Is this the Team Ineos – sorry, Ineos Grenadiers – Tour de France line-up? Drivers filmed using cycle lane to get around roadworks; Driver who left-hooked Schachmann fined; Jakobsen thanks medics who saved his life; Liverpool FC on reluctant ride + more

That’s what this Youtuber decided to do anyway, which certainly makes for a more positive outcome than getting bothered by a child riding on your driveway. 

Naby lad and Minamino makes the breakaway with the peloton working hard to chase them down.

James Milner gets put out the back as the pace increases. https://t.co/GwzIhA6AR7

— 🅰🅽🅳🆈 (@SpinarelloDogma) August 17, 2020

Showing that finesse on the football pitch doesn’t necessarily cross over to riding a bicycle, it’s Liverpool’s first team squad out on a ride. It looks like not many of them seem to be enjoying it at all, with numerous players snaking up the road on their mountain bikes while giving rather apathetic looks at the camera. There’s also some curious mobile phone-using and helmet-wearing going on, with a number of players including James Milner deciding not to bother doing their lids up. Of course Virgil van Dijk isn’t wearing one, he’s Dutch…

Billed as their most versatile lid to date, the Centric Plus is recommended for road and mountain biking, and is optimised for ventilation and lightness: “one helmet to suit all riders”, so say Scott. 

It’s also got MIPS inside, and the claimed weight is 220g. Scott say the Centric Plus will be available from September, priced at £149.99. 

The 27-year-old Luxembourger will move over from Deceuninck Quick-Step for the 2021 season on a two year deal, by which time AG2R La Mondiale will be known as AG2R Citroën Team. 

Jungels commented: “I definitely want to achieve great things, initially in the one week races, but then also in the Grand Tours, even if I am already well versed in what it takes to perform over three weeks.”

There’s a new road bike coming from Vitus, judging by this photo posted on Instagram.

The only road bike with dropped seatstays in the current Vitus range is the Zenium, but this logo-less model clearly isn’t one of those; for a start, the seatpost of the bike pictured is held in place by an internal system rather than an external collar.

The fact that it is being raced by the Vitus Pro Cycling Team means that this bike is probably a new version of either the ZX1 Disc or the Vitesse Evo Disc. It doesn’t look like an aero model, so our money is on the latter.

Read our Vitus Vitesse Evo Team eTap 2020 review

The current Vitesse Evo Disc was added to the UCI’s List of Approved Frames and Forks in mid-2017, so it’s about due a redesign. It’s a disc brake-only bike with a semi-compact geometry, which fits with the model pictured.

We don’t know any more details than that although we’ll be keeping our eyes on the Vitus website and Vitus Pro Cycling Team social media for more clues.

More news when we have it! 

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the 23-year-old, but thankfully he’s alive and able to give thanks to those who saved him after the crash at the Tour of Poland that nearly cost him his life. 

Jakobsen was placed in a medically-induced coma, having surgery on numerous serious injuries before he was allowed to return home to continue his recovery in the Netherlands last week. 

Here is Jakobsen’s statement in full: 

It is now two weeks after my crash in Poland. The trauma doctors and nurses at the finish line in Katowice saved my life, for which I am extremely grateful to them. I spent a week in the intensive care unit at St. Barbara hospital in Sosnowiec. Here they immediately operated on me for five hours and gave me the chance to live. I am very grateful to all employees of this hospital.

It was a difficult, dark period for me in the ICU, where I was afraid of not surviving. Thanks in part to the organization behind the Tour de Pologne and my team Deceuninck – Quick-Step, my family was able to be close to me, which gave me a lot of strength.

Last Wednesday I was transferred to the Leiden University Medical Center. I was admitted to the ENT department and treated further. Step by step I can start to live more independently. Currently I am at home, where the wounds in my face and my injuries can continue to recover. In addition, I have to rest a lot in the coming months because of a severe concussion. In the coming weeks and months, I will undergo multiple surgeries and treatments to fix facial injuries.

Hereby, I want to let everyone know that I am very grateful that I am still alive. All the messages and words of support have given me tremendous strength. Step by step I can slowly look to the future, and I will fight to recover.

In particular I would like to thank Dr. Rafael, who was my surgeon in Poland, Dr. Vanmol, who was present as a team doctor in Poland, Patrick Lefevere who brought my family close to me and Agata Lang and family who, on behalf of the Tour of Poland, did very well in taking care of my family.

Fabio

And for sure @UCI_cycling have no responsability to this, like with other safty issues and crashes 👏 #greatfederationwehave 🥇 https://t.co/leDeTXIfT8

— Michael Mørkøv (@MichaelMorkov) August 17, 2020

As his teammate recovers in hospital, the Dane commented on the rather unwelcoming road surface that riders had to face at yesterday’s Tour de Wallonie stage, appearing to blame the UCI. 

@LukeRowe1990 Guys, apologies for the today’s roads. My mistake No excuse

— brandt christophe (@brandtremi) August 17, 2020

An official replied to apologise for the state of the roads, to which AG2R La Mondiale rider Oliver Naesen replied: “Thank you Christophe! We realise that it is not always easy (especially now with cities that do not give permission to pass through because of the Covid). We realise that without you we couldn’t even race now.”

The private equity giants Carlyle are bringing staff back to their offices on a voluntary basis, but have told those that do they must not use public transport at all. This also extends to weekends, and Carlyle say if any employees do use buses, trains or tubes they have to stay away from the office for two weeks.  

Presumably this means employees are allowed to drive or take private cabs; but according to the Financial Times, Carlyle are recommending they cycle or walk to the office. With 1,800 staff worldwide, the firm’s UK headquarters are located in St. James’s, London. 

Ritchey’s Outback TandM Break-Away isn’t the first ever tandem that you can dismantle and pack into airline-friendly bags; but it is still a very unusual frame, and we really like unusual frames.

Ritchey uses its Break-Away couplings on other framesets including the Break-Away carbon road frame and Outback gravel/adventure frameset and Ritchey has now used them on a tandem so that you can take your tandem (and travel buddy) with you when jetting off to foreign lands.

The name “TandM” is derived from the names of Ritchey’s founder, Tom (T) and his wife Martha (M). The Outback TandM frame is road-oriented according to Ritchey, but with 40mm tyre clearance, you should be able to handle gravel roads too. There are mounts for mudguards and space for five water bottles along with multi-purpose mounts on the fork.

Oh, and it comes with its own suitcases for flying. Sound like your thing? It’s €3,099, one-size-fits-all and available now.

ritcheylogic.com

A company car might be nothing new, but we think this could possibly be the first example we’ve spotted of a ‘complimentary Brompton’ offered with an employment package. Possible, a charity focussed on climate action that is campaigning to ban SUV advertising amongst other initiatives, is recruiting for four Car Free Cities Campaigners, with the jobs located in Birmingham, Bristol, Camden Town and Leeds. The role includes “creating initiatives and practical projects to improve the public realm to help tackle climate change, air pollution, congestion and road danger”, and Possible are looking for candidates “with a drive to make your city a fairer, safer, healthier and greener place to live”.

The charity say they have secured funding for a major new campaign to reduce “private car dominance” in cities, and their new Car Free Campaigners will help to drive (or not drive) this change of course… not to mention setting a good example by turning up to meetings on shiny new Bromptons. If you want to find out more, the Possible website is here and the job roles are advertised here. 

Una señora en un Volvo ha tirado a Maximiliano Schachmann. Esto es acojonante. ¿En qué pensaba la señora? pic.twitter.com/ukt5Xt6Hrw

— Diego Vos ~ Ciclismo (@diegovos_) August 15, 2020

A woman who strayed onto the Tour of Lombardy course in her car, which resulted in a broken collarbone for Bora–Hansgrohe’s Max Schachmann, has been fined 129 euros and given two points on her licence, according to La Gazzetta Dello Sport. As you will see in the clip above, the driver turned across the path of the German as he was trying to ride straight on, and he couldn’t avoid the vehicle. 

The driver told Gazzetta Dello Sport that she didn’t know there was a race on, but even so she was charged with driving on a stretch of road in violation of a police order. She could face further sanctions including a suspension of her licence, because the fact that the driver’s actions caused injury “has criminal relevance”, according to the local police commander.

If you live in Reading, Wokingham, Earley or Sonning then be sure to keep an eye out for the Earley Panda, who is on a mission to help local causes while spreading panda cheer around the local area. 

The bear told Wokingham Today: “As I became more confident on my bike, I signed up for bikeathons including those which were raising money for charity.

“My first one was part of the Wokingham Ride Your Own Bikeathon which took place on July 25, and was a 15-mile ride from Wokingham town to Hurst village and back. It took me about an hour to cycle and was a great way to encourage those who saw, honked and waved at me to keep active during this time.

“On August 1 I rode from Royal Berkshire Hospital to Maharajah’s Well in Henley-on-Thames. I rode as part of a team who cycled all the way to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, but I finished after 2 hours as all my fur meant I got very hot.”

The Earley Panda has also signed up to ride 500km throughout the month of August in support of Mary’s Cancer Research, which he says will be another big challenge because of the hot weather. Check out the Facebook page here. 

What a bummer

— Jem Jones (@JemJones7) August 18, 2020

Settle down at the back there! 

🇮🇹@LucaWackermann of 🇮🇹@ViniZabuKTM wins stage 1 of 🇫🇷@tourdulimousin #TDLNA2020 (📺@lachainelequipe) pic.twitter.com/zvr2pgOUfR

— World Cycling Stats (@wcsbike) August 18, 2020

This would have been the 20-year-old’s first win for his Groupama–FDJ Continental Team… but unbeknown to him when he raised his arms in the air to celebrate ‘victory’, Luca Wackermann had already won the stage at the Tour du Limousin a few seconds earlier.

On the positive side, Stewart was clearly working so hard he was focussed purely on beating those around him rather than getting distracted by what was up the road, so hopefully a bright future beckons. It’s also nothing on the unfortunate Eloy Teruel, who thought he had seen off the likes of Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish to bag his first professional stage win at the Tour of California… only to find out that there was still another lap of the closing circuit to go. Teruel ended up finishing the stage in 56th place. 

Hugely frustrating to see this. Firstly; I encourage whoever recorded the footage to report it via https://t.co/jXcKFSNx7h we will review and take action as necessary. Secondly; I’ll influence resource coverage to the area. #Cycling #RoadSafety #London https://t.co/gUnCyFx3DN

— Andy Cox (@SuptAndyCox) August 18, 2020

The cycle safety team have recently attended today and there are now bollards in place. We will return this week to make sure motor cycles do not use it pic.twitter.com/GxItIqmltT

— Cycle Safety Team (@MetCycleCops) August 18, 2020

The footage, filmed from a resident’s window in Tower Hamlets, was first shared on Twitter yesterday morning; and now the Met’s Cycle Safety Team have intervened by installing bollards in the middle of the cycle lane on London’s CS3 to stop drivers from using it to get around the roadworks. 

The right turn is closed. Perhaps there should be better signage earlier that the road is closed. But it doesn’t mean that people can drive on the cycle path, ignoring the road closed sign there, or turn left on to a one way road.

— Charlotte (@cvfdavies) August 18, 2020

I recorded this.
I reported it without video twice on the 10th Aug, but nothing happened until I put the video on twitter.
The number of cars going down there was mad. It would be unfair to only report the ones in my video.

— Rob N (@Admiral_Rob) August 18, 2020

Rob, thank you. Please share with me the reference numbers and I’ll dig into this.

— Andy Cox (@SuptAndyCox) August 18, 2020

Some have suggested the signage wasn’t adequate to warn drivers that the road ahead was closed, and that the ‘turn right’ markings on the road were causing confusion. There is no left turning allowed, which meant drivers who had unwittingly ended up at the junction should have performed a U-turn. As you can see in the clip plenty had other ideas, with a cyclist being forced to swerve out of the lane to avoid the first driver, and subsequent drivers manoeuvred around surprised cyclists as they used the lane to get past.

After claiming the problem is only being dealt with after the footage went on social media, Superintendent Andy Cox replied to say he will follow up and “take action as neccessary.” 

We learnt long ago that you cannot believe everything you see on Twitter … but could this be the Team Ineos, or rather Ineos Grenadiers as it will be known, line-up for the Tour de France when it starts in Nice a week on Saturday?

Spotted on a ride in what may well be the new kit (their usual training jerseys are orange), we have 2018 winner Geraint Thomas minus his trademark white Oakleys, four-time victor Chris Froome, Jonathan Castroviejo, ex-world champion Michal Kwiatkowski, Dylan van Baarle and Pavel Sivakov … plus, who is that lurking at the back, face hidden?

None other than last year’s winner of the yellow jersey, Egan Bernal, it turns out … on a day when it was widely rumoured that he mighty miss the Tour with his place taken by Richard Carapaz, the Colombian has posted pictures from this same ride to his personal Instagram account.

So, that’s seven riders out of eight, which leaves one missing … and that is almost certainly Luke Rowe, with the Welshman, currently riding the Tour de Wallonie, set to reprise his role as road captain when the Tour begins in Nice.

If I am not mistaken, I see Thomas, Froome, Castro, Kwiato, Van Baarle, Sivakov and Bernal (7). Plus Rowe that would make the 8-man line-up, but Amador has been very strong. The original plan was to help Carapaz at the Giro, though.

— Daniel Caballero (@DCG1996) August 18, 2020