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UCI reports zero hidden motors found during 700 Tour de France tests; Jeremy Vine breaks down pointless punishment pass; Top notch junction; UK's most bike-friendly cities; Penny-farthing Deliveroo; Rest day round-up + more on the live blog

That didn't go to plan...Sorrows were drowned and a slightly worse for wear Dan Alexander has stumbled out of bed to give the Monday live blog a go...
Mon, Jul 12, 2021 09:21
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UCI reports zero hidden motors found during 700 Tour de France tests; Jeremy Vine breaks down pointless punishment pass; Top notch junction; UK's most bike-friendly cities; Penny-farthing Deliveroo; Rest day round-up + more on the live blogMotor hidden in bike frame (Stade 2 video image, April 2016).JPG
12 July 2021, 16:02
Maybe England would win this...

Thanks for the reminder, UCI... 

12 July 2021, 15:01
12 July 2021, 14:53
All 720 motor doping tests come back negative during first 15 stages of Tour de France
uci motor scanning.png

The UCI has published the numbers from the opening two weeks of the Tour de France. 606 tests for hidden motors were carried out on bikes before the start of stages using magnetic scanning tablets (like seen in this old photo from the Giro) and a further 114 at the end of stages. All 720 were negative. The stage winner and leader of the general classification are checked post-stage every day...so the testers must be getting sick of the sight of Tadej Pogačar's Colnago.

A new backscatter technology will also be brought into use at the Tokyo Olympics...for those, like me, who have no idea what that means...the UCI says it is a light hand-held device that can provide instant images of the interior of a bike that can be shared in real-time to anywhere in the world via secure platform...

Former pro and UCI Innovation Manager, Michael Rogers confirmed tests would continue during the final week of the Tour. 

12 July 2021, 14:20
Cheltenham & County Cycling Club celebrates centenary year
Cheltenham and County cycling Club 1921 club run

Cheltenham and County Cycle Club got in touch to share the news that it is their centenary year. The club offers regular evening and weekend runs and has over 300 members covering road, mountain bike, cyclo-cross and gravel. The club will be celebrating its special year by organising a few 100km and 100-mile rides as well as timed laps of a cyclo-cross course and slalom runs at a local mountain bike centre...

The picture above was taken at the start of the first club run in 1921 and shows the impeccably dressed founder members... 

12 July 2021, 14:10
12 July 2021, 13:32
Deceuninck-Quick-Step becomes Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team for 2022

After teasing us with the promise of big news our imagination ran wild and left us wondering if a Cav contract celebration was imminent...alas, not today. Quick-Step's big news is a change of sponsor and a new name for 2022....introducing...Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team. Out goes Deceuninck from the name and is replaced by Quick-Step's Alpha Vinyl floor..."rigid, 100%-watertight, ultra-strong vinyl flooring solutions that are almost indistinguishable from real wood or stone – and they can be installed on different types of surfaces, level or fairly irregular." That'll set pulses racing...

12 July 2021, 12:33
A junction worth making a detour to visit

You could go round on this all day... 

12 July 2021, 11:08
Tour de France rest day round-up from Andorra: Pros put their feet up ahead of gruelling final week

No stage today so the pros can put their feet up before a brutal final week of the Tour de France. Tomorrow looks another good opportunity for the breakaway with the double second-cat climbs of the Col de Port and Portet d'Aspet either side of the first category Col de la Core.

Wednesday takes the peloton back above 2,000m with a summit finish at the HC Col du Portet. Stage 18 on Thursday is the final of the mountain days and sees the race traverse the Tourmalet before another summit finish, this time at Luz Ardiden. Friday is the penultimate 'sprint' stage but could be hijacked by a breakaway if Cav's troops are too tired to chase, before a 30km flat TT and the traditional Paris finish round off the Tour at the weekend...

To get that full rest day experience check out our feature on what the riders get up to on their day off...

12 July 2021, 10:52
12 July 2021, 10:41
Bottle banter
12 July 2021, 09:49
Study picks out five of the UK's most bike-friendly cities
Edinburgh

Leisure Lakes Bikes has done some digging to compile a list of the UK's five most bike-friendly cities, based on data and routes from Bikemap. Edinburgh topped the table with 1,751 routes on Bikemap and 164,913km of mapped ways, green space and of course, cobbles...

London came second despite having the most amount of mapped ways (223,429km) and 1,730 routes, while Bristol was third with a similar number of routes (1,612) in a considerably smaller area. Glasgow was ranked fourth and York rounded out the top five. Where do you think the UK's most cycling-friendly city is?

12 July 2021, 09:29
Penny-farthing Deliveroo
12 July 2021, 08:02
Jeremy Vine breaks down pointless punishment pass

This driver was seemingly so keen to sit in traffic he just had to race past Jeremy Vine, barely missing the presenter as he passed. After getting a 'get out my way' beep from the driver, Vine continues to ride a safe distance away from the cars parked on the left. The 360-degree camera then shows just how close the driver came to hitting him as he speeds through...only to get stuck behind more drivers and watch Jeremy pedal off into the distance.

Back in January, Vine shared a video of a 4x4 driver pushing through on a narrow residential street with the caption, 'Every. Single. Day'...

Dan Alexander

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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20 comments

Avatar
MarRun | 2 years ago
1 like

That looks like the same penny-farthing rider who was racing in the 2017 London Nocturne. We thought then the deliveroo bag was just for a joke or a bet. Obviously not.

 

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mdavidford | 2 years ago
0 likes

I have a disturbing image of blue vinyl skinsuits in my head now...

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mdavidford | 2 years ago
0 likes

That chicane on the approach to the Cambridge junction seems rather abrupt. Is that a deliberate attempt to slow down approach speeds (can't make out whether the other approaches are the same)? How negotiable would that be for 'non-standard' cycles?

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
4 likes

Saw this awful driving and attempted murder of a cyclist on Uk Dash Cammers Youtube yesterday. 

Footage is 4:43 in (should start directly there from the link). 
https://youtu.be/h_2BwgUhjio?t=283

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ktache replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
0 likes

Wow, seems deliberate, and far above the posted speed limit.

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EK Spinner replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

Just Feck'n Wow! WTF for me that stands the test for attempted murder

wached a little further on, and the guy riding down the central reservation seems to be seeking a darwin award

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to EK Spinner | 2 years ago
0 likes

Yep, was going to mention him as well but then decided to not water down the seriousness of the incident above.

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OnYerBike replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
0 likes

Clearly very dangerous driving, but I'm not convinced (and I doubt a jury would be either) that the driver was intending to hit the cyclist. Maybe attempting to scare their pants off, but not actually collide with them. By the time the van reaches the cyclist, it is already drifting back towards the main carriageway and not (IMHO) actively aiming towards the cyclist.

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Captain Badger | 2 years ago
4 likes

Quote:

A junction worth making a detour to visit

Think this is fantastic, although this particular rider has massive balls/trust/naivete [delete as applicable] assuming that the cagers are actually going to give way

Can imagine judges summing up: "You approached the new roundabout at speed, and, not understanding the eh new road layout, made the entirely logical and responsible decision to floor the accelerator. The only reason that I was unable to accept your mitigation that the sun was in your eyes was that you were heading north towards Ruislip  at 2300 hrs. A sad case of wrong place at the wrong time. I sentence you to a life of wondering whether you actually did anything wrong"

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
3 likes

Wasn't the footage sped up?

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Captain Badger replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

Wasn't the footage sped up?

Spoilsport.

Even so, I stand my view that drivers will blow through the give ways

Edit: have reread that, it's a bit like saying that "I stand my view that the sun'll come up tomorrow...."

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
2 likes

he's a witch, burn him.

Edit: Seriously though your future predictions are grimly correct, just watch the rest of the Dashcams video I posted to see the way drivers treat roundabouts and giveways for other drivers.

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Captain Badger replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

he's a witch, burn him.

he turned me into a newt....

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Steve K | 2 years ago
0 likes

I know this isn't the point, but doesn't that 360 camera make Jeremy's arms look funny?

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zedbedboy | 2 years ago
9 likes

So Jezza Vine get's a 'toot' from the knob-head driver. Now imagine what happens when you give the knob-heads a big red 'bicycle toot' button under their right thumb! Thanks INEOS for encouraging the knob-heads!!!

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eburtthebike replied to zedbedboy | 2 years ago
0 likes

zedbedboy wrote:

So Jezza Vine get's a 'toot' from the knob-head driver. Now imagine what happens when you give the knob-heads a big red 'bicycle toot' button under their right thumb! Thanks INEOS for encouraging the knob-heads!!!

And I think we can safely conclude, based on the evidence of who currently drives gigantic 4x4s, Ineos drivers will all be knob-heads.

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ktache replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
0 likes

Towing horsey trailers?

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Captain Badger replied to ktache | 2 years ago
1 like

ktache wrote:

Towing horsey trailers?

The irony.....

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AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

The more surprising bit in that Vine clip is the cyclist at the start deciding he isn't allowed in the ASL box and staying level with the cars.

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OnYerBike replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
2 likes

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

The more surprising bit in that Vine clip is the cyclist at the start deciding he isn't allowed in the ASL box and staying level with the cars.

It looks like he might have stopped to look at something on his phone? Not exactly where I would have chosen to stop, but arguably a more sensible place to faff than further forward.

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