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news
Ghent bans cyclists dismount signs; Rooligan: Australian cyclist headbutted by a kangaroo; Your thoughts on Boris Johnson breaking lockdown accusations; FOI request suggests ambulances aren't slowed down by LTNs; Peter Sagan's plan + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Cyclists dismount.JPEG12 January 2021, 16:53
Miguel Ángel López tests positive for Covid
.@SupermanlopezN no podrá acompañarnos en la concentración 2021 de Almería tras ser positivo en un test de COVID-19. Comunicado Oficial ⬇️
Miguel Ángel López won't be able to join us at the 2021 camp in Almería after a positive COVID-19 test. Press Release: pic.twitter.com/YrLu6QGENM
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) January 12, 2021
12 January 2021, 15:19
Ghent bans cyclists dismount signs
'Cyclists dismount' signs will soon be banned in the Belgian city of Ghent. The new rule will be presented to the Ghent City Council this month and will prevent contractors and utility companies using the signs. Belgian politician Filip Watteeuw says it is necessary to intervene as roadworks have become a problem for cyclists and businesses. He said: "Works are started at peak times, signage is inadequate, sidewalks are broken up without safe passage, cyclists are pushed onto the road, traders see access to their shops blocked."
Het Nieuwsblad reports the Ghent Cyclists' Association are pleased by the development and the Fietsersbond, a cycling union that lobbies the government on cycling issues suggests that 'cyclists dismount' signs have no legal value and that instead bike riders should simply slow to walking pace and use common sense.
“There is a new generation of cyclists for which fast is the norm. Pedestrians are allowed to react if cyclists go too fast. But a cyclist who cycles at walking pace simply takes up less space than a cyclist walking with a bicycle" said Yves De Bruyckere, a Fietsersbond representative.
12 January 2021, 16:44
Lizzie Deignan: "Women's cycling has grown so much. I do feel like I'm part of a new sport"
Lizzie Deignan says the standard of women's cycling is higher than ever and that it keeps her motivated to stay at the top of the sport in 2021. Deignan won four races in 2020 and is targeting the Olympics, World Championships and the inaugural women's Paris-Roubaix in 2021.
"[Paris-Roubaix is] really exciting, but there's also just the fact that women's cycling has grown so much," Deignan told Sky Sports. "I do feel like I'm part of a new sport. It's harder to win races and that is still motivating. Winning as many races as I did in 2016 is way harder now. It's not easy and that keeps me motivated.
"Things that won me races back then, being able to attack at the bottom of a steep climb and pull away won't work now. Now the speed into the bottom of the climbs, because of the depth of the peloton, doesn't allow my jump to get me as big of a gap as it used to."
Deignan signed a new contract with Trek-Segafredo until 2022 having previously contemplated retirement. Last year, she won La Course and Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
12 January 2021, 17:46
12 January 2021, 14:15
Durham bike thief caught after fingerprints found at crime scene
A bike thief who stole two children's bikes from a cellar in South Street in Durham was caught after fingerprints found at the scene matched his. John Davison and an accomplice snuck into the property at 7.45pm on July 15, taking two of the three children's bikes in the cellar. A neighbour's CCTV footage showed two men riding away on the bikes, which were Christmas presents from the children's grandmother.
The Northern Echo reports that forensic checks at the scene found fingerprints on the cellar door which matched with Davison.The 36-year-old was arrested and admitted a charge of burglary. He was handed a ten-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 150-days unpaid work.
12 January 2021, 14:02
12 January 2021, 13:41
Peter Sagan sets out plans for 2021 — will decide on Tour de France and Olympics after the Classics
Despite a report in Slovakian newspaper Prvada, Peter Sagan says the Classics are currently the only races on his calendar. Bora-Hansgrohe director Jan Valach told the paper that Sagan will race the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Olympics in 2021. That may well turn out to be the case but the seven-time green jersey winner wants to focus on returning to the form that saw him win the Tour of Flanders in 2016 and Paris-Roubaix in 2018.
Sagan told TuttoBici: "At present, nothing is to be considered certain. As I said, after the Classics we will see what happens. Already many races have been cancelled and no one is able to say if there will be further changes to the calendars. I think it will take some time to plan everything.
"If I had to decide right now, I would certainly try to win the green jersey of the Tour again, but nobody knows what will happen. We may have to be forced to arrive in Japan two weeks earlier, but now there is a vaccine and things may change and there may be different rules, no one is able to say what will happen and how we should prepare, we need to see what will happen in the next five months."
Sagan's director Valach had told Prvada: "We start with the spring classics, followed by the Giro, the Tour, the Olympics. Peter is the type of rider who can withstand more load, benefit from it, it doesn't tire him and he gets better and better."
Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Emanuel Buchmann has decided to ride the Giro d'Italia after seeing the Tour de France's time trial heavy route and hopes to compete for a place on the podium having recovered from the back injury that hindered his 2020 Tour.
"The current plan is for me to focus on the Giro. We decided that the Tour with the many flat stages, the time trials and the few mountain finishes wasn't made for me. At the Giro, I have a better chance of finishing on the podium or finishing right at the front," Buchmann said in an interview with Radsport.
12 January 2021, 13:35
FOI request suggests ambulances aren't slowed down by LTNs
Was there any discernible impact on ambulance response times while the @wandbc LTNs were in place? From the information provided by @Ldn_Ambulance in response to an FOI request, it would appear not. Compare Aug/Sept 2019 with Aug/Sept 2020. 1/n pic.twitter.com/qQOl09FJR4
— Open Tooting (@opentooting) January 7, 2021
However, @Ldn_Ambulance did restate their support for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and explain that they would work with local councils to adapt, rather than remove, schemes where necessary. 5/5 pic.twitter.com/A3aViwuOcj
— Open Tooting (@opentooting) January 7, 2021
12 January 2021, 12:04
Brompton Bike Hire tells NHS staff who want a bike to get in touch
We’ve got a limited number of @Wheels4Heroes bikes that got returned at the end of last year available for key workers.
Drop us a a DM if you’re wanting support getting too and from work. pic.twitter.com/SAaKNoQKMI
— Brompton Bike Hire (@BromptonHire) January 12, 2021
Brompton Bike Hire has a limited number of its Wheels for Heroes bikes for NHS staff to use for free. Their campaign in the spring used crowdfunding to help expand their existing fleet so that more NHS key workers could get to hospitals safely during the pandemic.
12 January 2021, 11:08
Geraint Thomas launches new podcast - and he's told road.cc all about it
It's here!
Episode 1 of my new podcast, the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club is out now, and the club is officially OPEN.
Me and the amateur @tomfordyce are joined by one of the world's best climbers @richie_porte 🇦🇺
🎙️https://t.co/rAZiBu5bQ9
🎙️https://t.co/ZqZQRpaDzH pic.twitter.com/O4wGWMZnd4— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) January 12, 2021
Following on from his popular 'Watt's Occurring' pod, G is back with the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club. Jointly hosted with journalist Tom Fordyce, the podcast aims to "give fans an unprecedented insight into the world of elite cycling", featuring special guests while also charting Thomas' mission to build his own cycling club. To become a 'member' of the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club (GTCC), you simply have to listen to the podcasts so we're told.
The podcasts will be weekly, and are available on iTunes and Spotify. What's more, we've interviewed G about it and asked him a few bonus questions too... so look out for that on the site around teatime.
12 January 2021, 10:38
More Tour de France final stage options
Fair point from Global Nomad in the comments about the difference between the Tour de France final stage finishing with a Paris procession and it finishing in Paris with a competitive race. How can the Tour keep its traditional finish on the Champs-Élysées and also make the final day of racing competitive? A time trial would be the obvious suggestion. Think 1989 and Greg LeMond overhauling Laurent Fignon to win by eight seconds.
The sprint stage on the Champs-Élysées is a bit more difficult... It's an easy stage for the sprinters' teams to control and even strong riders struggle to build a significant lead over the bunch. Imagining the GC changing on the final day without someone puncturing or crashing at an awkward moment seems unlikely. Anyone got any ideas? Or is it simply a case of saving the champagne glasses for after the finish line and treating it like any other sprint stage?
12 January 2021, 10:23
Deceuninck-Quickstep team manager Patrick Lefevere says athletes should have to wait for coronavirus vaccine like everyone else
Patrick Lefevere wasn't impressed by UAE Team Emirates riders getting vaccinated at their winter training camp due to their team's connection with the UAE. The country has offered the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine to all its citizens. Speaking to Sporza, Lefevere stated that he does not think cyclists should get preferential treatment.
"Athletes have to queue up, just like everyone else," he said. "It doesn't make me jealous. That means they are more efficient than us. I think it mainly has to do with the country. I don't think a squad can get a vaccine right now unless they do it in a devious way. I suspect the Emirates had good connections with China and that they will have paid for it."
Last week, former pro rider Riccardo Riccò said that he didn't want to be injected with a "who knows what shit" vaccine. Riccò is currently serving a lifetime ban from cycling handed to him by anti-doping authorities...
12 January 2021, 09:47
Rooligan: Australian cyclist headbutted by a kangaroo
Thankfully this incident is less serious than some of the other videos we've seen of cyclists hitting kangaroos. The video was posted on YouTube by cycling camera company Cycliq. As the cyclist rolls past, the animal jumps out and goes straight for the front wheel.
Posting alongside the video, Cycliq said: "Kangaroos really, really can't change direction well... Animal encounters are an important factor in identifying cycling safety hotspots."
Our archives are, unfortunately, full of kangaroo/cyclist incidents more serious than this one...
In 2018, this video did the rounds of a group ride getting taken down by a roo bouncing across the road. Two years earlier, four cyclists were hospitalised after crashing when they hit the carcass of a dead kangaroo while riding in Victoria.
12 January 2021, 09:27
Monday's poll results
With the Champs-Élysées to undergo a £225 million makeover that will turn the famous avenue into an "extraordinary garden", we asked you if the Tour de France should change up its finale...
The majority of you want to see the Tour keep the traditional final stage on the Champs-Élysées, while 30% wanting to see something new.
12 January 2021, 08:54
Your thoughts on Boris Johnson being accused of breaking lockdown with Olympic Park bike ride
Yesterday Boris Johnson was accused of breaking lockdown, even though he didn't appear to break the law, by travelling to the Olympic Park in Stratford to go for a bike ride. In the Evening Standard's exclusive story, they said that the government guidance on exercise during lockdown in England is that you can only exercise once a day and "you should not travel outside your local area." The Standard made no reference to the regulations, which unlike the guidance, are enforceable by law. So it seems the PM did not break the law.
However, he has been criticised for breaking or stretching the limits of the guidance which states: "This [outdoor exercise] should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space)."
In our cycling dos and don'ts in a time of pandemic – how to be a responsible cyclist piece, we cite the Government's Covid-19 Travel Guidance in advising not to drive somewhere to ride if possible as only essential travel is permitted. Travelling a short distance within your area to exercise is mentioned as an essential reason for travel, however some would say that while it is legal it probably isn't a sensible or desirable thing for people to do.
No they don’t the guidelines do but the law doesn’t hence the confusion. Not helped by Derbyshire police
— terribletim (@terribletim6) January 11, 2021
Jesus Christ if 7miles is too far to exercise anyone that enjoys being a roadie is screwed
— James (@moodyjames_1) January 11, 2021
Dan is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. Having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for the Non-League Paper, Dan joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.
Add new comment
45 comments
eburtthebike
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3 years ago
1 like
Ghent is right of course. If road works allow the progress of drivers and pedestrians, why not cyclists?
There is a UK government leaflet about cyclists at road works, TAL 15/99 https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120606202833/http://assets.... but none of the highway engineering companies have read it, or if they did, they didn't understand it, and if they understood it, they just can't be arsed to follow it.
RE Durham bike thief: I tihnk the most news-worthy aspect of this story is that the police actually bothered to attend the property and check for fingerprints!
Sounds incredulous that the police did the first bit of being bothered, even before you get to the rest.
bobrayner
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3 years ago
1 like
Contrarian idea: The TdF has thrived when it's tried to mix things up a bit. In the early days, heroically difficult stages built the Tour's reputation. Then visiting other countries added new interest. A very short first or second stage helps encourage some aggression and the jerseys change hands. The quirky final stage of the 1989 Tour became the most exciting in decades, only beaten by 2020's penultimate stage (a more unconventional time trial).
The best future for the TdF is one where it has a couple of unconventional stages, whether there's a 400km slog, or something cheeky with points and big time bonuses, or a cobble stage. There are some amazing gravel routes in the Alps. Maybe a madison-esque team-centric stage in a velodrome.
Just do something different for one or two stages - and experience has shown that the TdF is much more exciting if that happens near the end.
sean1
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3 years ago
0 likes
Current guidance from Sport England is as follows:
"outdoor exercise. This should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space)"
https://www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/coronavirus/return-play/fre...
Note that fishing (coarse and sea) are allowed, as is rowing, kayaking, etc. The majority of anglers would need to drive in order to take this form of "exercise" so driving a short distance to do exercise is currently OK.
British Rowing have told all rowing clubs to close their doors - you can only go rowing if you have the means to do it from a private residence/car and from a public launching space. This effectively means there's no rowing going on save for a few lucky individuals, all because there is a perceived risk in accessing boats from inside boathouses, rather than the risk of single sculling (one of the most socially distant sports there is)! Luckily cycling uses the same muscle groups. 
Greygeezer
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3 years ago
7 likes
Shame the default is to ask has Boris broken the local rule? The media by doing this just encourage more cycling hate rather than encouraging / welcoming responsible exercise. Surely this is as much setting a good example as is visiting hospitals. In reality on a bike you are far less likely to cause covid contact compared to walking/ running in a busy park. Boris needs exercise as much as the next person.. the press need to look at themselves.
Shame the default is to ask has Boris broken the local rule? The media by doing this just encourage more cycling hate rather than encouraging / welcoming responsible exercise. Surely this is as much setting a good example as is visiting hospitals. In reality on a bike you are far less likely to cause covid contact compared to walking/ running in a busy park. Boris needs exercise as much as the next person.. the press need to look at themselves.
But it's so much easier for lazy journos to attack the PM for errant riding than for his multitude of failures over covid and Brexit.
Shame the default is to ask has Boris broken the local rule?
True enough, but the legitimate question would be: "on the back of your recent visit to the Olympic Park could you clarify the "local rule" as a number of of our readers want to ensure they are not going to get fined if they go for a 50m cycle ride"
After all he is the PM surely he would know!
I think Boris missed a trick there. If he'd have said, "It's a fair cop" and ponied up 200 notes, not only would some think him more a man of the people, but in terms of getting the message across it would have been the best £200 ever spent.
Guaranteed this would have been met with Nicola Sturgeon demanding he resign, as she did with Dominic Cummings...Yet she didn't resign when she broke mask rules at a funeral wake. Hypocrite.
Boris has been hoisted upon his own petard. His Governments insistence on putting in place "guidelines" instead of hard and fast laws is creating a mess for the police who have no clear power to enforce them, and for people because they dont know where they stand and are therefore tempted to interpret them in the best light for themselves.
Right now there are people dying because of his intransigence - screw the cycling angle.
The problem with hard and fast laws is that they'll inevitably come up against edge (and not so edge) cases that make a nonsense of them. The issue is not so much putting things into guidance, as the fact that the guidance is ill-thought-through and ambiguous, the government keeps trying to talk about it as 'rules', and it's not accompanied by the necessary honest national conversation about risks and reasonable behaviour. It's more of a communication problem than a codification problem.
IanMK
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3 years ago
0 likes
Dame Cressida Dick's take on the Boris Johnson story:
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the trip had not been "against the law - that's for sure".
People should go for exercise "from your front door and come back to your front door", she said, adding: "That's my view of local."
I'm happy withn that interpretation. Unfortunately:
Policing minister Kit Malthouse told BBC Breakfast that Johnson was taking his once-a-day exercise, saying as long as people are “staying local within their own mind” and are not mixing “then that is reasonable”.
clearly nothing like the actual definition of local in the guidance document.
Luckily for us by the time he reached Sky Mr Malthouse apears to have had a rethink:
On Sky News, Mr Malthouse also admitted that “local” was open to interpretation, adding “but people broadly know what local means”.
“If you can get there under your own steam and you are not interacting with somebody... then that seems perfectly reasonable to me.”
Although that potentially precludes buying coffee and cake.
Personally I find it bizarre anyone would want to buy a takeaway coffee and a cake for immediate consumption. Is it really worth the risk of queuing and potentially catching it from surfaces/your hands? If you must have something to eat/drink just take a flask and a couple of jaffa cakes. But of course the govt won't close takeaways because of the impact that would have on the economy...
If you must have something to eat/drink just take a flask and a couple of jaffa cakes.
Sounds like you're describing a picnic 😯
It's increasingly annoying that the media and police seem obsessed with the exercise clause of the guidance and have no interest in whether people are going to buy things they don't need. Seems like they don't understand the difference between need and want. They are clearly more interested in protecting the economy than people's mental health and wellbeing.
Trouble with not protecting the ecomony is that there is a balance between medium long term objectives and short term. No good if in the medium term we are all worse off overall. That will lead to reduced public services and they are already stretched for police and social care.
Not an easy equation to balance.
Although that potentially precludes buying coffee and cake.
absolutely it should. nothing essential about stopping for coffee and cake. You can make coffee at home and even bake cakes.
If you travelling so far you cannot carry enough food and water for your excercise then you are not local.
I can't understand why coffee shops are still open, they are not selling meals to people who have to work. If we are serious about reducing interactions and the spread of the virus why plan for additional interactions
As I said up thread
What if you are an essential/key worker or you work in eg construction, plumbing, gas heating ? Or police, ambulance staff out and not near their base ?
Not everyone can take with them the requirements for the day, so have to rely on takeaways to some degree.
Even if you normally have a work canteen, there is no guarantee it will be open.
edit : checked the regs and the default is work place canteens have to shut unless they are are certain type eg hospital, care home, school or where there is no practical alternative for staff at that workplace
Not everyone can take with them the requirements for the day, so have to rely on takeaways to some degree.
At the risk of seeming argumentative, who? Who, being capable of going to work, is not capable of taking a sandwich and a flask?
People who don't own a flask?
Not everyone can take with them the requirements for the day, so have to rely on takeaways to some degree.
At the risk of seeming argumentative, who? Who, being capable of going to work, is not capable of taking a sandwich and a flask?
Someone working multiple shifts who's already consumed their lunch and didn't realise that they were needed to do multiple shifts?
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