centre don’t seem to have this problem as much as the upper management/directors do because most seem to be real people who can interact with one another. Instead directors and higher management have failed with their head in the sand, and dictate to everyone whether it be with their unrealistically high targets, awful decisions in spending company money or just taking honest feedback plus much more. 

“We hope Sports Direct gets this message with great positivity and takes in what the people are saying, because there is a lot of good talented people that work for Evans and even more talented people who have left! We get that a couple snowflakes out there will be mad over the slogan but in general we have had very successful feedback from all over the country from customers, from staff to famous cyclists!”

road.cc has been in touch with the Make Evans Great Again account admin and will be publishing a more detailed Q+A tomorrow; we have also contacted Evans Cycles’ PR Agency for comment. 

A year and a half ago, after two cyclists were killed in the Royal Borough of Greenwich on roads where a Cycle Superhighway had been planned but shelved, Stop Killing Cyclists staged a die-in and vigil outside the council’s offices in Woolwich.

Thanks in large part to their campaigning and the efforts of the London Cycling Campaign, Transport for London has today announced a consultation into extending Cycleway 4 – currently being built between Tower Bridge and Greenwich – on to Woolwich in the east.

18 months ago, following on from death of Edgaras Cepura, we organised a vigil and die-in outside Greenwich Council (Woolwich Town hall) calling for Cycleway 4 to be extended to Woolwich.
Glad this is finally moving fwd),
Edgaras & Adrianna Skrzypiec didn't die in vain. https://t.co/2q0M8KipTB pic.twitter.com/6myD3mGssp

— StopKillingCyclists (@StopKillingCycl) January 6, 2020

Incredibly creative road in Holland where the right speed produces the correct key pic.twitter.com/F0LE2WQi8F

— Giles Paley-Phillips (@eliistender10) January 4, 2020

Berlin-based designer and art director Ramin Nasibov has had a bit of kickback on Twitter today after posting the below picture with the caption, “I like this minimalist built-in bike stands.”

The replies to his tweet have been almost universally negative, with some respondents querying whether he’s ever ridden a bike and others listing design flaws.

Ultimate form over function:
1. Nothing to secure a lock to
2. Unstable design that makes bikes more likely to be knocked or fall over
3. Could bend your wheel
4. Unusable with larger tyres
5. Easy for someone to undo the front wheel and steal the rest of the bike

— Hannah (@theeyecollector) January 6, 2020

Could something else be going on, though? Whisper it, but could it be that an attempt at humour went way over the heads of his 700,000-odd followers on Twitter as well as the cyclists who piled in?

First off, it’s a CGI rendering that has had a Dutch-style bike rather crudely Photoshopped on top of it (look at that front wheel). 

Secondly, the scale … well, it all looks wrong, doesn’t it?

We’ve tried to reverse-search the original image without success, but we suspect that Nasibov – or someone else – saw a picture of some kerbing with what may be a drainage culvert or something else and decided to have a bit of fun by plonking a bike on top and passing it off as the dernier cri in cycle parking and whacking it out on the internet to see the reaction.

Just us?