All I want for Christmas is this beautiful bike lane; WorldTour pro handed four-year doping ban; Qhubeka-NextHash ends sponsorship hunt — team set to fold; ‘But cyclists’ Xmas special; Only two sleeps until WVA v MVDP v Pidcock + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
What day is it, Alex?
IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!!! eve
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) December 24, 2021
Qhubeka-NextHash ends sponsorship hunt — team set to fold
Let’s get the serious news out of the way early before the mulled wine turns the blog into a sloppy minefield of bad grammar and silly stories (no change from usual then…)
Qhubeka-NextHash have given up the hunt for a sponsor, ending hopes of keeping the team running beyond 2021. Earlier in the month the team was refused a UCI licence for 2022, signalling the beginning of the end for ‘Africa’s Team’, which helped get 30,000 people bikes through Qhubeka’s charity work.
Yesterday, a statement sent out to riders was leaked, in which team boss Doug Ryder told riders and staff, “I am very sad to send this message. We have tried everything to find sponsors for our team for next season, right up until the last few days, but nothing has materialised in time.”
The team faced a similar last-minute scramble for a sponsor last off-season but survived thanks to Assos’ intervention. The team was rewarded at the Giro where Victor Campenaerts, Giacomo Nizzolo and Mauro Schmid won stages. All three have already confirmed moves to new teams for 2022.
Only two sleeps until Wout van Aert v Mathieu van der Poel v Tom Pidock
Who is ready for Dendermonde? pic.twitter.com/KKUC5OxMla
— Cyclocross Social (@Cyclocrosss) December 23, 2021
This is all anyone cares about this weekend, right? The trident of terror going head to head in the Dendermonde mud. 2pm GMT, GCN Race Pass…grab yourself some leftovers and try not to fall asleep before it gets underway…
World Tour pro handed four-year ban for doping
UCI hands Mexican rider Villalobos four-year ban for doping. Two-times Mexican national champion Luis Villalobos has been banned for four years after cycling’s governing body UCI said on Wednesday he had been found guilty of an anti-doping rule violation. pic.twitter.com/4ZwXRiFyMB
— Sports Crunch (@SportsCrunch_US) December 22, 2021
Two-time Mexican national champion and former EF Pro Cycling rider Luis Villalobos has been banned for four years by the UCI. Villalobos, who rode for EF Pro Cycling for one year between 2019 and 2020, tested positive for a presence of GHRP-6, a prohibited growth hormone-releasing substance, from a sample provided while he rode for the US-based Aevolo team in 2019.
The 23-year-old was provisionally suspended in May last year and was suspended by EF Pro Cycling too. “The Tribunal found the rider guilty of an anti-doping rule violation (presence of GHRP-6) and imposed a four-year period of ineligibility on the rider,” the UCI said in a statement.
“If we’d have known, we would not have signed Luis,” EF Education-Nippo CEO Jonathan Vaughters said last year. “The burden of this is on the UCI because there is no internal testing program that has access to the level of equipment needed to screen for GHRP-6.”
The sequel we all needed to see
Just another ordinary day at Robin Hood Island. pic.twitter.com/UNnlvQG0F0
— James Goes Cycling🚴🏻⛵️🇪🇺 (@JamesKPatterson) December 22, 2021
Remember this ‘but cyclists’ special from yesterday? Well, here’s the full incident…
And for those wondering how the feck you end up upside on a traffic island ….the answer has been revealed- you drive like a tw*t! pic.twitter.com/s3fj1uSSO7
— James Goes Cycling🚴🏻⛵️🇪🇺 (@JamesKPatterson) December 23, 2021
All I want for Christmas is this beautiful bike lane
This two way, segregated, King Street cycle way 9 was all I wanted for 🎄 @LBHF 🙏 🙏 It’s a beauty. pic.twitter.com/dzaG23mpts
— Andrew Pendleton (@AJPendleton) December 23, 2021
Don’t worry, I haven’t passed out in a pool of mulled wine just yet… I got distracted by a best of the live blog 2021 feature which will be coming to your screens soon…keep your eyes peeled…
Back to the main order of business…Andrew Pendleton got what he asked for this Christmas — a segregated bike lane with all the trimmings.
Jeremy Vine is a fan of this one too, calling it: “Wonderful. It will make the street better for everyone.”
The reindeer must have worked hard to drag all that white paint and wands down from the North Pole…maybe we’ll have to include proper infra in our ‘2022 Christmas gift ideas for cyclists who have family members in government’…niche, I know.
I reckon it’s about time for a beverage…
Feeling festive?
Who else is happy that Christmas is coming? 😁 pic.twitter.com/MZncmA1Z6V
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) December 23, 2021
24 December 2021, 09:14
24 December 2021, 09:14
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Latest Comments
@chrisonabike Shouldn't that be 'most first "look with their phones"'?
@Rome73 don't forget being a constant existential threat to pedestrians - whilst cycling on the road at lower speeds than motorists. Plus startling people by appearing "out of nowhere" while as inconspicuous as a lighthouse. (TBF many / most first "look with their ears", and cyclists on cycles neither sound nor indeed look like motor vehicles).
@Accessibility for all yup - driving around a heavily built-up area (which has great public and active travel networks) shouldn't be seen as a status-enhancing activity, but boorish posing and/or a stupid thing to do.
@saw442000 I too use another part of the cycle path, the bit from Bishops Cleeve to Cheltenham. The usage of this bit steadily increased over the summer but is tailing off a little now in the bad weather. By no means perfect, you get kicked out into the road at both ends, but a vast improvement over using the road. People moaned about it when it was being built and said it wouldn't be used and the road would be made too narrow. I haven't seen any problems due to the width of the road even with busses passing each other. You would have to be an extremely poor driver to have any trouble with it. I also use the bit from Cheltenham to Gloucester and it is possible to keep on a cycle path or shared use path nearly all the way from Bishops Cleeve if you are willing to take a few detours and slow down for pedestrians on the many shared use sections. Oh and avoid the many parked cars. They are currentlyworking on the last bit into Gloucester which has always been an absolute nightmare. We'll see what it's like when the work is completed. I suspect that, like the rest of the route, a long time will be spent waiting at traffic lights. As far as this bit is concerned I have no knowledge of the area but looking at the map it is going to be quite difficult to find a suitable route through Gloucester. The alternative along Bristol road will mean breathing in a lot of traffic fumes I suspect and at least this proposal keeps you in relatively low traffic volumes even if it does meander around a bit. One of the problems I have with the route from Bishops Cleeve is a long up hill section to a railway bridge. This involves heavy breathing for me and I don't like breathing in the fumes from the vehicles speeding up the hill only a meter away. The speed limit is 40mph but few stick to it outside of rush hour when it's nose to tail. More info and local comment in the two links below. You will see one of the comments talking about the surface used causing high tyre wear. This has certainly been my experience. I asked about it at one of the public sessions they had and was told the surface was chosen to stop slipping if it ever became icy. I suppose you can't have it both ways. https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/absolute-joke-gloucester-cycle-path-11211404 https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/cycle-path-plans-spark-parking-11127298
@saw442000 Re building cycle infra that is far less convenient than the direct route / reinventing the wheel / putting isolated infra "where we can". I think you've correctly described how "supporting cycling" work in the UK, yes. As to why - sensitivity to the complaints about "*my* parking space (on the public road) is gone" / "I had to walk 15m further from the car" / "now I actually have to pay attention when driving". Also politicians who either think the same or see mileage in echoing that. Then the facts on the ground: most of our transport networks have now given the direct route and the bulk of the space over to motoring. So often any change is "motoring's loss". Funding systems where active travel is essentially on the sporadic lottery model. Plus without much feedback to check councils making it up or just building the same old rubbish (though Active Travel England have been working on that)
@wtjs They cling on to the outdated term 'Road Tax' to perpetuate the lie that VED is a hypothecated tax.
@Rendel Harris Agree. Alliston was a complete a*****e, and bears some culpability for not having two brake mechanisms and having some recklessness. But the standards of evidence used was ridiculous. Had the situation been reversed, and Alliston was driving a car with partially defective brakes at below speed limit, and Mrs Briggs stepped in front of him without looking, there is no way he would have been prosecuted.
@Rendel Harris that’s the thing about cycling; I’m always in the way, blocking up the roads, yet no one can see me.
From the council's consultation report 'Just over half of respondents agreed with the principle of the scheme (54%), 30% did not agree and 15% were neutral.' So the scheme has democratic support, but this is Refuk, who prefer dictatorship. I can find lots of sites reporting this decision (including this rather bizarre site that capitalises every word, making it peculiarly hard to read https://grayejournal.com/en/havering-council-cancels-critical-cycling-safety-initiative-despite-fatalities-sparking-outcry) but none which defines who made it or when. A search of the council's Decisions page finds no mention of any such decision, so who took this decision, and was due process followed? The local cyclists might find it useful to look at the council's constitution.
To be fair, nobody's going to pay full retail for a pair of Sharq 42's. I can get them today at a Dutch online shop for 1490 Euro. That dramatically changes the value equation. Paid my Sharqs around 1900 Euro, 7 months ago. One big advantage in my eyes: no more spoke holes in the rim bed hence no more rim tape and no more leaking air when set up tubeless. Obviously, I'll be sol if a spoke breaks but so far, so good.
21 thoughts on “All I want for Christmas is this beautiful bike lane; WorldTour pro handed four-year doping ban; Qhubeka-NextHash ends sponsorship hunt — team set to fold; ‘But cyclists’ Xmas special; Only two sleeps until WVA v MVDP v Pidcock + more on the live blog”
Very disappointing about
Very disappointing about Qhubeka-NextHash. As Rendel said in response to the previous story when the team’s licence was refused, it’s an indictment of the world we live in that planet wreckers and dictatorships are suitable and successful team sponsors but teams trying to do something good live a hand-to-mouth existence.
Stable teams are necessary – riders need to be paid reliably, sponsors need to know that their investment is safe, events and TV need to be sure that everyone will show up. But this feels brutal.
So agree with your comment.
So agree with your comment. Couldn’t the UCI ban dictorships and planet wreckers from being sponsors? Also isn’t it wrong to have countries (read dictatorships) sponsor sporting teams as it’s basically politicising sport?
I expect nothing positive
I expect nothing positive from the UCI given the president’s chumminess with various regimes. See https://cyclingtips.com/2020/06/the-uci-just-gave-its-highest-award-to-a-dictator/ for details (and a really excellent article, not that I’m disloyal to road.cc, but other interesting sites do exist).
Robin Hood Island north of
Robin Hood Island north of Shirley near Solihull is a nightmare of peculiar lane arrangements and too many intersecting desired paths of travel.
So any motorist is normally on edge negotiating that roundabout which needs your full attention.
What was spectacularly lacking therefore was attention.
It was interesting to see the interaction of a small, oddly shaped car with the high SUV (Solihull’s finest). One wonders if it would pass the elk test after that performance?
(The elk test caused the Mercedes A Class to be withdrawn and delayed due to falling over during a swerve test some 20 years ago).
I wonder if the driver
I wonder if the driver pressed the accelerator instead of the brake? Is there a cloud of revved engine exhaust just before impact?
Frightening, any which way.
Either they were distracted,
Either they were distracted, or thought they would “bypass” the stationary traffic and was lokking over their shoulder for space and zoomed without realising they were too close to the car in front.
However Aygo(?) V Range Rover and Aygo winning should be worrisome for all the people who claim they want these large cars for their “safety”.
The acceleration was quite
The acceleration was quite strong yet the path of the car indicated a deliberate lane change. Perhaps instead of signaling they accidentally resumed cruise control? The Discovery steering wheel controls look hellishly complex.
Just Googling, some Land Rovers have adaptive cruise control with stop and go assist. Perhaps they had engaged that and it got confused???
I don’t think it’s necessary
I don’t think it’s necessary to invent an excuse for the driver here, incompetence and impatience are sufficient.
This demonstrates how
This demonstrates how unstable these high cars are (despite the excuse for buying them that they are safer!).
Following on from a few weeks
Following on from a few weeks ago. According to the BBC, Tesla are now disabling the Gaming whilst driving feature. Seems they didn’t want “yet another” investigation into their cars and the functions they allow as they already have several pending.
Just wanted to wish a warm
Just wanted to wish a warm “Merry Christmas” to everyone at Road.cc, all subscribers and commenters, and all your families. Have a good one, Nige.
Merry Christmas to you too!
Merry Christmas to you too!
Cheers!
Cheers!
All the best to you to and to everyone on road.cc.
Garage at Large wrote:
Is that the road.cc community you’ve frequently described as “a warped echo chamber” and that you continually attack with nonsense and lies?
Yes – but there’s the bloated
Yes – but there’s the bloated, tired 26th for that, surely?
chrisonatrike wrote:
Yeah…but didn’t fancy letting the sexist racist pro-car alt-right Trump supporter think that he could make up for a year’s worth of polluting a really good website with his foul opinions with tuppence-worth of hypocritical good wishes.
A very happy Christmas to you though Chris, and all others on here who are interested in sharing, discussing and debating about cycling, rather than trolling!
Looks like the season of
Looks like the season of ‘goodwill to all men’ is in full swing in that there London.
Merry Christmas Rendel!
I took the message as an
I took the message as an olive branch/ cry for help. Maybe he momentarily got control of his account from his mum and Mr Poophole?♂️
Merry Christmas to all! And
Merry Christmas to all! And if you’ve had enough of the company – take a ride.
Merry Christmas to you too
Merry Christmas to you too Nige.
Driver claimed they gave me
Driver claimed they gave me loads of room – pannier was level with the right side of the 3 in 30