Cyclist "made the mistake of ordering bike components from the EU"... left with £50 of customs charges; Jumbo-Visma Twitter account hacked — crypto adverts galore; Einer Rubio wins Giro mountain stage shortened due to bad weather + more on the live blog

Anyone experienced similar over the past couple of years?

"Made the mistake of ordering bike components from the EU," Stan wrote on Twitter. "This government needs to be placed in the stocks and pelted with s*** with what they've done to EU trade," his conclusion...

He ordered from a German-based bicycle components website and was left with the not so charming cocktail of Customs Duty, Import VAT AND a Clearance Fee...

> Dutch bike part dealer shipping to every country in the world except UK because of Brexit VAT change

"People may be thinking 'don't order from the EU' but there are two points A) this used to be easy," he added. "B) these rules apply to ANYTHING you transport across the border. Technically you [could] be charged duty for putting your bikes on your car and travelling to France and back if customs decided you couldn't prove you already owned the bike."

> Cycling club arrives in Spain for charity ride... hit with £7,000 bike customs charge

yeah it's a nightmare because you can't just trust the price that you're paying upfront - this stuff used to be handled behind the scenes.

I'm gonna complain to https://t.co/mV4hxDMlfO because the "clearance fee" is purely parcel force and that should imo have been included

— Stan (@geckobike) May 19, 2023 

Why can't we (Thibaut Pinot) have nice things (Grand Tour stage wins)? Yes, I know he won loads back in the 2010s but it's been a barren few years since 2019 and now, in the final year of his career, the road.cc fan club would like one more day in the sun. Is that too much to ask? Right, tears dried, back to the stage...

Einer Rubio won the day with this impressive sprint...

𝙀𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧 𝙍𝙪𝙗𝙞𝙤 𝙥𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙗𝙖𝙪𝙩 𝙋𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙅𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝘾𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙙𝙖! 🥇

The Movistar rider is the victor in the alpine assault that was Stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia 👏 pic.twitter.com/eUTt7q78hx

— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 19, 2023

In the GC group, Hugh Carthy took six seconds back on the rest, while Andreas Leknessund lost seven. The tight battle for the maglia rosa continues... 

CPA riders union president Adam Hansen needs to respect the Giro's microphones a bit more... stop dropping 'em...

Here's his statement on events which led to stage 13 being shortened...

To provide clarity from the riders' perspective, the weather conditions experienced during this year's Giro have been among the most intense. In response, the riders held a vote last night to invoke the extreme weather protocol. According to the regulations, which outline freezing rain as point 1 and extreme temperatures as point 4 during certain parts of today's route, the riders agreed to vote.

If the majority surpassed 80 per cent, the remaining riders would follow and respect the majority decision, which implementing the extreme weather protocol and executing point 3: "change of route." The voting process was conducted anonymously, with over 90 per cent of the riders in favour. I and the CPA support their decision.

If anyone disagrees with their choice, I will wear the cost. So send your criticism to me, not the riders. The riders are the heroes of this sport, and I believe they should focus solely on their racing rather than being subjected to negative remarks.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the Giro organisation for recognising the need for change and understanding the riders' perspective. The extreme weather conditions experienced this year are beyond anyone's control, and the riders are grateful for the support of the RCS, volunteers, and fans. They will do their best to put on a show for the world to watch!

The stage is now underway, Thibaut Pinot part of a five-man breakaway. Could it be that illusive Grand Tour win that's avoided him since 2019 for the Frenchman at his final Giro? 

Arturo, rest in peace friend and mate. You will be always with us. pic.twitter.com/W8TMBZ3IDD

— EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team (@EoloKometaTeam) May 19, 2023

Racing is back underway at the Giro d'Italia, Eolo-Kometa part of the action. This morning the Italian-registered, Spanish-based Continental outfit run by Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador announced the tragic news that one of their riders Arturo Grávalos had passed away.

The 25-year-old was diagnosed with a brain tumour in November 2021, undergoing surgery a few weeks later. Despite "very positive" progress, Grávalos went through several further surgeries, his team explaining how he "never gave up".

"That was his nature," the team said this morning. "Arturo wanted to leave his mark in the sport he loved so much and in which he generated so much affection.

 "Life put many obstacles in front of him in recent times and he always, always, reacted with the best of his face, overcoming them with the greatest of positivism.

"He kept his sorrow or regret to himself, refusing it to give it continuity. Armed with his huge smile, his closeness and his frankness, he was all about building, supporting, praising and thanking. We will never forget you, Arturo. Rest in peace."

> Surrey Police says warning letters "most appropriate course of action" for majority of driving offences, and calls on cyclists who submit multiple near miss clips to "engage with us further" to improve road safety

Given the adverse weather conditions, especially on the Italian side, the Commission decided to meet the athletes' requests by applying the Extreme Weather Protocol.

Stage 13 will be shortened with the new km 0 being set at Le Chable, at the bottom of the Croix de Couer. The… pic.twitter.com/6VwMOw8enS

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 19, 2023

The whispers were building, but now it seems pretty certain the Giro stage later today, the first major mountain day (Gran Sasso's headwind fest has been erased from my memory), will be shortened to less than 80km and have a climb removed due to the weather... it's another grim day to be riding a bicycle in Italy... especially over 1,800m...

🇮🇹 #Giro

Lake trip….? 🛶 pic.twitter.com/HY7bC7Ucer

— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) May 19, 2023

So what's the new plan? 

The stage WILL go ahead today, but will be shortened, with a new race start. The riders will be bussed to the new start after the neutral roll out. All the details on the Breakaway in 5.

— Orla Chennaoui (@SportsOrla) May 19, 2023

Giro stage lopped. They'll set off front he foot of the Croix de Coeur - around 75 to run. They'll top the neutral rollout, then hop on buses.

There was a lot of rider discontent apparently overnight, so this has been coming. And the weather is shocking again at the start.

— Ned Boulting 🏳️‍⚧️ (@nedboulting) May 19, 2023

It's all about perspective, if the original stage was the current route the cycling world would be screaming its head off about 'could this be the most exciting Grand Tour stage ever?' à la Tour de France 2018 stage 17. Bjarne Riis' stage nine win at the '96 Tour on a snow-shortened 46km stage wasn't bad either... I'm reliably informed by Ryan... a bit before my time...

If you were having an aimless scroll of social media last night, like me, you might have found your Twitter timeline full of Elon Musk retweets and cryptocurrency adverts. And while in these days of the blue bird app my first assumption was that it's just another glitch under a certain Tesla-owning billionaire's rule, my attention was then caught by the username — @JumboVismaRoad...

Just hours after the team had updated fans on Sepp Kuss' breakaway day on stage 12 of the Giro, Primož Roglič taking it easy ahead of the first major mountain day today, the 'team' was now sharing adverts for stuff like this...

And retweeting stuff like this...

Team press officer Thijs Roelen took to his personal account, appealing: "Please, dear cycling fans, report to Twitter that our account has been hacked so you can get the cycling content you want. And also, don't buy crypto."

The reports have seemingly done the trick, even if the posts are still on the timeline, the account back belonging to... 'Dutch World Tour cycling team'. There's a happy ending... (immense stress for team staff during the Giro aside).