It's probably not surprising to hear the saga surrounding Tom Pidcock's likely premature departure from the Ineos Grenadiers this winter "is also raising eyebrows in the peloton". That's the account of a 'secret cyclist' in the Belgian press who has a regular column with Sporza where they divulge all the gossip and secrets (well, some of them) from the peloton.
According to the 'spy in the peloton', presumably known as 007-speed or something equally bad, the riders on other teams have had their heads turned by the "bizarre" Pidcock saga too.
"Pidcock is a bit of a loner within Ineos," the anonymous pro claimed.
And while we'd argue there's probably a bit of a difference between a maverick doing their own thing, perhaps hard to pin down away from races and with some differing training opinions, to a super-talented multi-discipline specialist ditching the road to rack up world-class wins in mountain biking and cyclo-cross every so often, it appears this has all caused friction with Ineos management, the spy claims.
"With his own doctor and his own staff. He wants to do his own thing a bit," the secret pro continued. "For example, the team didn't want Pidcock to go mountain biking in Canada at the end of last season. But he crossed the pond anyway. Since then, the water between the two parties has become deeper and deeper."
But where will he go? The mystery rider claims whichever team wants Pidcock will have to stump up €12 million to get him out of his Ineos contract that still has three more years to run.
"Which team can put 12 million euros on the table?" the spy asked. "Because that is Pidcock's buyout fee. Unless there is a back door in the contract. Q36.5 and Visma-Lease a Bike in particular would be interested in prying him away from Ineos. Pidcock at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe seems less likely."
It's been a wild seven days in the autumn's biggest transfer saga, Pidcock "deselected" by Ineos management from Il Lombardia the night before. The 25-year-old wrote on Instagram: "Just as things were on the up after a turbulent end to the year I am deselected for Lombardia tomorrow. I am in great shape and was really looking forwarded to it! Good luck to the boys, I guess off season starts early. Thanks for everyone’s support even in the tough times".
Sports director Zak Dempster confirmed the decision had come from the top, not him, and was not performance based, admitting it "does look strange".
Then, on Monday, Geraint Thomas addressed "the elephant in the room", calling it a "really crap situation" and saying it's "just messed up".
"I don't actually know what has gone on, but all I know is, when you're the highest-paid rider in your team, and it's obviously a really crap situation. He's not happy, the team's not happy. How has it got to this point? I don't know," Thomas said.
"People who are around Tom, I don't think help. I don't know how… The fact is that he had a great chance of performing today [at Il Lombardia]. I saw that Zak had said it's a management call, it's not a performance call. I certainly don't know anything about that. We're just riders, eh? What do we know about management?
"It's just not good, is it? All the bull**** aside, he's a great talent. He's a good guy, when I'm around him we have a nice time, so it's not good to see that situation. We'll see what happens..."
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That young girl needs ultegra cranks.
How come Belgium has more cycling journalists than the rest of Europe put together?
Nothing particularly new by that so called "insider". all known facts.
INEOS knew what they were getting when they signed Tom for a truckload of cash and a load of clauses about his own support team - a multi-disciplinarian with a glittering junior career. The fact that was ok for 2 years and its just been in the last 2 years says more about the upheaval in the INEOS management team rather than Tom. Some mid-senior managers with brittle Ego's I suspect....
If you ignore the disciplines he's still had more podiums than anyone but maybe Ganna this year?
He's done his job - about time Ineos management did theirs and got a grip.
Not about a cyclist being killed, a pedestrian. The sentence beggars belief
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/24658895.man-killed-glasgow-children...
The sun was in his eyes but he also believed the lights were green.
Driving is now a matter of belief.
In Scotland it seems it is literally that. You can be witnessed sat at the wheel of your car moments before it collides with someone, then again after that, with no evidence for "medical episode" - but because you say you don't recall the intervening time obviously you can't be held to have been "driving" - so you can't justly be held responsible for the consequences.
This is also the country where a police report was withheld from the jury apparently on the grounds that it unfairly made the defendent look like he was a bad driver (because... he was) and it stated that it wasn't the cyclists' fault.
2 1/2 years ago they amended the Highway Code to introduce the concept of "strict liability", where motorists have a greater responsibility for more vulnerable road users. It was a waste of time, because the Courts ignore this presumed responsibility. - It would seem drivers cannot be held responsible unless they confess to seeing the pedestrian/cyclist/redlight...
See comment from Ben Sandy on this FB post from Stafford Borough Police:
> "I witnessed a driver knock a man from his bike last night, the driver then reversed over the bike before speeding off. I waited for an hour and a half on 101, reported it online and called the PCSO numbers I already have and no one has been in touch."
https://www.facebook.com/StaffordPolice/posts/pfbid0mna17UQogTfgdvhDkxYm...
Sounds like a story.
Not really. That was a 999 job.