G says overall peloton standard has gone up; Evenepoel, 20, sets 2020 alight; Froome returns to racing; World Bicycle Relief delivers 500,000th Buffalo Bike; Dowsett’s drug test dilemma; Vintage Poulidor ad; Free TdY climbs guide + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Alex Dowsett's drug test dilemma
Bet my morning has a bigger dilemma than yours..
Early drugs test. Naturally I went for a wee 5mins before the doorbell rung. So now we wait,I really need a 💩 but a wee not so much, rules are the tester needs to watch me wee & I can’t bring myself to do what you’re all thinking
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) February 19, 2020
For those that thought “too much information,” Twitter is for sharing
And for those wondering what you should be thinking, I will not poop in front of another man.
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) February 19, 2020
Success. Another day done where I haven’t had to poop in front of another person.
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) February 19, 2020
Brilliant vintage ad for Paris department store starring Raymond Poulidor
“You can really find everything at la Samaritaine,” is the tagline for this ad starring “The Eternal Second,” Raymond Poulidor.
« On trouve vraiment de tout à la Samaritaine ! »
Raymond Poulidor, 1971 pic.twitter.com/8xLQsAvGu6
— David Guénel (@davidguenel) February 19, 2020
Video: Pro cyclists doing core work and singing
Not only a cycling team… 😂🎵🎶#talentdevelopment pic.twitter.com/SRj5vHMRZx
— SEG Racing Academy (@segracing) February 20, 2020
Get a FREE copy of this year's Tour de Yorkshire Ride Climbs Guide by Simon Warren
Get your FREE Tour de Yorkshire Ride climbs guide by Simon Warren the author of the 100 climbs series – https://t.co/l70yF6FbN8#TDYRide pic.twitter.com/X9nH64tFYX
— Tour de Yorkshire 🚴 (@letouryorkshire) February 19, 2020
Geraint Thomas still working on some of the pro cycling basics
I don’t feel so bad forgetting my shoes at Sunday’s Rouken Glen CX now…. https://t.co/rMzXec7Jub
— Anth (@urbancyclist) February 19, 2020
London Bridge to close for waterproofing (cyclists can still use it)
London Bridge is to close to all traffic except buses, licensed taxis, pedestrians and cyclists from March 16 until October.
The work will see the original protective waterproofing layer below the road surface replaced, along with 24 bearings.
Cyclists will be able to use the bridge as usual throughout the works, although there will only be one lane open in each direction, shared with buses and licensed taxis.
Transport for London says “[Cyclists] may find they have a better journey by using a different route such as Southwark Bridge or travelling outside of the busiest times.”
They add that roads on the approaches to London Bridge north and south of the river will be busier than usual, especially at peak times on weekdays.
How's your German?
With the World Track Champs being held in Germany this year, the GB team has been brushing up on key phrases. Well, they’re key if you’re a track cyclist.
All we’ve ever needed is ‘drei bier, bitte’
World Bicycle Relief delivers 500,000th Buffalo Bike
As part of a 102-bike delivery to Bar Union Secondary School in Kakamega County near Kisumu, Western Kenya, World Bicycle Relief has delivered its 500,000th Buffalo Bike.
World Bicycle Relief delivers specially designed, locally assembled, rugged bicycles for people in developing nations.
Hackney councillor's 'zero emission vehicle' joke passes people by
This joke evidently isn’t clear enough not to get lost on people…🥴 https://t.co/eWGc7V3L7m
— Cllr Jon Burke (@jonburkeUK) February 19, 2020
Video: Camden motorist takes short cut down segregated cycle lane
This is a real problem junction. I’ve nearly been hit by black cabs forcing their way over the pavement here on multiple occasions. Two or three more bollards would fix it @CamdenCouncil
— Alec James (@AEWJ) February 20, 2020
If you’re wondering whether the driver felt at all guilty about doing this…
The drivers reaction! pic.twitter.com/ibCKCxmYIH
— cycleoptic (@cycleoptic) February 20, 2020
Chris Froome will return to racing at the UAE Tour this week
Froome said: “It’s all I’ve thought about for months now – being back racing. It will be a huge relief just to be back in the peloton again. It feels like I’ve been given a second chance to come back to pro racing after a crash like that. I’m definitely not taking that for granted.
“The year’s gone incredibly well so far but having said that I do still need to manage expectations. I’m still quite a way off where I was at the Dauphine before the crash. It’s going to take me a while to get back to that shape.”
Hackney councillor fails to appreciate a well-known difference between the UK and the Netherlands
Different Hackney councillor to the one earlier on.
This one’s Vincent Stops, who is apparently not averse to waging “a bitter Twitter battle with Hackney’s cycling community” according to the Hackney Post.
This is a nice “spot the logical fallacy” example: https://t.co/k5G1P0kArG
— Dr Mike Ward (@Schroedinger99) February 20, 2020
Caja Rural's rivals taken aback by rider's stage win in the Ruta del Sol
Caja Rural’s Gonzalo Serrano has surprised everyone (and himself, we guess) with an attack with 1.1km to go that stuck all the way to the line. 3rd place and another podium for @BahrainMcLaren‘s best-placed finisher @dylan_teuns. #66RdS #podium
— MeridaProRoadRacing (@MeridaProRoad) February 20, 2020
Will we still need walking and cycling routes in a world of autonomous vehicles?
According to Xavier Brice, the CEO of Sustrans, there two different futures are currently being imagined stemming from the arrival of autonomous vehicles.
“First up, a heaven, of easy mobility as portrayed by autonomous vehicle (AV) manufacturers, with shared-use AV freeing up road space for public spaces and accidents reduced to near zero. Or alternatively, a hellish, dystopian pod-world, with single-occupancy pod-armadas leading to an irresistible demand for more roads, and with people cloistered away in walkways and tunnels; Bladerunner but with added trees.”
He reckons the reality will turn out to be somewhere in between.
Either way, in a piece on City Metric, he argues that in a world of micro-mobility and driverless cars, we will still need dedicated space for the public to move under their own power.
Peloton as a whole ‘more professional’ than two years ago, says Geraint Thomas
Geraint Thomas feels that the general standard within the peloton has risen since he became Tour de France champion in 2018.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “Early season races are so much quicker than they were even two years ago. The whole peloton is training better and they are more professional.”
The principle of induced demand in a cartoon
Finally!#InducedDemand pic.twitter.com/FxKuZuwcpg
— Urban Planning & Mobility (@urbanthoughts11) February 19, 2020
Trying to fix a car problem by widening the road is like fixing an obesity problem with a larger belt.
— artcopbob (@artcopbob) February 19, 2020
An early preview of the summit finish of Stage 15 of this year's Tour de France
❄ Are you ready to take on the Grand Colombier? 😉
💪 The local authorities are busy clearing the road.❄ Prêt à affronter le Grand Colombier ? 😉
💪 Les équipes du @Departement_AIN s’affairent pour dégager la route.#TDF2020📷 JFBasset / I.Delgorgue pic.twitter.com/qanbzpWrYg
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) February 20, 2020
Aussie champ Amanda Spratt gets Goat-o-bombed
It’s often said that cyclists with decent climbing ability are “mountain goats” … well, we don’t know if this one is of the mountain variety, but it certainly goat-o-bombed Australian women’s road champion Amanda Spratt of Mitchelton-Scott when she was out for a ride yesterday …
You may have to click on the pic to see the full image.
Well played, goat 🐐 pic.twitter.com/xGBXz87USX
— AmandaSpratt (@AmandaSpratt) February 19, 2020
20-year-old Evenepoel sets 2020 on fire with third win of season
The last year or two has seen an amazing bunch of youngsters break through into the men’s pro ranks … and while it’s early days in the 2020 season, it’s legitimate to ask whether Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel may be the best of the bunch.
Aged just 20, he notched up his third win of the season today at the Volta ao Algarve … and as you’ll see from the video below, he did it in some style.
What a talent.
Brutal Remco is brutal, madre mia! 😱 The wonder kid wins the uphill finish on Foia with a long sprint into the wind, crazy stuff. February is not over yet and Evenepoel already has 3 victories. God save us all. #VAlgarve2020 pic.twitter.com/o4cdSF54lF
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) February 20, 2020
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@Surreyrider please update your username as you are clearly not a rider but a cun.....
sounds like affirmative action to me, but ok. herd immunity and all that.
"you’ve got photochromics on they’re not going to change in time to let you see any better" This is just nonsense. Modern photochromics begin adjusting immediatley, as do your eyes! The (slower than these expensive glasses) transition allows you to see much, much better than standard Cat 3 lenses.
Would be interesting to see how cycling’s gender gap changes with quality of infrastructure. Do you get more women as we move from murder strip to proper infrastructure?
Interesting article. Nevertheless currently a Cycle Lane = Murder Strip. At least it does were I live: no segregation, drains , unswept , parked cars , frogger, lanes suddenly ending... Bradford Met for reference. What's it like near you?
@belugabob I've been in a few different hotels in recent years and never had any difficulties with keeping my bike in my room. I always take a couple of newspapers with me to spread out under the bike to stop any drips of oil/water etc getting on the carpet. One hotel even had a nice timber post in the room, for me to lock my bike to. One of the hotels had a secure lock up room for bikes, but were happy for me to keep the bike in my room because it meant I didn't have to drag away a member of staff to get my bike at busy breakfast / check out time. When I went to stay in N Yorks for the 2019 World Champs, the only inconvenience was breakfast being crowded because the Italian Junior women's squad's bikes were being stored in the main dining room! The only slight downer is looking like a bit of an eccentric as I carry my bike down the stairs and through reception in cycling kit.
Another one for the "just because we can doesn't mean we should" pile for me I think, my cheap (£35) photochromic glasses that I use for commuting at dawn and dusk may take 30 seconds to adapt fully to changing light but they start pretty much immediately and I hardly ever feel that they are too dark or not dark enough; if I hit a patch where they really are too dark, sudden tunnels et cetera, one quick hand swipe (same as with these) moves them down to the end of my nose so I can look over the top of them. No precious battery resources wasted, nor the price of a decent secondhand bike.
Great report, sorry, yet another great report, about LTNs which the MSM will instantly leap into action, pens poised, recorder buttons pressed, camera shutters primed, to ignore completely. It's simply not controversial enough. The lurid claims of the anti-LTN mob, of congestion, pollution, danger, plague and pestilence, will however, be front page news. The media in this country actively works against the best interests of the population, with a few notable exceptions: the ITV expose of Reform was good, very good.
This is the arsehole who insisted the Brexit would make the country (and world) a better place. The sooner we stop reporting on any bullshit that leaves his mouth the better.
Undoubtedly this is clever technology, but I wonder about the safety aspect of having to take your hands off the handlebar to switch modes. I get that the rapid response rate improves things to a degree but if I go from sunlight to shade on a poor quality road (of which there are many, as we know) do I want to take one hand off the bar in order to lighten my glasses….? Photochromatic may be slower but will get there without intervention (and at far less than half the cost).
7 thoughts on “G says overall peloton standard has gone up; Evenepoel, 20, sets 2020 alight; Froome returns to racing; World Bicycle Relief delivers 500,000th Buffalo Bike; Dowsett’s drug test dilemma; Vintage Poulidor ad; Free TdY climbs guide + more on the live blog”
Love the Poulidor advert
Love the Poulidor advert 🙂 😉
Me too
Me too 😉
I lived in France for over 20
I lived in France for over 20 years up till 2013 and Raymond Poulidor was on the tele everyday of the TDF as a pundit. He was such a lovely bloke and so knowledgeable about the pro cycling scene. He was very humble too.
Would be better if the German
Would be better if the German was actually correct!
So I went to CityMetric to
So I went to CityMetric to read the Sustrans article on the future and came across an excellent article by someone called Laura Laker about killer drivers on pavements-
https://www.citymetric.com/transport/think-roads-are-dangerous-sometimes-we-aren-t-even-safe-pavements-4934
So is G implying doping is
So is G implying doping is back in a big way?
I really can’t imagine there being any new training techniques to have improved the riders by any real measure the last 2 years…wasnt marginal gains all about finding a load of tiny improvements because all the big or basic stuff was well understood and known about?
Or does he mean theres been an influx of new, impressive young talent?
The knowledge of the training
The knowledge of the training may have been around for a while, but actually getting riders to do it all is probably more tricky, when riders can do ok without dedicating their entire lives to training. It seems like everyone is now embracing new training more, so that the ‘domestiques’ on teams are probably in better shape than many team leaders from a decade or two ago.