“Please find a different job”: Jeremy Vine blasts ‘toxic’ London taxi driver; “Bristol cycle infrastructure needs reinventing”; Pidcock a doubt for classics; Snake Trespass, round 2; More dropper post chat; Coffee and cycling + more on the live blog

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Jan Ullrich (@janullrichofficial)

Do you have a spare 25 grand and a deep fascination with one of cycling’s darkest moments?

Well you’re in luck, as 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich is auctioning off one of his bikes from the following year’s race – yes, that one – to benefit the ‘A Heart for Children’ campaign, which supports sick children and orphans in war-torn Ukraine.

The autographed bike features carbon-fibre wheels, a Campagnolo groupset, and a carbon fibre Pinarello frame, painted yellow (with yellow bar tape too), presumably kitted out in anticipation of the German’s second victory at the race, before his infamous collapse on the road to Les Deux-Alpes at the hands of Marco Pantani. Ullrich, despite wearing the yellow jersey for a number of stages, rode a bike bedecked in standard-issue pink and grey Telekom colours throughout the race.

Of course, the 1998 Tour proved more notable for what happened off the bike – at customs checks, in hotels, and at teary press conferences – than the racing itself, so Ullrich’s ill-fated yellow Pinarello is a potent symbol of one of the sport’s murkiest hours.

The highest bid currently stands at over €25,000.

You can place a bid for your own little piece of the Festina Affair and help out the humanitarian effort in Ukraine at the auction site here. 

This could be a new record - 7 cars parked in the cycle lane pic.twitter.com/xTXwKLAs8H

— Colchester Cycling Campaign (@CampaignCycling) March 20, 2022

I know, I know, Opening Weekend was back in February – but the real cobbled classics season starts this Friday in Harelbeke, for the Ronde-lite E3 Saxo Bank Classic.

Let’s hope by then we’ve finally finished talking about dropper seatposts…

Your twitter timeline in 24 hours' time: pic.twitter.com/SyUfsIVdqZ

— Jim Cotton (@jim_c_1985) March 21, 2022

It seems as if Matej Mohorič wasn’t being completely honest with Dan Martin during the Tour de France last year:

Flashback to a conversation I had with @matmohoric during @LeTour last year. ‘I have a kid now so I’m less crazy on downhills’.
Definitely demonstrated lower risk tolerance on Saturday 🙈

— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) March 21, 2022

That particularly conversation, which took place only two months after the Slovenian’s horror crash on a descent at the Giro d’Italia, was evidently forgotten by Mohorič on Saturday afternoon as he crested the Poggio and deployed his dropper post.

Paying homage to Sean Kelly on the thirtieth anniversary of the Irishman’s second Milan-San Remo win (he must have read Thursday’s blog), the Bahrain-Victorious rider added ‘bunny-hopping out of the gutter’ and ‘nearly ending up in someone’s living room’ to the Poggio descent lexicon…

Most of Mohoric’s daredevil descent that won him MSR pic.twitter.com/j8yS9kE7DX

— Peter. ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿🚴‍♂️ (@PBXscribes) March 20, 2022

As well as commenting on Mohorič’s madcap descending, the now-retired Martin also decided – rather mischievously – to throw the 27-year-old’s name in the ring as “a strong contender” to become only the fourth rider in history to win all five monument classics.

On another note. @matmohoric now becomes a strong candidate to win all 5 monuments. Already 5th @LiegeBastogneL and a favourite now for @FlandersClassic
Discuss 🙈

— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) March 21, 2022

And to think we haven’t even gotten over the whole ‘Pogačar is too dominant’ debate yet…

With half of the cycling world taking to Google to figure out what exactly a dropper post does after Matej Mohorič’s death-defying descent of the Poggio to win a thrilling edition of Milan-San Remo on Saturday, we all assumed we were witnessing the birth of some new ground-breaking technology, set to revolutionise the sport.

> UCI confirms Matej Mohorič’s Milan-San Remo-winning dropper post is within rules

Mohorič even described dropper posts as “the future of cycling” in his post-race press conference.

But, as with all great leaps forward in road cycling, the dropper post of course stems from another branch of the sport, and was first tested in mountain biking a decade before the Slovenian was born:

Roadies, always at the cutting edge of technology. pic.twitter.com/uWQIFPLcep

— Daniel Lloyd (@daniellloyd1) March 21, 2022

I imagine I wasn’t the only one who spent the weekend listening to their brother claiming: ‘I knew they’d bring dropper posts in. After they banned riding on the top tube, I knew it…’ 

In any case, as Sam Bennett predicted over the weekend, just like LeMond’s tri-bars in 1989 the market for dropper posts has surely ballooned after Mohorič’s monument-winning antics on Saturday:

🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈

— Matej Mohoric (@matmohoric) March 20, 2022

Not sure what's going on outside my window, but I do love to see it 🚲💚 pic.twitter.com/AWE5QcYIfg

— Patrick McAllister🌱 (@PatDBMcAllister) March 20, 2022

The founder of ‘Drum and Bass on the Bike’, DJ Dom Whiting, is using his popular pedalling rave to call for improved cycling infrastructure in Bristol.

Around a thousand people joined Whiting as he went for a spin around the city yesterday, spinning some tunes from his handlebar-mounted decks.

It’s the second time the DJ has taken his mobile disco to Bristol, filling the streets with cyclists, scooters, walkers and positive vibes – not to mention bemused onlookers and frustrated motorists… 

And back again. Lots of annoyed motorists pic.twitter.com/jAPOBNgarT

— Patrick McAllister🌱 (@PatDBMcAllister) March 20, 2022

Last month he celebrated the one-year anniversary of Drum and Bass on the Bike with a tour around his hometown of Southampton. 

“We definitely shut down Bristol, that is for sure”, Whiting announced to the impressive crowd during yesterday’s ride.

But as they went around the Bearpit roundabout and headed down Haymarket, the DJ had a message for the local council, declaring that “Bristol cycle infrastructure needs reinventing ASAP”.

Now it may not be my cup of tea musically (as regular readers will know from my punk and classic rock-based puns), but if it leads to more cycle lanes I’m all for the occasional drum and bass…

Ah, Twitter. Widely renowned as a place for thoughtful, considerate debate (isn’t it?), the social media platform can also – surprisingly – provide a largely anonymous refuge for the more toxic opinions of certain groups.

And so it proved, when over the weekend Jeremy Vine posted another video of his commute in London, which showed a van driver mounting the footpath to get past a taxi on what used to be the cycle lane on Kensington High Street:

Yesterday, Kensington. 😡@Trafficwmp @SurreyRoadCops @roaddangers @Lord_nikon0131 @London_Cycling @KensingtonVan @kensington @KensingtonRoyal @kensingtonband @betterstreetskc @BetterChiswick @AracerRacer @rant_rate @ormondroyd @danbamb @jonburkeUK @RailtonLTN @LoveFor2Wheels pic.twitter.com/H8LzO2TD9G

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) March 19, 2022

One particularly unpleasant taxi driver’s response to the broadcaster’s video was, let’s say, rather blunt:

@theJeremyVine … u are a sad twat

— Tom (@tjab1425) March 19, 2022

In fairness, Vine didn’t hold back either:

So sad that you have a licence to embarrass London. Please find a different job.

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) March 20, 2022

You don't understand do you? The more people cycle, the clearer the roads are for you to pick up passengers. But you have a strange loathing for cyclists instead of loving us.

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) March 20, 2022

After a few more childish and largely meme-based taunts (I would probably avoid visiting Tom the cabbie’s profile, as it’s pretty unsavoury), one user came up with handy idea for cyclists to avoid any anti-bike taxi drivers:

Wish toxic Twitter taxi drivers would put their Twitter handles on the side of their taxis so you could avoid them. There are so many lovely taxi drivers, but there is the concern you could end up with someone who has all this hate.

— Railton LTN (@RailtonLTN) March 20, 2022

This prompted some cyclists, including road.cc’s very own Simon MacMichael, to share their favourite bike-related taxi stories:

My fave London taxi story? Cutting it fine for Eurostar, grab cab from Paddington.
Driver: "Effin' cyclists, think they're in Tour de France. Anyway, where you off to guv?"
"Paris. Presentation of route of next year's Tour de France. Don't worry, don't think Euston Road's on it." https://t.co/a6rLsbb2aP

— Simon MacMichael (@simonmacmichael) March 20, 2022

Some of the Edinburgh ones not much better! https://t.co/Ok9d8cec1X

— Deacon Thurston 🚴‍♂️ (@DeaconThurston) March 20, 2022

And my personal favourite, from cycling author Chris Sidwells:

Mine is. Irish female taxi driver. “What do you do?”. Me, “I write about cycling” Her, “I hate fuckin’ cyclists.” Then, “do you know Sean and Stephen?” Me, “Yes I do” Her, “Ah, they’re lovely fellas.”

— Chris Sidwells (@ChrisSidwells) March 20, 2022

Others, however, were keen to point out that Tom the cabbie certainly doesn’t represent all taxi drivers: 

Tubes were playing up one morning so I got a cab to Euston. Said I cycle to work and he asked which club I rode for ‘Catford’ (at the time). ‘Oh, I’m West Kent RC’. Lovely trip.

— Rob Bullyment (@RobBully) March 20, 2022

But so many lovely drivers who have been a great deal of comfort at dark and sad times.

— Railton LTN (@RailtonLTN) March 20, 2022

The last time I was in a taxi, a few weeks ago in the coastal town of Bray, just outside Dublin, we spent almost an hour chatting to our driver, a retired café owner who used to race mountain bikes, reminiscing about local cycling legends like Peter Crinnion. Thankfully he didn’t keep the meter running…