“He’s a Yorkshireman and that’s not beer”: Tom Pidcock STILL unimpressed with Amstel’s offering – even after finally winning the beer’s race; Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lanes? Because they’re “constantly blocked” by vehicles + more on the live blog

Of course, Tom Pidcock’s storming ride and annual beer snub weren’t the only headlines emerging from yesterday’s Amstel Gold Races.

In the women’s race – briefly neutralised and reduced to a handful of local laps after a police officer was hit by a motorist along the route – SD Worx’s sprinting supremo Lorena Wiebes joined the long, long, long list of riders left humbled and embarrassed by a premature celebration.

Marianne Vos WINS Amstel Gold Women right on the line! 🏁🤯

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider steals victory from Lorena Wiebes with a 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚-𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒅 throw!#AGR2024 pic.twitter.com/XrusDsIBcT

— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 14, 2024

Wiebes looked on course for a perfectly executed maiden win at the Dutch classic, easily following the attacks over the Cauberg before expertly finding a gap between the early charging Elisa Longo Borghini and the barriers in the sprint for the line.

However, the 25-year-old – arguably the fastest sprinter in the world – then seemed to take her unmatched speed for granted, raising her arms far too early and allowing Marianne Vos (who else?) to nip in with the bike throw to end all bike throws, as the greatest rider of all time continued a staggering renaissance season with yet another classics victory.

> “Steals it on the line!”: Lorena Wiebes left red-faced as early celebration lets Marianne Vos snatch Amstel Gold Race win

You live and learn, Lorena…

There was also plenty going on this weekend outside of the Limburg region of the Netherlands too, apparently, with Jeremy Vine’s penny-farthing making a welcome return to the road.cc news page.

Not that some motorists will still be able to see him, of course…

> Jeremy Vine rides penny-farthing along cycle lane… gets blocked off by a driver who ignored cyclist priority

> Motorists furious at width of £1.2m cycle lane project claim “utterly absurd” scheme an “attack on your right to drive a car”

> Brompton boss urges crackdown on “poor quality” e-bike batteries before public perception “snowballs into a world of fear”

> “It’s there to protect children going to school”: Parents raise alarm about “aggressive drivers” putting kids in danger by ignoring School Street

> Two cyclists injured as Irish cycling club ride crash caused by loose dogs, owner fined in court

> Restaurant owner goes on hunger strike to protest cycle lane in San Francisco

For one of the UK’s capital cities, Belfast’s distinct lack of safe, sound cycling infrastructure has been something we’ve explored quite a bit on the live blog over the years, with Northern Ireland’s devolved government coming under increasing scrutiny from cycling campaigners for its, shall we say, laidback approach to the kind of active travel policies now much more commonplace across England, Wales, and Scotland (yes, it’s that bad).

> New barriers on infamous ‘car park’ cycle lane vandalised, as councillor calls for “robust” protection “before someone gets seriously hurt”

And as one of those cycling activists, Dom Bryan, pointed out this morning on Twitter, “if the lack safe cycle routes in Belfast was not bad enough, the routes we do have are inadequately marked and constantly blocked”.

And here’s a selection of those constantly blocked routes:

“This is my regular route too,” noted Daniel. “Your photos look like they were taken on a relatively good day. Brutal.”

Brutal indeed.

Considering my last bike was bought in 2013 – and I still think of it as ‘new’ – I think I might leave this one to Jamie and Dave…

> Are modern bikes really so much better? Comparing vintage vs new road bikes for ride quality, aero, weight, gearing + more

Alright then, give me the Colnago any day. There, I said it.

While Tom Pidcock was busy sprinting his way to a redemptive victory at the Amstel Gold Race, and turning his nose up at the podium tipple of choice, his fellow Brit Oscar Onley’s run of bad luck continued at the Dutch race, crashing hard and breaking his collarbone:

As the sweary Instagram caption suggests, this is – rather staggeringly – the third time in just nine months that Onley has fractured his collarbone during a race.

The precocious 21-year-old Scot crashed out of the Vuelta, his debut grand tour, on just the second stage to Barcelona (after his DSM team won the opening team time trial, as well).

Onley then started the 2024 season in flying form, winning on Willunga Hill and finishing fourth overall at the Tour Down Under – before leaving Australia following yet another crash and broken collarbone at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean road race.

(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

That latest setback ruled him out for two months until the end of March, but Onley was soon back with a bang, taking third at the GP Miguel Indurain and fifth on the Tour of the Basque Country’s final notoriously hilly stage to Eibar, as he built up form ahead of the Ardennes Classics, where he hoped to impress on the kinds of punchy climbs that suit him down to the ground.

However, a third broken collarbone since August (and the fourth so far of his very young career) at Amstel means that Onley’s hilly classics campaign is over before it even really started, scuppering another chance to showcase his obvious talent on the highest stage.

Surely the youngster’s luck has to change soon?

The introduction of contraflow cycling markings on a series of narrow one-way streets in Bournemouth has raised questions among residents and active travel groups about what the benefit is of opening the route up to two-way cycling and whether the site is suitable and safe to do so.

While the initial reports of community concern were published by the Daily Mail and feature the usual headline-grabbing complaints from a portion of outspoken residents heard when almost any new cycling project is undertaken, there have also been comments online from a local active travel group on the matter, with normally pro-active travel people suggesting that the layout could be dangerous and may spark conflict.

Read more: > Contraflow cycling confusion as council paints bike markings on “narrow one-way” streets, raising fears over “accident waiting to happen” layout 

Tom Pidcock’s pooches weren’t the only canine stars on show in the Netherlands yesterday. During the neutralisation that affected the women’s race following a collision involving a police officer along the route, these (Amstel) Golden Retrievers enjoyed a nice roadside pet and chat (and halftime team talk) with the Movistar and Lotto Dstny riders:

Race neutralisation means more time to pet the dogs! 🐶#AGR2024 pic.twitter.com/Su5G9a2o6l

— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 14, 2024

Can we have more dog breaks during races, please?

Hi there, Mary Dejevsky, writer, broadcaster, and former foreign correspondent in Moscow, Paris and Washington, and welcome to Monday’s round of anti-cycling bingo, you’re just in time.

And thanks to Spectator columnist Dejevsky’s late entry into the admittedly packed world of questionable transport-related rants, today’s edition of anti-cycling bingo has a noticeably retro, Cold War feel to it.

Because, Mr Gorbachev, Britain’s roads are becoming a “Soviet nightmare” thanks to the plethora of climate-focused, low traffic schemes introduced over the past few years.

We’re back in the USSR, and you don’t know how lucky you are, boys, apparently.

Now to the reasonings behind this Reagan-esque assertion. After a lengthy exposition of her fine – which she successfully appealed – for driving her car on a ‘prohibited road’ in London, Dejevsky argues her opposition to LTNs, CANs, and the like isn’t, in fact, about the penalty notice. Nor is it about the “hassle” or money earned by councils using these schemes, or doubts about improved air quality, or their effect on businesses.

Rather, councils, she argues, are declaring themselves “a patchwork of effectively gated communities, or no-go zones for through traffic, which is exactly the sort of traffic that needs to get through”.

“These are public roads,” she writes. “They were built, or adapted, for vehicles, to help people get from A to B. But now only locals may use them. If your car is registered elsewhere, and you you [sic] stray – however unwittingly – from the permitted routes, you will be slapped with a fine.

“How come councils can take it upon themselves to close not only small residential streets to wicked alien rat-runners, but restrict access to roads that were clearly built as thoroughfares to connect with other thoroughfares, without going all around the houses?”

Then things get more bizarre (look out for references to sugar-beet below).

“Somehow, it reminds me of when the Soviet Union was collapsing and no area or business would sell to any other, because the currency was in flux and no one trusted that they would be paid,” she says, clinging to her metaphor for dear life.

Ah, red bikes! Get McCarthy on the phone!

“So everything was bartered: my steel girders, perhaps, for your crates of sugar-beet. And planes took off with insufficient fuel for their end destination, necessitating an unscheduled stopover for the crew to do a whip-round from passengers to pay for refuelling. The effect, for a while, was a balkanised economy with no common rules and no coordination.

“Is that how we want our cities to work, as a hotchpotch of fiefdoms, where sundry highwaymen jump out brandishing Penalty Charge Notices because you have driven down someone else’s street? Isn’t this the rationale behind postcode street gangs?

“By all means let’s have children playing hopscotch and cricket in designated residential streets after school, but most streets were built as public roads for people to drive on and get to somewhere else. Try to change that, and you end up with the nose-to-tail misery – and pollution – of London’s Wandsworth Bridge Road.”

So, if we go with Dejevsky’s logic, from Enfield in the north to Croydon in the south, a series of iron travel curtains are descending across London…

Where’s Churchill when you need him?

One of my minor ambitions in life is to be able to serve cheese to guests on these Tour de France commemorative plates from 1959 (Lunéville Faience, no less). A cool £2,700 from the British Antique Dealers’ Association… #cyclingmemorabilia #TourDeFrance 🧀🇫🇷🚴‍♂️🍷 pic.twitter.com/ARLBAHwYWX

— Felix Lowe (@saddleblaze) April 15, 2024

Might just ring up the British Antique Dealers’ Association myself this afternoon…

Sure what’s £2,700 compared to the chance to bring up Federico Bahamontes and the Puy de Dôme every time someone drops by for a cup of tea and some buns? Bargain.

> A history of folding bikes with Mark Bickerton (and the story behind THAT very 80s TV ad) plus A Weekend in Hell: Tales from Paris-Roubaix on the road.cc Podcast

On the more terrifying side of today’s cyclists and animals live blog theme, a cyclist in Canada fell off their bike after an “aggressive” elk charged towards them, prompting warnings from local wildlife services about the dangers of cycling near the animals.

Last Tuesday, Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services received a report of an angry elk in Canmore, a town in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains known for is nearby craggy, snowcapped summits.

“The elk charged at a cyclist and knocked him off his bike,” Laura Vilchis Sanchez, a spokesperson for the Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services told the Cochrane Eagle about the incident.

“The elk did not make contact with the cyclist, only scared him.”

Following the incident, Bow Valley WildSmart educators say elk should not be mistaken for tame animals if sighted in town, on golf courses, or on bike trails, and that they can be dangerous at any time of year.

“When we’re dealing with elk, in general, we have to remember they’re wild and powerful animals regardless of how tolerant they may be of our behaviour. They need to be treated with respect,” WildSmart’s Gareth Thompson said.

The road.cc office has become more akin to a bike shop over the past few weeks, so here’s a sneak peek at the latest batch of shiny, very cool bikes about to be tested and reviewed – and which, unfortunately, nobody is letting me ride. Please? I’ll be careful, I promise…

> New bike day! We preview Pinarello, Scott, Giant and Van Rysel bikes + some funky bars from Redshift

Bikes left abandoned across Scotland’s rail network will be recycled and reused as part of a new scheme introduced by ScotRail in collaboration with Cycling UK.

As part of the project, ScotRail staff will identify and label bikes considered abandoned, before placing them in secure storage to be reclaimed. If the bikes are not reclaimed within three months, they will then be recycled or donated to Cycling UK for reuse.

New signage is set to be rolled out across all ScotRail stations to inform owners about the new policy.

Announcing the scheme, David Lister, ScotRail safety and sustainability director, said: “It’s great to see so many of our customers cycle to our stations, but it’s right that we maintain sufficient cycle parking by removing and recycling unwanted or abandoned bikes.

“Our new policy will be highlighted to customers through improved signage, and there is a three-month grace period for abandoned bikes to be reclaimed. We’re delighted to be able to collaborate with Cycling UK, enabling abandoned bikes to be renewed or reused, sharing ScotRail’s commitment to delivering low-carbon, environmentally friendly ways to travel.”

Cycling UK’s director of external affairs, Sarah McMonagle, added: “Recycling an abandoned bike can change someone’s life, so we’re delighted that ScotRail is rolling out this fantastic initiative.

“The benefits of cycling are huge, but you can’t choose to cycle if you don’t have access to a bike. This scheme will provide new owners with the health and wellbeing benefits that come from cycling, plus increased independence through a low-cost transport option.”

It’s been a turbulent few weeks for professional cycling, punctuated by horrific crashes – including that horrific, season-defining one at the Tour of the Basque Country – calls for increased safety regulations in races, and the shocking revelation that Julian Alaphilippe rode the entirety of his spring classics campaign with a fractured knee.

After Ineos Grenadiers owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe penned a letter last week to the UCI calling for “real action” in the wake of the Basque Country crash that took out Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, and others, Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike boss Richard Plugge told Cyclingnews that the bureaucratic delays to the implementation of the SafeR project “makes me sad and really mad”.

(ASO/Charly Lopez)

“We have the beginning of the solution in the SafeR project. It’s basically ready to go but for political reasons, it’s really dragging on. There’s been an urgency about safety for years but how many wake up calls do we need? Why is there a delay? If safety improves, then safety improves, it’s good for everybody,” Plugge said.

“Crashes ruin our sport. Everyone was looking forward to the big showdown at the Tour de France between Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič, and Remco Evenepoel. Now we might not have that. It’ll be incredibly sad for the sport if any of them are unable to race the Tour de France. We have to do something about it.”   

(Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)

However, while Plugge and Ratcliffe believe the change needs to come from the top to make cycling safer, retired Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Il Lombardia winner Dan Martin has argued that a shift in mentality needs to take place within the peloton to help mitigate the increasing number of crashes we’ve seen in recent years.

In a Twitter post, Martin even claimed that he was “ostracised” by his fellow pros for speaking openly about his fear of crashing during races.

“I was ostracized when I openly talked about being afraid of crashing,” the Tour de France stage winner wrote.

“‘It’s part of cycling’. ‘Man up and deal with it. It’s what your paid to do’. ‘Should retire if you don’t like it’. The roads haven’t become more dangerous, it’s the mentality that needs to change.”

The former Garmin climber continued: “Of course routes can always be safer. But the pressure on riders to take risks and always be at the front is greater than ever. Speeds are higher and guys are more willing to take risks and more willing to crash.”

Looks like this is one debate that will rumble on throughout the season, especially if the outcome of the Tour de France is impacted by one horrific moment in the Basque Country in early April.

You wouldn’t get this at Lidl – Elisa Longo Borghini and Mads Pedersen would be fuming…

> Aldi apologises after bike racks blocked with compost left customer asking “why do you hate cyclists so much?”

The first details of this year’s inaugural Tour of Britain Women, the spiritual successor to the Women’s Tour, have been confirmed by British Cycling, following what recently installed race director Rod Ellingworth described as a “monumental effort” by the governing body to ensure the event will go ahead this year.

After the cancellation of the Women’s Tour last year, and the subsequent collapse of organisers SweetSpot, in February British Cycling committed to revitalising the popular, prestigious stage race as part of its “new vision” for cycling events in Britain in the wake of months of doom and gloom and financial uncertainty.

And despite facing what one staff member at British Cycling described to road.cc as a ‘race against time’, the newly minted British Cycling Events organising team have today that the Tour of Britain Women will start on Thursday 6 June and feature four stages across Wales and the north-west of England.

(Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)

The Grand Départ will take place in the mid-Wales town of Welshpool – where Grace Brown won in thrilling fashion at the 2022 Women’s Tour – before heading north to the seaside town of Llandudno for a difficult opening stage.

The second stage will start and finish in Wrexham, another fixture of the 2022 Women’s Tour, taking in a rolling route and a series of tough climbs in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley.

Across the border, day three will be one for the sprinters with a flat route around Warrington, while the final day will take place in Greater Manchester, starting at the National Cycling Centre before finishing in Leigh after what could be the decisive climbs of the race.

(Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

Reflecting on the race route – which British Cycling say was designed and signed off in just 10 weeks – race director and former Ineos deputy principal Rod Ellingworth said: “It’s been a monumental effort by the whole team over the past 10 weeks to confirm the stages for this year’s Tour of Britain Women.

“The race will take in four competitive and challenging routes, some challenging climbing in Wales and what I’m sure will be brilliant crowds on the roadside throughout.”

“Our primary focus has been to deliver a safe and competitive race in 2024, and while there is still a great deal of work to do, we remain every bit as determined to harness the race’s spotlight to make a real impact in the communities which it touches,” British Cycling CEO Jon Dutton added.

“We know that it is a vision which resonates strongly in the positive conversations we’ve been having with prospective commercial partners and hosts which continues to be extremely encouraging.”

Meanwhile, home favourite Lizzie Deignan said: ““It’s always special to race in Britain, and I’m so pleased to have two top level stage races to look forward to on home soil as I ramp up my preparations for a busy summer ahead.  

“There’s clearly so much support and fondness for the race, both at home and further afield. The four stage hosts deserve credit for their commitment to women’s racing and for helping to make the race happen, and I’m sure that together we can put on a brilliant show in June.”

 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Full routes for each of the four stages, along with more details on the teams and riders set to compete, are expected to be announced over the coming weeks.

British Cycling also noted that “positive conversations” are ongoing with commercial partners and towns and cities interested in hosting the men’s Tour of Britain, which the governing body say will be delivered over six days in the race’s old September slot later this year.

> Israel – Premier Tech address Michelle Froome rant about Muslims “here to take over”, as team assert that views of “third parties do not represent” squad

It makes you long for the days when Michelle and Cath Wiggins were at each other’s throats on Twitter during the Tour de France, doesn’t it?

I think it’s fair to say that Tom Pidcock’s obvious penchant for the technical, constantly challenging demands of the Amstel Gold Race has been both a blessing and a curse for the Ineos Grenadiers rider.

Since turning pro in 2021, the 24-year-old has finished second (though we don’t talk about that one), 11th, and third at the Dutch classic, before finally – in official, statistical terms at least – taking his maiden Amstel win yesterday, confidently beating Marc Hirschi from a small group he helped power away from pack, blistered Paris-Roubaix hands and all.

> Tom Pidcock overcomes brutal blisters to win Amstel Gold Race, jokes “for a second time” after previous photo finish drama

So that means Pidcock – a noted very, very occasional drinker – has been forced to sample the Amstel Gold Race sponsor’s admittedly divisive offering quite a few times on the podium during his young career.

And after looking on derisively as Tadej Pogačar pulled his best uni student at pre-drinks impression at last year’s race, it seems Pidcock still hasn’t been won round by the Heineken-owned brand’s post-race (alcohol-free) samples, at least judging by his facial expression following the most tentative of sips:

pic.twitter.com/F6sCyHuEuA

— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) April 14, 2024

Perhaps controversially, Belgian Tiesj Benoot didn’t seem to mind the Dutch beer, opting to lob only the remnants of his pint into the crowd, like a half-hearted drunkard at kicking out time at the darts.

While some questioned Pidcock’s British credentials and contrasted his beer-drinking efforts with those of his fellow cyclocrossers Lucinda Brand, Puck Pieterse, and Ceylin Alvarado (and Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso, too)…

Will never get old contrasting the podium beer reactions!

Pidcock with an Amstel today and Puck, Carmen & Lucinda chugging their Kwaremont this CX season 🍻#AGR24 #AmstelGoldRace https://t.co/qgT2RGIqFZ pic.twitter.com/H2TinZcjHl

— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) April 14, 2024

… Others were more willing to forgive his yearly snub of Amstel’s “muddy water”:

The only possible facial expression when having to drink Amstel ‘beer’. #Pidcock #AGR24 #AGR #water pic.twitter.com/uYA3UUTvVF

— Hans de Jong @hanslejeune.bsky.social (@hanslejeune) April 14, 2024

“Might not like beer but he is a Yorkshireman and that’s not beer,” wrote Andrew, echoing the sentiments of an entire county watching that podium celebration.

“Maybe if there was a race sponsored by a juice or some sort of soft drink it would be better,” added former journo-turned-Jayco AlUla press officer Sadhbh O’Shea.

Pidcock for the Milk Race, anyone?

Can’t see that photo going on an Amstel ad campaign any time soon… (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

And to be fair, considering his preferred dog-focused method of post-race celebration, Pidcock seems to appeal to an entirely different demographic of cycling fan:

Yet another dog attack at the finish line. 😢

When will this senseless violence end? #AGR #AGR24 #AmstelGoldRace pic.twitter.com/ny00IfwkfO

— Anna Mac 👑🪱 🌈🖤 (@AnnamacB) April 14, 2024

Though when you race like Pidcock did yesterday, you can drink your beer – or not drink your beer – anyway you like.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by ᵀᴼᴹ ᴾᴵᴰᶜᴼᶜᴷ (@tompidcock)

Not that you’ll be ‘hammered’ anytime soon, Tom, eh?