“Structural integrity be damned!” Bike shop mechanics perplexed by shocking valve-finding wheel bodge – and suggest a “couple pieces of thick tape to hide the shame”; Demi Vollering’s double power nap + more on the live blog

Good point.

Adding to the speculation, road.cc reader hawkinspeter said: “That rim must be well over-engineered to still be working after that level of fettling. Looks to me like it’s a cheapish deep section rim for a fixie – looks cool, but heavier than it needs to be.

“I certainly wouldn't trust that as my understanding of wheels is that the strength comes from the rim acting as a compressive component (or whatever the correct term is), so cutting out a wedge like that is going to drastically reduce the strength.”

“I suspect the rim isn’t that weaker because most of the strength in a BSO rim like that will be coming from the rim channel, not the aero side wall,” added Secret Squirrel.

Though stonojrn countered: “I’d resist the temptation to ride that down a steep hill though.”

Me too, me too…

The debate around Brett’s ‘cut your bars off’ advice for cyclists seeking the most comfortable bike position on the live blog yesterday shows no signs of slowing down.

Today, road.cc reader Kevin – another cyclist who found he had no need for the drops due to a persistent neck problem – got in touch to tell us he had also sawed his drops off in the past (I know, can’t believe two non-hill climbers have resorted to such measures).

> "I should have done it sooner": Cyclist turns heads with "no regrets" handlebar set-up, cutting off drops because "it just feels perfect"

However, Kevin reckons that the bike mutilation approach didn’t solve his problems – and that it was the decision to repurpose some tri bars which did the trick, without the need to rip a good handlebar apart.

“The guy thinks he has reinvented the wheel and his solution is not the best,” Kevin tells us about Brett’s DIY bar destruction.

“I am a cyclist and coming into the sport late at 30 (now 64) I always struggled on the drops due to a depressed vertebrae in my neck from playing rugby. Did what your guy did initially and chopped off the drops. It worked but was not the best solution.

“Luckily I am mates with a guy called Sean who runs Ken Foster cycling shop in Manchester. I discussed the issue with him and he came up with the solution – using H bars or tri flat bars. And this was 25 years ago.

“The levers are situated in such a position that you are always on the hoods. I have three bikes and they all have the same setup thanks to Sean. Yes, slightly old school with exposed cables on the bars. But it works. Out of the saddle climbing is a joy, no problem with shifting, either Shimano or Campag as I have both. With electronic shifting the cable issue would be tidied up.

“Just thought I would let you know that he needs to have a look at other solutions that have been around for decades.”

You tell ‘em Kevin.

And if you can’t get enough of all this drops discussion, Dan is currently working on a tech feature on that very subject – so keep your eyes peeled for that one.

Away from the Tour de France/Benelux, and to more sunnier climes, as the ridiculously strong Thibau Nys proved two out of three ain’t bad at the Tour of Poland, the young Belgian taking his second uphill sprint of the race so far by overhauling Diego Ulissi at the end of a relentlessly tough mountain stage.

🏅🇧🇪Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) gana la Etapa 3 del Tour de Polonia 2024 🇵🇱 #TDP24 #TDP2024 #TourdePologne pic.twitter.com/RdEwommQmq

— NotiCiclismo 🇪🇸 #VueltaBurgos (@Noticiclismo1) August 14, 2024

Wilco Kelderman and Ireland’s Archie Ryan finished third and fourth respectively on the steep, technical final climb, while Jonas Vingegaard comfortably held on to the race lead after testing his legs on a climb earlier in the day.

But if there’s one thing that this year’s edition of Tour of Poland has proved, it’s that on an uphill finish, it’s hard to beat Nys.

Puck Pieterse may be used to winning on her cyclocross and mountain bike by now, but the 22-year-old multidisciplinary star is still a relative newbie on the road.

In fact, before this year’s Tour de France started on Monday, the Dutch star had only raced 10 times as a professional road rider.

Mind you, on eight of those occasions, she finished in the top 10, including at some of the sport’s biggest classics.

So, it’s no surprise that she’s taken to racing at the sport’s biggest event like a duck to a wet Belgian day, as Pieterse attacked alongside seasoned stalwarts Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma, before holding off Vollering at the line, to take her first pro road victory at the end of a sodden stage in Liège – and one that blew the GC race apart.

(A.S.O./Charly Lopez)

On a brilliantly designed spring classics mash-up course, the yellow jersey contenders initially engaged in a phony war through the Ardennes, as the rain poured on La Redoute and the Côte des Forges and first Chloe Dygert, then potential GC hopeful Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig fell foul of the conditions, crashing on the sketchy looking descents that make up Liège-Bastogne-Liège’s finale every April.

But on the final climb of the day, the Roche aux Faucons, the group exploded, as yellow jersey Vollering drove the pace. Niewiadoma, a perennial contender at the Tour, then launched, forging a group clear containing Vollering, Pieterse, and the young Dutch star’s Fenix-Deceuninck teammate Pauliena Rooijakkers.

(A.S.O./Charly Lopez)

After Pieterse added another few mountain points to the collection she’d inadvertently started earlier in the day while working for Yara Kastelijn, the impetus in the group slowly stalled as Vollering – for whatever reason – refused to co-operate.

However, buoyed by the promise of bonus seconds ASO had plonked on a drag not long after the Roche aux Faucons, and just as the chasers came into view, Vollering kicked again. That was that for Rooijakkers, but the remaining trio ploughed on, building a 30-second lead over a group containing GC rivals Évita Muzic and Juliette Labous (other pre-race contenders such as Mavi García and Riejanne Markus were even further backed) as they descending into Liège’s urban sprawl.

Niewiadoma, like she’s done on so many occasions in past classics, was the first to move, attacking with 800m to go.

But the Polish rider’s move only served to set up Pieterse who – unaware of where the finish was, she later revealed – kicked hard with 200m remaining. The imperious Vollering’s late burst, however, drew her level with her young compatriot, as the two crossed the line side-by-side after a scintillating sprint that looked, for a moment at least, as if it had succumbed to the yellow jersey’s unflinching inevitability.

🏆 One last KM and a first pro victory! Congrats Puck Pieterse!

🏆 Un dernier kilomètre pour une première victoire professionnelle ! Et quelle première ! Bravo Puck Pieterse !#TDFF2024 | #WatchTheFemmes | @GoZwift pic.twitter.com/F4tkLpTz8z

— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) August 14, 2024

An agonising wait later, however, and Pieterse’s breakthrough win on the road – just over a week after a puncture robbed her of a medal at the Olympic mountain biking – was confirmed.

29 seconds later, another revelation of 2024, Mauritius’ Kim Le Court led the next group home, after working hard on the front to limit her losses for most of the final kilometres. Despite Le Court’s effort, the writing already looks on the wall for anyone who missed out on the sodden Belgian hills this afternoon.

But while Vollering and Niewiadoma can be happy with their GC efforts, the day belonged to Pieterse.

“It’s quite unbelievable actually. The last few days I’ve had super good legs, and today I didn’t feel my legs at all. And to take the sprint here against Demi, it’s a dream come true,” the delighted 22-year-old said at the finish.

“I knew they were riding for the GC, and I’m just here to win a stage while I’m fresh, so I could play poker a bit in the final. I knew Kasia would attack, and Demi would have to follow, so I just tried to keep a poker face and take it in the sprint. I think I went quite early, but I’ve never been here so I didn’t know where the finish line was!

“We had to wait what felt like ages for the result, but I’m so happy to take the win. I live for this, I worked so much for the Olympic Games, and if you have good legs there, you have good legs here.”

Puck Pieterse has arrived.

A rare sighting in pro cycling this year (but one that’s etched into the history of the sport), as the Tour de France Femmes peloton was forced to stop at a level crossing to allow a train to pass, just as the pace was ratcheting up ahead of the extremely hilly final 40km in the Ardennes:

For those of you new to the sport, once the level crossing lifted, breakaway rider Sara Martin of Movistar was allowed to head back up the road, reinstating the gap between the Movistar rider and the bunch that existed as she was brought to a halt. But with the action about to explode in the final 50km, I imagine her days are numbered anyway…

Well, it wouldn’t be a tribute to April’s one-day races without some rain, would it? 

🇪🇸 @SamartinmartinA is leading the race solo as the peloton is now riding in the rain. 🌧️

🇪🇸 @SamartinmartinA est seule en tête de la course avec 1'10'' d'avance sur le peloton. La pluie a fait son apparition. 🌧️#TDFF2024 | #WatchTheFemmes | @GoZwift pic.twitter.com/wvTgqff3x3

— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) August 14, 2024

Mathieu van der Poel is eschewing the grand tour preparation that helped him win his first world road race title in Glasgow last year, as his Alpecin-Deceuninck team revealed that the Dutch star won’t be lining up in Lisbon this Saturday for the start of the Vuelta a España, ahead of his defence of his rainbow bands in Zurich at the end of September.

Instead, Van der Poel – who raced the Tour de France before soloing to victory on the rainy streets of Glasgow last August – will likely take on a series of one-day races as he builds up his form this year’s very hilly worlds, after taking some time off the bike following the Paris Olympics, where he finished 12th in the road race after missing the winning moves that led to Remco Evenepoel’s win.

Kaden Groves sprints to the win on the 2023 Vuelta’s final stage in Madrid (Rafa Gomez/SprintCyclingAgency)

With Van der Poel absent, Alpecin-Deceuninck will instead put at least most of their Vuelta eggs in the Kaden Groves basket, as the Australian sprinter hopes to build on his three stages and points jersey win from last year, despite failing to bag a win yet in 2024.

Basque country stage winner Quinten Hermans, Edward Planckaert, Maurice Ballerstedt, Xandro Meurisse, Juri Hollmann, Luca Vergallito, and Oscar Riesebeek round off the stage-hunting team’s line-up.

Finally, some pro cycling training advice I can fully get behind.

It turns out that Demi Vollering’s surprise time trial win at the Tour de France Femmes on home soil in Rotterdam yesterday (we say surprise, but it is Vollering after all), and earlier than expected reacquaintance with the yellow jersey, was the result of two perfectly timed day-time snoozes.

No, I’m not joking. Faced with the first split stage at the Tour de France since 1991, Vollering chose to wind down after the morning’s short 68km stage for the sprinters by taking a quick power nap at the hotel – which was rudely interrupted by her alarmed teammates – before finding time for some extra shuteye on the team bus before her time trial.

(A.S.O./Thomas Maheux)

“I did two times a power nap, after the first stage,” Vollering said during the post-TT press conference yesterday evening.

“When we came back to the hotel I lay down on the bed and I fell asleep. Also, because I left my phone on the bus and didn’t have anything else to do, I fell asleep for 20 minutes, it was very nice.

“Then my teammates were knocking on my door and I stood up too quick and was like, ‘What?!’ They were like, ‘You were sleeping?'

“And then in the bus here after the recon I wanted to do some meditation and fell asleep again. I think I was bit too relaxed in the AM, I thought to myself it’s not going to go so good because I’m too relaxed and it’s such a short time trial, so you need to be very awake.

“But maybe power naps are very good for me.”

 (A.S.O./Charly Lopez)

I don’t think there can be much arguing with that, after home hero Vollering stunned Chloe Dygert in the afternoon time trial, beating the American by five seconds over the pan-flat 6.3km course through the streets of Rotterdam to win the stage and take the yellow jersey, in front of a jubilant Dutch crowd.

“I didn’t see this coming,” the 27-year-old admitted after the stage. “I really had no idea that I could do this today, so I’m surprised, actually.”

Reflecting on winning a stage of the Tour de France in her home nation, an emotional Vollering continued: “First of all, I’ve realised how special all this is for women’s sports in general, but to have so many loved ones at the side of the road. I’m a pretty sensitive person. I go with the moment and I’m really feeling. I do everything based on feeling.

“This year, I say, ‘Emotion is my power’. I always put all my emotions into the sport. I train with my feelings, I race with my feelings, so I think that this is my power. I’ve tried to put it away because a lot of people don’t like to see it, because you should show that you are strong in sports, but I think that sport is emotion for me.

(A.S.O./Charly Lopez)

“You work so hard toward goals and have so many people around you who support you and dedicate so much to you. I think that sports is emotion, so why not show it. For me, it comes out. A lot of people feel it, but you may not see it properly. But, for me, you just see it.”

Emotion and power naps – that’s what it takes to win the Tour de France. And write the live blog too, apparently.