Have you been saying ‘Tao Geoghegan Hart’ wrong?; Friday funny: Watt saving aero winter gloves; Pantani’s Tour de France bike auctions for €66k; Kids riding bikes to school fill the cycle lane; Dangerous pass on the school run + more on the live blog

Claremont Road again, this is why we need #strandroad cycle lanes. Even when he sees the van he tries to bully a child out of his way, and failed. #freethecylelanes @community_stc pic.twitter.com/JQTZKr193B

— Dan (@danmandunne) December 9, 2020

The worst part of this attempted close pass in Dublin is that just two weeks ago Dan Dunne filmed an almost identical incident on the same stretch of road… In both cases, the driver of the car overtakes the dad and his two kids on a blind bend, while they cycle to school. Both times a van comes the other way and the car has to stop…

Can’t be waiting until they can see what’s coming! MGIF on Claremont Road again, knowing they are going to save a matter of seconds. pic.twitter.com/XSQ8svfLvU

— Dan (@danmandunne) November 30, 2020

Andrew Newman, a retired cop, commented: “Would be an interesting conversation at the school gate if that driver was another parent. I’m glad everyone is ok but I agree that this needs to be reported. I’m a retired cop, this would be an easy Sect 3 due care. Fixed penalty, 3-6 points and a driver who will think next time.”

Why did the idiot not just stop once it became apparent that they had made an error. Why did they compound it by veering into the people.

— Douglas Warr (@douglaswarr) December 10, 2020

Tadej Pogačar’s Tour de France jersey and helmet are up for auction to help raise money for a hemato-oncology department in Slovenia which supports the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of blood diseases and cancer. The 22-year-old’s signed King of the Mountain’s jersey and polka dot helmet have been listed on Siol.net at a starting price of 300 euros, with the auction running until December 21. 

Segregation works! last year before this segregated cycle-lane was put in, the presence of this HGV would have generated a significant amount of stress. Now it presents little threat and as a result we’ve seen the numbers cycling to school increase significantly. pic.twitter.com/6y9m4tzTj1

— Limerick School Cycle Bus (@CyclingBusLmk) December 11, 2020

This is a great advert for cycling infrastructure attracting more young people to active travel, while also keeping them safe. As the post says, the thought of this many children cycling around an HGV would be at least stressful and probably quite dangerous without any segregated cycle lanes. Here, it isn’t a problem. The Limerick School Bus is a group of children and adults who cycle to school every day and has continued to attract big groups even with the weather getting darker and colder.

One parent said: “My son cycles to school most mornings with my dad. At the beginning they found this roundabout difficult to manage safely by themselves. Since joining the School Cycle Bus it’s made cycling to school so much safer as well as being really enjoyable. It’s such a fantastic group.”

One of the main reasons the cycle bus exists is this roundabout. It’s simply not manageable for a parent & child on their own. The majority of morning motorists are used to the cycle bus at this stage and are very accommodating. The #cyclebus is really about strength in numbers pic.twitter.com/YmiVMePwCt

— Limerick School Cycle Bus (@CyclingBusLmk) November 5, 2020

Monday, the last day in November, It’s surprisingly mild (no gloves 🧤). Perfect weather for a refreshing commute with the #CycleBus 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️ #BikeToSchool pic.twitter.com/hrZYFLbcfZ

— Limerick School Cycle Bus (@CyclingBusLmk) November 30, 2020

.@JonDibben1 announced his retirement today.

His best cycling moment.

“It was more than likely my last race…I was at the @giroditalia finishing in Sestriere…I dropped off the back of the grupetto…in the sunset, snowy mountains its a moment I savored” @Lotto_Soudal pic.twitter.com/GK0Y3SgccJ

— PodCrash (@PodCrashPod) December 11, 2020

Jon Dibben has retired from professional cycling. At WorldTour level, the 26-year-old rode for Cannondale-Drapac, Team Sky and most recently Lotto-Soudal. As an U23 he finished ninth in the World Championship Road Race, sixth in the time trial and second at the U23 Tour of Flanders. In 2016, Dibben also became a world champion on the track in the points race, as well as winning silver as part of the team pursuit squad.

Speaking about his final race, the Giro d’Italia, Dibben Said: “On the last road stage we finished up at Sestriere. We had bluebird skies, it was the end of October so by the time we’d done a six-hour day the sun’s almost setting in the background, we were up at 2,000 metres so there was snow at the side of the road. I knew we’d made the time cut so I dropped off the back of the gruppetto to just be by myself. I was riding in the last few minutes in a sunset, snowy mountains thinking ‘this is probably my last race’. It’s probably one of the very few moments in a race, or on a bike, that I’ve savoured.”

Marco Pantani 🇮🇹 wins Stage 12 of the 2000 Tour De France from Carpentras to Mont Ventoux (149k) #cycling #tdf pic.twitter.com/c38sKXdPWY

— Pro Cycling Memories (@ClipsCycling) June 14, 2020

Marco Pantani’s 2000 Tour de France bike fetched €66,000 at auction yesterday. The winning bid came from a group who knew Pantani well, headed by Italian national cycling team manager Davide Cassani and an entrepreneur who supported the cause. It will be displayed at a museum remembering the cyclist, in Marco’s home town of Cesenatico. The Bianchi carried Pantani to two stage wins including the famous stage to Mont Ventoux when the Italian and Lance Armstrong reached the summit side by side.

Pantani abandoned the 2000 Tour before stage 17 but not before he’d won his second stage, at Courcheval. It was his first return to the sport’s biggest race after being expelled from the 1999 Giro d’Italia before the final mountain stage, with a second Maglia Rosa all but secured, for returning an adverse hematocrit reading.

Pantani’s bike from the Sydney Olympics was also auctioned for €46,000 and despite other items from famous sportsmen such as Michael Jordan, Pelé and Diego Maradona being auctioned, Pantani’s Tour de France bike received the highest bid of the day.

A new look for a new exciting journey together.

Introducing new look bikes for GreenEDGE Cycling’s 2021 season, with redesigned Reparto Corse logo appearing on the livery of all racing bicycles. #Bianchi #RideBianchi #RepartoCorse #BianchiRepartoCorse #BianchiRC pic.twitter.com/af5Ik0lQ6L

— Bianchi (@BianchiOfficial) December 11, 2020

Bianchi will supply GreenEDGE Cycling with bikes next season after an off season of bike manufacturer musical chairs. Bianchi left Jumbo-Visma to join GreenEDGE, Scott left Greenedge to join Sunweb (or Team DMS as they’ll be known in 2021) and Cervélo left Sunweb to join Jumbo-Visma…The short of it is you’ll see Simon Yates on this beauty next year which may give you a clue about what colours we might see on GreenEDGE’s kits too.

However, some people are disappointed at the lack of Bianchi’s signature celeste colour on the frame…What do you think?

New Sponsor for @BORAhansgrohe? Great! 👊🏻
it seems that the trend is to disappear the Celeste
If it’s not Celeste , it’s not Bianchi #PasionneCeleste

— Luis Carvajal (@luiskiss67) December 11, 2020

Its not Bianchi unless its just plain celeste. Why the turquoise and black. Jumbo Visma didnt have that. And that “Trek” looking logo on the XR4 . No man

— rob prideaux (@robprideaux) December 11, 2020

As seen in #KC. Christmas cycling pic.twitter.com/w72K3ZvzOm

— Jay Ashman (@fvckinashman) December 10, 2020

Curated Cranks wants to take the guess work out of buying a used bike by launching the first dedicated marketplace to buy and sell premium used bikes. The virtual showroom is designed to give buyers standardised high quality photographs, video and description of every bike so you don’t have to deal with blurry pictures, bad lighting and missing details. 

The listing service is free for sellers and means your bike gets a bespoke listing written by Curated Cranks. Once a bike has been listed, auctions will be run on a timed basis of 7-14 days and promoted by their social media team. Selling your bike is free, with buyers paying a buyer’s premium instead.

Coming in Tour de France yellow or Giro d’Italia pink, these watt saving aero winter gloves are a steal at £90… Guaranteed to keep your hands dry, the seller says they’re ‘designed for speed and to be bold’… What’s more, when you’ve finished your ride and need to clean your bike, you can keep the gloves on. Genius.

If you actually do need a new pair of winter gloves then check out our buyer’s guide with 25 of the best winter cycling gloves to keep your hands warm and dry.

The UCI have announced they are to introduce a requirement for safer finish line barriers at bike races from 2021. In the aftermath of the Fabio Jakobsen crash at the Tour of Poland, some critics argued the barriers used at the event weren’t strong enough. At the Giro d’Italia, Luca Wackermann sustained a broken back in a crash when barriers were moved by the downdraft of a helicopter.

Cyclingnews reports the UCI have worked with a number of representatives from the teams as well as the CPA riders’ association to draw up 14 key new measures to protect rider safety. One of these measures will be the introduction of better barrier standards at races, particularly for bunch sprints.

Riders, teams and organisers will also have more responsibility for their conduct such as when discarding of waste or using equipment such as disc brakes.

Senior pro Philippe Gilbert was part of the CPA riders’ association that were consulted, and commented on the measures: “As professional rider directly impacted by these new measures, I am extremely pleased to have been involved and listened to throughout the consultation process led by the UCI.

“This allowed me to directly express our concerns on important topics such as barrier design and ensuring race convoy vehicles are operated safely around riders. I am pleased with the outcome and glad to see that my input will provide greater safety for us, and for the next generation of riders that will follow.”

How to (very very badly!) pronounce a strange list… this is NOT perfect, sorry telegraph. Drinking game if you can include all these words in your Christmas 🎄dinner family conversation?

But please don’t say my name like that 🤨🤢 – 3 extra shots if you say TIE-oh x pic.twitter.com/FtULfaddmo

— Tao Geoghegan Hart (@taogeoghegan) December 11, 2020

The Telegraph suggests ‘TIE-oh GAY-gen haart’ is the perfect pronunciation. Tao’s not so sure… Barnard Castle topped the list due to the north-south divide on ‘KASS-ul’ or ‘CAR-suul’ but cycling got a mention too. Tao posted the story on his Twitter and said The Telegraph’s effort was not as perfect as it claimed…It seems someone at the paper needs to go to Barnard Castle.

Oh dear ! Looks like they’ve mixed you up with Jai Hindley 😱 😂😂

— Carol Nairn (@CarolNairn) December 11, 2020