Annemiek van Vleuten’s dramatic World Championships crash — confirms front tyre didn’t “explode” before fall; Bauke Mollema suffers untimely mechanical… later collides with seagull; Angle grinder bike thefts are back + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Annemiek van Vleuten's dramatic World Championships crash after "front tyre exploded" straight off the start ramp
Annemiek van Vleuten — the all-conquering winner of all three of this year’s women’s Grand Tour replicas, including the Tour de France Femmes — crashed out of the World Championships mixed relay time trial this morning (UK time) and says she is on the way to hospital for X-rays. Her right side is heavily bruised, the prolific winner who will retire at the end of next season said, and she is “especially worried about my right elbow and arm”.
⚠️ CRASH for @AvVleuten!! ⚠️
Mechanical issue causes horrible crash for the Dutch superstar.
Really disappointing day for the Dutch. #Wollongong2022 pic.twitter.com/rU5LYNnlcu— UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 21, 2022
In the same social media post updating fans about her condition, Van Vleuten said the crash happened when her “front tyre exploded”. With the challenging road race on Saturday all we can do is hope one of the biggest names in the sport is on the startline to continue her sensational season…
> From Coppi to Van Vleuten: Cycling’s greatest ever seasons
It was a nightmare afternoon/morning (depending on your time zone) for the Dutch in the new(ish) mixed relay time trial — the event which replaced the team time trial a few years back and involves three male riders from a nation riding a TT before three women finish it off, starting when the men have completed their course.
Things went wrong for the riders in orange from the start ramp — Bauke Mollema’s chain getting snagged, although sadly no repeat of his hilarious sponsor-bashing outburst at the 2019 Giro…”I always ride with (SRAM) 1x (no derailleur). First time this happens this year. Bad luck at the worst moment,” he said after today’s mechanical.
Nightmare for the Dutch as Bauke Mollema drops his chain very early on the team mixed team time trial. Great news for Australia who sit in the hot seat. #Wollongong2022 #cycling pic.twitter.com/rmIZ4cV0n0
— Brendan Bradford (@1bbradfo) September 21, 2022
Images you can hear. #Mollema #SRAM #Wollongong2022 pic.twitter.com/yXopGGfMpa
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) September 21, 2022
Anyway, on the seventh anniversary of ‘Ronnie Pickering’ going viral, here’s everybody’s second favourite vid…
Oh, you want to know who actually won the mixed relay? Sorry, now we’ve got that stuff out the way I’ll tell you…
It was Swiss dominance, powered by European champion Marlen Reusser and nearly man Stefan Küng. Pretty strong back-up too when you can call on Stefan Bissegger, Mauro Schmid, Nicole Koller and Elise Chabbey for support.
> “It was terrifying”: Remco Evenepoel and World Championships pros suffer magpie attacks
Italy missed out on the win by three seconds, while home favourites Australia did enough to earn bronze, 38 seconds behind their Swiss rivals…. and breathe. That’s a lot of drama for before 9am…
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) September 21, 2022
And to think the magpies have been getting all the bad press…
> “It was terrifying”: Remco Evenepoel and World Championships pros suffer magpie attacks
"I don't know what happened but it looks like the tyre exploded after I hit the side of the road"
Don’t know what happened but looks the tire exploded after I did hit the side of the road. So that was not the problem. Something caused I got out of balance, but what ever caused it: it will not help or change my situation. Now in the hospital. 🤞🤞 https://t.co/ApGAY4YITt
— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) September 21, 2022
Bauke Mollema: pro cyclist and enemy of avian life
This happened yesterday…shared on Bauke Mollema’s Insta…
Birds, birds, birds: Bauke Mollema aangevallen door Australische ekster #Wollongong2022
👇https://t.co/hQ2afX0dEg pic.twitter.com/1bgzn8Jxnq
— Sporza 🚴 (@sporza_koers) September 20, 2022
What did poor Bauke do in a previous life to be Australian birds’ public enemy number one?
UCI president David Lappartient has been on the receiving end too…
David Lappartient…”I feel very safe riding in Wollongong…except for the birds!” 🤣 @wollongong2022 @UCI_cycling
— Cadel Evans (@CadelOfficial) September 20, 2022
Australia’s got a history of tough cycling laws and hefty fines, but enlisting your wildlife for a campaign of physical and psychological attacks is a step too far, surely?
Can confirm (Parkes St, Port Kembla) pic.twitter.com/L7DPWWYXEK
— Lambeaux (@MicahLambert) September 20, 2022
Angle grinder bike thefts are back
In fairness, I doubt they ever went away, we just didn’t see them.
Bike theft Happened in the crouch end yesterday evening at 6pm pic.twitter.com/Au2if5GuXs
— London & UK Street News (@CrimeLdn) September 21, 2022
More footage of bike thieves using an angle grinder to cut through locks and take a bicycle, this time in Crouch End, north London. We’ve already covered multiple incidents of similar offending, often in London, this year, including back in March when a group, unfazed by the growing crowd of onlookers, cut through locks.
It’s not just London, however. A month earlier in Edinburgh footage emerged of hooded thieves using an angle grinder to try to steal a nurse’s bike from a busy city centre street. Fortunately, in that case, they were thwarted by passers by.
Last year one of our most read stories was the footage of a brazen bike thief using an angle grinder to steal a Trek bike locked outside busy shopping centre in south east London.
"101,000 views of people being normal"
Now 101k views of people being normal https://t.co/c5Y7RX1uCM
— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) September 21, 2022
The most-prized signature in cycling? Wout van Aert extends Jumbo-Visma contract until 2026
𝙁𝙖𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚. #WOUT2026 pic.twitter.com/TCiXQ0hPw4
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) September 21, 2022
Two more years of Wout van Aert being an absolute cycling god in the yellow of Jumbo-Visma? Oh go on then…
The men’s MVP has extended his deal, which would have expired in 2024, to the end of 2026, saying he is “obviously happy” to stay with the team where he “can perform at my best”.
“It surprised me the team wanted to negotiate my contract again, but it’s a nice recognition. We quickly agreed. I don’t think a longer partnership poses any risks because we’ve been able to get better for the past four years,” Wout said.
Ready for dubious quote of the day? Here goes…
“One of the team’s slogans is ‘better every day’, which is not coming out of thin air. We keep improving in performance, the team’s facilities, everything.”
Thanks for that, Jumbo comms manager…sorry, I mean Wout…
Anyway, thinking about what Wout’s palmares might look like come December 2026 is enough to makes us, and the entire peloton, shudder… Flanders? Roubaix? Rainbow jersey? Five green jerseys?
Staff bikes: Dave's custom Dward singlespeed — a steel beauty
Van Vleuten fractured elbow confirmed by Dutch team — BUT "road race remains an option"
In the last few minutes the Dutch cycling federation has released the following statement:
After her fall in today’s Mixed Team Relay, Annemiek van Vleuten will remain in the selection of the KNWU for the world championship on the road in Wollongong (Australia). A (stable) fracture in the elbow has been detected in the Olympic time trial champion. A final decision on whether or not to participate in the road race will be made later this week.
National coach Loes Gunnewijk said a decision will be made in consultation with the team doctor and Van Vleuten over the next few days.
“Annemiek is allowed to cycle with this stable fracture, but the question is of course with how much pain that will be. We will see that in the coming days. We hope that Annemiek can still start, but that has to be justified,” she said.
Accidental shift? Chain jam? Tubeless "explosion"? What caused Annemiek van Vleuten's crash?
Speculation and amateur detective work have been underway since the early morning… Annemiek van Vleuten’s initial suspicion was her front tyre had “exploded”, a conclusion presumably reached by the state of her wheel…
(I guess it is sensitive content if you’re a tubeless fan)
— Jose Sion (@Yayosion) September 21, 2022
Ik hoop heel hard voor u dat alles uiteindelijk meevalt. Vingers kruisen dan maar. Dat je op zaterdag toch uw kansen kan verdedigen en nog eens lekker ouderwets op die pedalen kan rammen. Ben net zoals de hele wieler wereld benieuwd naar het uiteindelijke medische bulletin. pic.twitter.com/kTGFPwcPKh
— franck vanneste (@sprezaturra) September 21, 2022
The Dutch favourite has since said the damage, like her ripped off rear derailleur, was caused by her bike’s impact with the road/barriers and was not the issue that caused her to fall. So what caused the sudden lurch? Social media rumours have suggested a chain jam or cleat pulled from the pedal, the former supported by this extremely grainy still…
appears the chain jumped to the small chainring… putting down all these watts will throw you off, full stop pic.twitter.com/NbQZ8I1eWp
— oh dear… (@oh_dear66) September 21, 2022
Gkam84 in the blog comments suggested an accidental gear change could have been to blame: “Having watched it a number of times over, the only thing I can think happened to AVV, as she was getting ready to change position, she accidentally downshifted the front (if she had switches on her brakes) and it caused her to lose her balance from the unexpected shift. Certainly as she has corrected, the tyre wasn’t blown until the bike his the kerb and smashed the wheel up.”
Rendel Harris added: “Looks to me like a highside potentially caused by the back wheel locking up, bad shift temporarily caught the chain and locked the wheel?”
Cyclocross World Cup round moved from London to Dublin
No pre-Christmas ‘cross in the capital this year, after all. I mean, I’m sure you can find a cyclocross race to watch, but the world’s best almost certainly won’t be there…
No cyclocross World Cup in London.
But to Dublin.
Maasmechelen replaces Rucphen.
Gavere replaces Dendermonde pic.twitter.com/jLqdEVdhWm
— José Been (@TourDeJose) September 21, 2022
The early December round has gone to Dublin instead, the Irish capital is always worth a visit…although if bike racing’s your primary motivation you might as well head to Belgium. It might even be closer to your house…
Anyway, opinion is split here in the road.cc office… Liam is gutted to be missing out on racing the support event…BUT on the bright side, a change of location means Northern Ireland-based Ryan’s eyeing up a trip south.
The Birds: starring Bauke Mollema
Remake > original
(Sorry @BaukeMollema, we had to do it 😜)#Wollongong2022 pic.twitter.com/elwGp4NbAP
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) September 21, 2022
Entries for 2023 RideLondon-Essex 100 open on Wednesday 28 September
Entries for next year’s RideLondon, to be held on Sunday 28 May, open a week today. The first 10,000 places will be available on a first come, first served basis on Wednesday 28 September (we will try to find out the exact time entries open), with the remaining places then decided by a ballot, which will close at 17:00 on Friday 28 October.
We’ll let you make your own mind up about paying the £99 it costs to ride the event, but once again RideLondon says the 100-mile challenge will start and finish in central London and include a loop of Essex, offering riders 100 miles of traffic-free roads.
Last year’s inaugural event using the Essex loop saw 22,367 participants take on either the 100, 60 or 30-mile events.
Time for another bank holiday? Celebrating seven years of Ronnie Pickering
While the person on the receiving end of this most famous of road rage confrontations was a motorbiker, of course cyclists the world over can relate to the exchange… and therefore, regular Twitter and cycling Twitter alike have been marking Ronnie Pickering Day, because it’s exactly seven years since the fiery footage first emerged…
Happy Ronnie Pickering Day to all those who observe it pic.twitter.com/P8yY9tnOBa
— Lucie Fur (@Lucie_Fur99) September 21, 2022
Should really have a bank holiday for Ronnie Pickering Day
— Tim (@piearce9) September 21, 2022
‘Do you know who I am? Ronnie Pickering!’ but it’s performed by an Indie Band pic.twitter.com/vMN5rgaMh3
— Michael Fry (@BigDirtyFry) January 9, 2021
A lot of analysis and a whole load of memes have appeared in those seven years, and last year the incident was even immortalised in song by comedian Michael Fry, who performed the entire exchange in the style of a noughties landfill indie band.
If you prefer your victims of road rage to be riding bikes without motors, check out some of our Ronnie Pickering-esque greatest hits. Happy Ronnie Pickering Day!
> Driver aims ‘can-can’ kick at cyclist, misses – and falls on his backside
> Ronnie Pickering, eat your heart out: the angry canal man
> Road rage meltdown driver who threatened to kill cyclist fined for public order offence
21 September 2022, 08:13
21 September 2022, 08:13
21 September 2022, 08:13
21 September 2022, 08:13
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Latest Comments
Just call them electric motorbikes, or e-motorbikes. Stick a battery in a car and your still a motorist, but stick a battery in a motorbike and suddenly you're a cyclist - why?
Note: These saddles might not work for you if you don't meet all of these requirements: A. Ride at least 30 hours per week. B. Have a minimal amount of your weight on the saddle because 1) your bars are super-low for maximum aerodynamics, 2) you're pushing 300+ watts into the pedals most of the day, 3) you weigh at most 65 kg. If these things aren't true for you, then you should ignore what saddles pro' riders are using and find something that's more appropriate for your type of riding style, frequency and physique.
The last competitive cycling event I entered also happened to be a warm-up for the Paris Paralympics for Sarah Storey. She had the quickest time in a 10-mile time trial. It's fair to say I didn't trouble the leaders' board (something of an understatement...). A legendary athlete. I'd have Pogačar, though, obvs!
@ktache Sickening, ain't it? Someone should take him aside and say look mate, you're already pretty much guaranteed GOAT status, do you have to be the coolest and seemingly one of the nicest as well? Didn't go to my predictions today, anyway, I thought he and Jonas would summit Tourmalet together and then Pogacar would take maybe 25-30 seconds on the final climb. He's unpredictable in his predictability, shall we say!
It may be a little predictable, but he is magnificent. He even looks good in white shorts...
This is an expensive vacuum flask, and as a water purification system, it's a non-starter compared to: https://www.pureclearfilters.co.uk/filters/ This also deals with viruses
@GravelIsNothingNew Just finished watching the whole stage today flag to flag, really enjoyed seeing Pogacar showing us how he thinks winning is irrelevant. Definitely couldn't have cared less about winning, no sir.
Unfortunately while we (probably) know what he means, technically if " BBC amends the language in the article so that it refers to ‘illegal e-bikes’ throughout, rather than just ‘e-bikes’ "... ... then they'll still be inaccurate. As (last I checked) it's the use of the machines for riding anywhere other than on private land that is illegal *. ... although that might be good propaganda? Certainly I wouldn't mind at all if there was also more done to steer sellers away from flogging them to the public with nothing but possibly a warning buried on page 94 of the manual. * That is, without them being type-approved. And then assuming that's done and they fall under the motorbike rules getting a suitable licence (driver would need to be old enough), insurance, paying any tax, then riding them *only* in accordance with those rules eg. only on (some) roads always wearing a suitable helmet and having the machine pass MOTs as required ... is this right? Obviously you could still legally use them as eg. a paperweight most places...
Presumably that just reflects what they normally get sent in for review, and this just got reviewed because the maker decided to send it. One of the first few reviews on their site is from someone who uses it for cycling, but they're using it as storage, and then filling bidons from it when they want to use it.
The technology works, has been in use for decades (e.g. google 'steripen'). That one got me safely through India over a 3-month period. Trust me, it works. The water has to be potable because if flocculent material is present, all bets are off (should be pre filtered first). Also, the liquid has to be clear (transparent to visible light). It works not by outright killing micro-organisms but by damaging their DNA/RNA so they can't replicate anymore. The idea is good but obviously, this has never been developed for on-bike use.
15 thoughts on “Annemiek van Vleuten’s dramatic World Championships crash — confirms front tyre didn’t “explode” before fall; Bauke Mollema suffers untimely mechanical… later collides with seagull; Angle grinder bike thefts are back + more on the live blog”
https://www.gazette-news.co
https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/22314427.essex-cyclist-awarded-800k-devastating-collision/
800k seems a bit light to me, although it doesn’t say the age of the cyclist.
5 years to get a settlement !
First comment on there BTL is
First comment on there BTL is anti vaxxer and the second is how its just an advert for ambulance chasers… Gotta love those Colchesterites!
Colcestrians (door mirror)
Colcestrians (door mirror)
(wing mirror)
(wing mirror)
Thanks for flagging that one,
Thanks for flagging that one, it’s on the news list.
It took 4 years to get my
It took 4 years to get my settlement – even with admission of guilt and no mitigating circumstances.
I know the hoops I had to crawl through for my £100k plus compensation, and I know how fecked up I am as a result.
£800k says to me that the victim was severely injured and will never, ever have a decent quality of life.
I really wish the guy the best, and hope that the award can get them a decent level of care for as long as they need it.
I wonder why the Crouch End
I wonder why the Crouch End thieves started to go one way, then turned and went the other (making sure they were seen by even more witnesses)? Looked like they had a mechanical… Who would have imagined that angle grinding a bike lock off might cause damage to the bike…?
The replies though…
The replies though…
Apparently it is easy to take down someone with an angle grinder and there is no way you will be injured in such an action.
I don’t know about you, but I
I don’t know about you, but I bl00dy well wouldn’t try it.
Not me – too slow for that.
Not me – too slow for that.
Reckon AlsoSomniloquism’s wife would wade in though !
Having watched it a number of
Having watched it a number of times over, the only thing I can think happened to AVV, as she was getting ready to change position, she accidentally downshifted the front (if she had switches on her brakes) and it caused her to lose her balance from the unexpected shift. Certainly as she has corrected, the tyre wasn’t blown until the bike his the kerb and smashed the wheel up.
Look to me like a highside
Look to me like a highside potentially caused by the back wheel locking up, bad shift temporarily caught the chain and locked the wheel?
Any reason given for the
Any reason given for the Cyclocross calendar change ? As in effectively is it a postponement or cancellation that impacts whether it reappears on next years calendar.
FWIW I think I’m closer to the Belgian coast as the crow flies, than London by road/train distance anyway.
Awavey wrote:
No reason given but in the statement it said they will continue working towards including London on the 23/24 calendar, so hopefully all is not lost. Shame, I was looking forward to that, I know we are spoilt for most things in London (so I don’t expect anyone to shed too many tears for us) but top-class cycle racing isn’t one of them.
those bike thieves – I could
those bike thieves – I could think of a thousand unpleasant things that could be done to them. It’s that they get away with it so often that infuriates.