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

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…

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!

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

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…

> 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

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?

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…  

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”.

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…