Trek joins Specialized in slashing prices; Ed Laverack aiming to reclaim Sa Calobra KOM from Tom Pidcock's "crazy" time; "It's a great problem for us": Van Rysel delighted with interest in sold out RCR; Where's Cav?; Giro teams + more on the live blog

Earlier in the week Specialized cut prices across the board, with discounts of up to 50 per cent off bikes and riding gear. Well, Trek has too, a "TrekFest" sale offering up to 30 per cent off until 30 April (on selected items). It's like Black Friday all over again... 

That's the good news. The bad news for those of us tarmac-concerned is that road bikes don't appear to be part of the price cuts. Ah well, maybe you've already got a bike and are just in the market for some tempting kit or parts?

On the off-road side of things, you can find plenty of savings on mountain bikes (in very specific colours), the Powerfly FS 7 Gen 3 down to £4,850.13 (in "Matte/Gloss Supernova") and more than £1,700 off the Rail 9.5 Gen 4 (in "Hex Blue").

There are plenty of discounts for roadies too, 40 results in the road bike gear section, to be precise. Lights, pedals, bottle cages, helmets, shoes, wheels, saddles and more.

Trek has £60 off the Bontrager Velocis shoe, £105 off the Bontrager XXX shoe, its Bontrager Aeolus XXX 2 Disc Tubular Road Wheelset down to £549.99 from £1,099, and 30 per cent savings across the Bontrager helmet range. Tyres too have been slashed (a bad choice of words... that's enough to send a shiver down your spine, I know), the Pirelli P Zero race TLR is down to £57.99 from £71.99, and £13.50 to £21 off other tyres such as the Bontrager R4 Classics Hard-Case Lite and R3 Hard-Case Lite.

Pumps, Lidl-Trek pro team water bottles, bar tape, inner tubes... you get the picture, they've all seen their prices cut.

Some of the seemingly endless bike industry sales are because of the over-ordering that came from increased demand when we were all locked away looking for activities to get us outside during the pandemic, buying bikes and bike stuff. Too much stock that's hard to shift given the economic situation, inflation hitting people's bank balances and reducing spending = price cuts to try to shift said stock... Low prices, flash sales, clearouts, it's all left us wondering...

> Is now the best time ever to buy a bike? What cycling industry turbulence and deep discounting could mean for you

A first WorldTour win for Thiabu Nys today, the son of cyclocross legend Sven Nys and a junior and U23 cyclocross world champion in his own right. The Lidl-Trek talent took it from the breakaway on stage two, beating escape companion Andrea Vendrame, while Luke Plapp did his best to spoil the day from the peloton.

Thibau Nys' FIRST World Tour win! 🥇🙌

The Lidl-Trek rider achieves the BIGGEST win of his career in Stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie! 👏👏👏#TDR2024 pic.twitter.com/JdlXnmplmA

— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 25, 2024

Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman has reacted to Sport England's research showing that over a million more adults have walked or cycled for travel and compared to 12 months ago (equating to a 2.1 per cent increase).

"Today's Active Lives figures show that, year-on-year, one million more adults are choosing walking, wheeling and cycling as a way to get from A to B. The nationwide investment that is being put into delivering high-quality routes is paying off," Boardman commented.

"By enabling more people to build activity into their daily lives we're making the nation healthier, happier and greener. It’s a win-win for us all."

[Zac Williams/SWpix.com]

It's almost Giro time already... 2024 is flying by...

Ineos Grenadiers will head to the race with last year's second-placed rider Geraint Thomas, the 37-year-old facing the unenviable task of having to try to work out how to beat Tadej Pogačar. The team says it will be targeting the GC, plus some stage win opportunities, TT powerhouse Filippo Ganna, Jhonatan Narváez, Thymen Arensman, Tobias Foss, Magnus Sheffield, Connor Swift and Ben Swift joining Thomas in Turin a week on Saturday.

"Obviously Tadej Pogačar is the pre-race favourite and has a strong team around him, and that changes the dynamic of the race a bit," Thomas acknowledged. "But that also means all eyes will be on him over three long weeks of hard racing. Our plan is to be aggressive, take the race on and look for every opportunity to add pressure and take time.

"With the plan to race the Giro and then go straight into the Tour, there has been a different approach and slower build-up this season. But I am feeling good and not thinking beyond the coming weeks in Italy. My only focus now is the Giro and arriving there in my best shape possible."

Last night we were at the opening of Van Rysel's first London store, a custom-built retail space in Decathlon's Surrey Quays store, featuring the brand's entire range (including the RCR Pro team edition Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale have ridden to 11 victories so far in 2024), workshop, bike fitting studio and more.

The brand told us the first batch of £9,000 RCR Pro team edition replicas, which sold out in minutes, consisted of 15 units, CEO and founder Nicolas Pierron telling road.cc it's "a great problem to have". Moving forward, all bikes will be Van Rysel branded, the Triban name being dropped as "it's difficult to have a different brand on the same project".

"For the next generation, we decided to have just one brand," Pierron explained, outlining his hope that Van Rysel will be a "game changer" in the cycling market and can be right near the top of the industry in the next few years, with a wide range of models from the WorldTour race-winning top-of-the-range RCR to the more "accessible, affordable bikes".

"Bikes are very expensive and for us we have a different strategy," he said. "I think Van Rysel will be a real game changer in the market."

With the immediate success Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale have experienced using Van Rysel bikes, it's impossible not to look ahead to the Tour de France this summer, especially when you're based in Lille and supply a French WorldTour team.

"This project we've been looking at for many years, it's just an incredible project," Pierron continued. "It's a big asset for us to feel that our product is the best-in-class product. The Tour de France is, I think, the biggest event in the world. So yes, I would like to win one stage in the Tour de France, one stage in the Giro, that would be the dream."

 

 

 

 

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