'Obstacle course for cyclists' bike lane; Rider precariously carries sofa; Commuting through flash floods; No Olympics for Sagan; Tour de France wheelie contest won with 174m record; MAAP opens Harrods store; Stage 16; Cav poll + more on the live blog

“Move to Austin! We’re a real city! We have bike infrastructure!”
An actual bike lane in Austin: pic.twitter.com/FPtTNwrAFa

— Colleen (she/her) (@collgrandelam) July 12, 2021

Who designed this? Pennywise? This has got to be up there with the worst bike lanes we've had the displeasure of sharing. The kerb, the slope, the drain, the token markings, no lighting...it's just all dreadful. All we can hope is that smooth slither of tarmac to the right is going to get a proper cycle lane...we won't be holding our breath though... 

🇫🇷 #TDF2021

he did it! what an amazing ride from 🇦🇹 champion @PatricKonrad 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/fKuPnr0zsD

— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) July 13, 2021

Patrick Konrad is more often seen helping his Bora-Hansgrohe teammates with their ambitions but today won stage 16 of the Tour de France. The Austrian has never won a pro race other than the Austrian national championships but soloed to victory today.

"This victory is also for the people who support me," he explained after the finish. "I've already been in the breakaway three times during the Tour, each time I waited too long to attack and it was the wrong decision. I told myself, 'Ok, next time I'm in this situation I will be the guy attacking early.'"

🇫🇷@DavidGaudu went all out on the climb of Portet d'Aspet but 🇦🇹@PatricKonrad maintains a 25'' gap. And 🇮🇹@sonnycolbrelli is still up there too 👀#TDF2021 #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/kJdNFGrfwP

— letourdata (@letourdata) July 13, 2021

The breakaway is over the final mountain of the day. Bora-Hansgrohe's Patrick Konrad led the way and has around 30 seconds on David Gaudu and Sonny Colbrelli, who is having another spectacular day on the climbs. A long descent, one Category 4 climb and an uphill rise to the line is all that's left...26km to go.

@albeezyyyyyy

One man moving company

♬ original sound - Albert Molina

'You can't take that by bike'...We can't say we're massive TikTokers here at road.cc, but we might have to be if videos like this keep popping up. Albert Molina's clip has gone viral and has been watched more than 3.1 million times...that's almost the entire population of Mongolia (thanks Google).

In the video a man is seen balancing a sofa precariously over his right shoulder while pedalling along. When asked if he wants any help, the well-balanced bicyclist explains he's been doing it for six years...Doing what? Riding around with sofas on his back? Helping people move house by bike? So many questions...

It reminded us of this photo from Bristol of a rider pushing a sofa up Park Street's seven per cent incline. Admirable, although I'm sure the people at Pedal Me would argue there's a much easier way to do it...

The Bike Club, the UK's first monthly kids bike subscription service, has today announced it is launching a similar service for adult hybrid and road bikes. Members to the service can order bikes, have them delivered to their homes, with prices from £15 per month. Initially, the available models are the Forme Winster 1, Winster 2 and Forme Longcliffe road bike, but the Bike Club says it hopes to expand to more models in the future.

As part of the service, bikes are delivered just needing pedals attached before being ready to ride. In 2020, 15,000 new members signed up to the Bike Club, which was founded in 2016 by wife and husband team Alexandra Rico-Lloyd and James Symes, who believed in an alternative to bike ownership.

"This is an exciting step for everyone at the Bike Club, we’re thrilled to be the first in the UK to offer multi-discipline adult bikes on subscription," Alexandra Rico-Lloyd said.

‘’Based on the extraordinary growth we’ve seen over the past few years, expanding our offer to include adult bikes is a natural step. It’s clear that increasing numbers of people are looking for an alternative to the traditional model of bike ownership, and are looking for subscription services which are more sustainable, flexible, and affordable. 

‘’This is an incredible time for cycling, and we can’t wait to see new members of the Bike Club out on their bikes in the weeks and months ahead.’’

#flooding on London Road by Linkfield Road in #Isleworth 🌊 🌊 taking a diversion to get home cause I don’t think my Prius can swim! pic.twitter.com/xN6GBQLr8e

— Fernando - Private Hire Driver (@london_pco) July 12, 2021

Yesterday when the heavens opened I'll admit I was absolutely ecstatic to be working from home and not facing a commute closer to watersports than cycling. This lad wasn't so lucky. I'd say at least he won't have to clean his bike, but we all know that's not true...

Parts of London received a month's worth of rain in a day...47.8mm fell in Kew as residents were evacuated. The London Fire Brigade said it had received more than 1,000 phone calls.

Last week on the live blog we shared the video of a Uber Eats rider in Edinburgh who was spotted wading through knee-high water to make a delivery.

The rest day excursion to Andorra is almost over and stage 16 is just hours away. It's another great day to be up the road, even with the steady headwind, and looks as though it could be the fifth stage out of the last six to be taken from the break. Expect the fight for the move to be as fierce as ever with relatively 'fresh' legs after the rest day and a long, fast downhill start.

Category 2 Col de Port is first up, before the hardest climb of the day Col de la Core comes midway through the stage. The short but steep Col de Portet d'Aspet is followed by a long descent to Category 4 Côte d'Aspret-Sarrat 8km before the uphill finish in Saint-Gaudens. I'll go for a small group coming to the finish together and Omar Fraile taking the win. Get your pre-stage predictions in the comments for a chance at a small slice of glory come half-four...

Today’s @LeTour stage takes us back to the Col de Portet-d’Aspet. It will be the first time since 2018 and I wish we all stay safe.
And like always my thoughts will go to Fabio Casartelli while passing this tragic spot in cycling history. #TdF21 #TdF2021
📷 Photo News pic.twitter.com/aIzpkL8DBp

— Philippe Gilbert (@PhilippeGilbert) July 13, 2021

An one hundred and seventy-four meter long wheelie!🤩😱 #TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/UsqdVaMBmZ

— Bas Tietema (@BasTietema) July 12, 2021

Team Qhubeka NextHash may not have come close to winning a Tour de France stage so far this year, but they will take home the prestigious wheelie contest thanks to Max Walscheid's monster effort on stage 15. Set up by the guys from the Tour de Tietma YouTube channel, the wheelie contest was held on the final climb of the day - Col de Beixalis.

Riders were invited to take on defending champion Oliver Naesen and cheered on by the expectant crowds. Davide Formolo, Naesen, Mads Pedersen and Toms Skujins all impressed early on, before Walscheid put the contest to bed...

The German would eventually finish the stage in 140th place, 33:20 behind stage winner Sepp Kuss...but perhaps he was just saving his energy for the main event of the day. He easily balanced his way past Naesen's previous record and the finish line before continuing around the hairpin and off into the distance, forcing the cameraman to put in a huge effort just to keep up...

Here's the full video, including Wout van Aert's laboured effort...it turns out there is something he can't do after all...