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Olympic BMX racer collides with person crossing track; Cancellara's special edition BMC snaps at the airport; Tom Pidcock wins mountain biking gold for GB in Tokyo; No room at the bike rack; Bitcoin prize money; MVDP's crash + more on the live blog

Here's to Tom Pidcock brightening up a grey Monday morning, Dan Alexander will have all the reaction and news on the live blog...
26 July 2021, 16:09
Olympic BMX racer collides with person crossing track

Dutch BMX rider Niek Kimmann crashed into a person crossing the track during practice ahead of Thursday's quarter-finals. Kimmann reported some pain in his knee after the crash but said he hoped to be ready for competition. There has been no word yet on the condition of the person, believed to be an official, who he collided with at the Ariake Urban Sports Park course. 

The crash is the latest misfortune to befall the Dutch cycling squad in Tokyo. Earlier today, Mathieu van der Poel crashed out of the BMX CX race, which was eventually won by Brit, Tom Pidcock. On Sunday, the incredibly strong Dutch team failed to work effectively to pull back Anna Kiesenhofer in the road race, Annemiek van Vleuten crossed the line celebrating, thinking she had won, only to be deflated by the news.

26 July 2021, 15:36
Your Olympic champion
26 July 2021, 15:07
US triathlon events company gives athletes the option of prize money paid in Bitcoin

CLASH, a US-based triathlon events company, has taken the unique step of offering athletes the chance to collect their prize money as Bitcoin. The digital currency created in 2009 will be offered to athletes with the incentive of lower transaction fees than traditional banking. The first event where athletes can bring home the Bitcoin will be CLASH Daytona in December. 

"We are thrilled to make this latest announcement. Bitcoin is a matter of convenience, an investment and serves as an additional secure payment option. This new option provides our athletes with the ability to receive compensation on their preferred terms. These incredible athletes continue to inspire me, the entire CLASH Team and the expansive age group field. We owe it to them to advance the business and elevate their profession with this new opportunity," the company's CEO, Bill Christy said.

26 July 2021, 14:54
Transport for London goes big on enforcing rules at junctions with latest batch of traffic cameras
TfL enforcement cameras (via press release)

Transport for London has awarded a contract to P Ducker Systems (PDS) for at least 50 new enforcement cameras for junctions across the capital. Citing the figure that 76 per cent of collisions on London's roads happen at junctions, TfL says the cameras will play a "vital part in helping us meet the Vision Zero goal of eliminating death and serious injury on the road network."

Each year more than 4,000 people are killed or seriously injured on London's roads. A trial of the cameras in 2020 saw an improvement in compliance of road rules at junctions of up to 60 per cent in six months. We suspect TfL could put Cycling Mikey out of business with a camera at the now-infamous Gandalf Corner in Regent's Park. Unfortunately, as it's a Crown Estates Paving Commission road this will remain a dream...

26 July 2021, 14:01
Another worthy gold medallist

26 July 2021, 13:39
Let's all take a minute to fully appreciate the brilliance of Anna Kiesenhofer's Olympic road race win
Anna Kiesenhofer Scott Addict Olympics Road Race - Drivetrain (Alex Whitehead_SWpix.com)-3

It was one of the stories of the opening weekend of the Olympic Games: Anna Kiesenhofer, the 500-1 shot amateur who doesn't even ride for a pro team, winning against a stacked field of the best riders in the world. If that wasn't enough, Kiesenhofer's backstory is just as incredible. The Austrian has a PhD in mathematics from the Technical University of Vienna, as well as spending time at the University of Cambridge studying a whole host of topics we didn't even know existed or begin to explain what they mean...

While at Cambridge, Kiesenhofer rode for the university's cycling club and triathlon club, helping them win the Varsity 25-mile time trial alongside Commonwealth Games Gold Coast bronze medallist Hayler Simmons. 

At the 2012 BUCS 10-mile time trial she came dead last, 32nd out of 32...That's 31 people who will be living off the 'I beat an Olympic champion' story at the pub for the rest of their lives.   

Kiesenhofer's Twitter bio still reads: 'selected for Tokyo 2021 road race.' That could do with an update, but her tweets show a meticulous scientific approach to training. Just three weeks ago she analysed her CORE body temp sensor's readings and shared papers on isothermic and fixed intensity heat acclimation methods to explain how she planned to adapt to Tokyo's punishing weather conditions.

26 July 2021, 12:52
The next generation of Tom Pidcocks
26 July 2021, 11:25
Fabian Cancellara's Olympic Games special edition BMC snaps at the airport

It was a beauty...In honour of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Fabian Cancellara had this Japan-inspired paint job sprayed up for his special edition BMC Teammachine SLR, here it was in all its glory...

Unfortunately for Spartacus, the bike didn't survive his flight home from Sardinia, with the four-time World Champion and twice Olympic Games gold medallist taking to Twitter to have a pop at Swiss International Air for the damage to his poor seat stay...

The now-retired racer got plenty of sympathy after suffering every cyclist's worst nightmare, although some were surprised by his choice of bike bag...

Time for some shameless self-promotion...Fabian, should have had a read of our features on taking your bike abroad...'How to fly with your bike — pick the right airline, save money and hassle' and 'The stuff they never tell you about flying with your bike'...Have a read if any of you lot are lucky enough to be in the unlikely position of jetting off for a summer hol abroad...  

26 July 2021, 10:49
Mathieu van der Poel crashes out of Tokyo Olympics after plank is removed between practice and competition

It was billed as the latest instalment in the friendly rivalry between Tom Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel. The pair have shadowed eachother for the past couple of years, from the cyclo-cross scene to the road and, of course, on the dirt of the XC mountain bike trails...

Van der Poel was favourite but fell early on. The Dutchman blamed the removal of a plank from the course between practice and competition for throwing him off and causing this nasty crash...

26 July 2021, 10:34
XC Cross Country Mountain Biking Guide
2021 tom pidcock gold medal team gb great britain mountain bike tokyo 2020 olympics

If like a few of us at road.cc you're more accustomed to watching Tom Pidcock riding on his skinny tyres for Ineos and are relatively new to this weird world of mountain biking, our friends at off-road.cc have put together a guide with everything you need to know about the Olympic mountain bike events. If you're watching the highlights back and want to know exactly how it works or are now keenly looking forward to the women's race tomorrow, check it out...

26 July 2021, 09:39
The cycling world reacts to Tom Pidcock's Olympic gold

That's the picture. Like the rest of the British cycling world, we've been trying to keep calm - what a ride, Tom. He doesn't even turn 22 until Friday...answers in the comments: what were you doing at 21? Keep it clean, although I'm guessing nobody can trump winning Olympic gold less than two months after being hit by a car and breaking your collarbone... 

26 July 2021, 08:34
"It's nothing like any other race. The Olympics just transcends any sport": Tom Pidcock reacts to Olympic gold

Tom Pidcock has been facing the world's press after winning Team GB's third gold medal of the day..."It's nothing like any other race. The Olympics just transcends any sport. You compete and represent your country and everyone in your country is behind you, no matter in what sports they like. It's just national pride, it's unbelievable," said Pidcock.

The 21-year-old broke his collarbone at the end of May but was back on the bike just six days later to build his form for his big goal of the year, dominating the race after Mathieu van der Poel crashed out early on. "It's been a such a hard time coming here from crashing and breaking my collarbone [in May] and that's just unbelievable," he continued.

"I'm always better when I take control myself. I take my own lines, my own speed. Once we started I was fine, all the nerves kind of went and I concentrated on the race. I'm happy this is only every four years because it's stressful. I know that my mum and girlfriend are crying at home. It's sad that they can't be here but I see them when I get home." 

26 July 2021, 08:05
Tom Pidcock wins Olympic mountain biking gold for Team GB in Tokyo after expected showdown with Mathieu van der Poel failed to materialise as Dutch rider crashed early on

Team GB’s Tom Pidcock dominated today’s mountain bike race at Tokyo 2020 to win Olympic gold, but the much-anticipated showdown with Mathieu van der Poel failed to materialise as the Dutch rider crashed early on. Pidcock, who turns 22 on Friday, put in a blistering short opening circuit after starting from the fourth row of the grid to move up to the front of the field ahead of the seven 4.1 kilometre laps of the main course.

By the end of the second lap the Yorkshireman was alone at the front of the field with defending champion Nino Schurter and Mathias Flückiger, attacking again to get in front of the Swiss pair. From then on he gradually teased out what would prove to be an unassailable lead, with Flückiger taking silver, 20 seconds behind the Team GB rider, and David Valero of Spain a further 14 seconds back in third place.

Van der Poel’s crash happened just before the first of the seven full circuits, the Dutchman landing heavily after going over his handlebars on a jump off a rocky section of the course, with Pidcock, riding behind him, managing to avoid being caught up.

While van der Poel remounted, the crash cost him a minute to his rivals, and he eventually abandoned with two laps remaining. It’s Team GB’s third gold medal of the Games, with Adam Peaty defending his 100 metres breaststroke title earlier today and, while Pidcock was riding to victory, divers Tom Daly and Matty Lee winning the synchronised 10 metre platform competition.

26 July 2021, 07:54
"Build it and they will come": No space left at packed seafront bike rack

The locals were out at Seapoint Beach in Dublin yesterday and they all travelled by bike by the looks of things. No room at the inn for latecomers but even riders who could not find a spot were just happy to see less cars being driven...

David O'Mahoney said you'd normally have "a stream of drivers coming down, looking for parking, giving up and doing a five-point turn to get out!" Not anymore.

Cllr Oisín O'Connor was one of the many to rock up by bike and "just about squeezed our three bikes into an available spot. Fantastic to see!"

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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32 comments

Avatar
EK Spinner | 2 years ago
1 like

"Mathieu van der Poel crashed out of the BMX CX race, which was eventually won by Brit, Tom Pidcock"

Did I miss something, I thought they were in MTB XC race  1 

 

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eburtthebike | 2 years ago
1 like

Why does the BBC keep referring to Tom Pidcock being knocked off by a driver as "a training accident"?

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IanMK | 2 years ago
0 likes

He's a bit of a thought provoker for the grey cells on a Monday:

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1467623/speed-limit-changes-up...

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to IanMK | 2 years ago
3 likes

So their take on it is a money spinner from Councils and an attack on motorists. My take on it is unlike Parking offences (in the main), speeding kills so should be kept as a criminal punishment and points on the license etc. 

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OnYerBike replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
2 likes

I see where you are coming from. However, if councils (or the police for that matter) were incentivised to catch speeding drivers by way of profiting from the revenue, then I can see a couple of benefits: 

  • More rigorous enforcement. If councils/police can profit by having a person on every street with a speed gun, then it's likely they would do so. If that means the number of drivers speeding falls (because the chance of being caught is much higher), then that's a good thing.
  • Profit can feed into local finances. Whether its the local council or the police, there have been significant budget cuts in the name of "austerity". I wouldn't have a problem with speeding drivers being used to plug some of those funding gaps.

I don't know how significant of a legal issue it would be to either keep it as a criminal offence but allow the police to profit from fines (and hence encourage more enthusiastic policing), or switch to council enforcement but still hand out points on drivers' licences etc. 

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IanMK replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
2 likes

It feels like they are saying 'if you can't police our streets we will'. For me it only seems fair that drivers that can't drive safely should be made to pay for road safety and increased enforcement would be a massive plus. Also are they mutually exclusive? If the council catch a driver going significantly above the speed limit why can't they hand it over to the criminal justice system.

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chunky | 2 years ago
1 like

Cracking ride Tom, crazy speed and skills.

We really do have world class riders in every mtb discipline, time to get more mainstream coverage.

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kil0ran replied to chunky | 2 years ago
0 likes

Agreed, I watched the whole of the World Champs last autumn on the red button, it was awesome. It's made for mainstream (sports) TV with split times, great personalities, huge jumps, high skill, and big risks. Hopefully the BBC will have it on a main channel this year.

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kil0ran | 2 years ago
0 likes

If it's true about the plank that's proper naughty. Been a few uncharacteristic inefficiences/mistakes these games. Street skaters were complaining about the wind, false start in the tri yesterday, the mix up over timings/gaps in the road race, etc

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PRSboy replied to kil0ran | 2 years ago
1 like

kil0ran wrote:

If it's true about the plank that's proper naughty. Been a few uncharacteristic inefficiences/mistakes these games. Street skaters were complaining about the wind, false start in the tri yesterday, the mix up over timings/gaps in the road race, etc

From the short clip, everyone else seemed to make it over it OK...

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to PRSboy | 2 years ago
0 likes

Might have been that some planned one line and others planned others. VDP definitely doesn't lift up his front bars enough which leads credence he was planning to land on something early (the plank?) where Pidcock is on a different line so does need to fully jump. 

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EddyBerckx replied to kil0ran | 2 years ago
3 likes

kil0ran wrote:

If it's true about the plank that's proper naughty. Been a few uncharacteristic inefficiences/mistakes these games. Street skaters were complaining about the wind, false start in the tri yesterday, the mix up over timings/gaps in the road race, etc

 

apparently a coach or someone contradicted him and said this had been discussed numerous times over the last week. Maybe in the heat of the moment he just forgot?

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Hirsute replied to EddyBerckx | 2 years ago
0 likes

I watched some of it on iPlayer where the whole race is available. His teammate had no problems neither did the others also just ahead of him, so it does rather look that way.

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davwil | 2 years ago
0 likes

Sponsors have missed a trick with Tom Pidcock - What sort of bike was he riding with what equipment?

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hawkinspeter replied to davwil | 2 years ago
0 likes

davwil wrote:

Sponsors have missed a trick with Tom Pidcock - What sort of bike was he riding with what equipment?

I thought the olympics was supposed to be about amateur sports-people?

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wycombewheeler replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

davwil wrote:

Sponsors have missed a trick with Tom Pidcock - What sort of bike was he riding with what equipment?

I thought the olympics was supposed to be about amateur sports-people?

really?  amateurs like Usain Bolt? Did he have a different full time job, or did he make his living from sponsorships and prize money as a sprinter?

Or maybe Roger Federer (career earnings $130m) 

The age of amateurism ended in the olympics a long time ago, when it bcame about the best sports people, rather than being a jolly for rich individuals

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Hirsute replied to wycombewheeler | 2 years ago
0 likes

I think HP was having a little jest (and there are only amateurs in the squirrel olympics).

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hawkinspeter replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
5 likes

hirsute wrote:

I think HP was having a little jest (and there are only amateurs in the squirrel olympics).

.

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mdavidford replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

hirsute wrote:

I think HP was having a little jest (and there are only amateurs in the squirrel olympics).

.

Wrong Olympics - it should be something more like this.

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Hirsute replied to davwil | 2 years ago
0 likes

An anti-crash one !

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Rendel Harris replied to davwil | 2 years ago
5 likes

As he's contracted to INEOS he's not supposed to ride anything but Pinarello, so as they don't make MTBs he has to have the maker's name blanked. As a matter of fact he uses a BMC Fourstroke for MTB races.

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wycombewheeler replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
0 likes

Rendel Harris wrote:

As he's contracted to INEOS he's not supposed to ride anything but Pinarello, so as they don't make MTBs he has to have the maker's name blanked. As a matter of fact he uses a BMC Fourstroke for MTB races.

I thought at the olympics bikes were supplied by the national teams, rather than the riders bringing their pro cycling team bikes.

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Awavey replied to wycombewheeler | 2 years ago
0 likes

Who would TeamGBs bike partner be though for non track cycling events ?

I noted Lizzie D was riding her Trek team bike,whilst Anna Shackley looked to be on the same Specialized bike her SD worx team mates were on, and all the Canyon teams riders in the women's race were on Canyons albeit with a special Tokyo livery which I think van Vleuten initially thought was just specially for her.

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Rendel Harris replied to wycombewheeler | 2 years ago
2 likes

wycombewheeler wrote:

I thought at the olympics bikes were supplied by the national teams, rather than the riders bringing their pro cycling team bikes.

No, for example in the road race on Saturday G, Tao and Adam Yates were all riding INEOS livery Dogmas (with GB flag decals attached) but Simon Yates was on his Bianchi; apart from the demands of the sponsoring manufacturers no pro is going to swap onto a completely new bike just for one race. Carapaz won on a Dogma as well, albeit one badged in Ecuadorian livery.

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Miller replied to wycombewheeler | 2 years ago
1 like

That will largely apply for the track cycling but as the road and XC riders are pros they ride trade team bikes. In the road races it was helpful to look at bikes to work out who was who in their unfamiliar national team kit.

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Simon_MacMichael replied to wycombewheeler | 2 years ago
0 likes

On the track that tends to be the case, in other disciplines, no. There are also strict rules on size of logos on equipment, so in this case, frames. At Rio and London, Specialized gave their bikes (irrespective of country) a bright orange paintjob to aid standout (plus matching helmets for some riders).

At Tokyo, it's Trek that's gone with a striking colour scheme specific to the Games.

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wycombewheeler replied to Simon_MacMichael | 2 years ago
0 likes

Simon_MacMichael wrote:

On the track that tends to be the case, in other disciplines, no. There are also strict rules on size of logos on equipment, so in this case, frames. At Rio and London, Specialized gave their bikes (irrespective of country) a bright orange paintjob to aid standout (plus matching helmets for some riders).

At Tokyo, it's Trek that's gone with a striking colour scheme specific to the Games.

are the rules for minimum size? because in that picture it's hard to imagine a larger logo without bringing back the trek monocoque frames of the 90s

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Secret_squirrel replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
1 like

Rendel Harris wrote:

As he's contracted to INEOS he's not supposed to ride anything but Pinarello, so as they don't make MTBs he has to have the maker's name blanked. As a matter of fact he uses a BMC Fourstroke for MTB races.

Someone should tell INEOS and Tom that Wiggle/CRC have a few Dogma MTB frames going on eBay, from Pinarello's brief foray into the MTB market. yes

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kil0ran replied to davwil | 2 years ago
1 like

Serious need of a bike check for that. 

Looks like SLX M7100 group, 11-46 cassette, SR Suntour Axon Elite fork, 80mm travel?

Tyres are Conti prototypes which have been around for about 6 months in the hands of pro riders.

Avatar
Shake replied to kil0ran | 2 years ago
1 like

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