Bradley Wiggins jokes that “odd” cyclists “clog up the roads and are a menace” during surreal Celebrity Catchphrase appearance; “Floating bus stops? We just run the cycle lane through the stop”; Mark Cavendish meets Martin Brundle + more on the live blog

Is it worth spending your hard-earned cash on an aero-road helmet? Jamie put in the miles using a vast array of aero and ventilated helmets (bless him) to see whether the claimed wattage savings ring true and find out whether the gains make up for the compromises… Mostly in style, if we’re honest.

> Should you buy an aero road helmet? How much faster could you be?

Brad Pitt, Ozzy Osbourne, Megan Thee Stallion… and now Mark Cavendish.

Yes, that’s right, in the second TV appearance of the weekend for a legendary British cyclist (we’ll get to the other one in a minute), at yesterday’s Singapore Grand Prix the Manx Missile joined the illustrious list of celebrities abruptly stopped in their tracks by Sky Sports’ iconic roving Formula 1 interviewer Martin Brundle, as part of the former racing driver’s infamous pre-grand prix grid walks.

And, while a Cav of a different era may have been liable to pull an Owen Wilson and blank poor Martin, the 35-time Tour de France stage winner – introduced as a ‘Cycling Sprinter’ by the Sky Sports title writers – was more than happy to dissect, in typical rapid-fire fashion, the concentration required to compete against Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at however many miles an hour.

Martin Brundle catches up with Mark Cavendish ahead of the Singapore GP 💬🚴‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/9Zt6GNQPbK

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 22, 2024

 Asked about how F1 compares to his “long cycle rides” (yes, that’s an actual Brundle quote), a relaxed, effusive Cavendish – who will return to the country in November for what may well prove to be his final ever outing as a professional cyclist at the Tour de France’s Singapore Criterium – said: “We have to build our own engine, and train, but the races are so long you can chill a bit. But the mental focus they have with this is brilliant to see.

“It’s brilliant to speak to the drivers about what they do, to concentrate and relax, and compare it to what we do. In this sport you can see the pinnacle of performance.

“But I’m spitting all over you!”

Though, on the subject of comparing cycling to F1, I’m not sure how Cavendish would have coped in his younger days with the FIA’s clampdown on their drivers swearing. He might never have made it through a race…

Police in Edinburgh have this morning confirmed a 37-year-old man has been “arrested and charged with alleged assault” following an incident in the city on Friday evening, video footage of which went viral on social media and showed the moment a cyclist was thrown to the ground by a driver who slammed the victim’s head against the road.

Read more: > Police make arrest after sickening footage of cyclist slammed to ground by driver goes viral

As far as time trials go, yesterday’s races against the clock in Zurich, which kicked off this week’s world road championships were certainly up there when it came to excitement, suspense, and history-making achievements.

In the elite women’s race, Grace Brown – already an Olympic time trial gold medallist and a Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner this year – capped off a stunning final season as a pro cyclist, coming out on top of a thrilling to-and-fro battle with Demi Vollering to beat the 2023 Tour de France winner by 16 seconds.

 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

The 32-year-old’s first world title also saw her secure a brilliant rainbow jersey-Olympic gold double on the TT bike in 2024, making her the first rider in the history of the sport to achieve such a feat. Now that’s how you go out at the top.

Not to be outdone, of course, Remco Evenepoel completed his own Olympic-Worlds time trial double by holding off a late surge from Filippo Ganna (aided by the hare that was Primož Roglič and his team car in the final few kilometres) to win by just six seconds, after leading at every time check on the scenic, hilly course around Zurich.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Remco, however – the Belgian star’s tilt at a second consecutive world title was almost over before it started, after his chain came off in the start house, a minute or so before his allotted time.

That odd mishap instigated a chaotic, surrealist scene as panicked mechanics desperately wrestled with his garishly golden bike, and succeeded just in time for Evenepoel to roll down the ramp – but without his trusty power meter, the absence of which saw the 24-year-old forced to rely on his own perception of pain and suffering (like a proper old school time triallist) and endure what he later described as the “worst time trial” of his life. Which he still won, of course, numbers or no numbers on a screen.

 (Ed Sykes/SWpix.com)

With one double in the bag, Evenepoel will be hoping to repeat the trick in the road race this Sunday, which would undoubtedly seal a season for the ages. Of course, he just has Tadej Pogačar – aiming to complete his own era-defining year – blocking his path to cycling immortality… what could go wrong?

And speaking of history makers, Sarah Storey also stormed to her 38th Para world title earlier on Sunday morning, easily seeing off her big rival from Paris, Heidi Gaugain, to win the C4-C5 women’s TT by 96 seconds.

(Chris Auld/SWpix.com)

And in the women’s B time trial, Katie-George Dunlevy and tandem pilot Linda Kelly capped off a superb summer by adding another rainbow jersey to their Paralympic gold from Paris, beating GB’s Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl into second and Lora Fachie, with pilot Corrine Hall, into third.

However, while yesterday’s time trials saw those who shone in Paris once again come out on top, for Britain’s Josh Tarling, history also repeated itself, but in a much more sobering way, as the 20-year-old was once again forced to settle for fourth, 23 seconds behind bronze medallist and European champion Edoardo Affini.

(Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

“I’m disappointed but to be honest, it’s what I put in,” a despondent Tarling, who missed out on an Olympic medal by two seconds after puncturing in Paris, said after finishing in Zurich yesterday.

“I didn’t do enough before, and I get what I get, don’t I?”

“I’m not where I want to be. I just had a rough time,” the 20-year-old Ineos rider, who finished third in the time trial at last year’s Glasgow worlds, continued, blaming himself for what he believes was his subpar preparation after the disappointment of the Olympics.

“I cracked after the Olympics and then had a bad Vuelta. No fault of anyone but mine. I just felt a bit out of depth and messed up.

(Chris Auld/SWpix.com)

“It’s the first time I’ve made big sacrifices for things and then they didn’t go to plan and I cracked a bit. I pushed everyone away. But in hindsight, I needed everyone, not the other way around.

“I just feel bad for everyone that put more in than me, in terms of the bike and the equipment and British Cycling with all the help. I just let myself down with the training. I basically felt sorry for myself and let some people down.

“To be honest, I’m sick of learning, I just want to be good. Hopefully next year.”

With plenty of chances still to come, and obvious talent to burn, I reckon it won’t be long until Tarling comes “good”.

It’ll take some doing to dislodge this image of Remco Evenepoel, flanked by the imposing Italian duo of Ganna and Affini, as my favourite photo of the Zurich world championships:

 (Ed Sykes/SWpix.com)

Oh, and to make it even better, here’s the video footage for some context:

This video will give me life whenever I get down, oh how I love Pippo Ganna 😍😍😍 #Zurich2024 #Ganna #Evenepoel #Affini pic.twitter.com/IC8k1rWAFG

— Tonke (@TonkeBerg) September 22, 2024

The placement of those Azzurri-clad arms also make for a great mind-bending optical illusion – ‘Wait, how does Affini’s arm bend like that?!’

The university club rides at St Andrews look a good deal more interesting now than they did during my student days there:

(Thanks to pesky non-working Instagram embeds, you can watch the full video over on Red Bull’s page.)

Having cycled past that harbour (as well as drunkenly ambling along it on the way home) on many an occasion during my year living in the East Neuk of Fife, I can’t say the thought of riding my bike up a mast and plunging into the water ever occurred to me, thankfully.

But now that Scottish BMXer Kriss Kyle has made it seem so easy, I might give it a go on my next trip to Scotland – could be a decent cooldown after the NC500…  

> Schwalbe introduces tubeless version of the ONE 365 all-season tyre

Unsurprisingly, as anyone who’d ever paid attention to my live blog ramblings will know, Belfast’s multi-tasking cycle lanes and shared paths can do a whole lot more than simply morph into bus stops at will.

They’re also pretty adept at doubling up as car parks, as demonstrated by this supposedly ‘protected’ piece of infrastructure spotted by former Sustrans NI director Caroline Bloomfield:

“So this is what passes for cycling infrastructure in Belfast,” Bloomfield wrote.

Unfortunately yes, the bar for active travel in Northern Ireland’s capital remains depressingly low, especially when scenes such as this one, on Marcus Ward Street near the city centre – posted by Belfast resident Quintin – are considered the norm:

Cycling infrastructure? What cycling infrastructure?

One of the modern peloton’s most colourful characters, Thomas De Gendt, pinned on a number for the last time at the weekend at Paris-Chauny, bringing an end to a 16-year professional career that saw the Belgian star win stages at all three grand tours.

Turning pro in 2009 for Topsport Vlaanderen, De Gendt established himself as one of cycling’s chief breakaway specialists, winning two stages of the Tour de France, two at the Giro d’Italia, one at the Vuelta a España (as well as a King of the Mountains title in Spain), five at the Volta a Catalunya, two at Paris-Nice, and a stage apiece at the Tour de Suisse, Critérium du Dauphiné, and the Tour de Romandie.

While during his decade-long spell at Lotto-Dstny, De Gendt firmly cemented his reputation as a stage hunter supreme on lumpy transition days, in 2012, while racing for Vacansoleil, he put in a career-defining performance at the Giro d’Italia, riding clear on the Stelvio to win an epic mountain stage and vault himself onto the final podium in Milan.

 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

“And just like that a career of 16 years has finished,” the 37-year-old posted on social media this morning.

“All I have worked for since I was 10 is now just a memory. Paris-Chauny was my last race as a pro. But like always, the end of one thing is the beginning of something new. Looking forward to discovering new challenges.”

Chapeau Thomas.

> Six years in jail for speeding hit-and-run driver who threw cyclist 100ft through the air during horrific fatal crash before fleeing the country

36-year-old Slovenian sprinter Luka Mezgec’s bid to help compatriot Tadej Pogačar write some cycling history on Sunday and become only the third man in history to win cycling’s Giro-Tour-world championships triple crown in a single season almost disappeared under a motorist’s front wheel this afternoon.

The Jayco-AlUla rider, who has 19 pro wins to his name, including one at the Giro d’Italia, was training today with his teammates Elmar Reinders and Max Walscheid ahead of Wednesday’s Omloop van het Houtland in Belgian, the Slovenian’s last race before travelling to Zurich to support Pogačar’s rainbow jersey bid.

However, after a coffee stop documented on Walscheid’s Instagram, Mezgec took to his own social media channel to highlight the dangers posed by motorists to even the most experienced pro cyclists – after a driver ran over his front wheel near the end of their training ride.

Posting a photo of his Giant bike clamped underneath the front of an Audi car, the bike’s front wheel destroyed, Mezgec – without elaborating on how the collision took place – posted: “Burned one of those cat’s lives”.

Yikes – now that’s what I call a near miss (except for the poor, shattered front wheel of course).

It turns out that, like me, more than a few of you were left scratching your heads when you saw yesterday’s story about the “walkable cleat” design that one road.cc reader reckons could revolutionise the cycling shoe for good and rid cafés around the world of the horrific sight of a group of cyclists waddling towards the counter like ducks during a mid-ride lunch stop.

According to Hugo Suy, his “third type of shoe” would enable cyclists to use their old racing cleats, while allowing them to walk around normally once off the bike – and, Hugo told us, was greeted enthusiastically by a former Ritchey employee who described it as the “perfect gravel shoe”.

> “Why do millions of cyclists have to walk like ducks?”: Could this “walkable cleat” revolutionise cycling shoe design?

Though you could argue it looks like a cycling shoe fitted with massive football boot ‘mouldies’ – or, you know, a mountain bike shoe.

Anyway, here’s what some of you thought of Hugo’s efforts.

“If hot-gluing pencil erasers to the bottoms of his shoes makes it easier for him to walk in cafe stops, then all power to him. But I’m not sure there is a commercial product here,” ubercurmudgeon said in the comments, living up to their name.

“I hope he turns his attention to diving flippers next and finds a way to make them less cumbersome to walk in,” added Nick.

“This is solution looking for a problem,” added Secret Squirrel. “These do nothing that you can’t get from a MTB SPD shoe.  If you are worried about pedal surface area then you include a more platform style MTB pedal.”

Meanwhile, over on Threads, Ryan spoke for all of us when he wrote: “I figured it must be April –  but no!”

“WHAT ARE THOOOOOOSE?” screamed (presumably) another user.

“I just use simple covers. £7.99 on Amazon,” added Mark.

Back to the drawing board, Hugo, unfortunately…

A bumper week of cycling continued at the road world championships in Zurich today, as Movistar’s 21-year-old Spaniard Iván Romeo timed his effort to perfection to win the U23 time trial title and Decathlon-AG2R-bound French star Paul Seixas added to his growing reputation by securing the junior TT crown.

In the U23 men’s event this afternoon, Romeo – a winner of a stage of the Tour de l’Avenir last year and in his second seasons at Movistar – was 20 seconds adrift of promising UAE Team Emirates rider Jan Christen at the top of the course’s main climb, but soon clawed the deficit back to just seconds with ten kilometres remaining.

(Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)

Romeo then put in a storming effort along the flat lake-side roads to end up 41 seconds clear of Christen by the finish, whose late-race fade allowed Jakob Söderqvist to nip in for second, while EF’s Vuelta-riding Irish prospect Darren Rafferty finished sixth.

And in the juniors, highly rated Paul Seixas came out on top of a tightly packed podium, bearing Belgians Jasper Schoofs and Matisse Van Kerckhove, with Seth Dunwoody putting in another good showing for Ireland in fifth.

You can have your Lachlan Mortons and your Lap Around Australia attempts, but has EF EasyPost’s croc-wearing glutton for punishment ever completed one of his ultra-endurance rides on a 1970s classic? I don’t think so…

> “No likey, no bikey just isn’t an option”: Paddy McGuinness to ride Raleigh Chopper on 300-mile charity cycling challenge

Over the past few years, as I’m sure most of you know by now, ‘floating bus stops’ have become something of a semi-permanent fixture in the anti-cycling arsenal of the tabloid press and certain sections of social media.

The infrastructure, widely implemented across Europe and some UK cities due to the challenge of building effective protected cycle lanes on bus routes when road space is limited, requires bus users to cross a cycle lane to get to their stop from the footpath, a situation some campaigners believe leaves them at the mercy of speeding, dangerous cyclists.

> Warning government considering ban on floating bus stops “could stop new protected cycle lanes”

And despite Transport for London figures revealing earlier this year that floating bus stops (also known as bus stop bypasses) account for just 0.6 per cent of all collisions between cyclists and pedestrians in the capital, they’ve nevertheless been branded “death traps” by the Sunday Telegraph and the subject of calls for them to be banned by the former Conservative government.

So, with all the furore surrounding floating bus stops in London and other parts of the UK, over in Belfast – yes, I know, I’m shocked – they decided to get around the whole potentially divisive issue… by just having the city’s cycle lanes carry right through the bus stops.

Posting a photo of a shared-use cycle lane on the Ormeau Road, a key commuter route in south Belfast – which appears to lead cyclists smack bang into an advert for a McDonald’s coffee – the Belfast Cycling Campaign’s Dom Bryan wrote: “In London, they have been worried about cyclists and ‘hanging bus stops’.

“In Belfast, the Department for Infrastructure decides to run a cycle lane right through a bus stop. Cycling infrastructure in the city is a joke.”

“Who could foresee an issue with ‘shared spaces’ at bus stops in busy urban areas?! Not DfI, apparently,” added Gary.

Well, it turns out an aptitude for foresight really isn’t one of the department’s strengths, with the Holywood Cyclist account noting that a very similar design is currently being proposed for a new ‘protected’ cycle lane on the nearby Ravenhill Road.

‘Sure, just bung in the same design, it’ll do the job rightly…’

> “Disappointed” cyclists forced to lock bikes on outdoor railings as Belfast’s new Grand Central Station opens with no cycle parking provisions

Of course, the Ormeau Road’s ‘bike lane straight into a bus stop’ design is just the latest piece of evidence that suggests Belfast’s cyclists are fairly low down the pecking order when transport infrastructure is being handed out.

Earlier this month, the city’s big, sparkling Grand Central Station finally opened its doors… with no cycle parking provision anywhere to be seen, and train-using cyclists forced to lock their bikes to metal railings outside the new ‘transport’ hub.

“The BCC was disappointed to see that there was no provision for cycle parking provided at the opening of Belfast Grand Central Station,” the Belfast Cycling Campaign’s Meg Hoyt told road.cc.

“While we understand that this is a phased opening and significant cycle parking is planned for the Station, the lack of even temporary cycle parking from the outset suggests that active travel is not a central part of this new transport hub.”

To be honest, it’ll be a watershed moment when active travel is even considered a fringe part of a major development project in Northern Ireland.

And imagine the day when we have a debate about floating bus stops in the press… Oh, it’ll be magical.

He may not be Paul Weller-wannabe Brad Wiggins’ cup of tea, and plenty of his songs derive their central metaphor from the private motor car (believe it or not, Racing in the Street isn’t about town centre crits).

But to celebrate Bruce Springsteen’s 75th birthday, here’s a photo of the Boss charging down Thunder Road, not in a ’69 Chevy or a Cadillac, or even a stolen or used car, but on a tandem bike…

Now that’s cool. And Rosie would definitely come out if he rocked up on that. Happy birthday Bruce!

In yet another twist to the rather sorry tale surrounding the demise of the Tashkent City women’s team, Yanina Kuskova – the only rider from the controversial team to finish this year’s Tour de France Femmes – has claimed that the Uzbekistan Cycling Federation has refused to send her bike and wheels to Zurich for this weekend’s world road race championships.

Last week, in a message posted on Instagram, Kuskova was highly critical of the circumstances surrounding Tashkent City’s sudden demise – with the team, and its convoluted route to the Tour, seemingly viewed by the Uzbek governing body solely as an expendable means of qualifying riders for the Paris Olympics – and the federation’s approach to the world championships.

The 22-year-old claimed that the body had agreed to pay for her trip to Zurich, but organised her travel arrangements so that she arrived less than a day before the start of the road race, a situation Kuskova said was indicative of the federation’s lack of understanding of the “value of cycling and athletes”.

And in a post this afternoon, Kuskova said that she has now organised her own way to Zurich – but that the governing body are withholding her equipment as an apparent punishment for her public outburst and for her “poor performance” over the past three years, despite being the only member of the Tashkent team able to compete consistently at the highest level.

“I have already bought a ticket to participate in the world championships,” Kuskova, who finished 47th overall at the Tour Femmes, wrote in her Instagram Story post, alongside the caption “emotional breakdown”.

“But now I face a new problem – they won’t give me my bike and wheels, and all this at the Cycling Federation of Uzbekistan.

“When I asked why they don’t give me my bike and wheels when I fully paid for my trip, they replied that I didn’t deserve to compete for my behaviour because I wrote an Instagram post a few days ago and they didn’t like it.

“I was also told off for my poor performance for three years and lack of results. It’s all very sad because during those three years I tried my best but the cycling federation didn’t notice it.

“But I still love my team, my country because it gave me so much, but now I’m very upset that things are happening like this (I might get in trouble for this post, I realise that, but I just want to share what’s going on with me and my emotions).”

As I said earlier, it was quite the weekend for random TV appearances by legendary British cyclists.

And while Mark Cavendish’s appearance alongside Martin Brundle on the Formula 1 grid walk in Singapore makes quite a bit of sense, nothing could have prepared us for the sight of Bradley Wiggins popping up alongside Stephen Mulhern on ITV on Saturday evening.

Yep, for some unknown reason (though I suppose you could have a guess), the 2012 Tour de France winner rocked up to say what he saw with the aid of Mr Chips on the latest celebrity edition of Catchphrase.

Not sure that line-up comes close to Sky’s 2012 mountain train…  

Joining Wiggo on the extremely high-brow show – which was filmed in 2022 but appears to have been aired for the first time on Saturday – to raise some money for charity were broadcaster Kate Garraway and The Only Way is Essex’s tattooed Jesus impersonator Pete Wicks (who genuinely is everywhere at the moment. Don’t fancy Catchphrase? Just turn over to Strictly – oh, there he is too. I don’t get it).

Anyway, some highlights of Sir Brad’s stint shouting out words that could be construed as actual catchphrases if we squint hard enough include Mulhern’s well-meaning but misguided question about Wiggins’ track racer father Gary, Wiggins failing to notice he wasn’t last after the first round (that didn’t last long to be fair), and declaring he “can’t stand” Bruce Springsteen (blasphemy).

> Brad’s back on his bike! Wiggins says he’s “a little bit nervous” as he gets ready to cycle for the first time “in nearly three years” during 50-mile meet and greet ride

Oh, and his attempt to elicit a chuckle out of the Daily Mail readers watching by jokingly (or at least I hope he was joking) referring to cyclists on the roads as “menaces”.

Yep. Asked by Ant and Dec’s mate Mulhern whether he still rides his bike – a subject broached on last week’s live blog – Wiggins responded: “I do occasionally [cycle], but I don’t do it daily now. It was a job, and I don’t really miss it now.

“I’m enjoying being normal. Most cyclists are very odd. They clog up the roads and they’re a menace, aren’t they?”

Silly jokes aside, Wiggins ended up winning £1,100 for the mental health charity Mind on the show. Which sounds pretty good, until you realised Kate Garraway bagged £3,000 and Wicks managed to win £5,900. Oh, dear.

 

 

 

 

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Although, I have to say, the highlight of my night was making my way through the social media comments afterwards.

Here are a few of the, ahem, best ones:

“Bradley Wiggins on Celebrity Catchphrase. A surreal evening’s viewing.”

“Bradley Wiggins has got the personality of a wooden broom!”

“Why did Bradley Wiggins even go on the show?”

“Just saw a bit of Celebrity Catchphrase and cannot believe how attractive Bradley Wiggins is.”

Alright, calm down…

“I’d put good money on Wiggins being part of I’m a Celeb this year.”

Now there’s something that’d keep the live blog exciting during the depths of winter…