Cyclist blasts “childish” motorist who left “polite notice” claiming parked bike was “restricting parking for residents”; A-list reaction to Cav’s retirement; Lance Armstrong and Jonathan Vaughters’ Twitter spat rumbles on + more on the live blog

Forget all his fellow pros, or British Cycling, or Sky Sports’ weirdly outdated tribute footage, this is the reaction to Mark Cavendish’s retirement announcement that you really came to see…

Racing is going to miss @MarkCavendish . What a great exciting competitor to watch. Wishing him all the best. https://t.co/N6sZ1cENMr

— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) May 22, 2023

Perhaps the Zoolander star (and apparent chairman of the Geraint Thomas fan club, judging by Stiller’s array of G-supporting tweets during this Giro) is simply angling for the lead role in the inevitable Cav biopic.

Robert De Niro as Patrick Lefevere, anyone?

The weekend’s humdinger of a heavyweight Twitter spat between Lance Armstrong, Jonathan Vaughters, and Thibaut Pinot – which erupted after the EF Education-EasyPost boss accused the French favourite of a lack of sportsmanship following his defeat at Crans Montana, prompting Big Tex to intervene in his own inimitable style – has continued to rumble on, much to the amusement of shocked onlookers and the general ignominy of those involved.

Last night, JV labelled Pinot – the darling of Cycling Twitter – a “bully superstar” for his treatment of EF’s Alex Cepeda during Friday’s tense stage…

If you mean by defending Cepeda, an unknown kid from Ecuador just doing his best to make it in a tough world and no way to defend himself vs a bully superstar? Believe me, I’d do it again and again and again.

— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) May 22, 2023

I get overly protective of my people. Especially a new kid from Ecuador that was really unhappy. So, did i overcook it? Sure. But hey. I defend my people. Just my thing.

— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) May 23, 2023

… While his old ‘mate’ Armstrong, rather inevitably, turned the conversation back to his doping ban:

Is this the same @vaughters that did the exact same thing as his entire generation did, threw his own riders under the bus, and got off Scot free?? https://t.co/tgY4Btrkk5

— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) May 22, 2023

And Vaughters replied in kind, bickering like it’s 2012 all over again:

1. Not every rider of our gen doped. I did. 2. All witnesses in USADA investigation=volunteers. USADA has 0 subpoena power. These riders wanted a better path for the next generation. 3. You were offered: “tell truth keep TdF title.” You could be in sport today. You chose to lie. https://t.co/7eO65UVklJ

— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) May 22, 2023

No. This began with a rider screaming at my rider. And yeah. I’d do it again, Rob. This latest thread is only an example of my big trigger point in life: bullies.

— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) May 23, 2023

I better nip to the shops quick, I’m running out of popcorn…

The cab driver was reported to the Metropolitan Police by the road safety campaigner and YouTuber, real name Mike van Erp, but avoided police prosecution due to staff dealing with an IT system change…

> Taxi driver warns CyclingMikey he will “end up needing the dentist” after challenging phone use

The Giro breakaway here, taking a breather from the frenetic and superfast start to today’s potentially decisive mountain stage to entertain us with their best Sunday group ride impression:

Even pros argue over directions 😅 #Giro pic.twitter.com/rLdnRJCSEw

— Katy M (Giro edition) (@writebikerepeat) May 23, 2023

Pros, eh? They’re just like us after all… 

On a day the Giro d’Italia peloton can finally bask in some sunshine and lovely warm weather (and the small matter of four whacking great Alpine brutes) after two of the grimmest weeks of grand tour racing we’ve ever seen, they now have to deal with a bloomin’ snake on the descent of the Passo di Santa Barbara.

Yep, you’ve read that right. According to GCN’s Hannah Walker, there is an actual snake on the route (quick, someone call Sammy Jackson, I have a pitch for him).

There’s a snake on the descent boys 😬🐍 #Giro

— Hannah Walker (@spannawalker) May 23, 2023

As someone who once had to fetch a newspaper from his spokes during a race, let’s just say that Hannah’s report doesn’t fill me with too much confidence.

Though it could potentially lead to the first ever (and long overdue, if you ask me) I’m A Celebrity/Giro crossover – and Cycling Twitter was swiftly on hand to suggest a few potential participants:

Winner Anacon(d)a is here ? 😅

— FX Rallet ❄️ (@FX_Rallet) May 23, 2023

Sonny Cobra-lli…

— Just a bloke on a bike 🚵🏻‍♂️ (@Berk_On_A_Bike) May 23, 2023

Adder Blythe??

— Sam Gamester (@Lanterne_Verte) May 23, 2023

How about Stefan King Cobra? I’ll get my coat… 

An interesting bike-adjacent story here from our friends over at ebiketips, who have reported on a study carried out by the US-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), which concluded that mandating lower speeds for e-scooters may result in more users riding on pavements.

Comparing rider behaviour in Austin, Texas, which caps shared e-scooter speeds at 20mph, and Washington DC, where the maximum is 10mph, the researchers found that in both cities e-scooter riders “overwhelmingly” rode in bike lanes where they were available.

However, where there were no bike lanes, DC riders were 44 percent more likely than Austin riders to choose to ride on the pavement.

Read more here: > Imposing slower e-scooter speeds may encourage more pavement riding, study finds

Pleeease @BBCr4today STOP SAYING ‘road traffic ACCIDENT’. Most crashes are not ‘accidents’ because they are avoidable. They are the result of speeding, bad driving, drugs. Other media manage to understand this, why not you? Get a briefing from @RoadPeace and educate yourselves.

— Jenny Jones (@GreenJennyJones) May 23, 2023

Not the first time, of course, that the Beeb – and Radio 4 in particular – has come in for criticism concerning their use of the word ‘accident’ when describing road traffic collisions.

Back in November, the BBC’s Complaints Team told one disgruntled listener that “our job is to write radio scripts that are relatable and understandable, and we try to use language that ordinary people use, not the language contained in reports and documents”.

> “We try to use language that ordinary people use”: BBC defends use of “accident” to describe road traffic collisions 

Just as I was extolling the virtues of a sunny day in the mountains for a peloton that has ‘enjoyed’ its fair share of drenchings over the past two weeks, the Giro gods promptly turned the skies a darker shade of blue and allowed yet more drops of rain to hit the cameras:

The rain is back, good thing it hasn’t been raining a lot on this #Giro pic.twitter.com/xzSaztZRt3

— Eemeli (@LosBrolin) May 23, 2023

Surely the riders must be thinking by now: ‘Why can’t we have nice (dry) things?’

Luckily, the showers on the descent of the Matassone appear to have been quite localised, so there’s hope yet for a nice, non-rainy finish…

Finally, a @giroditalia stage that started out in sunshine and 25c.. Fast forward to the top of Monte Bondone and helloooow heavy rain and hail.. ☔️🤦‍♂️ #Giro

— Mikkel Condé v2.0 (@mrconde) May 23, 2023

Or maybe not… 

Check out the “off-the-peg” Specialized Diverge Expert raced by the former Israel-Premier Tech rider (who’s enjoying a relaxing retirement by, you know, running marathons and competing off-road) at the Gralloch, the UK’s first ever UCI gravel race, at the weekend: 

> Bike check: Alex Dowsett’s Specialized Diverge Expert

We might have to wait until 8 June for our first glimpse of the long-awaited Tour de France Netflix documentary series, the super imaginatively titled Unchained, but reports suggest that the cameras are already rolling on a second season.

According to a report in Cycling Weekly, sources close to the producers – the team behind the F1: Drive to Survive phenomenon, lest we forget – have confirmed that a second series, focusing on the build-up and action of this year’s Tour, is happening.

Tour organisers ASO, meanwhile, have declined to comment.

A second series being signed off on by now makes sense, as filmmakers would already have to be embedded within the participating teams, which may or may not include Tadej Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates, who declined to take part in the much-anticipated series last year.

Meanwhile, the first season is nearly upon us, and its eight episodes will be released on Netflix on 8 June, during the Critérium du Dauphiné (so the middle of June will be, ahem, busy for me then).

Episodes are reported to focus on Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard’s path to the yellow jersey (naturally), as well as Tom Pidcock’s triumph atop Alpe d’Huez.

A decent attempt by a local council to teach kids how to ride a bike safely, or just another attempt at car-brained victim blaming? I think it’s best if I leave that up to you…

Norwich county council failed to include a motorist in this spot the difference game. pic.twitter.com/drSd3kNgqx

— Bike Rogers (@bike_rogers) May 23, 2023

Though perhaps Sam spotted the real, key difference in the images:

The one on the right is riding in Noordwijk, and therefore safe in a protected lane, the one on the left is in Norwich.

— Sam Clifford (@samclifford) May 23, 2023

Newcastle fans, look away now…

> Cycling retailer ProBikeKit to be bought by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, reports suggest 

The Giro comes alive!

After two weeks of uninspiring but completely expected GC stalemate, this year’s battle for the pink jersey finally erupted on the rain-soaked slopes of Monte Bondone today, as Geraint Thomas and João Almeida kicked off the Giro’s decisive week in the mountains by landing a strong, if not killer, blow on pre-race favourite Primož Roglič.

🔥 @JooAlmeida98 🇵🇹 gana en Monte Bondone!
.
🔥 @JooAlmeida98 🇵🇹 takes stage win on Monte Bondone!#Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/qpXPlFmpv1

— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 23, 2023

After a dominant showing from his UAE Team Emirates on the long, tough slog to the finish – including, conspiracy theorists will note, from the reportedly disgruntled stage hunter-turned-gregario Jay Vine – Almeida pushed on the pace himself before launching a concerted dig with six kilometres to go.

Deemed a follower, a steady if unspectacular figure near the front of grand tours since his breakthrough at the 2020 Giro, the 24-year-old Portuguese pretender suddenly turned courageous attacker, bending the race to his will and putting his rivals for the pink jersey – Thomas, Roglič, and now, the sensationally dogged Eddie Dunbar – under serious pressure.

As Almeida’s refurbished diesel engine found another gear up ahead, Thomas, two days shy of his 37th birthday and with years of Giro near misses under his belt, sensed the danger, bridging up to the UAE Team Emirates rider and heading straight to the front, playing like a thoroughly convincing 2018 tribute act.

What a ride by @GeraintThomas86! 👏👏👏

He takes second place on stage 16 to move back into the race lead at the #Giro, taking 27 seconds on Roglic in the process 👊 pic.twitter.com/HOGsvSMvt0

— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) May 23, 2023

As the two leaders – so similar in their rouleur-climber builds – forged ahead, Sep Kuss did his best to limit the losses for Roglič, who seemed to lack his characteristic zip in the rain. The Slovenian would nip past Dunbar, putting in a breakthrough ride at the head of a grad tour, for the bonus seconds at the finish, but the important seconds were already up the road.

Almeida would take the stage, Thomas the pink jersey, Bruno Armirail’s brave stint in the race lead finally over. Both, meanwhile, would most importantly put a decent chunk of time into Roglič, who now sits in third, 29 seconds behind the Ineos leader and 11 behind the white jersey Almeida.

Brilliant performance from Eddie Dunbar in Giro d’Italia. Finishing 4th, (in blue) alongside Primo Roglic on today’s gruelling mountain stage. Should be Top 5 in the GC now for Dunbar. 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/ILNf5VBQlx

— Des Cahill (@sportsdes) May 23, 2023

The Slovenian may be reeling from the first heavy blow of this Giro, over two weeks in, but the experienced Thomas – now shorn of one of his key domestiques, Pavel Sivakov, who abandoned earlier in the day after seeming to have inherited his leader’s penchant for bad luck in Italy – knows all too well that haymakers can come thick and fast in the race’s final week.

But, as far as opening jabs go, this wasn’t a bad one.

Matt Page must surely be feeling the pinch right about now. The long-distance cyclist, road.cc and off-road.cc contributor, and world-leading castle botherer is around 11 hours into his attempt to break Mark Beaumont’s North Coast 500 record, having set off from Inverness at the crack of dawn this morning.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Matt Page (@mattpage24)

For all you dot watchers – who can keep up to speed with Matt’s ride on the live tracker – our man has already crested the fearsome Bealach na Bà, which he conquered at around 10am (when the rest of you were still nursing your morning coffee), and is currently cruising his way along a fairly fast portion of the west coast of the Scottish Highlands.

As Matt eased into the fairly daunting task ahead (the current record for the 516-mile route stands at 28 hours and 35 minutes), Beaumont took to social media to sportingly wish his potential usurper good luck:

Good luck to Matt Page – follow live as he tries to set a new record on the @NorthCoast500 https://t.co/Oe5JYaQMYF pic.twitter.com/oWvHyIkrB9

— Mark Beaumont (@MrMarkBeaumont) May 23, 2023

If Matt can break the record, you’ll hear all about it bright and early on tomorrow’s live blog…

Olly on Facebook has come up with what he reckons is the perfect solution to Alan’s bike parking conundrum in Colinton:

Genius. Not sure it’s the most affordable alternative, however…

Ah, the “polite notice”, just the thing you want to find attached to your bike…

Well, that was the sight which greeted Scottish cyclist Alan Gordon as he made his way back to his parked bike, locked to a roadside railing, in the Edinburgh suburb of Colinton last night, after attending a volunteer start-up session for the area’s new tool library:

Lovely evening in Colinton at the volunteer start up session for the new SW tool library and a wee blether in the Spylaw afterwards. pic.twitter.com/ZxMhtLeP6T

— Alan Gordon (@agordonsalive) May 22, 2023

“Parking your bike here is restricting parking for residents (tricky on the best of days),” the polite notice read. “Please consider us. TY.”

As avid readers of the live blog – and our ongoing fascination with bike hangar debates – will know, the issues around parking spaces, and in particular the imagined (or otherwise) hierarchy of car and bike parking, can stir up some strong emotions.

> Subsidise bike hangar costs by raising car parking charges, says councillor – but opponent warns move would “pit drivers against cyclists”

So, I think it’s fair to say that Alan, who pointed out that there is a “serious lack of secure bike parking in Colinton”, wasn’t too pleased with the resident’s note.

“If another car had been parked there, I doubt a note would have been left on that. Childish stuff,” he tweeted last night.

To underline his point, he also posted an image from Street View which shows the contentious spot he was blocking… filled at the time the Google van passed with bins and a parked motorbike (“which are clearly fine,” noted Alan.)

If you imagine the bins and motorcycle here (which are clearly fine) as a couple of bikes, then that’s how bad. pic.twitter.com/bpIUqQZmMS

— Alan Gordon (@agordonsalive) May 22, 2023

“How do you go about requesting some secure on road bike parking in Colinton anyway, so I can access the local businesses without upsetting local people?” he asked.

However, while some cyclists responded to Alan’s tweet by agreeing that the note smacked of “motorist entitlement”, others pointed out that the whole thing may have simply been a case of a resident being “very possessive” over their parking space, regardless of the type of vehicle parked in it.

Won’t somebody *please* think of the residents pic.twitter.com/LjIUFFySWQ

— Furcoat (@FurcoatNaeNicks) May 22, 2023

What do you reckon? Was Alan’s note a classic case of driver entitlement and exceptionalism, or just the result of a concerned local who had to park a bit further down the road?