Coronavirus: No races cancelled yet, says UCI … but more and more teams are pulling out of upcoming events; Rasmussen wants his Colnagos back; More people want cycling investment; Bolton Council forgets cycling + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
New Bike Life Report from Sustrans says more people want investment in cycling, and less for cars
The report has some quite promising stats about the public’s attitude towards investment in cycling, with 58% of the 17,000 surveyed believing there should be more investment in cycling, while 42% wanted more investment for drivers. 55% believed there were too many people driving in cities, and 56% agreed with the idea of charging more to drivers of heavily polluting vehicles. 68% supported the building of more cycle lanes even if this meant less road space, and 77% believed more segregated cycle lanes would encourage them to cycle more.
Full story with analysis of this from our news editor later today.
UAE Tour confirm six new coronavirus cases
The UAE Tour have this morning confirmed that the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has announced six new cases of the COVID-19 virus in the UAE.
Although there was speculation from an Italian journalist that there hadn’t been any official diagnosis, the statement says that two Russians, two Italians, one German and one Colombian have been diagnosed, and that the new patients were connected to the two previously announced cases at the UAE Tour.
MoHAP confirmed that the cases are being monitored, and individuals are currently in a stable condition and are receiving treatment. This also means that for the time being, some riders and staff are still stuck in quarantine in the UAE.
UAE riders quarantined until 14th March, according to Groupama-FDJ
— Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ (@GroupamaFDJ) March 4, 2020
Groupama-FDJ have confirmed they have been informed that 12 of their employees have been asked to observe a period of quarantine in the UAE until 14th March. They say none of the positive tests involve their team.
Lopez has now accused the Royal Spanish Cycling of not caring about riders in UAE quanantine
Hasta ayer mismo no os preocupasteis de nada sobre nuestro asunto y encima fue porque una tercera persona llamó al presidente.
Los contactos con el @deportegob empezaron ayer precisamente por esa llamada.
Ya que no haceis nada encima no nos tomeis el pelo.— Jose Herrada Lopez (@joherradalopez) March 4, 2020
Clearly a frustrated man, Lopez replied to a tweet from the federation that says they are working with the UAE’s embassy to process the return of Spanish nationals to say they have only got involved because someone got in touch with the Spanish president: “don’t tease us”, he says.
Bolton Council tell us to "leave the car behind and take the bus, train or tram"... but what about bikes?
Dirty air is making us sick.
Can you leave the car behind and take the bus, train or tram? 🚌🚆🚋
Help clean up our air: https://t.co/bLwnTlXgGU@CleanAirGM— Bolton Council (@boltoncouncil) March 4, 2020
We’ll break off from coronavirus updates briefly to ask Bolton Council? What’s up with cycling or walking? Although the link they provide to Greater Manchester’s Clean Air plan does a better job of telling us all the ways we can reduce pollution.
Women's team Parkhotel Valkenburg latest to pull out of Strade Bianche, accusing organisers of "not taking responsibility"
To go or not to go. We take our own responsibility. #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/t6H8zW94gq
— PHVCT (@PushingDreamsNL) March 4, 2020
The team have joined EF Pro Cycling in pulling out of the Strade Bianche, citing safety concerns.
The statement says: “We are not going to Siena and start on the Strade Bianche on March 7th. The same is for the Trofeo Alfredo Binda on March 22nd.
“It is super unfortunate that we have to come to this conclusion at the latest timing, but if the Italian government, the race organisation or the UCI will not take responsibility, then we need to take it.”
Another one: Jumbo-Visma latest to pull out of Strade Bianche
Following Ef Pro Cycling and Parkhotel Valkenburg are Jumbo-Visma, who said in a statement: “Team Jumbo-Visma will not participate in Strade Bianche and GP Industria, this weekend. The decision has been taken on medical advice, the recommendation of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as on sportive and practical grounds. It’s likely that the same decision will apply to other Italian races in March. However, we are also awaiting messages from the Italian government.
“We know that any team that goes to Italy might probably be prevented from racing in any other country. The focus has to be on salvaging the bulk of the season, not a handful of races”, a joint statement of cycling teams, including Team Jumbo-Visma, says. The teams are in close contact with the UCI, who will make their decisions known shortly.
Medical advice and guidelines of the involved authorities will be taken into account before any decision about participation will be made.”
With big name teams dropping out, will organisers have no choice but to pull the race? We’re still waiting for an official announcement from the Italian government, so as it stands the Strade Bianche will go ahead.
£8 million walking and cycling project underway in Glasgow
Glasgow’s Active Travel project will commence as part of the council’s bid to tackle the climate crisis and improve public health, reports Glasgow Live. The project is been presided over by Sustrans, and it’s hoped the new protected cycle routes will boost active travel in the city.
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Michael Matheson promised even more funds in the future, saying: “For our wellbeing, health and climate – people require more opportunities to walk, cycle and wheel for shorter everyday journeys. As we respond to the climate emergency, this focus has never been greater and our funding is now at record levels. The draft budget proposes over £85 million for active travel, much of which will be match funded, and that is before an additional £15 million in ring-fenced local authority funding which brings the amount to over £100 million pounds.”
Michael Rasmussen wants his old Colnagos back
I am looking for help to locate some of my old Colnago’s from the Rabobank days between 2003-2007. I am trying to recollect them for my own little bike museum. Please spread the word. pic.twitter.com/hKtdXqsPhr
— Michael Rasmussen (@MRasmussen1974) March 4, 2020
The convicted doper is looking to build his own ‘bike museum’, and would like to locate some of the Colnago bikes he used for Team Rabobank between 2003-2007 to decorate it with.
Have you seen any fashionble folk buzzing around Shoreditch on one of Michael’s bikes? If so, he would like you to get in touch…
Zdenek Stybar has a curious new bell
Mathieu van der #Poel is terug op de fiets en maakt plezier met Zdenek #Stybar! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/o2RPSfyaKV
— Wieler Revue (@wielerrevue) March 4, 2020
We’re not sure exactly the make and model of the contraption Stybar has on his bars, but it’ll certainly get you heard. The footage was posted by Mathieu van der Poel, who is back on his bike after missing a considerable amount of training recently due to a heavy flu (no, not THAT flu).
Former cyclocross National Champion, Ian Field, launches coaching company
The multiple former National Cyclocross Champion Ian Field has announced the creation of his coaching company ‘Veld’. The name comes from the Dutch translation of ‘field’, Ian’s surname. Speaking about the new venture, Field said:
“Having coached for eight years on a limited basis while racing professionally, I am excited to now be in a position to dedicate time to launch my own coaching vision”.
Veld will offer a range of plans on a pay-monthly basis. To find out more, click to the link below.
Mitchelton-Scott pull out of Strade Bianche and seven other races
STATEMENT: Mitchelton-SCOTT position regarding COVID-19.
Following extensive discussions, we have made the decision to withdraw our teams from the next period of racing, regardless of the individual Government Regulations in place.
More details 👇https://t.co/nV8lbx0eG4
— Mitchelton-SCOTT (@MitcheltonSCOTT) March 4, 2020
The domino effect is beginning to take hold, with another big name confirming their absence… at this rate, there will be no one racing the white gravel at the weekend.
Mitchelton-Scott have pulled their men’s and women’s teams out of eight races in total: they are the Strade Bianche, GP Industria, Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, Ronde van Drenthe, Danilith Nokere Koerse, Milan-San Remo and Trofeo Alfredo Binda.
Groupama-FDJ the latest team to pull out of Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico
French UCI WorldTour outfit Groupama-FDJ has announced it will not race at Strade Bianche on Saturday or Tirreno-Adriatico next week.
The team is one of four with riders and staff currently in quarantine in an Abu Dhabi hotel following the UAE Tour last week.
It said on Twitter that situation was partly to blame for it “lacking sufficient numbers of available riders and staff” and its decision to pull out of the Italian races.
— Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ (@GroupamaFDJ) March 4, 2020
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@Sheen wheels I have a version of the R8100 and you definitively need ceramic for the socket Oh no, you don't! Ceramic sockets pretty rare and, as far as I know, only with ceramic and not metal 'ball' (femoral head)
@mitsky Its another one of those things that makes no sense isn't it. Someone was saying in another thread that we need a harder driving test. I don't think we do. Everyone who has passed in the last 20 years has done a test that is more than happy to fail you for behaviour that 90% of drivers exhibit every time they get behind the wheel. The test is fine. The fact that getting your license seems to be considered some weird proof that you will continue to drive safely is the issue. The fact that when you prove that you cannot drive safely its not immediately revoked is the issue.
@Rendel Harris The issue with GPS chips, as everyone who has one of those black boxes will attest to, is that they are crap. They interpret heavy braking as poor driving rather than someone else forcing it. They see rapid acceleration where there is none. All we need is a much higher chance of people being caught and punished for their everyday shit driving. I'm sure as a cyclist that every single time you go out on your bike you will have a dozen or more times when you think "that would have been a nasty accident if someone was coming the other direction". Eventually, when bad behaviour suffers no consequences it becomes completely normalised. Then we struggle to treat it as anything but a normal, unavoidable accident when that bad behaviour does incur consequences.
Drivers regularly pull out in front of me and cause me to slam on the brakes or avoid them. Very often they have seen me and just assume I'm not going very fast or they assume I will slow down/stop (which I do). Too many drivers don't look for cyclists, hate giving way to them or expect the cyclist to be moving slowly and just pull out.
@Rendel Harris By the time someone is looking at prison time its too late. As has been proven time and time again, the severity of punishment is a poor deterrent to bad behaviour if people don't think its going to happen to them or they don't think they will be caught. Now I do think that there should be far more severe and immediate punishments for bad driving when drivers are caught but this would need to be coupled with a massive push to actually act on information/proof of bad driving. As anyone that submits footage to the police knows, its a crapshoot and certain police forces are anti-cyclist. This would try to essentially put people off misbehaving whilst driving before they cause an accident rather than getting the tired old excuse of "it was a single dangerous incident, they definitely don't do this all the time and their luck finally ran out". Perhaps it should go even further and if you have a history of speeding and you hurt someone speeding, that is looked upon in a very dim light.
Can we talk about “Washing up liquid contains a lot of salt – not a great idea to use a corrosive substance on a bicycle”? This is an urban myth. I have washed all of our many bikes using Fairy liquid or Ecover for decades. I’ve never found any evidence of corrosion, paint, laquer or decal wear, or any sign of anything. I regularly service forks and bearings, swapping a lot of gear, and everything has always been fine. Here’s far too much info below - long story short, Fairy liquid in 5L of hot water has a borderline-homeopathic amount of salt, it’s fine to use on a bike. ============ The honest answer is that neither Fairy nor Ecover publicly disclose the actual sodium chloride concentration in the consumer products I could find. The safety data sheets list hazardous ingredients above reporting thresholds, but sodium chloride is not reported for either product. However, we can put some realistic bounds on it. Fairy Original The SDS lists: Sodium laureth sulfate: 20-30% Lauramine oxide: 5-10% Alcohol: 1-5% No sodium chloride is declared. 15 In detergent formulations, sodium chloride is commonly used as a viscosity modifier (thickener) and is typically present at around 0.5-3%, sometimes lower. The absence of declaration suggests it is either not present or present at a low concentration that does not require reporting. This range is an informed formulation estimate, not a value stated by Fairy. Ecover The Ecover ingredient information lists: Sodium lauryl sulfate Lauryl glucoside Cocamidopropyl betaine Alcohol Lactic acid Sodium octyl sulphate Again, no sodium chloride is listed. Ecover's formulations tend to rely more heavily on plant-derived surfactants and may use little or no salt for thickening, but I could not find a published concentration. 63 What does this mean for bike washing? Let's assume a worst-case 3% salt content in Fairy. If you add: 10 mL Fairy to a 5-litre bucket Then salt introduced would be approximately: 10 mL × 3% ≈ 0.3 g salt Distributed through 5 L water ≈ 60 mg/L salt For comparison: Typical seawater: ~35,000 mg/L Lightly salted winter road spray: often hundreds to thousands of mg/L The wash bucket above: ~60 mg/L So even under a pessimistic assumption, the salt concentration is hundreds to thousands of times lower than the salt exposure your bike gets from winter roads. From a corrosion perspective, the quantity of salt introduced by washing-up liquid is essentially negligible compared with: Riding on salted roads Coastal spray Leaving winter grime on the bike Therefore my practical conclusion remains: ✅ Fairy or Ecover in a wash bucket is extremely unlikely to contribute any measurable corrosion risk. ✅ The important thing is rinsing and drying afterwards. ✅ Winter road salt is the real enemy, not washing-up liquid.
Another example of a driver's actions that would have been a straight fail in a driving test but is barely likely to lead to a disqualification... I'm wondering if having a driving licence is like a "Get out of jail free" card...
Yes indeed. I have a version of the R8100 and you definitively need ceramic for the socket.
@perce I'm not sure I agree with that. I think thats just confirming that he is take fully responsibility and recognises that the cyclist could have done nothing to mitigate it.
If we don't fight it now, we'll all end up forced to wear baggy shorts!
15 thoughts on “Coronavirus: No races cancelled yet, says UCI … but more and more teams are pulling out of upcoming events; Rasmussen wants his Colnagos back; More people want cycling investment; Bolton Council forgets cycling + more on the live blog”
I can’t see Strade Bianchi
I can’t see Strade Bianche going ahead now – more teams will follow suit and pull out. Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo will probably go the same way too. Sad, but there’s more to life than a bike race (apparently).
Not the only Italian linked
Not the only Italian linked sporting events either. MotoGP has cancelled the big class for Qatar this weekend due to the large Italian presence in the paddock, though the smaller classes go ahead as they were already in Qatar for testing. Thai GP 2 weeks later has been completely “postponed”. In cycling I’d be surprised if many of the classics go ahead this year, and expect even the French races to go as well as things spread. Ah well, last year’s races are all up on YouTube / MotoGP.com to keep me amused.
Well, the Dutch/Belgians seem
Well, the Dutch/Belgians seem to be quite Benelux about it, which is encouraging. All depends on whether it reaches those nations in big numbers.
All Italian outdoor sporting
All Italian outdoor sporting events for the next month cancelled by Italian govt. Only closed stadium events permitted (because, well, football). So no Tirreno-Adriatico, MSR, or SB.
Bolton council are obviously
Bolton council are obviously following the lead of that minister who tweeted icons of every form of transport except cycling; was it the instantly forgettable Chris Heaton-Harris?
I did find this link while trying to find out who it was “The Tories say they are serious about cycling – but their manifesto says otherwise”
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/tory-manifesto-conservative-party-cycling-funding-a9240521.html
I thought it was the ‘sacked
I thought it was the ‘sacked for bullying’ grant chapps, who at least has the ‘better than Grayling’ thing going for him.
ktache wrote:
Better than Grayling? So not a complete, total and utter disaster: a government defined by not being as bad as Grayling? Private Frazer was right.
Blimey, there’s trams in
Blimey, there’s trams in Bolton now? They’ve hidden them well.
We’ve certainly got a lot of dreadful bike lanes, and horrible aggressive drivers.
At least TfGM are building more lovely bike lanes to Chorlton though…
eburt, on this evenings South
eburt, on this evenings South Today, there was an almost quite positive item about cycling in Southampton. It sort of counts as BBC.
“…almost quite positive….
“…almost quite positive….” Hmm. Not sure that actually inspires me to withdraw my objections to the BBC’s total and utter failure to present the facts.
Sustrans survey – depressing
Sustrans survey – depressing that 42% still haven’t got the climate change message and want more investment in driving.
alchemilla wrote:
I blame the inaction of goverments. The key is to provide decent public transport and cycling/walking infrastructure first and then more people will discover that driving isn’t the only option available to them. As it is, a lot of people don’t even consider buses/trains/bikes as most of the time it’ll be more hassle than jumping in a car and spending half an hour in traffic jams.
Provide the options and people will use what is most convenient/cheapest.
Construction starts in
Construction starts in Netherlands on longest cycling bridge in Europe.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/04/construction-starts-in-netherlands-on-longest-cycling-bridge-in-europe
with lovely animated video.
It apparently has a max gradient of 2.5%.
And is designed to last 80 years even though made of wood.
That looks immense!
That looks immense!
Michael Rasmussen – I have
Michael Rasmussen – I have that black Colnago – with him winning a mountain stage on it – as a photo on my wall 😉