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"Here's a man who never buys his own bearings": Peter Sagan pressure washes his poor Specialized...and people aren't happy; Cereal offender; How to watch our James May interview; School bike buses + more on the live blog

Is it a mirage or is it actually Friday? Warm up for our special Drink at your desk Friday with James May at 4pm by joining Dan Alexander on the live blog...
Fri, May 13, 2022 09:07
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"Here's a man who never buys his own bearings": Peter Sagan pressure washes his poor Specialized...and people aren't happy; Cereal offender; How to watch our James May interview; School bike buses + more on the live blogPeter Sagan bike clean
13 May 2022, 16:25
13 May 2022, 15:16
Koen Bouwman wins stage seven of the Giro d'Italia

In the end, Tom Dumoulin was on teammate duty for faster-finishing Koen Bouwman on the eight per cent ramp to the finish line at the end of stage seven. Bouwman easily beat Bauke Mollema and Davide Formolo, and also took the KOM jersey on the road too. 

Dumoulin got his arms in the air to celebrate too, crossing the line a few seconds back in fourth. No significant changes to speak of in the GC group, in fact, no changes at all. That should change over the weekend: tomorrow is an exciting-looking circuit race around the hills of Naples, Sunday takes the riders up Blockhaus...who'll still be in the race for pink come the second rest day?

13 May 2022, 15:02
James May talks bikes! | Drink at your desk Friday

13 May 2022, 14:40
13 May 2022, 14:23
Tom Dumoulin tries, and tries again, to shift breakaway companions

29km to go...Tom Dumoulin and Jumbo-Visma teammate Koen Bouwman are at the head of the race alongside Bauke Mollema and Davide Formolo. On the final climb of the day and holding a three and a half minute advantage, it seems they'll stay away until the finish. Who will win? One of the three Dutchmen or an Italian?

Dumoulin's just launched his third attack of the climb, countered by compatriot Mollema. The next hour or so will be very interesting...

13 May 2022, 14:16
Following on from yesterday's angry people in local newspapers...
13 May 2022, 13:46
'Cyclist' or person who happens to be riding a bike?

As a cycling news website which reports on crime and wider road safety issues, we often have to ask ourselves a question when deciding whether or not to run a story: is the person a 'cyclist' or just somebody who happens to be using a bike at that time?

At risk of delving deep into a semantics rabbit hole, there is, it seems to us, some cases when a person may be given the 'cyclist' tag, and others when another title might be better suited.

For example, a bank robber fleeing the scene of a crime by bike wouldn't be something we'd report on...they're a bank robber not a cyclist, even if they were riding a bike.

Where am I going with this? Well, we've seen a couple examples this week on social media and other news websites...

Would "thieves riding bicycles" be better than "cyclists"? Probably. Does it even matter? I'd be interested to hear what you think...

Elsewhere this week, the Metro ran a story titled: 'Cyclist fined for using bank cards in wallet stolen by fox and dropped in street'. Admittedly your first question about that headline may be to do with something other than an erroneous noun...

Yes, Qasim Hussain was riding a bike when he found the wallet, and rode to the shops to use the card. Does that make him a 'cyclist'? I'd argue not.

If you're still reading this then you deserve some sort of award, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the matter. It's one we deal with every day, but writing news stories and live blogs all the time can be a bit of a wood for the trees situation...some fresh perspectives would be gratefully received...

13 May 2022, 13:28
Happy Global Baggies Day

 Endura has launched Global Baggies Day to remind us all to chill out and not take life so seriously...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Dan Martin (@danmartin86)

Hearing that particular message from retired pro racers living our dream may seem a little preachy, so have a read of our sister site off-road.cc for our take on what it's all about...

 In short: "Global Baggies Day is meant to be an irreverent rallying cry for everyone, including ourselves, not to take life's more minor trivialities too seriously, especially when there's plenty of genuinely serious stuff to worry about at the moment. 

"So, whenever we catch ourselves fretting about the unnecessary, take a breath, and come and join us on May 13th for a ride in baggy shorts instead – a wee reminder that life's too short, not baggies, so let’s enjoy it," James Russell-Watson, Head of Marketing at Endura, said. 

13 May 2022, 11:13
You've convinced me...

Not that I needed any convincing to be fair...we've been glued to stage seven...

Moments ago, and with 139km to go, Richard Carapaz, yes, GC favourite Carapaz was in an attack with Mathieu van der Poel and teammate Jhonatan Narváez. They're back in the peloton now, but it's that sort of day...get it on asap...

13 May 2022, 10:52
What could possibly go wrong? 'Celebrities' try track cycling for ITV's The Games

ITV's The Games, an attempt at entertainment — involving 'celebrities' competing against each other in sporting challenges — was back on the telly last night. And this week they had their female celebs racing a Keirin on the track at the Lee Valley Velodrome (kind of disappointed they didn't choose the Madison to be honest). What could possibly go wrong?

It was (perhaps unsurprisingly for six people who have presumably never ridden on a velodrome before) an absolute crash fest...

Eventual winner Chelcee Grimes had fallen before the race even got underway, then there were another couple of crashes once the derny was up and running. In a who's who of who the beep are you? Christine McGuinness came second while Olivia Attwood and Lucrezia Millarini both crashed out...

At least the viewers are enjoying the show...

13 May 2022, 10:44
Could you have kept up?
13 May 2022, 09:48
POLL: Is pressure-washing your bike okay?

PollMaker

As with seemingly everything in cycling, nobody can agree if jet-washing your bike is safe or not. Does it blast out all that much-needed grease? Or, if it's good enough for the pros is it good enough for you?

13 May 2022, 09:45
Bike buses: the best way to get to school
13 May 2022, 09:00
Cereal offender: police crack down on reckless driving after woman caught eating bowl of cereal

13 May 2022, 08:55
Yesterday's Giro stage...

At least today we should get some action...

196km and 4,500m of vertical gain...this could get interesting...

Bad news for Cav, not that he'd be winning today anyway, but leadout extraordinaire Michael Mørkøv has abandoned the race after developing a fever overnight... 

13 May 2022, 07:52
"Here's a man who never buys his own bearings": Peter Sagan pressure washes his poor Specialized...and people aren't happy

Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you, no bike ask for
Under pressure that wears a bearing out
Splits an S-Works in two
Puts grease on streets...

Peter Sagan is doing some of that sponsor-plugging that pro riders love to do (yesterday, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl suggested Julian Alaphilippe could only begin his rehab on Tacx rollers) ...

Anyway, the three-time world champ has outdone the two-time world champ...sharing a video of him jetting his S-Works clean of all dirt (and grease) after a ride. He's jetting off himself too...heading to Utah for "a long training session". That kind of makes it sound like he's going to do one seven-day endurance ride and then head home...but we're not here to question Sagan's training, only his bike washing...

Anyway, the reaction to the vid was pretty predictable...

I guess when your bike only has a lifespan of a year before you get a shiny new one, it doesn't really matter what you do to it...

Case for the defence?

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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