“Absolutely disgusting”: Fans slam “facepalm moment” £370-a-year TNT Sports subscription to watch cycling as “exploitation”; Cyclists confused at New York path with two bike lanes… to separate faster and slower riders + more on the live blog

You might know Reflex Nopinz, the road racing team of which road.cc’s video lead Jamie is a  part of, and they’ve knocked it out of the park with this post…

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> Boost to cycling sales sees Halfords upgrade profit expectation

While some of us might be struggling with finding a decent bike lane to ride on here in the UK, the Yanks are apparently getting two lanes — believe it or not — to segregate slower and faster riders…

A picture shared by Alex Attinson on social media showed the slightly confusing infrastructure from Prospect Park in New York, with a short dashed line and two cyclist symbols on either side of it — although with different arrows.

“It’s generally assumed to mean fast to the left, slow to the right, but it cracks me up,” Attinson wrote.

Trust me, I am as confused as you are, but if I had to guess, it’s probably more of an indication to riders about which side of the road to stay on depending on their speed, rather than two distinct lanes.

But of course, someone had to come in and make a Zwift joke, and it was Ben Finch who pounced: “They give you a speed boost if you hit them just right.”

The Antwerp Court of Cassation has ruled in favour of Sniper Cycling BVBA, the parent organisation of Wout van Aert’s former team, in the long-running case of the Belgian rider rather controversially leaving Verandas Willems–Crelan mid-season in 2018 to join Visma–Lease a Bike.

It was confirmed yesterday that the three-time cyclocross world champion has now been ordered to pay €662,000 for “wrongly” terminating his contract with his former employer, reports Velo.

Despite being touted as a big move in the Belgian cycling scene, with Van Aert tipped to become the next superstar with Visma, Nick Nuyens, manager of the Sniper Cycling group, wasn’t too happy with his decision, and ended up filing a petition in the same year, which has finally reached a resolution after much back-and-forth between different courts.

According to Nuyens, the move was unlawful and demonstrated “a breach of trust” by the employee towards the employer. His lawyers initially argued for a €1.2 million compensation, however, the Labor Court in Antwerp tried to settle the case with a €662k amount, ruling in Nuyens’ favour.

He appealed the decision to the Court of Cassation seeking the full amount, however, the court has refused to order further compensation but held up the original amount, which Van Aert will now have to pay to his former team boss.

The official ruling read: “On 13 January 2025, the Court of Cassation ruled in the case of cyclist Wout van Aert against his former employer/cycling team. The Court of Cassation rejected the cassation appeals of both parties against the judgment of the Antwerp Labour Court of 9 June 2021.

“With that judgment, the Labour Court sentenced Wout van Aert to pay a severance payment of 662,041.31 euros because he had wrongly terminated his employment contract for urgent reasons.”

> Cyclists to face education course or fine for 10 new offences — including “dangerous” riding, cycling “without due care and attention” and riding without lights at night

Why do cyclists sometimes not use the separated lanes, you ask? 🤔 #yegbike

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— Connor M (@nunymare.bsky.social) 28 January 2025 at 05:40

Simon Yates says the days of bonking mid-ride are almost behind the pro peloton, thanks to a carb-fueling revolution that has transformed the sport in recent years. Speaking to VeloNews, the 2018 Vuelta a España winner opened up about how new nutrition strategies are helping riders push harder and recover faster than ever.

“I enjoy the sport a lot more now,” Yates said. “Before this huge carb boom came around, it was the opposite. It was low-carb, saving your carbs, and that was hard not just on the mind, but on your body.

“Earlier you were just completely tired all the time. You’re fatigued all the time.” The revolution Yates is talking about comes down to carbs — and lots of them. In the past, riders were told to stick to around 60 grams of carbs per hour during hard efforts. But these days, with dual-source carb formulas combining glucose and fructose, riders can take in up to 120 grams per hour without feeling sick.

“It used to be a lot of low-carb stuff,” Yate said. “Two eggs for breakfast and off your pop, see you later, five-six hours, water in the bottles. Now we have a mountain of rice for breakfast, it’s changed. Now it is all high carbs.”

> Fasted training doesn’t make you faster: Study from researchers including Tadej Pogačar’s nutritionist suggests high-carb rides deliver similar results

He added that these changes have made cycling more enjoyable, not just more competitive. “No one bonks anymore. You never see anyone bonking.”

With the help of his new Visma–Lease a Bike, the 32-year-old Brit is hoping to give it all in his later chapter of the career. “Before I started working with my new coach, I would have also probably said there was not much room to improve. They have the opposite opinion,” he said. “I am trusting them and I’m also hoping for the same.

“They think with the way they work and their philosophy, and with what you’ve been doing – and there was nothing wrong with what I did — they just suggested that with a few tweaks there can be some nice gains there. To put a number on it? It’s impossible.

“They have a very different philosophy here on training, nutrition, equipment, everything. So I hope that can bring me to the level that I want to be at,” he said. “We’ll have to wait until the racing starts. I really don’t know.

“Is that enough? Maybe I am just not good enough, but I hope so.”

> How to eat right for sportives and long rides

The AlUla Tour, the five-day stage race in Saudi which is more often than not a haven for sprinters, kicked off with Soudal Quick-Step’s Tim Merlier beating outJuan Sebastian Molano and Maikel Zijlaard to clinch victory in the first stage.

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“It’s always nice to start the season with a win. It’ll motivate the team,” the European champion said after adding a third triumph to his two victories in the AIUIa Tour in 2024.

“It was as always, quite nervous in the first race of the season, it’s difficult to do things perfectly but I think we did well.”

“At 1.8 kilometres to go I lost Bert [Van Lerberghe, leadout man] a bit, but then in the U-turn I was back on his wheel. He was in the wind for almost one kilometre so that was a perfect job on his part.”

No, I’m not singing the song. I’m genuinely asking. Because a stray dog found its way into the peloton and almost caused a scene at the AlUla Tour…

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There’s hardly been an easier consensus on a controversial pricing decision by a conglomerate, and while we don’t really know what Warner Bros Discovery were thinking when they decided to neuter Eurosport and migrate all its offerings to TNT Sports, increasing the price by an astonishing 342 per cent, we at least know how fans feel about it.

road.cc readers are continuing to share their thoughts on the topic, but now, the sprint finish of the first stage of the AlUla Tour posted by Eurosport on Instagram has attracted fans disappointed and exasperated by the announcement that they’ll need to pay £30.99 per month instead £6.99 — and they are going off.

“Thanks for making it more expensive to watch cycling in the UK.”

“This will be about as much as most folk will see of next season. Warner Bros are taking the mickey. Pure greed.”

“I did wonder if this would happen. Hugely disappointed cycling fans being expected to change from £7 to £31 per month to watch cycling, hence the anger. Absolutely NO justification other than greed. And very, very few are going to pay that much.”

Meanwhile, cycling writer, journalist and photographer Shane Stokes wrote: “Shame on you, Discovery and Warner. You destroyed Eurosport and are doing your utmost to destroy cycling.”

Ouch…

> Cycling group accuses council of forcing cyclists onto “dangerous, traffic-choked” road, as “anti-social behaviour” and “security” fears see plan for cycle route link scrapped

I thought being a Manchester United fan was hard. Turns out, being a cycling fan is also about to get hard — well, on the pockets.

Last night, it was announced that Warner Bros Discovery is set to shut down Eurosport, which had quickly become the home for all things pro cycling since 2023, and migrate cycling, along with snooker and tennis, to TNT Sports — as soon as 28 February.

> TNT Sports to put cycling behind £30.99-a-month paywall, as Eurosport coverage to end and future of free-to-air Tour de France remains unclear

The kicker is that those interested in just watching cycling will have to shell out the full premium price for the entire TNT Sports subscription package, which also includes Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, UFC and boxing, meaning that the price goes from £6.99-a-month to an “extremely disappointing” £30.99-a-month.

This marks the latest in a series of steps that have left watching pro cycling in a sticky situation, first with Warner Bros shutting down GCN+ citing “changing media landscape”, and then the news that ITV will not broadcast Tour de France from 2026, as Warner Bros Discovery signed on exclusive rights until “at least 2030” on Eurosport, leaving free-to-air coverage of one of the world’s biggest sporting events in jeopardy.

> “Putting cycling behind a paywall is not how to grow the sport”: Fans react to “awful” and “disgraceful” news of ITV losing Tour de France rights, making Eurosport the exclusive UK broadcaster

The news hasn’t done much to win over fans who have already expressed disappointment at the state of things, with many road.cc readers reaching out and commenting on our social media posts claiming they are about to cancel their subscriptions — if they haven’t already.

Tony Weston wrote on Facebook: “Just cancelled my subscription. Can’t justify this kind of price hike when only interested in cycling,” while J-P Martins confirmed doing the same, adding: “In the past few years I’ve watched all three major tours, either live or in close catch-up, all the one-day classics, and a fair few cyclocross races.

“Reminds me of Test cricket, which I used to follow avidly when on free-to-air and haven’t seen since, or the Premiership, or international rugby. I love sports but a 10x price hike to £30.99-a-month — just no way does that fit my budget or discretionary spend plans.”

Dr Paul Johnson emailed road.cc saying: “In essence, if I want sports access I’ll have to move from the current cost of £6.99 a month to £30.99 a month, which is frankly beyond my means. Bearing in mind the apparent lack of free-to-air access for the tour de France from next year, this’ll be a further blow to anyone who is subscribing for cycling. I don’t want or watch the other sports, so it seems like an exploitation of current subscribers. Big sigh.”

Meanwhile, Yavor Mitev commented: “Another one of those great facepalm moments that ‘grow the sport’…”

What do you think about the pricing change and the future of watching pro cycling? Are you happy to subscribe to TNT Sports or are you planning to cancel your subscription — and if it’s the latter, how do you plan to watch cycling? As always, we are interested in your answers, so let us know in the comments!