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Appendicitis, fewer marriages + increase in women smoking — strangest things people blamed on bikes; Wout van Aert & Red Bull clock fastest wheel change; Jeremy Vine orders cycling number plate; Quintana's lawyer attacks; Vuelta + more on the live blog

Happy Tuesday! The live blog is back for another day of action with Dan Alexander at the helm
Tue, Aug 23, 2022 09:10
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Appendicitis, fewer marriages + increase in women smoking — strangest things people blamed on bikes; Wout van Aert & Red Bull clock fastest wheel change; Jeremy Vine orders cycling number plate; Quintana's lawyer attacks; Vuelta + more on the live blogCambridge Railway Station CyclePoint 13 (copyright Simon MacMichael).JPG
23 August 2022, 16:08
Groundhog day at La Vuelta

Here we go again...

It's that time of the year again. The summer nights are just starting to creep back, multiple football teams are in crisis and Primož Roglič has won an uphill finish to take the lead of the Vuelta...

Apologies for the slightly sparse live blog updates this afternoon...duty called elsewhere...but we'll be back first thing for more...

I'll leave you with the events of today's stage: Roglič and Mads Pedersen did battle for the day (summing up the intriguing showdown of climbers, puncheurs and fast men who went for stage four). Unsurprisingly my pre-stage favourite Ethan Hayter was seventh (sorry), while Julian Alaphilippe was out of contention, leaving Rog and Mads to sprint for the line, the gradient working in the Slovenian's favour. The three-time champ has a 13-second lead over teammate Sepp Kuss and 26 seconds over Ineos pair Pavel Sivakov and Tao Geoghegan Hart.

23 August 2022, 16:05
23 August 2022, 13:45
Lights Wout and away we go: Wout van Aert & Red Bull clock the fastest wheel change ever...(probably)

"My flat tire came at an unfortunate moment," Red Bull athlete Wout van Aert told the energy drink brand's latest ad. By unfortunate we think he means at the exact moment a camera crew and team of Red Bull mechanics were on-site to film a promo...how unfortunate...

Personally, I'd rather see Wout have to ride until he punctures legitimately, all the while with an increasingly fatigued pit crew following in a team car. If only they had a caffeine-packed beverage to keep them sharp...

23 August 2022, 13:29
Volunteer at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships

 Today marks the start of the call for volunteers across to Scotland to help make next year's all-discipline UCI Cycling World Championships live up to its title as the "biggest and best cycling event in history".

This morning's launch in Glasgow saw Volunteer Ambassadors Judy Murray and Sean Batty joined by Scottish track cyclist Jack Carlin who won silver and bronze medals for Scotland at Birmingham's Commonwealth Games.

Fancy getting involved?

23 August 2022, 12:27
23 August 2022, 11:12
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23 August 2022, 11:02
Vuelta a España stage 4: Primož Roglič v Julian Alaphilippe v Ethan Hayter

Pro racing is back in the Basque Country...

We've got 152.5km on the menu today from Vitoria to Laguardia finishing with an uphill kicker (900m at 8.4 per cent), a big chance for Ethan Hayter to take his maiden Grand Tour stage victory. Questions remain about Primož Roglič and Julian Alaphilippe's condition on return from injury, giving white jersey holder Hayter a golden opportunity to be Britain's latest big-race winner...

The red jersey looks out of reach, unless the Ineos all-rounder wins and Roglič loses a few seconds, but anyway that's probably getting ahead of ourselves... what odds a Hayter stage win and Roglič in red by 5pm?

23 August 2022, 11:00
23 August 2022, 10:59
"Worst take on a car crash I've ever seen"
23 August 2022, 10:45
IT 3

Washed out of the drains by flash flooding Pennywise takes to life on two wheels, riding in the road, without a helmet, road tax, licence or registration plate...angering everyone into a rage so furious they forget about the snatching children thing...coming to cinemas autumn 2022...

Yes, I am aware the balloons are the wrong colour... 

23 August 2022, 09:58
Appendicitis, fewer marriages + increase in women smoking — strangest things people blamed on bikes

Twitter's quite good sometimes...

Paul Fairie put together this thread of the strangest things people have blamed on bicycles... I'm sure we can all add a few more to the list...

"Yeah, mate. Ever since they all started riding those bicycles nobody comes in for chairs anymore..."

The Telegraph delivering the goods as per...

To summarise the rest, it's those two-wheeled menaces' fault for: decline in grain consumption, the closure of Christian society, decline in trans-Atlantic travel, and a condition called 'bicycle face' where the rider feels "the sentimental side of that tired feeling". It is "yearning, anxious, hopeful, fearful, exhausted, incomplete and generally dissatisfied" — maybe there is something in that...

Widening out from bikes to other cycling-related things, there was that Bristol cycle lane the council blamed for causing... flooding, and the 'cycling cause erectile dysfunction' classic. 

Any more?

23 August 2022, 09:42
Southampton man due in court accused of riding a bicycle on the M3
The M3 (CC licensed image by paul_appleyard:Flickr)

[📷: CC licensed image by Paul Appleyard / Flickr]

The Southern Daily Echo reports a man is due in court accused of riding a bicycle on the M3 near Southampton. He was charged with causing danger to road users following an incident on May 14 this year.

Section 22A of the 1991 Road Traffic Act states:

A person is guilty of an offence if he intentionally and without lawful authority or reasonable cause —

(a) causes anything to be on or over a road, or

(b) interferes with a motor vehicle, trailer or cycle, or

(c) interferes (directly or indirectly) with traffic equipment,

in such circumstances that it would be obvious to a reasonable person that to do so would be dangerous.

23 August 2022, 09:29
Shimano 105 Di2 Review — is the 105 R7100 groupset good?

Welcome to the procrastination station, designed to keep you distracted at work...

Take eight to watch our vid on the all-new Di2 105, you deserve it...

23 August 2022, 09:21
Nairo Quintana's lawyer slams "strange" tramadol case "concocted" by UCI
Nairo Quintana 2022 TDF (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

[📷 Zac Williams/SWpix.com]

Nairo Quintana's lawyer, Andrés Charria, took to Colombia's Blu Radio to defend his client, saying the case against the Arkéa–Samsic climber is "very strange" and has been "concocted" by the UCI.

> Nairo Quintana sanctioned by UCI for Tour de France tramadol infringement

"The truth is, it's a very strange process. What's happening with Nairo is something new, that the UCI has concocted," he said.

"This is not doping, but it appears like doping. It's important to ask what the UCI is looking for, because if it's about health, that's a fundamental pillar of WADA, and if WADA doesn't consider it [tramadol] harmful on health grounds... it's complicated. There is a badly made rule, a strange sample collection, a laboratory that isn't accredited."

Something tells me this one's going to rumble on for a while... 

23 August 2022, 07:50
Jeremy Vine orders his cycling number plate

This is exactly the sort of garment a certain Mr Loophole petitioned and trawled the talk radio stations asking for cyclists to be required to wear — a hi-vis "tabard" with identification number (no word if personalisation like Vine's is allowed) — because we all know hi-vis works and nobody with a number plate has ever committed a traffic offence... oh, wait a second...

> Hi-vis police officer close passed by lorry driver

Sorry, no idea how those got there...

Anyway, here are a couple of other designs rolling in...

Last week was quite the few days for the Department for Transport, with Grant Shapps first suggesting he supported number plates for cyclists as part of a toughening of the rules, before less than 24 hours later saying he is "not attracted to bureaucracy" of number plates for cyclists.

You could say the damage was done, however, with frothing talk show segments and a newspaper article referring to 'red light rats' following on for the rest of the week...

Dan Alexander

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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45 comments

Avatar
chrisonabike | 2 years ago
1 like

I hope round Edinburgh I see some wag with "POLISH" on their hi-vis.

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Car Delenda Est replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
0 likes

Hold on, were you the same bloke that made the 'diversity hire' joke a few days ago?

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chrisonabike replied to Car Delenda Est | 2 years ago
0 likes

Nope - what was that one?

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Oldfatgit replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
0 likes

chrisonatrike wrote:

I hope round Edinburgh I see some wag with "POLISH" on their hi-vis.

Intersting take on the usual "Polite"

Avatar
brooksby | 2 years ago
4 likes

Bicycles to blame for the cheap price of cattle and hogs and a falling off in marriages because the husbands go off for a long ride instead of paying attention to their womenfolk?? For gods sake nobody tell Truss or Shapps...

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Mungecrundle | 2 years ago
0 likes

On the bright side, what an opportunity to bag yourself a swish personalised number plate!

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ROOTminus1 replied to Mungecrundle | 2 years ago
2 likes

That sails uncomfortably close to the pretentious Tesla crowd.

https://www.teslarati.com/showcasing-best-tesla-vanity-plates/

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Patrick9-32 replied to ROOTminus1 | 2 years ago
2 likes

What is it about tesla people that makes them so attracted to the most twattish thing possible, the personalised number plate?

Is it a desire to be individual but owning something now very common?

Is it just a smug twunt factor?

The world may never know. 

Avatar
TheBillder replied to Mungecrundle | 2 years ago
5 likes

The possibilities are endless, though I see the POLITE hi viz has been taken the wrong way: https://www.motorcyclenews.com/amp/news/2019/june/polite-vest-ruined-life/

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Awavey replied to TheBillder | 2 years ago
1 like

I'm not sure the takeaway from that is so much be careful about polite hi-viz vests, and I see plenty of bikers who use it still even one whose bike was white with hi-viz flashes on it I had to double check my cam footage to check I hadn't been close passed (yeah that polite stuff only goes one way apparently) by a police motorcyclist, or dont go looking for an argument with the police.

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Patrick9-32 replied to TheBillder | 2 years ago
2 likes

I find that so funny, the only reason to put "Polite" in big letters on your horse, motorcycle, bicycle, garage or whatever else is because it looks at a glance like police. People then get upset when they are accused of trying to look at a glance like the police?

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SimoninSpalding replied to TheBillder | 2 years ago
1 like

If it was just the word polite I don't think there would be an issue. The blue chequer pattern is a bit more troublesome, as whilst there is nothing banning it on clothing I believe it is illegal to apply it to a vehicle other than a police vehicle (ambulances green, fire engines red, Highways Agency black) so it could be this.

Still seems over the top though.

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muhasib replied to SimoninSpalding | 2 years ago
1 like

That is correct, battenberg reflectives on vehicles are covered by legislation which was amended to also include cycles by amending the previous legislation from 'motor vehicles' to 'vehicles'

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/2559/regulation/3/made

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mark1a | 2 years ago
2 likes

Next a change to section 172, obliging one to "name the wearer", I honestly think the idiots calling for mandatory registration haven't really thought this through. 

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SimoninSpalding replied to mark1a | 2 years ago
4 likes

You think?

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