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Weirdest time trial helmet ever? Uno-X’s new Star Wars bee lid divides opinion; “Motorists want our parking spots back!” Angry drivers deflate hire bike tyres and tell cyclists to “buy a car”; Luke Plapp’s sweary post-race debrief + more on the live blog

It’s Tuesday and Ryan Mallon, in between counting down the hours until Opening Weekend, is here with more cycling updates on the live blog
21 February 2023, 09:00
Uno-X's Sweet Protection helmet at Volta ao Algarve cropped (Cor Vos)
“I don’t think I like aerodynamics anymore”: Is this is the weirdest time trial helmet ever? Uno-X’s new bumblebee Star Wars lid divides opinion

First we had the POC Tempor, the OG of oddly-shaped, style-be-damned time trial helmets:

Stefan Bissegger UAE TT (GCN+)

 The POC in all its glory

Then Kask joined in on the fun at the Tour de France last year, unveiling their new ski goggle-esque visor, with oversized wings (and superfluous gilet as an optional extra):

Geraint Thomas gilet (Eurosport/GCN+)

But even Ineos’ massive motocross goggles were overshadowed in Copenhagen last July by the then-brand-new Specialized S-Works TT 5, a helmet seemingly more at home in a 1960s low-budget sci-fi film than on the roads of the Tour, which – just to add another touch of glamour and sophistication – comes with its very own Samir Nasri-inspired snood…

You know, just to keep your head (and sense of style) as flat as possible:

Florian Senechal 2022 Tour de Frane (GCN)
Vlasoc snood Tour de France 2022 (GCN)

> Snood or no snood? Specialized’s aero balaclava divides opinion

But just when you thought we’ve been through the looking-glass of TT helmet design, Uno-X’s riders rocked up to Sunday’s time trial stage of the Volta ao Algarve sporting an, ahem, interesting new take on aerodynamics:

This rather eye-catching (but apparently not wind-catching) model comes from the team’s sponsor Sweet Protection.

Its flared edges certainly resemble the POC Tempor’s divisive looks, but the helmet’s stand-out feature is a large central vent with a splitter seemingly designed to separate the direct airflow (and not, as one Twitter user suggested, control minds).

The helmet, which has been developed alongside Uno-X as the Norwegian team builds up to its debut Tour de France in July, does not have a name as yet – but it’s certainly proved the inspiration for plenty of jokes on social media… even from Uno-X themselves:

Well played...

So, what do you think? Has Sweet Protection hit the sweet spot with Uno-X’s new bumblebee/Star Wars lid, or has TT helmet design well and truly jumped the shark?

21 February 2023, 17:11
“Just when you thought silly TT helmets couldn’t get any sillier”

Uno-X’s super-massive, super-sweet Sweet Protection helmet has gone down a storm with road.cc’s readers today.

“The UCI should ban these helmets on the basis of ‘bringing the sport into disrepute’”, says peted76. Not a fan then, I take it?

Meanwhile, several readers had the same thought concerning when the time comes to name the now-nameless lid.

‘Spaceballs: The TT helmet’, anyone?

Rendel Harris also noted that the huge helmet with a big button in the middle isn’t Uno-X’s only crime against fashion.

“To add to the sartorial elegance of the outsized titfer, Uno’s socks/shoe cover combination makes it look uncannily as though the rider is wearing Crocs,” they noted.

Uno-X 'crocs'

Very cool.

Finally, lesterama took grave offence to the comparison with triathletes.

“No one is ever more of a dork on a bike than a triathlete. Ever,” they said. Amen.

21 February 2023, 16:38
What else can you do in 15 minutes?

Suggestions on a postcard…

21 February 2023, 15:59
Selfridges hit with £12,000 bill after cyclist struck by car park barrier

High-end department store Selfridges was last week hit with a £12,000 bill after one of its former employees was struck by a barrier while exiting the company’s car park on her bike.

The Times reports that Sonia Spasiano, who worked as a manager at the La Perla concession in the flagship Oxford Street branch of Selfridges, claimed that the barrier closed faster than she anticipated, hitting her helmet and her nose, leaving a scar.

Claiming compensation for injuries and minor scarring from Selfridge’s Retail, the 37-year-old’s case alleged negligence on behalf of the company’s management for failing to warn cyclists about the potential hazards of riding through the barrier.

Last week at Central London County Court, deputy district judge Adan Tear ruled that the store should have had clearer warnings, and did not give enough thought to how cyclists could enter or leave the car park – but that Spasiano herself was also partially at fault for the incident.

> Cyclist hit by truck driver has compensation cut after judge says lack of helmet contributed to injuries

“I am satisfied that Selfridges does bear responsibility for part of this accident but that doesn’t negate how this accident happened,” Tear said.

He added that the cyclist “must bear some responsibility herself for going under a barrier that was open, which then closed and so caused her injury”.

The court heard that Spasiano was hit by the barrier while following a motorist out of the car park. She said that she followed the vehicle as it would trigger the barrier to rise.

“She said that she normally followed the car one bicycle length behind, and would then follow it through the barrier,” Tear said.

“The barrier struck towards her helmet and then moved down, hitting the bridge of her nose, causing injury to her face.”

The judge awarded Spasiano, who has since left Selfridges, £3,060 – reducing the compensation by a third to account for her “contributory negligence”.

Selfridges was also hit with a bill for nearly £9,000 to cover the legal costs of the case, though I think with a revenue of £653 million for 2022 they’ll be fine.

21 February 2023, 15:28
‘Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lanes?’ Part 6,950
21 February 2023, 14:48
“Finally, a new cycling sponsor that’s not questionable”: Soft drink Orangina set to partner with Tour de France

In what is undoubtedly the biggest cycling news story of the day, everyone’s favourite French soft drink, Orangina, has announced that it will become a partner of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes for the next three years.

The drink – which, incidentally, is one of cycling-mad comedian David O’Doherty’s gig ‘sponsors’ (just don’t ask him how to pronounce it) – will be sold at the Tour from this July, as well as featuring in the publicity caravan and in the race’s support cars.

To mark this most French of partnerships, the new official soft drink supplier will also launch three special edition cans later this year, based on this year’s stages, to celebrate “the most shaken roads of the Tour de France”.

It’s not yet known whether Orangina will also replace Coca Cola as the peloton’s emergency rescue fizzy fuel of choice, however.

In a not-at-all-overblown statement released this morning, ASO’s Yann Le Moënner said: “You can recognise a bottle of Orangina at first sight, or even in a blind test. Both the container and the drink inside it have become part of our collective psyche. It is hard to overlook its powerful synergies with the Tour de France, and the alliance between these two ‘monuments’ of French culture is only natural. We expect this to be a refreshing and bubbly relationship, of course.”

Hmmm, synergy…

The news has been welcomed with unfettered joy by most cycling fans, just happy that their sport is, for once, not being used by some moustache-twirling oil company for its latest greenwashing project.

However, some are concerned about the immediate threat posed by those famous glass bottles, soon to be launched from a moving publicity vehicle by an overzealous student towards an unsuspecting public…

21 February 2023, 14:08
‘15-minute city conspiracy theories debunked’

A handy 60-second guide from Carlton Reid here, in case you’re ever in Oxford and encounter a large crowd banging on about communism and dystopian prisons…

21 February 2023, 13:17
Just popping out to the shops to get some lunch, should definitely be more than 15 minutes

No idea what Ned could possibly be referring to…

21 February 2023, 12:45
“Did they print Plapp’s skin suit inside out?”

Perhaps the young Australian’s bout of post-race effin’ and jeffin’ wasn’t actually about the TTT itself, but was instead referring to the manic scene in the team bus which resulted in him wearing his white young rider’s skin suit inside out…

Or maybe the race organisers are just massive fans of Pringles?

21 February 2023, 12:41
“Boys, get the f*** out of the way!” Luke Plapp takes GC lead – complete with sweary post-race debrief – as Remco powers Soudal Quick-Step to TTT win at UAE Tour

You can forgive Luke Plapp for being a touch over-excited after today’s team time trial at the UAE Tour.

The 20-year-old Australian road race champion – who was, with rather impeccable timing, caught on live TV giving a typically Aussie (in other words, sweary) post-race debrief to his Ineos teammates – was instrumental in securing third place on the day for the British team, which proved just enough for the precocious Plapp to don the first stage race leader’s jersey of his young career.

After yesterday’s “dead heat” sprint, the UAE Tour continues to be a race of extremely fine margins, as Plapp has assumed the overall lead despite being locked on the same time as world champion Remco Evenepoel, who powered his Soudal Quick-Step team to the stage.

The Belgian team, the beneficiaries of that tightest of calls on yesterday’s stage won by Tim Merlier, once again came out on the right side of a squeaky bum situation, pipping long-time hotseat attendees EF Education-EasyPost by one measly second for the win, despite being 10 seconds down at the intermediate time check.

Who says team time trials are boring? Not when “passions are running high” anyway…

21 February 2023, 11:12
Vancouver drivers deflate hire bike tyres (Mihai Cirstea)
“Us motorists want our parking spots back, bitch!” Angry drivers deflate hire bike tyres and tell cyclists to “buy a car”

We’re all used to frank and vitriolic exchanges between cyclists and motorists by now, usually exchanged out on the road or in a particularly toxic Twitter thread.

But we don’t often see those kinds of exchanges occurring via note form…

But that’s what is happening over in Canada, where a group of Vancouver-based motorists, apparently angry that a Mobi cycle share station has replaced a handful of car parking spaces on a relatively quiet street, has resorted to deflating the hire bikes’ tyres.

In response to this pro-car, less climate-conscious version of the Tyre Extinguishers, two locals attached notes to trees beside the shared bikes imploring the drivers to “stop taking the air out of the tires [sic]. I need these bikes to get to work”.

Intent on continuing this odd, and rather romantic (if you squint hard enough), pre-internet form of vitriolic road user correspondence, one of the apparent tyre slashers attached their own note to the tree soon after.

The Donald Trump-inspired motorist wrote: “Too bad, so sad. Us motorists want our parking spots back, bitch! Your options: Buy a car. Buy your own bicycle. Walk. Take transit. Join Evo [a car sharing platform in Vancouver].”

Very strange.

As cyclist Mihai Cirstea, who posted the notes on Twitter, acknowledged, it’s not as if the bike share station takes up the entire road, a road which doesn’t appear to be jam-packed at the best of times:

Some on Twitter have speculated whether the whole ‘Super polite cyclist v driver debate’ is simply a well-executed guerrilla marketing campaign from either Mobi or Evo.

Others, meanwhile, have taken the whole thing very seriously, and are advocating for escalation, disproving once and for all the notion that Canadians are unfailingly nice.

“If they want war, give them war. Their tyres are just as vulnerable. The deflating of the neighbourhood cars will continue until behaviour improves,” wrote one presumably battle-hardened cyclist on Twitter.

Oh dear, think of all the notes littering the streets…

21 February 2023, 10:29
“You’re bigger dorks than triathletes now”

Ouch, that one stings…

21 February 2023, 09:56
0.00028 seconds

I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around yesterday’s ludicrously tight finish at the UAE Tour…

This morning’s second stage is a 17.2km team time trial (a rare sighting out in the wild these days, I know), so expect the margins to be ever so slightly less fine, and the commissaires to be a touch more relaxed, when it comes to deciding today’s winner. Though you never know… 

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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44 comments

Avatar
Car Delenda Est | 1 year ago
4 likes

Interesting that a pedestrian is charged with manslaughter for a gesture while a motorist wouldn't necessarily even be charged for gesturing while driving into them.

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Dhill | 1 year ago
0 likes

First the question as to why cyclists don’t use cycle lands, is because they appear to be for cars. See picture above.

second I am shocked and appalled by the bad language use toward and by cyclists.

Third For once ‘literally ‘ has literally be used approximately for once. Thanks Bram.

 

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marmotte27 replied to Dhill | 1 year ago
3 likes

Whole cycle lands?
I'd use them. As do the Dutch I believe.

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Dhill replied to marmotte27 | 1 year ago
1 like

Well whole cycle lands, that is a different proposal.

 

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chrisonabike replied to Dhill | 1 year ago
0 likes

My issue is that when I suggest separated cycle paths (not lanes!) people suggest lands.  As in: "there are cycling lands - we've heard of The Netherlands (and possibly Copenhagen) - so why don't you go forth and multiply over there if you like it so much?"

I think they don't realise a) we have always had cycling infra in the UK (even back in the 1930s) b) cycling infra is really driving infra c) there are even places in the UK where this is normal and d) they would almost certainly prefer driving where there is more and they might even prefer the environment that way.

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Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
4 likes

Bit disappointed there's no "The future's bright, the future's Orangina" headline, not like road.cc to miss an open goal like that...

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ShutTheFrontDawes replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
1 like

Indeed, but I'm very surprised that people don't think the sponsorship is questionable. What about all the dead babies Orangina is responsible for?

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lesterama | 1 year ago
1 like

Orangina and Le Tour: time for le maillot orange?

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Daveyraveygravey | 1 year ago
2 likes

That terrible story about the pedestrian up for manslaughter, was it a shared use path or not?  I can't find any mention of it in either story, it just reads like a normal footpath.

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Rendel Harris replied to Daveyraveygravey | 1 year ago
4 likes

Hard to tell, on the B1514, which I assume is what's meant by the Huntingdon ring road (it circles the centre and passes the Sainsbury's mentioned) there are sections that have shared path signs and sections that don't with no clear indication of when they start and stop. Sure it will come out later in the trial if it is a shared path, though it does seem odd that it's not mentioned if it is.

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lllnorrislll replied to Daveyraveygravey | 1 year ago
7 likes

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-54617488

This old article seem to suggest nursery road and if the photo is an accurate represenration of where the accident occured, then there is a clearly a blue roundal for a shared path.

However, this is the death of a 77 year woman, killed by another woman after an irrational outburst. 

Its all very sad and hopefully the courts can serve justice. 

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HoarseMann replied to Daveyraveygravey | 1 year ago
2 likes

It likely happened here: https://goo.gl/maps/KvzMSc1dD1auZLx66

The incident was caught on the CCTV of a nearby building, the rather unique style of the railings are shown in the appeal put out at the time:
https://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/22968300.cctv-appeal-woman-police-want-...

Shouldn't really discuss it as an ongoing case, but I think it's ok to post to previous news articles.

Couldn't comment on this particular section of pavement, but many of the pavements in this area appear to be shared use.

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Paul J replied to HoarseMann | 1 year ago
2 likes

While not at that specific section, there are roundels indicating the path is shared use on an earlier and later section. Also on other side of road. There is nothing to indicate a change in that shared status for the section in between with those railings.

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HoarseMann replied to Paul J | 1 year ago
1 like

Paul J wrote:

While not at that specific section, there are roundels indicating the path is shared use on an earlier...

Yes, I can see the earlier section on streetview. There's nothing after this sign to indicate the shared use status has changed.
https://goo.gl/maps/sQxS7MwhG7kb9HVo9

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brooksby replied to Daveyraveygravey | 1 year ago
1 like

I thought that, but didn't want to put my comments in here in case it attracted comments of a certain type...

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arckuk | 1 year ago
1 like

Re the UAE tour margin - 0.28 ms at 80 km/h (let's be generous) is a 6 mm margin of victory for Merlier. Surely that's plenty!

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ErnieC replied to arckuk | 1 year ago
0 likes

And here I was thinking that that only happened in South Africa. 

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brooksby | 1 year ago
7 likes

Not cycling, just very funny.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/21/spanish-transport-secretar...

Quote:

Spain’s secretary of state for transport and the head of the state rail company have resigned ... after it emerged that dozens of new trains ordered for two northern Spanish regions were too big to fit through some tunnels.

Three years ago, the state rail operator, Renfe, announced plans to modernise the rolling stock on narrow-gauge commuter trains and medium-distance trains in Asturias and Cantabria.

But it was revealed last month that the trains being built under the €258m (£227.5m) contract would be too wide to pass through some of the tunnels in the two regions.

 

Avatar
PRSboy replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
6 likes

brooksby wrote:

Not cycling, just very funny.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/21/spanish-transport-secretar...

Quote:

Spain’s secretary of state for transport and the head of the state rail company have resigned ... after it emerged that dozens of new trains ordered for two northern Spanish regions were too big to fit through some tunnels.

Three years ago, the state rail operator, Renfe, announced plans to modernise the rolling stock on narrow-gauge commuter trains and medium-distance trains in Asturias and Cantabria.

But it was revealed last month that the trains being built under the €258m (£227.5m) contract would be too wide to pass through some of the tunnels in the two regions.

 

Trains can no longer go direct from Reading to Oxford and passengers now have to change at Didcot because the new trains won't fit under a bridge en route. 
 

The future. Like the past, only worse. 
 

Avatar
Dnnnnnn replied to PRSboy | 1 year ago
3 likes

PRSboy wrote:

Trains can no longer go direct from Reading to Oxford and passengers now have to change at Didcot because the new trains won't fit under a bridge en route. 

Eh? There are six direct trains from Reading to Oxford in the next hour according to National Rail (actually two of them are cancelled but I don't think it's for that reason!).

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Secret_squirrel replied to Dnnnnnn | 1 year ago
2 likes

I dont even believe there is a rail tunnel between Reading and Oxford.  I dont remember one.  Nothing on Wiki either...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherwell_Valley_line

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Awavey replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
0 likes

well tbf they said bridge and Oxford station will be shut for some period over approx 3 months later this year and not able to accept trains from Reading or Didcot, whilst they install a new bridge.

I thought it had come up before as the road is supposed to be closed for a year, but will retain cycling access throughout, and one of the improvements with the new bridge will be a segregated cycle route away from the busy road.

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JustTryingToGet... replied to Dnnnnnn | 1 year ago
1 like
Dnnnnnn wrote:

PRSboy wrote:

Trains can no longer go direct from Reading to Oxford and passengers now have to change at Didcot because the new trains won't fit under a bridge en route. 

Eh? There are six direct trains from Reading to Oxford in the next hour according to National Rail (actually two of them are cancelled but I don't think it's for that reason!).

You can travel direct from Reading to Oxford. Most of the time. There are regular engineering works that can mean changing at Didcot or rail replacement buses from Didcot.

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NickSprink replied to PRSboy | 1 year ago
9 likes

It's the new 15 minute cities...  not allowed to leave Oxford any more angel

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Dnnnnnn replied to NickSprink | 1 year ago
4 likes

NickSprink wrote:

It's the new 15 minute cities...  not allowed to leave Oxford any more angel

You might be right... I shouldn't get my train news from the Main Steam Media.

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ShutTheFrontDawes replied to Dnnnnnn | 1 year ago
5 likes
Dnnnnnn wrote:

NickSprink wrote:

It's the new 15 minute cities...  not allowed to leave Oxford any more angel

You might be right... I shouldn't get my train news from the Main Steam Media.

I hear the Main Steam Media has crazy rationales for the stuff it comes out with; real loco motives.

Avatar
Roulereo replied to NickSprink | 1 year ago
0 likes

How many permits do residents get allowing them to leave their Oxford LTN's by the way? I've heard it's 3 per household but not sure if that's per week, month?

 

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Hirsute replied to Roulereo | 1 year ago
4 likes

There are no restrictions on residents.

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chrisonabike replied to Roulereo | 1 year ago
6 likes

Secret is that you can go out as many times as you like, but you're only allowed back in if you agree to post nonsense on forums.

There are groups who don't have everyone's best interests at heart.  (Situation normal - human societies, and at any time someone's having it bad somewhere).  Fortunately humans are lazy and cock-up still rules over conspiracy in the UK at least.  So I find it's often fairly simple to get a handle on who's really in power and what they're pushing.  Just follow the money.  F'rexample when I go to the movies or browse online I see a bunch of car adverts.  I don't see many promoting walking to the shops or cycling to school.  The odd one that has that going on, it's generally transparent because it's being brought to you by Shell or Honda.

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ChrisB200SX replied to PRSboy | 1 year ago
0 likes

PRSboy wrote:

Trains can no longer go direct from Reading to Oxford and passengers now have to change at Didcot because the new trains won't fit under a bridge en route. 

I went direct from Reading to Oxford about 2 weeks ago, has something changed?

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