Group ride crashes after dog runs into the road; Active travel group condemns “divisive” no cycling signs; Riding 2000 miles in a week; Alaphilippe wins Flèche Wallonne; Awful cycling infra; Ronde Van Der Breggen; Mur de Huy scenes + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Have you climbed the Mur de Huy? Pros prepare to take on one of cycling's toughest climbs returns at Flèche Wallonne
Le mur de Huy. Le chemin des chapelles. Hommage. 💥 pic.twitter.com/WcnXcRlrlu
— Le ßeau Vélo (@Le_Beau_Velo) April 20, 2021
Whenever you see a climb with the word ‘mur’ in its name you know it’s going to be savage…The wall of Huy, to translate into English, is just that: a grind up 20 per cent gradients that never seems to end…
CANYON//SRAM went for a look at the climb yesterday, the punishing slopes make the pros look like us mere mortals just trying to get to the top…
Mur de Huy 😍@UCI_WWT @flechewallonne @amialiusik @KNiewiadoma @Macaharvey #FWwomen pic.twitter.com/N7ZJ18lOOp
— CANYON//SRAM Racing (@WMNcycling) April 20, 2021
Here’s more of what is in store for the pros later today…
See you tomorrow 👋🏻 infamous Mur de HUY 💀 @flechewallonne pic.twitter.com/cyXxLEmSKd
— eri yonamine (@YonamineEri) April 20, 2021
⛰ Une dernière montée du Mur de Huy qui sera gravi 5⃣ fois au total demain ! ✅
⛰ A last climb up the Mur de Huy, almost ready for the 5⃣ climbs of tomorrow. ✅#FWwomen #FlecheWallonne pic.twitter.com/LZZq93NVNa
— La Flèche Wallonne (@flechewallonne) April 20, 2021
If you’ve climbed the wall, get down in the comments and let us know if it is as hard as it looks on TV…
Defending champion Marc Hirschi and Tadej Pogačar out of Flèche Wallonne after "false positive" Covid test
We all have negative and we don’t start Flèche Wallone.
We had false positive yesterday but came three times negative afterwards.— Tadej Pogačar (@TamauPogi) April 21, 2021
I’m sure we’ll hear more about this throughout the day. Tadej Pogačar claims his UAE Team Emirates squad has been denied a start at Flèche Wallonne after what he called a “false positive”…
UAE Team Emirates confirms withdrawl from Flèche Wallone
UAE Team Emirates out of #FlecheWallonne 2021.
Full statement: https://t.co/SXMtKT9hXG pic.twitter.com/5pGX56WEVh
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) April 21, 2021
UAE Team Emirates has released an official statement confirming their withdrawl from the race due to Diego Ulissi and one staff member returning positive Covid tests yesterday. The team says both Ulissi and the staff member are vaccinated, returned two negative tests before travelling to Belgium and have since provided three negative tests.
“Though the team is frustrated by the ruling, we fully accept the final decision of the Belgian authorities,” the statement said. “Since the original ‘positive’ test, both members have undergone 3 separate tests each: 2 antigen and 1 molecular. All the results from these subsequent tests returned negative results and neither displays any symptoms.
“The team will withdraw from the race and undergo further testing with the aim to start Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday.”
"World class" cycling infra
World Class Cycle Infrastructure! #shitstreetsforall Via @furtiveone pic.twitter.com/0qFwpMH7eG
— Shit Planning (@PlanningShit) April 21, 2021
Some crackers coming up this morning for the rubbish cycling infrastructure folder…Maybe if we paint a bike on the road that will do? No, how about we paint two bikes facing each other…
At least those bikes were painted properly…
Na, you know it’s first class when the (misshapen) bike symbol is before the lane starts, and the start of the lane says END…. pic.twitter.com/X50pALCkXs
— Kev S (@kevjs1982) April 21, 2021
Seventh heaven for Anna Van Der Breggen
“They’re going to have to rename this the 𝑹𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆 𝑽𝒂𝒏 𝑫𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒏!”
The Dutch rider’s dominance continues as she claims a 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 straight win at La Fleche Wallonne #FWwomen pic.twitter.com/MgeewJGu9g
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) April 21, 2021
You have to go back to 2014 for the last time Anna Van Der Breggen did not win Flèche Wallonne. It was another victory for the world champion this morning on the steep slopes of the Mur de Huy. In form Polish rider Katarzyna Niewiadoma ran her close but Van der Breggen was just too strong as they came off the 20 per cent gradients.
In the men’s race there is just over 100km to go for the field, excluding UAE Team Emirates who dropped out this morning following two positive Covid tests yesterday.
Jakob Fuglsang "wasted eight years of career eating too little"
🌞Sunny day out on 🇧🇪 roads ahead of tomorrow’s @flechewallonne @HugoHoule & @jakob_fuglsang enjoyed the landscape 😉 pic.twitter.com/g8M0FiZh00
— Astana – Premier Tech (@AstanaPremTech) April 20, 2021
Jakob Fuglsang told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad he believes he wasted eight years of his career by eating too little. I can’t say this has been a problem I’ve had…Comparing himself to the new generation of racers such as Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel, who are already competing and winning at the highest level early in their careers, the Dane explained how times have changed for young professionals.
“Young riders are better guided than when I was a neo pro,” he said. “When I debuted, you had to earn a wind tunnel test. Only the best riders of the team were given a chance to do so. Every team also employs an army of dieticians. I had to learn that myself, through trial and error.
“I wasted eight years of my career eating too little. Nobody pointed this out to me, because that was something you as a rider had to discover for yourself. When a young rider eats too little for one day, that is corrected immediately.”
Despite the envy of the resources available to today’s young stars, the 36-year-old questioned how long they can maintain their incredible performance levels. “I am convinced that with today’s guidance I would have performed better much earlier. Although I sometimes have my doubts about the current approach. Training hardcore in December to be there immediately on the first day of racing. I am curious to see where those young guys will be in ten years’ time.”
Josh Quigley targets Guinness World Record for furthest distance cycled in a week
GREATEST DISTANCE CYCLED IN A WEEK: GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS🥇🌎
Sponsor: @Thomas_Franks_
Current record: 2,177 miles / 311 daily
Target: 320 miles daily.
Plan: 4 laps of 80 mile route in Aberdeenshire each dayCharity fundraising for @Arthritis_ACTN aiming to raise £10,000 pic.twitter.com/mTkoc8DZdw
— Josh Quigley (@JoshQuigley2026) April 20, 2021
Josh Quigley is no stranger to epic feats of cycling record-breaking. In September he completed the 516-mile North Coast 500 route across the Scottish Highlands in 31 hours, beating the previous best by five minutes. However, we didn’t expect to see him back at his mind-boggling best this soon after a serious crash in Dubai at the end of January left the cyclist with multiple fractures to his pelvis, shoulder, elbow and spine…
To beat the current record Josh will have to ride 2,177 miles. That’s seven consecutive 311-mile days…Josh is aiming for 320 miles every day and has planned an 80-mile route in Aberdeenshire which he hopes to complete four times per day.
On top of the incredible physical challenge Josh has set a target of raising £10,000 for Arthritis Action.
Cheers Matt. Course is around 6-8,000feet of climbing each day depending which mapping software you use. But based on 18 hours of riding each day it’s relatively flat and no major climbs, just some small steady inclines and declines. Sleep maybe 3-4 hours at most.
— Josh Quigley (@JoshQuigley2026) April 21, 2021
Crash for Pidcock and Gilbert
Chute de Thomas Pidcock ! Valentin Madouas a aussi été ralenti à 27 kilomètres de l’arrivée. #FlecheWallonne pic.twitter.com/JFnGKzZSWc
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) April 21, 2021
Bad luck for Pidcock who is being paced back to the peloton by his team car. Philippe Gilbert was one of the other riders to hit the deck. It’s the Lotto-Soudal rider’s first race back since announcing his plan to retire at the end of next year. 25km to go. 24km until the third and final time up the Mur…
Julian Alaphilippe wins Flèche Wallonne
Alaphilippe sprint sneller dan Roglic op de Muur van Hoei en wint de Waalse Pijl #wp pic.twitter.com/JaPsv0PqbL
— Sporza 🚴 (@sporza_koers) April 21, 2021
Winning up the Mur de Huy is clearly a world champion thing. After Anna Van Der Bregen won the women’s race this morning, Julian Alaphilippe took the men’s race this afternoon to take their combined Flèche Wallonne tally to ten wins…The Frenchman danced up the steepest section to reel in Primož Roglič with 50m to go. Former world champ Alejandro Valverde was third, while Mike Woods will once again be wondering what could have been after surging to fourth with a late burst from the back of the group. Tom Pidcock recovered from his crash to take sixth.
🔥🔥🔥
pic.twitter.com/VrLud2gWRn— Colin Bourgeat (@ColinBourgeat) April 21, 2021
Worcester active travel group condemns "divisive" no cycling signs
The signage of mad men… pic.twitter.com/r971YYRSVc
— Sam Underwood (@misterunderwood) April 18, 2021
You might remember these no cycling signs from the live blog last week. Cllr Louis Stephen, leader of the Green Party in Worcester, unsuccessfuly argued against the public space protection order which was passed by a casting vote from the chair of the city council’s communities committee. As a result, anyone who cycles dangerously can be fined £100.
Stephen called the signage “tacky” and “unwelcoming”. “This is a very divisive topic,” he told Worcester News. “When the subject came to committee the vote was split 50:50, I voted against and the measures only went through with the chair’s casting vote. The bollard covers look tacky and I believe the messages are negative and unwelcoming to visitors and local residents.”
Dan Brothwell of Bike Worcester added: “It is not very welcoming and that is an understatement. I think they are really unpleasant and pretty ugly as well. I understand the reasons for the PSPO being put in, I was consulted on that and I suggested it wasn’t a very good idea but I get that it is here and with us.
“The notion of dangerous cycling is not defined. There needs to be perspective with that. If you are walking you may think a cyclist is going too fast or close but from the perspective of the cyclist that may have been pretty reasonable.
“Having the signs up will probably cause conflict, they empower people to speak out and the global share with care message would be far more appropriate, to encourage everyone to get along next to each other and just get on with it. That would be reasonable, I don’t think this is.”
Julian Alaphilippe and Primož Roglič have their say on the Mur de Huy battle royale
Julian Alaphilippe was understandably delighted at winning Flèche Wallonne. However, the world champion put his victory into context saying it meant a lot more to him as it is just his second of the season, a thin return by his astronomically high standards.
“I was very motivated and wanted to show today that I had a strong head,” Alaphilippe explained. “So I gave everything when it mattered. Since the start of the season I haven’t won a lot and even though that didn’t stop me from having fun, I really wanted to raise my arms again. The fact that it happened at this great race, more than one month after my Tirreno win makes it even more beautiful.”
Primož Roglič had no regrets about his early attack on the final climb. I say early, the Slovenian jumped with 300m to go but was caught in the final 50m. “When you feel that the legs are good, you just have to attack,” he explained. “Unfortunately, I got caught up just before the finish. That’s racing. Julian was the strongest rider on the climb. He deserved to win. The final climb is really difficult and tough, but it’s one that suits me. I was in a good position and went for it.”
Roglič will get another shot at Alaphilippe this Sunday at Liège–Bastogne–Liège in a re-run of last year’s iconic finish…
Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Roglic snatches win as Alaphilippe celebrates too early – and then gets relegated to fifth (+ video); Deignan wins women’s race, while Ulissi takes Stage 2 at Giro d’Italia https://t.co/fcEvLzO7OB #cycling pic.twitter.com/9nF9KlHsu3
— road.cc (@roadcc) October 4, 2020
Cyclist captures nasty group ride crash after dog runs into the road
This video sent to us from Montreal left the cyclist with hip pain, mild concussion and a broken helmet. Thankfully nothing more serious considering the heavy fall at a decent speed. No mention of the dog apart from André’s warning for other cyclists to watch out for the mad dog on Chemin de la Savane, so hopefully that means it was unharmed and will be kept away from the road in future…
Dogs being involved in cycling crashes is unfortunately a fairly common story in the road.cc archives. Just last month, actress Rebel Wilson posted a picture of her leg covered in ice packs with the caption “F*ck people who don’t have their dogs on the lead”.
And it is not just us amateurs who have to be careful…A crash at the 2016 Tour of Guatamala was caused by a pup running into the peloton…
21 April 2021, 08:08
21 April 2021, 08:08
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Latest Comments
@Pub bike - well, off-road (ICE) motorbikes have been available for decades, so you're right about the proposed law being too narrow. I've seen scrotes riding them in parks and on the roads, but they're much less common than the newer e-motorbikes.
@hawkinspeter I think my point buried in there somewhere is that the law being devised is too narrowly focused around electric bikes/motorbikes and it should encompass the sale of any kind of motorbike. The wording talks about "electrically assisted" which would seem to exclude throttle controlled bikes. The bikes I saw that had no pedals - and therefore the electricity does not assist but is the sole source of propulsion - would fall outside of this legislation, so already there is a loophole. It would probably help to have some technical input to this bill by people that actually understand the differences between bicycles, e-bikes, EAPCs and motorbikes before it goes too far.
The Streeting Rule is, Cycling and Walking tomorrow and Cycling and Walking yesterday, but never Cycling and Walking today.
It’s a nuanced proposition, for sure. I did start the article with “There are few hills I’m truly up for dying on, but kickstands on bikes is one of them” - and no comment here has changed my mind 😎
@ hawkinspeter you are absolutely right. But of course there is little enforcement, the police don't have the resources etc etc.
@jackcycles - no it reflects the reality that most folk are scared to cycle because of inconsiderate and dangerous drivers. Cycling numbers markedly increase when it is made safe to do so.
"Kickstands make every bike ride better" Can't think of any of my rides in the last few weeks that would have been "better" with a kickstand; a few that *might* possibly have been a bit more of a pain with one (especially with the amount of plant growth at the moment in the South West of the UK), but none it would have improved. So there we go, nice easy proof by contradiction.
I'll be surprised & amazed if all of those billions are actually delivered. I expect to hear, in a few years' time, that only a fraction of that was taken up for various reasons, & the rest was therefore diverted towards other 'number one issues'.
@bensynnock to be fair, there does seem to be a marshall shown in the picture.
@Rendel Harris Going down the hill was usually Ok ish, it was coming back up that was the problem, especially at night. Near the top it narrowed with hedges on a low wall, not somewhere you would chose to ride on your own in the dark. Best time was race days when it is all stationary!
41 thoughts on “Group ride crashes after dog runs into the road; Active travel group condemns “divisive” no cycling signs; Riding 2000 miles in a week; Alaphilippe wins Flèche Wallonne; Awful cycling infra; Ronde Van Der Breggen; Mur de Huy scenes + more on the live blog”
Mur de Huy – pah! my local
Mur de Huy – pah! my local climbs make that look like a speed-bump.
alexuk wrote:
<Yorkshire>
You were lucky! Our potholes make that look like a speed bump.
</Yorkshire>
Mur de Huy: Pogacar and
Mur de Huy: Pogacar and Hirschi forced to pull out at the last minute because of covid positive tests in the team. Gutted.
Story I found on that there
Story I found on that there interweb:
NOT SCHOOL Kids ‘traumatised’ over new parking scheme as parents blast having to walk 30 minutes to drop them off at school
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14716773/students-traumatised-parking-scheme-parents-blast-school/
Wilford is one of the best
Wilford is one of the best served suburbs of nottingham for safe pedestrian routes, cycling infra and public transport with the tram. No helping some eh.
Can’t actually see any
Can’t actually see any evidence for the Children being Traumatised. If anything I would think they might enjoy an extra 30mins quality time with their parent.
I’m really not sure how in any way it’s ludicrous to expect parents to make the journey by foot “rain or shine”. When the suns shining then I would think that it’s actually the perfect time to make the journey on foot.
IanMK wrote:
“Rain or shine”, I think means “exposed to the elements and no easy access to FB”. It’s practically torture, dontcha know…
Now I understand, that’s why
Now I understand, that’s why they’re traumatised.
IanMK wrote:
I think that might be the problem…
Quote: Jane Parker, the
Quote: Jane Parker, the grandmother of a two-year-old girl ..: “she is only in the play group but she finds the parking quite traumatic.”
(I’m trying to think what to say about this definition of “traumatic” but my head is empty now).
Maybe she means she’s crap at
Maybe she means she’s crap at parking and gets wound up by it, and then takes it out on the two-year-old…
Her Grandmother is the one in
Her Grandmother is the one in the photo parked across the grass. “Grandma your parking is f*****g s**t and all the other 2 year olds laugh at me. It’s Soooo embarrassing”
At least she didn’t call it a
At least she didn’t call it a tragedy.
I dont want to sound old and
I dont want to sound old and all back in my day…but back in my day,yes come rain or shine and even snow,you walked the 1 mile to school. Nottingham has a great public transport network,even if you lived the other side of the city there shouldn’t be a need to drive your kids round like this
Exactly – my wife talks about
Exactly – my wife talks about how she and her sisters walked about four miles to her school every morning.
A mile’s walk is (practically) nothing, IMO.
The law on school transport
The law on school transport assumes that primary aged children can walk two miles to school (and secondary three miles).
The trouble is that I suspect
The trouble is that I suspect that it only applies if you fall in the catchment area. If you choose a school out of catchment I don’t think it applies. Given that this is a primary school many parent that chose this school may well have done so whilst the consultation was going on. It’s funny how if you put in an LTN or cycle lane without consultation you get loads of complaints but if you do have a consultation you still get complaints.
I think it’s if you choose
I think it’s if you choose the nearest available school, so yes, pretty much catchment.
I’m not sure that bike is
I’m not sure that bike is misshapen – I’m assuming, since it has no pedals, that you get it to move by pumping the handlebars backwards and forwards to work a crank on the rear wheel.
According to the article the
According to the article the parent says it is traumatic for a two year old. It doesn’t really seem like a strong impact statement in order to cancel the whole traffic policy.
muhasib wrote:
Has the article referred to been removed?
I think muhasib is responding
I think muhasib is responding to the Scum article Brooksby linked to but accidently started a new thread instead of replying to it.
Apologies, my fault on the
Apologies, my fault on the thread creation , ‘i’m a cyclist too you know’
Had a crash on Monday due to
Had a crash on Monday due to a dog. Came haring out of the bushes right in front of me, I grabbed the brakes and did a lovely half over the handlebars/half out the side door crash. One of those where you have time to thing, bollocks, this is gonna hurt/be expensive.
Dog owner less than helpful. Whilst nothing’s broken on me or the bike I’ve got epic gravel rash, a bruise the length of my right leg and some seriously scuffed up bars, brakes (a Deore XT I was thinking of selling because they’re a bit bobbins) and rear mech. Big thumbs up for shadow clutched rear mechs – a bit of a scuff to the nameplate but nothing bent and it’s still shifting perfectly. Which is handy because it’s probably a three month wait for a replacement.
No offer of details from the pedestrian, or help to get back to my car, or offer to phone someone. Fortunately I was only about half a mile from the car.
Particularly pissed off as she said “Oh, sorry, sometimes she doesn’t come when she’s called” – bearing in mind it’s nesting and lambing season the bloody dog should have been on a lead.
Likely she’ll do the same
Likely she’ll do the same route most days, if you care to head back there and ask her details – as was established again recently, she is responsible for your damages and injuries…
Oh SMASHING, Josh is back and
Oh SMASHING, Josh is back and on my local roads…He’s also claiming to be a professional cyclist now
aye, good one lad. The A93 isn’t for pissing about on, he’ll soon learn and sadly going on his track record, it might hurt.
He’s not planning to stop for
He’s not planning to stop for lavatory breaks, so you may find the A93 is indeed for pissing about on.
Pro cycling is a broad church…
I have been shot down here
I have been shot down here when I raised concerns about Mark Beaumont riding the NC500 in one go. I have similar concerns here the open road with normal traffic is not the place for extreme endurance efforts like this, the level of fatigue after several days is not safe (or fair on) for other road users (OK maybe not the same as this level of fatigue by a trucker but on the same roads)
On another note if he intends to ride non stop being serviced from a support car, I wonder what the traffic cops would think of this practice, again on an open road with other traffic. I know holding onto a moving vehicle will incur thier roth I suspect a sticky bottle would be the same
I understand your concerns,
I understand your concerns, having been crew on some long-distance events and seen the riders weaving all over and hallucinating. That’s part of my saying that the A93 isn’t for pissing about on. I note the record is unpaced, much like his NC500 was supposed to be, you’ll note that Guinness hasn’t verified it to my knowledge, because he was getting paced a number of times. His crew even being stupid enough to post videos of it on social media before taking them down again.
Having a follow car can be an issue for police, especially on a busy road. They like to pull follow cars over because they are causing tailbacks and are dangerous. So I guess he won’t have a permanent follow car. Plus the cost of fuel for that…He tried his luck at the 500, ended up getting paced. I think he’ll find out quite quickly that he’s on the wrong road. He’d have been better on a dual carriageway down south, battering it up and down between a set of junctions. Much flatter, more drag from passing traffic…etc.
I know there are people going to be certain traffic lights for jumping them
it is an interesting choice
it is an interesting choice of route, basically 50 miles out (& up) and 50 back (and down) I wonder if they are hoping for a bit of recovery on the return legs, it certainly never feels like that
Not to mention the “3 to 4
Not to mention the “3 to 4 hours sleep” at most. How irresponsible can one person be?
Article in the (hate filled)
Article in the (hate filled) Guardian on helmet laws in the US and how they might seem to be applied in a perhaps discriminatory manner
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/20/us-helmet-laws-police-citations-cyclists-of-colour-homeless
#Warning# may contain contentious statistics concerning the efficacy of helmet safety.
ktache wrote:
Thanks for this, ktache: I missed this one. I’ve read something before about how helmet laws are used as a handy excuse for stop and search.
Im curious what hate you
Im curious what hate you think the Gruaniad is pe(a)ddling? Its one of the more balanced papers imo. As one of the few (only?) left-ish leaning papers still existing it occupies quite an important role in the media ecosystem.
I dont agree with some of its articles, but as a counter point to the Heil and Torygraph it fufils a need.
He’s being ironic. One of the
He’s being ironic. One of the trolls that spout rubbish on this site referred to the Graunida as being hate filled.
Lol. Thanks
Lol. Thanks
If you’re talking about me, I
If you’re talking about me, I was also being ironic. One of the trolls that spout rubbish on this site referred to the Daily Mail as being hate filled.
Nigel Garrage wrote:
But it is…
Gosh , poor dog, hope he’s OK
Gosh , poor dog, hope he’s OK. Just one of those things, cyclist couldn’t avoid, and not the dogs fault imo.
Of course not the dog’s fault
Of course not the dog’s fault. It’s the owner’s fault for not keeping their pet under control and a very good example of why it is a good idea, as a pet owner, to carry sufficient third party insurance cover should your pet cause injury or damage.
Mungecrundle wrote:
Quite! The owner (not to mention the dog) was lucky that it was someone on a bike and not in a car. That would have been a grisly end to the family pet.