“Not just a sticky bottle, a whole crate”: 24 riders disqualified at Giro Next Gen for holding onto cars and police motorbikes; Tour de France radio to be broadcast live; Discount on Boris bikes + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Tour O The Borders sportive faces cancellation after residents complain about event’s road closures
Not to be that guy who starts the day with a downer, but this is from Ryan from last evening. After we reported that Dumfries residents who called the restrictions due to the UCI World Championships in Scotland in August as “unacceptable, impractical, and ridiculous”, and even sought a compromise from the council, it’s the future of Tour O The Borders that has been put under question after complaints from Peeblesshire residents about the event’s road closures.
Just to note though, the 2023 edition of the sportive will still go ahead as planned on 3 September, using a partly new 120km route designed to by-pass the area at the centre of the controversy, Ettrick and Yarrow. So if you had been meaning to head out to Scotland in September, don’t miss out on this.
So yeah, about the live blog...
Yeah, if you are wondering, the live blog just borked. Went kaput. Vanished. Disappeared.
So for all those still here, we might have to start afresh (besides the first two posts that Dave managed to salvage for me, but unfortunately your comments are gone too…). But hey, every end has a new beginning, and let’s see where this one takes us. Anyway, back to the cycling blog.
Discount on Boris bikes?
After we yesterday’s spotting of a Santander bike all the way down in Brighton, we are hearing that Transport for London could be exploring options to offer cheaper fares on the popular London bike share scheme.
To mark Clean Air Day, TfL has announced a new Cycling Action Plan setting out new targets for a significant expansion in the capital’s Cycleway network and a big increase in the number of cycle journeys.
And as a part of that plan, TfL will be “exploring the possibility of, subject to funding, adding concessionary fares to the capital’s record-breaking Santander Cycles hire scheme to support the most disadvantaged Londoners”, including job seekers and council house tenants.
The Santander bike share scheme, colloquially called the Boris bikes since they were originally introduced in 2010 by Boris Johnson during his first stint as London mayor, has played a significant role in the nudging people towards being comfortable with riding bikes on London roads.
Under the scheme, there are currently 12,000 bikes and 500 e-bikes, and TfL has also proposed a significant expansion from central London “outwards towards the North and South Circular roads”.
However, there have been reports of a big drop-off in Boris bike subscriptions, possibly because of the hike in costs — the cost of a 30-minute trip on one of the Santander-sponsored TfL hire bikes rose to £1.65 last year, while the annual subscription jumped £30 to £120.
The drop-off could also be because the new charges means that the “auto renewal” system could not operate and riders have to manually reactivate their membership for another year.
TfL said: “This could include discounts for job seekers and/ or council housing residents – as we have done on other modes or on other cycle hire schemes outside London and the UK. We will also explore ways to support more disabled people to access the scheme.”
Under the plan, TfL is also aiming to increase the number of daily cycle rides in London from 1.3 million to 1.6 million by 2030.
Walking and cycling commissioner Will Norman said: “To diversify cycling we must ensure our schemes support a wider range of journeys, including trips to schools, local shops and amenities, rather than focusing solely on the commute.
“We must reach the communities that stand to benefit the most from cycling, including areas of higher deprivation. Our network of cycleways must branch outwards into outer London boroughs, with a focus on orbital routes connecting town centres.”
So is anyone still considering taking a Boris bike all the way to Mont Ventoux?
> Video: Boris bike vs Mont Ventoux
While we are at, in light of the other headlines coming out today, I would like to remind anyone taking a Boris bike to not be misled…
Jail for driver distracted by social media apps who killed cyclist and left another seriously injured
WTH Cambridge Uni?
This one is courtesy of psychologist and road safety researcher Dr Ian Walker. A research from Cambridge University about brain injuries, which has nothing to do with cyclists in the entire research, has a cover photo depicting a bike under a car and a helmet strewn across on the ground…
Just saw this press release from Cambridge. A study of brain injury, concluding that most happen from people falling over, and with no reference at all to cycling, and what image do they use to illustrate the topic…? pic.twitter.com/hrZpRKZnnq
— Ian Walker (@ianwalker) June 15, 2023
So basically, the only way to get head injuries is riding a bicycle.
Anyway, Happy Clean Air Day, everyone.
— Ian Walker (@ianwalker) June 15, 2023
"Bleep bleep! Go faster! Bleepity bleep... bleep": Tour de France to broadcast team radio live
Is this when we start getting cycling’s versions of classic radio messages, already an iconic thing for Formula 1 fans, to be immortalised on the walls of road.cc office forever?
“Multi-21 Wout, muti-21”, “Plan F Tadej”, “We are checking”, “No Amaury no! That was so not right!”, “No Mark, you will not have the drink”…
Personally, I’m waiting for someone to say: “All the time you have to leave the space!”
According to reports from Ouest France, organisers ASO have made up their mind that they will go ahead with broadcasting live radio communications between teams and the rider, albeit with a few seconds’ delay.
> Team bosses split over proposal to broadcast team radio at Tour de France
Despite team bosses having mixed reactions, with Groupama-FDJ’s manager Marc Madiot staunchly against the idea as we reported yesterday, the organisers believe most teams will be soon on board.
And if not… ASO is willing to pay €5,000 to participating teams as compensation, according to the French newspaper. Compensation for what? Having to communication techniques over the radio? Maybe, who knows.
ASO is also going to have an ‘internal moderator’, who will be responsible for the selection of the audio clips.
While this isn’t completely new — Tour of Flanders tried it when they agreed to broadcast messages from the team leader’s car, I think having most teams on board will probably be a fairer way to do it.
20-year-old Juan Ayuso wins Tour de Suisse stage 5; Mattias Skjelmose regains yellow jersey and Evenepoel loses time
If you haven’t been keeping up, let me do a quick rewind of the last the last four days at Tour de Suisse for you…
Stage two winner: 23-year-old Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
Stage three winner: 22-year-old Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo)
Stage four winner: 25-year-old Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën)
Stage five winner: 20-year-old Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates)
Seriously this is getting a bit much…
𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐰, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐧 👏
20-year-old Juan Ayuso wins Stage 5 of the Tour of Switzerland! 🇪🇸#tourdesuisse23 pic.twitter.com/mdHegytfmj
— Eurosport (@eurosport) June 15, 2023
Jokes aside, a massive perfromance by Ayuso, soloing to his second victory of the season in the final 15km of today’s queen stage of the Tour de Suisse and moved up to third in the general classification standings.
Meanwhile, Skjelmose , in an extremely strategic move, regained the yellow jersey after taking some bonus seconds on the finish line, after losing it to Felix Gall yesterday. The Austrian, who won his first pro cycling career stage yesterday, stands second in the GC table, after losing four seconds in the final meters.
Remco Evenepoel’s struggles, however, continued, as he slipped down to fourth in the GC, 46 seconds behind Skjelmose.
Respect 🤝
What a stage!? That had us on the edge of our seats but a second place for @skjelmose_ behind Ayuso sees him moves back into yellow 💛#tourdesuisse #tds2023 pic.twitter.com/zyaUJrh04G
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) June 15, 2023
Ayuso, after winning the stage which featured the most difficult climbs, with Furkapass, the highest of the Tour at 2436m, said: “The two races I’ve done have been here [in Switzerland] and I’m happy to be able to win a stage in both races. Now, we are going to focus on the GC, it’s going to be hard but I think it’s possible so we will fight for that.”
“Yesterday, I had no legs and I just had to suffer but today I felt much better. It was a very hard stage, very long with lots of climbing and lots at altitude so it was very tough. But, at the end, when the pace started increasing, I felt better and better. I attacked with four or five kilometers to the top of the climb but I was confident that I could hold the gap.”
The stage started at Fiesch and finished on a steep descent at La Punt, after the Albulapass climb. With 12 km to go, Ayuso caught up with the leaders and distanced them almost immediately. After around four kilometers of attacking at the top of the final climb, Ayuso had almost a minute on the yellow jersey group, and even more on Evenepoel and Skjelmose.
But he couldn’t celebrate just yet. Up ahead of him lay a very technical descent, and Ayuso left no stone unturned, no patch of the tarmac unused, as he used every bit of road to maximise his speed (95+ km/hr), sweeping roads down into the valley to ride onto victory.
Almost like Mohoric on the Poggio, or more like Pidock on Col du Galibier.
Juan Ayuso ha estado espectacular hoy para llevarse la victoria en la 5t etapa del #TourdeSuisse
Brutal en la subida final, y volando en la bajada.Mattias Skjelmose recupera el liderato. pic.twitter.com/cWXjrJcWNq
— David Gómez Hidalgo (@davidesportista) June 15, 2023
Another happy kid today, who gave it all and won it fair and square (wink wink Baby Giro)! Tour de Suisse does seem to be shaping for a strong end, and maybe a massive upset too!
To sum it up...
It seems ages since I kicked off the blog with the Baby Giro story, a lot has changed since then (by a lot, I mean the entire blog!).
Well ICYMI, yeah the blog borked but Dave managed to salvage two posts and set up a redirect link which seems to be working nicely (anulo mufa, none of you dare jinx it!). So probably the only person gutted about the whole deal is… HoldingOn for losing their shiny trophy in the comments blackhole.
But back to the point, to sum up what happened in the U23 Giro in a very tongue-in-cheek way:
Safety in numbers belief confounded when 24 riders are thrown off the race for holding onto, well, anything moving up the hill that wasn’t another cyclist.
(HT @roadcc) https://t.co/aDPu0C5Btm
— LukeB_MTB @mastodon.social (@LukeB_MTB) June 15, 2023
Jasper Philipsen and Caleb Ewan involved in serious crashes at the Baloise Belgium Tour, Jakobsen wins stage ahead of Van der Poel
Bad news from Flanders at the Baloise Belgium Tour.
With 4km to go, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen, who won yesterday’s stage and Lotto-Dstny’s Caleb Ewan were both taken out due to a crash near the front of the peloton. While Philipsen was quick to get up and start racing again, Ewan lingered in the road for some time and was clearly in some discomfort after hitting the ground hard.
Lotto-Dstny has said that there will soon be a medial update about Ewan, but a crash two weeks before the Tour doesn’t bode well for anyone.
The stage was won in an uphill sprint by Soudal-QuickStep’s Fabio Jakobsen, beating Mathieu van der Poel to the finish line at Knokke-Heist. The win puts Jakobsen in the the race lead, tied on time with Van der Poel.
🎥Fabio Jakobsen wins the second stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour ahead of Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper De Buyst in a bunch sprint on the famous ‘Wandelaar’ in Knokke-Heist! ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/iPJNurrY6P
— Baloise Belgium Tour (@belgium_tour) June 15, 2023
SRAM Apex XPLR AXS first ride review - premium electronic groupset at a pleasing price point
Having recently overhauled its Force line of groupsets, the American brand turned its sights to its fourth-tier Apex range in a bid to revolutionise the entry level and bring AXS electronic shifting to the core of the market — a clever play considering the current cost of living crisis.
> SRAM Apex XPLR AXS first ride review – premium electronic groupset at a pleasing price point
Bruising, abrasions and swelling — but thankfully, no broken bones for Caleb Ewan
Lotto Dstny has provided an update on the nasty crash that took place just 4 kilometres from the finish line at the Baloise Begium Tour today, and thankfully, it’s not too bad.
Update on @CalebEwan after crashing in the very final of the #BaloiseBelgiumTour stage two. pic.twitter.com/kjICoQ0Af8
— Lotto Dstny (@lotto_dstny) June 15, 2023
"Not just a sticky bottle, a whole crate": 24 riders disqualified at Giro Next Gen for holding onto cars and police motorbikes
Now this is absolutely hilarious, I’m not sure if I should laugh or be disappointed! I mean, there’s cheating, and then there’s blatant, obvious, no Fs cheating. If you were wondering which kind took place at Giro Next Gen, it’s the latter.
24 coureurs disqualifiés en Italie au Giro Next Gen hier, mercredi 14 juin 2023 au Passo dello Stelvio. Mais pourquoi donc ? Forza ! Johannes Staune-Mittet le leader🇳🇴 de @JumboVismaRoad n’a pas besoin d’aide, lui… pic.twitter.com/DWeFq5ajWQ
— 🅰ntoine VAYER 📸🖋️ (@festinaboy) June 15, 2023
Giro Next Gen, the under-23 version of Giro d’Italia is currently going on, and it has blessed us with a car to hold on to, err, I mean a gem to hold onto. Gotta hand it to the boys.
Also known as Baby Giro, it’s an amazing platform for young riders to showcase their skills and is the most important race on the Italian U23 calendar, with previous winners including Francesco Moser and Gilberto Simoni.
I am trying to imagine how it would have went down, and all I can think of is the riders in that classic, schoolboy mischievous frame of mind, imagining if all of us bend the rules together, they can’t kick us all out right? RIGHT?!
And what’s even more hilarious is that the riders weren’t just holding onto their team cars, but literally latching on to police motos.
Anyway, if that’s already enough craziness from the pro cycling world to you, it’s also the queen stage day in Tour de Suisse today. Will 22-year-old Mattias Skjelmose look to regain his lead today or wait until the final time trial, with world champion Remco Evenepoel just behind him currently.
Meanwhile, if you’re missing the beautiful scenery from Giro, here’s a magical shot for you.
Stelvio ✔️🥵
📸 LaPresse pic.twitter.com/TMLSBkZmTy
— La Conti Groupama-FDJ (@groupamafdj_ct) June 14, 2023
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I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
16 thoughts on ““Not just a sticky bottle, a whole crate”: 24 riders disqualified at Giro Next Gen for holding onto cars and police motorbikes; Tour de France radio to be broadcast live; Discount on Boris bikes + more on the live blog”
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Looking forward to some Kimi
Looking forward to some Kimi Räikönnen style radio messages e.g. “Leave me alone, I know what to do!”
with tongue firmly in cheek (
with tongue firmly in cheek ( and as a univeristy lecturer) I do have to dispair at the young these days! aspiring pro cyclists thinking its too much like hard work….all about the final outcome and not the process…group think working well though
With the Live Blog
With the Live Blog shenanigans, does that mean that HoldingOn has lost their trophy?
Gutted.
Gutted.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-53577750
I know that colloquially they are known as Boris Bikes, but it was actually Ken Livingstone that introduced them to London.
Shelders wrote:
Actually, it wasn’t, according to your own link.
B****’s legacy is principally
B****’s legacy is principally one of chaos and megalomania. A real shame that the arch-narcissist be credited with the London hire bikes (and the Olympics, which was all bidded for and organised during Ken’s time. I will never, ever call them B**** bikes.
WTH Cambridge Uni?
WTH Cambridge Uni?
The myth that cycling is uniquely dangerous and productive of head injuries is now so firmly embedded in the collective consciousness that most people can’t conceive of any other method of injuring your head. The media, especially the BBC, has spent thirty plus years deliberately fostering that belief, so if nothing else, it is a case book example of how continuous, insidious propaganda works at a population level.
Came across a helmet manufacturer who claims that because they’ve replaced 1,000 damaged helmets, they’ve saved a thousand lives! Deluded.
“Gloria Hwang Has Helped Save 1000 Lives” https://www.bicycling.com/news/a44201846/gloria-hwang-founder-thousand-helmets/
If you find the press release
If you find the press release, and follow the link through to the article, it actually tells you the causes of injuries: overall, 47% were road traffic collisions, consisting 28% motorcyclists, 10% pedestrians, and 5% car occupants. If you’re keeping score, that does leave ~4% of RTC injuries unaccounted for – it is not clear if those were “Other” or “Unknown” (either option could include cyclists).
So whilst it is technically possible that a small number of cyclists were included in the study, at most they are very much in the minority and not explicitly mentioned anywhere in the article.
Considering that road traffic
Considering that road traffic collisions are the second highest cause of severe head injury (behind falls), and also that head injuries are very common for cyclists presenting at hospital (>40%), I think having a photo of a road traffic collision involving a bicycle is far from the stupidest photo one could use.
I hardly think there’s much to get one’s knickers in a twist about.
Discount on Boris bikes?
Discount on Boris bikes?
To celebrate his exoneration by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee?
They’re beginning to restore my tiny amount of faith in politics. Maybe if they go after all the other grifters, liars and sycophants, they might restore all of it.
eburtthebike wrote:
There will not be many politicians left if they go after all the other grifters, liars and sycophants. Empty seats all round.
ErnieC wrote:
— ErnieCAre you suggesting it would be a bad thing? Given that the only trustworth, principled MP has announced her resignation “not many politicians left….” would be reduced to zero.
eburtthebike wrote:
not at all, I think it would be fantastic.
Hmmm. My reflections:
Hmmm. My reflections:
The local council decision to ignore their 87% approval majority in the consultation looks entirely and cynically political.
I’d suggest that the failure of the Procutor Fiscal in 2017/8 to prosecute the men with drainage rods – a clear threat to people on cycles – for the Scottish versions of either going equipped or threatening behaviour – is a clear red flag as to the failure of the Scottish legal system in this regard, and an encouragement . It is the same convoluted process that is a main barrier on implementing an Operation SNAP portal (see the work of
@AlanMyles8).
(Interestingly I have seen at least a couple of speculation amongst the cloth-eared anti-bus-stop-bpyass mob suggesting that visually impaired people with long canes simply stick them in the cycle track.)
Could it perhaps be doable differently (whilst admitting I would never be up to taking part, nor do I know the area). Can another Council (even one in England) step in? Or move it to a different time of year when the farmers are elsewhere or activity is quiescent?
Time for the tourist lobby to step up and make their case. Has “Visit the Borders” been lobbied?