“It’s really an eye opener that someone commutes on this”: Photo of fixie rider’s “absurd” commuter casually parked at bike rack amuses cyclists online; When a heart rate monitor captures the exact moment you realised you’ll crash + more on the live blog

Another one from the depths of Reddit this morning… 

“Heart rate spiked as I realised the SUV driver and I were destined to collide […] just some road rash and banged-up knees…”

The UCI met with the Professional Cycling Council (PCC) yesterday to discuss “several important topics concerning men’s and women’s professional road cycling”. A final decision is to be made by Monday (31 March) over the request to increase the number of teams participating in men’s Grand Tours from 22 to 23, starting this year.

A UCI statement released this morning said: “The request was examined by the PCC today and the proposal was accepted by the majority of its members. It will now be submitted to the UCI Management Committee, which will make a final decision on the matter by 31 March. The other regulatory issues addressed will be decided at the UCI Management Committee meeting in June.”

One of the heroes from Milan-San Remo, Filippo Ganna, was out training on the famous climbs of Flanders ahead of tomorrow’s E3 Saxo Classic, a race he finished 10th at a couple of years back.

Ganna smashed up the shorter Oude Kwaremont Strava segment at 29.1km/h, setting the sixth fastest time, the rest of the faster ascents set during previous editions of Flanders itself. Ganna’s time was the same as Mathieu van der Poel’s climb en route to his 2022 victory, although admittedly 16 seconds down on Tadej Pogačar’s thermonuclear 2023 time.

The Italian powerhouse isn’t expected to ride Flanders, instead targeting tomorrow’s slightly shorter (and with significantly less climbing) E3 over the Ronde van Vlaanderen, as well as Gent Wevelgem on Sunday and, of course, Roubaix in a few weeks’ time. After going so close, and showing such great form at San Remo, I think we can expect to see plenty of him in the coming weeks.

Yesterday’s Brugge-De Panne was chaos. A one-day race for the sprinters on narrow Belgian roads always has the danger of crashes and incident, but the 2025 edition was especially chaotic — the teams left to count their injuries, while the UCI has been dishing out some yellow cards.

Jonathan Milan was second behind Juan Sebastián Molano and avoided relegation despite being seen headbutting a Uno-X Mobility rival aside during the build-up to the sprint. The commissaires gave him a yellow card and 500 Swiss francs fine instead. Alexander Kristoff received the same punishment for “obstruction by a rider in order to prevent or delay the movement of another rider”.

On the injury front, Lotto have revealed Lionel Taminiaux suffered a collapsed lung and broken rib in one of the crashes, the rider spending last night in hospital, while numerous others suffered road rash. European champion Tim Merlier was one of them, Soudal Quick-Step confirming their sprinter “suffered abrasions to his right leg and arm, and a small open wound under the right knee, which required stitching”.

In the fallout to it all, Dylan Groenewegen told the Eurosport TV cameras (yep, those ones still offering affordable coverage of racing to the rest of Europe): “Nobody really gives each other space. It’s a bit nervous all day because there’s a bit of wind, but not enough. And at the end everyone knows where they have to sit in the finale. That applies for every sprinter.”

Another part of that UCI statement is confirmation the Professional Cycling Council (PCC) accepted a proposal to trial a gear ratio limitation later in the season. This, like the extra team at men’s Grand Tours, will be submitted to the UCI Management Committee for approval, although a UCI decision isn’t expected as quickly on this one.

> UCI considering use of “rider airbags” and gear restrictions to “enhance safety”

The issue made headlines in January when Wout van Aert suggested it “would make cycling a lot safer”. The Belgian’s comments were backed by four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome who said he wouldn’t want racing to revert to something like junior gearing, but “maybe 56 or 54 needs to be the limit”.

> MPs call for “urgent reform” of Cycle to Work scheme to tackle active travel inequality

Bikepacking aficionado Tailfin has secured £600,000 of investment to scale-up its operations. Business Live reported the Bristol-based cycling bag and accessory brand will receive the investment from British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund, which is delivered by fund manager FW Capital, to broaden its product range.

“This investment marks a significant milestone for Tailfin, enabling us to push the boundaries of design and technology further and to enhance our robust intellectual property portfolio, which already includes over 20 patents,” Tailfin’s founder Nick Broadbent said.

“Crucially, it also supports our growth strategy by enabling us to expand both our innovative product lines and our talented team of passionate cycling enthusiasts.”

Tailfin said the investment would also go towards expanding its Bristol headquarters, creating a state-of-the-art R&D studio with new equipment, specialised tools, and enhanced prototyping capabilities. Any extra funds will be used to invest in high-quality video production equipment and a dedicated studio space.

> A rare road.cc 10/10 review: Tailfin’s best-in-class frame bag available in nine sizes

Jordan Berg from FW Capital commented: “Tailfin is a premium quality brand in the bikepacking world that have created an innovative range of products that appeal to all cyclists from commuters, adventure cyclists to world-class ultra endurance athletes. Nick’s vision to bring his products to market is very impressive and the success Tailfin has enjoyed is testament to that.”

Lizzy Upton from the British Business Bank added: “The South West Investment Fund was created to support ambitious businesses like Tailfin, helping them scale, innovate, and strengthen their market position.”

 

 

 

 

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Dave’s had a busy morning with the angle grinder, don’t say we don’t do serious work. Important for knowing what to use when locking your TT bike commuter to a sketchy urban rack… we’ll be bringing you the results soon.

Let’s round-up some of your thoughts on the rush hour TT machine…

thrawed: “I guess the reason the handlebars are so wide is so you can still control the bike somewhat when the crosswinds hit.”

Wait, you’re meant to have control over this? 

Carior: “Wait wait wait – it gets better that’s not JUST a disc wheel up front — that’s a disc cover which raises two obvious points: 1. I didn’t know you could get a disc cover for a front wheel 2. They haven’t just picked something up that was lying around, they’ve made a conscious choice that they want that aero goodness on the front wheel.”

thereverent: “The solid disc front wheel on a fixie was quite common in London for people who played bike polo a few years back (to stop the ball jamming the front wheel).”

Juan Ayuso and Primož Roglič are having quite the battle at Volta a Catalunya, the pair going head-to-head again today on the second summit finish of the week. This time it was the Slovenian who won the bike throw, taking the race lead in the process thanks to some handy bonus seconds.

 

 

 

 

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They’ll presumably renew their battle on Saturday’s summit finish before the punchy final day in Barcelona on Sunday could be decisive. 

Over in Belgium, British prospect Cat Ferguson put on a show, attacking the bunch and holding off the sprinters’ teams until the final kilometres. The junior world champ for both the road and time trial has made an impressive start to life in the pro ranks, but was reeled in the final three kilometres.

It was another nervy Brugge-De Panne, several nasty crashes punctuating the action, scenes similar to yesterday’s men’s edition. In the sprint, it was Milan-San Remo winner Lorena Wiebes that was fastest, beating Chiara Consonni and Elisa Balsamo.

 

 

 

 

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> Cycling shoe brand Sidi reports £3m profit increase and 33% revenue growth, two years after takeover

Alberto Contador is confident Tadej Pogačar “can win Paris-Roubaix”. Speaking to TNT Sports, Contador said the Slovenian would not be going “with any other objective than winning”.

“Maybe there are riders better suited to this type of terrain like Van Aert, Van der Poel or Pedersen… it’s true Tadej isn’t a typical build of Grand Tour climber either, he is a strong rider,” Contador said. “But I think he has chances to win and I think he will be one of the favourites to win Paris-Roubaix.”

> Giro quietly launches two new premium cycling shoes, revamping the Imperial and Empire SLX and promising “superior performance”

Here’s a sight that would make you double-take as you roll up to a bike rack…

TT frame, disc wheel, no brakes, “absurd” handlebars, essentially a fixie track bike that we wouldn’t recommend for use on the road considering… well, the issues you might have stopping. Everyone on Reddit flocking to a post about it is equally scared/fascinated/amused and there’s plenty of speculation about the sort of person who would own and have created such a thing.

Chances are it’s just your committed urban fixie rider — to whom something like this appeals, if you can believe it — wide-barred and with a rear tyre you can burn through quick. Another star suspect is the bike shop mechanic who’s spent many a year collecting a random assortment of parts on the cheap and now, as his career’s work, has put it all together.

“This looks like the kind of thing a bike mechanic would ride half as a joke after building it from parts they’ve acquired at little to no cost through years in the bike industry,” one Reddit user commented.

“As someone who built a ridiculous commuter bike, half as a joke, from parts I scavenged off of customer’s bikes and random shit that’s been sitting on a shelf for more than a decade when I was still wrenching, yah this is definitely a bike mechanic’s daily.”

A couple more amusing details spotted online were, of course, the “absurd” wide bars, the fixie set-up despite running a double chainring, the random (what looks like a) Fizik Arione saddle… oh, and of course, the fact it’s all around a TT frame with a disc wheel up front. Some serious locking going on too, although we’d pay good money to see your average bike thief step on this and see how they go.

Is it particularly safe? No (although I guess that depends who/how they ride). Is it particularly fast? Probably. Is it particularly fun? Depends who you ask? Did it catch our eye and the eye of thousands online? YES! A few of those comments…

“Definitely mechanic’s bike. A mechanic with a real sense of humour to boot. The more I look the more weird I find in this build. At first I hated it but I’m slowly coming to appreciate the troll.”

“I have a friend who’s a mechanic who started as a track cyclist and has an all carbon, super aero track bike that’s three sizes too small so he could be lighter/lower profile. He turned the bike into a commuter, why he wants to cram himself into that frame I can’t explain…”

“Wide MTB bars on track bikes were a thing a few years back, but the front disc wheel and spoked rear makes me think they’re either not serious or so deep into fixie culture their brain has rotted.”

“It’s single speed, they just kept the two chainrings…”

“There were a couple of messengers who unironically had bikes like that as their daily in Minneapolis years back — fixies with deep wheels and wide bars. The aero frame takes it to another level though. This isn’t an inarticulate build, it’s just speaking a dialect that’s incomprehensible to most riders.”