“Is Tom Pidcock wasting his talent and time racing off-road?” asks former Vuelta winner – after British star dominates mountain bike races a week before Tour de France starts; Snow on the Galibier a week before the Tour arrives + more on the live blog

In case you missed it last night, Police Scotland have said that they “don’t tend to” carry out cyclist close operations on A roads, due to safety concerns for their bike-riding officers, after one cyclist complained of consistently dangerous driving and frequent close passes on the A92 between Inverbervie and Montrose, which forms part of the National Cycle Network, ironically enough.

Read more: > Police claim they don’t carry out close pass operations on A roads due to “safety element involved towards police cyclists” — after cyclist complains of dangerous driving and “20 closes passes in a day” on national cycle route

Believe it or not, this time next week the Tour de France peloton will be waking up in Pinerolo, after three tough and stressful days racing in Italy, and getting ready for the race’s first foray into the Alps.

Yes, that’s right, I haven’t just checked the wrong month on my calendar. Next Tuesday, the riders will ascend skywards to Sestriere (the scene of Armstrong, ’99, and all that), before crossing the border back into France via the Col de Montgenèvre, and finally taking on the 2,642m-high Col du Galibier, one of the Tour’s true giants, and a swift descent into the finish at Valloire.

A proper mountain stage. In a week’s time. I’m not ready.

And nor, it appears, is the Galibier itself, at least judging by these photos posted on social media this morning by Iain Cameron, Britain’s foremost authority on snow patches (so he knows what he’s talking about):

It’s a matter of days now until stage 4 of the Tour de France passes through the Col du Galibier, and it’s not yet clear of last winter’s snow.

📷 Strava / Julien Dussuchale pic.twitter.com/yGvY2Y11k9

— Iain Cameron (@theiaincameron) June 25, 2024

The snow clearing operation will be fun…

However, one commenter noted that the road, despite not being opened yet and surrounded by snowbanks, has nevertheless been cleared and passed for the Tour’s arrival next week. Phew.

Although some seemed to be wishing for some extra snow drama on the Galibier.

“They should leave it and make the riders carry their bikes over the snow, running. It would be epic,” added a rather sadistic James.

To be fair, hike-a-bike is all the rage these days…

More news involving American Vuelta a España winners this morning (and there are only two of them), as Visma-Lease a Bike announced this morning that Sepp Kuss has been withdrawn from their Tour de France squad after failing to recover sufficiently from the bout of Covid he contracted during the Critérium du Dauphiné.

The 29-year-old climber, who took a popular overall win at the Vuelta last season after years spent shepherding Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič over mountains for the Dutch squad, is the second high-profile rider to fall victim to Covid and miss out on the Tour, after Tao Geoghegan Hart pulled out of Lidl-Trek’s team last week.

According to Visma-Lease a Bike this morning, Kuss withdrew on the penultimate day of this month’s Dauphiné, where he put in a surprisingly subdued performance and failed to stick with the best on the climbs, with mild Covid symptoms.

While the team thought he had recovered in time for the Tour, his illness returned in recent days, with his spot in the team now going to debutant Bart Lemmen.

TDF line-up change 🔁

Sepp Kuss has not recovered sufficiently from Covid and will not start in @LeTour. Bart Lemmen is his replacement.

Get well soon, Sepp! 🍀 pic.twitter.com/JXFEe73nSw

— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) June 25, 2024

Kuss’ absence is another bitter blow for a Visma-Lease a Bike team that has been plagued by bad luck and injuries this season, as doubts still hang over the form and fitness of reigning double Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard, with the Dane yet to race since his horror crash at the Tour of the Basque Country in April, while vital all-rounder Wout van Aert is also on the path to recovery after crashing heavily during the spring classics.

“This is of course very hard for Sepp in the first place. His contribution is always very important in the team, but then of course he has to be completely fit,” DS Merijn Zeeman said today.

“Unfortunately, we had to conclude together today that this is insufficiently the case, after Covid. He now needs to recover properly and will therefore not start. Fortunately, we have a good replacement ready with Bart Lemmen.”

> Garmin claims new Edge 1050 is “brightest, smartest and most connected cycling computer ever”… but there’s less battery life and no solar option

If you design cities around car traffic, don’t be surprised if children no longer play outside.

If you design cities around active transport, don’t be surprised if children ask you to go cycling after dinner. pic.twitter.com/4rRxaYJ1JB

— De Filmende Fietser (@FilmendeFietser) June 24, 2024

Now, this is how you do it. No weird AI-generated effects (looking at you, Visma). No weird, convoluted nods to the Renaissance (eh, that’s you again Visma).

Just a simple, touching video on what bike racing means to all of us…

Eight little boys’ dreams have come true!

Introducing the Soudal Quick-Step riders for the 2024 @LeTour, where they hope to race the way they dreamt of and to inspire future generations of cyclists 🤩 pic.twitter.com/RBEthbRBSW

— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) June 25, 2024

And a lovely way to inform the public that Remco Evenepoel’s maiden yellow jersey tilt will be supported by Soudal Quick-Step teammates Jan Hirt, Mikel Landa, Gianni Moscon, Casper Pedersen, Ilan Van Wilder, Louis Vervaeke, and Yves Lampaert.

Also, shout out to the young racer in the video who said he wants to become the next Yves Lampaert – “but a little better”.

That kid will go far…

The final figures for the total amount spent on the 2023 UCI World Championships held in Glasgow are expected to exceed the budget by almost 20% to reach a total of “at least £63 million”, with reports suggesting that the Scottish Government will have to pay a share of almost £40 million, exceeding the figure of £30 million it had initially committed for the event.

> Total cost of hosting Glasgow World Championships to exceed budget by 20% as reports claim Scottish Government spent £9 million to improve cycling facilities

Now, if you thought Alpecin- Deceuninck’s double denim kit was divisive – and that Mathieu van der Poel’s world championship win was merely a ploy to avoid resembling the cycling version of an ageing rocker at an AC/DC gig – then wait until you see their special kit for the Tour…

Yep, grey double denim. Or, as Alpecin’s press release called it, a nasty attack of the greys (Okay, they actually said ‘grey attack’, but close enough).

And it gets better. The new dark grey look for the Tour was designed to promote sponsor Alpecin’s new Grey Attack shampoo, with its “natural-looking colour effect” to ward off grey hairs. Therefore, according to the team, the new Tour kit, and I quote, “symbolises the fight against one of the most visible signs of aging – grey hair”.

The presser continues: “The campaign tells a heroic story, that shows that it is worth fighting and never giving up – even in the battle against time.”

Oh cycling, never stop being you.

Though no wonder MVDP looks suitably nonplussed. And I say that as a fan of the original double denim look…

Wilier’s new all-rounder, the Verticale SLR, is a climber’s dream with a brand new lightweight cockpit and frame (amounting to a 10 per cent weight reduction on its predecessor), and you’ll need at least £9,000 to own one.

And by our calculations, the frame, fork, and seatpost combined are a shade lighter than even Specialized’s flagship road bike, the SL8. Anyone want to lend me around £9,000?

> Wilier unveils its “lightest ever bike”, the Verticale SLR… and it’s (we think) even lighter than the Specialized Tarmac SL8

Just when you thought rows about light cycle lane segregation and motorists’ tendency to drive into the dividers was confined to the UK, think again.

Over in New Zealand, a local council has confirmed it is removing the separators from a cycle lane where the number of students cycling to school has rocketed since they were installed – because drivers kept hitting them.

The dividers were installed earlier this year on Salisbury Road in Richmond, in the far north of New Zealand’s South Island, leading to reports from local schools that bike racks are “full to overflowing” thanks to the new safer route for school, while feedback from council surveys suggests that the majority of residents believe that the road is safer now than before the separators were installed.

However, motorist have repeatedly hit the dividers, sending them into the cycle lane and creating hazards for those on bikes using it.

> Removal of safety wands and dividers from cycle lane will “make it safer for all road users”, claims council – but cyclists say plan is “vindictive and insane”

So what is the local council proposing to do about the shoddy state of the area’s drivers? Penalise cyclists by removing their protection, of course.

“The reason we put these in, which I voted for, was to keep cyclists safe,” said Councillor Glen Daikee, according to 1News. “We have inadvertently made it more dangerous. We cannot leave them.”

Meanwhile, the council also intends to reinstall two car parks that were removed to make way for the cycle lane, while the trial 30kph speed limit will be scrapped and the road returned to 50kph – because, the local authority says, drivers were failing to comply with the lowered limit due to a lack of speed bumps on the road.

I give up.

And so, apparently, do a host of local cyclists.

“Cars hitting the cycle lane separators show they are needed, not that they’re a hazard,” said Lachlan.

“That’s like removing the barbed wire from a fence because burglars kept hurting themselves.”

“‘Car drivers can’t drive’ should have been the headline,” added Kate. Quite…

Now that most of the teams have announced their Tour de France squads, we can finally spend the next four days checking the form, picking, unpicking, deliberating, and doubting every decision we make, as we all prepare for the biggest competition of the year: the road.cc Tour Fantasy League!

> Sign up for road.cc’s 2024 Tour de France Fantasy Cycling here

And your resident blogger is feeling the pressure to build upon his promising 10th place overall from last year’s Tour.

Now I know how Jonas, Tadej, and Remco feel this week…

Well, the verdict’s back on Chris Horner’s claim that Tom Pidcock is “wasting his talent and time” by dividing his time between road, cyclocross, and mountain biking – and winning at all three, of course.

And let’s just say that not too many cycling fans agree with ol’ Hoa-noa (anyone who’s read ‘Lance Armstrong’s War’ by Daniel Coyle should immediately get that admittedly niche reference).

 (Alex Broadway/SWpix.com)

So, is Pidcock wasting his talent?

“Nope. Glad we could clear that up,” wrote journalism lecturer and cycling writer Vern Pitt on Twitter.

Expanding on Vern’s point, fellow cycling writer Simon Warren said: “No, he’s living his best life and loving what he does and WINNING”.

“Is the current World and Olympic champion wasting his talent doing something he clearly loves, but that certain dinosaurs don’t think is valuable?” asked Stine Momo.

“Is racing joy ever a waste? By what metric? If anything his talent for MTB may be greater than on the road. Is road racing a waste?”

“So he’s complaining about Tom spending his weekend racing when he should be recovering, whilst most of the other riders going to the TdF have been racing their national championships?” added another Twitter user.

Good point…

(Unipublic:Graham Watson)

Meanwhile, over in the live blog comment section, Secret Squirrel said: “Pidders appears to be having as much fun as you can possibly have whilst still being a professional athlete and grinding out training. F*** the h8ers, hope he keeps doing him.

“(Fingers crossed for at least one Alaphilippe style blood and guts multi-day GC lead in his future though.)”

Now that would be something.

“Sounds very much like Chris Horner is projecting his preferences onto Tom Pidcock,” says MattieKempy. “How winning MTB XCO and XCC races in the same weekend, emphatically in both cases, can be called a waste of talent is beyond me! It would make a more convincing argument if he’d suggested that Pidcock was wasting his talent by messing about on the road!”

“I doubt Tom Pidcock will have any regrets over his palmares. Not many pro road riders have the handling skills and tactical nous to compete at the sharp end of other disciplines at such a high level,” added Matthew Acton-Varian.

(Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

However, there was one lone voice of dissent, howling out from the wilderness.

“Pidcock is 100 per cent leaving road success on the table by focusing on MTB,” says the contrarian EraserBike. “That’s fine if he wants to do MTB Olympics/CX but let’s not pretend that doing World Cup races a week before the Tour is ideal training for a road racer. Pogačar isn’t doing this, Jonas isn’t doing this, no other serious GC rider does this.

“I’m biased because I don’t care about off-road racing but I’d like to see what he can do with a properly focused road programme. Maybe we’ll see that after the Olympics.”

So, not quite an emphatic rejection of the oldest Vuelta winner’s controversial take, but close enough…

As we all know by now, the last few years in professional cycling, thanks to the varied exploits of Marianne Vos, Wout van Aert, Fem van Empel, and Mathieu van der Poel, have witnessed the rise of the multidisciplinary star.

That trend was never more apparent than at the weekend, when Tom Pidcock – Olympic mountain bike gold medallist, former cyclocross world champion, and Alpe d’Huez conqueror – rocked up to the UCI MTB World Series in Crans-Montana, just a week before he will line up in Florence for the start of the Tour de France.

And not only did Pidcock swap the road and time trial bike for some knobbly tyres in Switzerland, he also put in two imperious, crushing displays – overcoming a mechanical and early crash to rip through the field and go from dead last to first on Saturday’s short-track event, before dominating the cross-country race the following day, beating Switzerland’s Mathias Fluckiger by over a minute, in an ominous showing ahead of title defence at the Paris Olympics.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by UCI Mountain Bike (@uci_mountainbike)

Very impressive.

One retired racer who wasn’t as impressed with the 24-year-old Ineos rider’s off-road exploits was Chris Horner, the former Astana, Lotto, and RadioShack pro whose 2013 Vuelta a España win over Vincenzo Nibali at the age of 41 still ranks as one of the more, ahem, surprising grand tour triumphs in recent memory.

[The road.cc legal team have informed me that I’m not allowed to say anything else about the 2013 Vuelta…]

But anyway, Horner took to his YouTube channel – like any American pro of the noughties tends to do – to question Pidcock’s decision to race his mountain bike so close to the Tour, asking whether he was “wasting his talent” by devoting so much time to the off-road side of the sport.

“I’m thinking dumbfoundedly, why would he be at the short-track mountain bike event in Switzerland?” Horner asked. “Why would he be racing there, instead of recovering fully after the Tour de Suisse, followed by training and then recovery before the Tour de France in one week’s time?

“To place it into perspective, Tom Pidcock has won five races in four seasons,” Horner continues.

Of course, Chris, those wins do include an Amstel Gold, Strade Bianche, and a Tour de France stage victory atop Alpe d’Huez. Sure, they’re no Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah or Tour of Langkawi stage win, but not too shabby, I’m sure you’d agree.

“He has some fantastic wins, no doubt about it,” the former RadioShack rider concurred. “And he finished sixth overall the Tour de Suisse, and had a great final time trial. So he’s starting to show he can do great time trials too.”

Horner on the way to his 2013 Vuelta win (Unipublic/Graham Watson)

But then Horner explained that the window to recover and train for the Tour de France following the Tour de Suisse is small – compared to the Dauphiné, which ends the week before – and that Pidcock’s weekend spent racing his mountain bike at Crans-Montana was eating into that “precious” pre-Tour recovery time.

“You’re like ‘Chris, he won’, but I still wonder whether the sponsors, team Ineos, Pidcock himself – are they really wasting his effort?” the 52-year-old asked.

“In past interviews, he said he gets bored as a domestique at the Tour, he wants to be aggressive, he wants to be attacking. And I assume cyclocross and mountain biking is more exciting than a flat day at the Tour, but you’re winning against a bunch of riders who aren’t paid very much salary, they’re not really professional, I bet half the field has a side job during the winter.

(Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

“So when you’re winning over there, instead of at the Tour de France, I think you’re being wasted. I think Tom Pidcock is wasting his time.

“It may be good for the sponsors, but when I’m watching him win a 20-minute event a week before the Tour, I’m seeing a young rider, with his victories he has and the ability he has to be able to follow Tadej Pogačar or Remco Evenepoel, or finish high on GC at the Tour de Suisse – what I really see is a wasted two-week period before the Tour.

“And I see a rider, who can go top 10 in all these events, and he’s getting ready to start the Tour de France… And instead he’s on the mountain bike, it’s ridiculous.”

However, despite Horner’s pure roadie claims of wasted talent, his YouTube comments section was brimming with support for Pidcock mixing it up and enjoying racing his bike.

“Completely disagree,” said Axel. “What worked for Chris in his career, in his time, with his style of training, with his priorities, worked for him. Pidcock is one of my favourite riders precisely because of his versatility and ability to win in different disciplines within cycling. His enjoyment and success stems from doing just that.

“Matter of fact, his mountain bike skills are arguably the reason why he even has a TDF stage win at all, as MTB descending gives you so much confidence once you step on a road bike and launch yourself down Alpe d’Huez at inhuman speeds.”

(Alex Broadway/SWpix.com)

“We’re all not road snobs. I really appreciate Pidcock elevating MTB racing. I’m sure his bike sponsor is happy and he’s well compensated. The TDF is not the end all be all to a lot of us bike fans,” said James.

“He’s at Crans-Montana because of the Olympics,” noted Andrew. “The more mountain bike World Cup points he has, the better his starting position in the Olympics. Given the rest of the World Cup mountain bikers aren’t road cyclists, they’re banking points week in week out, Pidcock has limited opportunities.

“Pinarello will be paying a big chunk of his wage and an Olympic gold medal, in general in the UK, is held in much higher regard than a TDF stage (Pinarello developed their MTB just for him and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot). A second gold, in the UK, would massively increase his worth and this will be his last big push. Once this Olympic cycle is done he’ll switch 100 per cent over to the road.”

However, some also agreed that 2024 would mark the end of Pidcock’s road, cyclocross, and MTB juggling act.

“I think this is the last acceptable year for this multitasking. He does have the Olympics this year and an Olympic gold is huge for Britain and I’m sure Pidcock feels the same. And as he’s still young he hasn’t missed out on any prime years yet,” wrote Enda.

“But for the next three years it would be honestly ridiculous for him not to hang up the mountain bike for the summer and target Grand Tours. With his punch, sprint, climbing, light weight, and technical skills he absolutely can win a Vuelta at the very least.”

Fair point. But still, if Pidcock adds another Olympic gold to his collection this summer, I doubt he’ll look back when he’s retired and view the early years of his career on the mountain bike as “wasted”…