Absolute belter or explosion at a paint factory? Lotto’s striking new kit divides opinion; “Rubber on rubber for that friction feel”: How NOT to fit brake pads; Tadej Pogačar blitzes iconic Paris-Roubaix Strava KOMs + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
He's ready! Tadej Pogačar blitzes iconic Paris-Roubaix Strava KOMs during 200km recon of cobbles... and then rides to Flanders for Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg
Is there a more ominous sight in cycling?
No, not the new merch… Tadej Pogačar smashing iconic cobbled Strava KOMs in training ahead of the world champion’s tilt at the Flanders-Roubaix double this month. What’s more, once the Hell of the North recon was done he pushed on over the border and took in the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg too, completing his 212km at an average speed of 37.6km/h.
Pogi doesn’t upload his rides to Strava as much these days, but this one was — a warning shot to the rest of the peloton, Mathieu van der Poel and Co.?
We already knew he could ride the Roubaix cobbles, his exploits on the Tour de France stage back in 2022 evidence enough of that, so nobody should be surprised the UAE Team Emirates star can set some blistering times in training, the big test will come in the chaos of next Sunday’s fight for position, crash fest, mechanical madness and puncture lottery… although given these times, Pogačar will be confident.
The world champ casually swept up the Strava KOMs for Auchy-lez-Orchies, Mons-en-Pévèle and Gruson, setting the second fastest time (one second off Wout van Aert’s 2023 best set mid-race) on the iconic Carrefour de l’Arbre. He’s ready.
On the Arenberg, Pogačar set a PR but didn’t trouble the fastest times on Strava, although maybe he was just more bothered about getting the shot, this video later uploaded to his Instagram.
Pogacar dans la Trouée d’Arenberg.
Sortie de 203 bornes, trois KOM chopés (dont Mons-en-Pévèle), deuxième meilleur chrono dans le Carrefour de l’Arbre…
Il est prêt. pic.twitter.com/b1dlyTWBiW
— Dans la Musette (@DansLaMusette) April 2, 2025
L’Équipe were on the ground to see it go down. How good do those rainbow bands look on the cobbles?
Once he was done with Roubaix, Pogačar headed on to Flanders, finishing his ride with the double ascent of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg because… why not when your name’s Tadej Pogačar? No big efforts here, ‘just’ his third fastest time up the Kwaremont, flying up the famous climb at close to 30km/h. See? No big efforts.
After that it was on to Waregem where Dwars door Vlaanderen had ended earlier in the day. He probably thought he could win that too if he got there quick enough… the next two weeks are going to be absolutely brilliant, aren’t they?
"So very sad": road.cc reader reaction to news Brixton Cycles to close
> Iconic London bike shop Brixton Cycles closes citing “rising costs and brutal economic climate”
Many of you shared memories of Brixton Cycles, the iconic South London cycling institution which yesterday announced that it would be closing its doors permanently.
On Facebook, Mike Woof commented: “It’s a real shame. I’ve been a regular customer for decades. I’ve bought three bikes from there over the years for myself and my sons and I’ve been in countless times for this and that as well as to have bike servicing or repair work done.”
Rome73: “Even those of us in North London, who rarely have cause to go sarf of the river, will mourn the loss of Brixton Cycles.”
OldRidgeback: “I bought my first MTB at Brixton Cycles decades ago and it’s still in use as my hack. I’ve also bought bikes from there for my sons. I’ve had repairs and service work done there and bought many sets of lights, brake blocks, tubes and tyres as well. It’ll be a big loss to the local cycling community, the BMX club included. Brixton Cycles was more than just a shop.”
Rendel Harris: “Been living in the area 30 years now and Brixton Cycles (and local riders wearing their famed Rastafarian colours jersey) has been an iconic part of the local culture in all that time. I cycle past their store every morning, it’ll be like losing a tooth not to have it there any longer.”
"It was a stupid decision": No punches pulled as Visma-Lease a Bike left to dissect Dwars door Vlaanderen debacle
How it started:
How it finished:
To be a fly on the wall with Visma-Lease a Bike last night. The team so dominant in the classics so recently has fallen on tougher times and went into yesterday’s Dwars door Vlaanderen under pressure to get back to winning ways before Flanders and Roubaix. There’s a quite enormous amount of scrutiny and expectation from the Belgian press and fans around Wout van Aert, a generational talent who was expected to follow Tom Boonen’s footsteps and win all the classics (multiple times).
Now 30 and Van Aert is still missing a Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix title from his palmares and, having spent the entire spring thus far at altitude in preparation for the big ones, suffered a slow return to the cobbles at E3 Saxo Classic last Friday. It’s to all that context, and with Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar absent, that Van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike went into yesterday’s race needing a win to hush the noise. You all know what happened next…
The other two Visma riders in the four-man break were honest in their interviews afterwards, Matteo Jorgenson calling it “the wrong decision” to ride for a sprint, Tiesj Benoot adding that “in hindsight, it was a stupid decision”.
The Belgian told Eurosport’s cameras afterwards: “I think we wanted Wout so badly to win after everything that happened last year [DdV the race where Van Aert suffered a horror crash that ruled him out of the rest of the classics season].
“Consequently, we took too much risk to bring Powless to the sprint. In hindsight, it was a stupid decision. Of course, it escalated. Matteo had won last year. I had spent three weeks on Mount Teide with Wout, and maybe I wanted him to win more than winning myself. But we should have made a different decision.”
When asked about what Van Aert told him after the race, Benoot said: “Those are words I cannot repeat on camera. We regret it, but we rode strongly for the first time this spring. We made a difference like we have done in the past. So I am also proud, which gives me confidence, although we will feel more in the coming days than we do now.”
Credit where it’s due for the honesty in what must have been the worst interviews of their careers. In a weird way, you get the feeling now that the cycling public want Van Aert to win Flanders or Roubaix more than ever, even if yesterday didn’t help the immense scrutiny in Belgium.
Soudal Quick-Step’s admin had some fun at least.
Demi Vollering took to Instagram afterwards to pen some thoughts too:
Yep, I was also laughing a bit when I first heard and then saw that Visma lost while being in the break with three, but after watching it back once more and hearing Wout’s interview, I changed my mind.
We should not forget that we are all human. We love a bit of drama. We love underdog stories. Wout is human as well. This guy has been through a lot! And everyone has had their opinion about him. We all judge too early, especially too easily. We are tempted to forget everything he has been through, and we probably don’t even know half of it because we cannot look inside his head or understand what it does to him mentally.
Hearing him say that he was egoistic and that it is not who he is was painful for me, because we forget so easily what stress, doubt, and all the mess thrown at him actually do to him. For me, it is completely understandable that he lost himself a bit.
When people have so much to say about you, it is easy to start feeling lost. And it is probably something you do not even notice. It creeps in very quietly. You train a bit harder, focus a bit more, and before you know it, you are lost in your rituals, running on autopilot, trying to prove everyone wrong, trying to get just a bit closer to your dreams.
And before you know it, you make the wrong decisions and you cramp up. Maybe it was not the body. Maybe it was the mind that got too excited. But you did not stay true to yourself, so this win was not meant to be. It is a lesson. A wake up call for Visma and Wout, but not just for them. It is a lesson and a wake up call for all of us.
He is human. We are all human. I think I have been in his situation. You think you are making the right decisions, but under too much pressure, under too much focus, you cannot see it any more. And we will never realise it in that very moment…
SRAM hires specialists to investigate "cybersecurity issue"
SRAM is investigating an IT systems outage that caused the components giant to shut its wholesale ordering and other systems last month, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News has revealed.
A spokesperson declined to tell the industry news website whether it had been hacked or systems held ransom, although it is understood outside specialists have been called in to investigate the “cybersecurity issue”. All systems have now been restored and the brand said it had no impact on its AXS system.
Can a Strava segment be iconic?
What Miller said!
"This is bigger than pro cycling": Fan petitions government to save free-to-air Tour de France coverage in UK, condemning paywall as "massive missed opportunity" to boost cycling numbers and combat congestion
"Rubber on rubber for that friction feel": Bike shop equal parts stunned and concerned by cyclist's terrifying vertical rim brake set-up
Rim brakes vs disc brakes? Nah, rim brakes vs disc brakes vs whatever this is (rim brakes+ perhaps).
Thankfully this bike made it to a shop and a mechanic before we found out what happens when you take your brake pads vertical.
Trench Tales shared the snap on Instagram, the people behind it (documenting life in the trenches as a bike shop mechanic, what they call “the abyss, gazing back”) suggesting its not exactly a “DIY pro move”.
“Rubber on rubber, for that friction+ feel,” they wrote, describing the “fine example of silky smooth brake modulation and supreme stopping power… also, lovely cutaway.”
The post is complete with the obligatory hashtags: #quickstop #yourbikehatesyou #bikeshopbingo and someone described it in the comments as a “700c disc brake”.
“If it ain’t braking, don’t fix it,” someone else added, a third comment suggesting that increasing the tyre pressure would add modulation and “it ain’t stupid if it works (it probably didn’t work)”. We reckon it would bring you to a stop (at some cost to your poor tyres), hopefully not via a blowout. Anyway, good thing this one got to a mechanic before we had an answer to how many stops can a tyre take?
The real question is if it’s better or worse than this Trench Tales calamity from last month?
Decathlon Germany reports bike sales up eight per cent
Bicycle sales were up eight per cent for Decathlon in Germany last year, perhaps a sign that things might be improving for the bike industry after a challenging few years, or at least not getting worse. The company is targeting further sales growth in the country this year, with Bike Europe reporting that a “key factor” has been the “consistent implementation” of an “omni-strategy” that integrates online shopping with the brick-and-mortar experience.
Things were less positive in France, the brand’s Olympic boost (which saw 1.8m licensed products sold) cancelled out by inflation and weak demand. Decathlon is continuing to invest in its German operation, upgrading nine stores and funding two relocations, with two new stores opened in Hamburg and Potsdam that took its count to 88 locations in Germany. Worldwide, Decathlon Group’s revenue was up 5.2 per cent in 2024.
"Things don't always go your way... but a flat white and peanut butter brownie can make up for a lot": Wout van Aert and Visma-Lease a Bike take a coffee break
Elsewhere on Strava today: “Things don’t always go your way… but a flat white and peanut butter brownie can make up for a lot” (according to Google Translate)…
Sports director Grischa Niermann was out on the bike too, the manager having told WielerFlits he blames himself for yesterday’s debacle.
“I am responsible for the tactics. Wout had the confidence to win the sprint, but in hindsight I should have made the decision that they had to attack one by one to get Powless off,” the sports director said.
“It was on a plate for us in the last kilometers. It can happen that he had cramps in the sprint. So it is my mistake and responsibility to anticipate that in order to win the race. I didn’t do that.
“Of course it would have been great if Wout had won and if the chasers weren’t so close behind, it wouldn’t have been a risk to attack. That would have been possible at the end, but we had confidence that Wout would win the sprint. Now it’s clear that you can see strange things after such a long final. Nine times out of ten Wout wins, but not this time. That’s no excuse.
“There is a lot of disappointment among us. They rode a perfect race until the last straight. But normally Wout wins that sprint. He had very good legs and also rode a great race. You don’t think of this scenario. The easiest scenario to win is that someone rides to the finish alone. That’s how we’ve done it in recent years. That was a big mistake.”
"I could earn more as a Deliveroo driver": Feather Cycles founder announces custom frame brand's demise, citing cancelled orders and claiming "bike industry doesn't make people rich"
Bike shop suffers "devastating fire" in Northern Ireland
A bike shop in Northern Ireland was “totally destroyed” by a “devastating fire”, its owners have announced on social media. Sharing a picture of the site, Claudy Cycles wrote on Facebook: “Folks, this morning our shop suffered a devastating fire which unfortunately has totally destroyed our premises. It will take some time for us to get back on our feet again, we will keep everyone posted. Thank you, we appreciate all the support.”
Here are the stats and attributes the mysterious new Colnago V5Rs needs to have to be good enough for Pogačar
Absolute belter or explosion at a paint factory? Lotto riders to wear 40th anniversary kit for Tour of Flanders... and the road.cc office is divided
“A tribute to the past, a statement for the future.” That’s the tag line for this striking kit that Lotto’s men and women will be wearing this weekend at Belgium’s biggest race, the Ronde van Vlaanderen. 2025 marks four decades of the country’s lottery supporting the team, hence their name, an achievement “unmatched by any other cycling team in the world”.
As the team said in its announcement for the kit, “What began in 1985 as a bold move by the National Lottery to promote the Lotto brand has grown into a household name in the peloton, and that legacy lives on through the next generations. Lotto has played a pivotal role in shaping professional cycling, from the development of young cycling talent to fueling Belgian cycling culture to contributing to legendary victories.”
What do we reckon? Hot or not? One member of the road.cc team (a self-professed staunch believer in no team kit unless you’re in the team, no less) said he’d wear this “all day and then to bed”. You can indeed wear it all day and then to bed as Lotto Cycling Team are selling these for €74.95 online now.
Another, who shall not be named but might possibly be quoting himself here, is in the other camp and reckons it looks like Lotto “let a kid go wild on Paint” or an “explosion at a Dulux factory” and that they’ve got “a sudden desire to play Tetris”. It should be said, this second source has zero fashion sense and does not have the faintest idea what looks ‘cool’ or ‘in’.
Obviously no opinions in the middle are allowed and you must either absolutely love it or hate it…
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Latest Comments
If we don't fight it now, we'll all end up forced to wear baggy shorts!
@Rendel Harris Agree, I am baffled that the 84 year old who is now banned from driving for year can then start driving again without a retest. We should be re-tested regularly.
@mitsky Just checking the figures and apparently the 2026 average cost is £58,000 per year per prisoner; worth noting that is only the direct cost, you then have to factor in ten years of lost tax income from the prisoner, ten years that the prisoner is making no contribution to society as a worker or as a consumer, plus the fact that if they were the primary breadwinner very likely the costs will include benefits for their family as well. None of which should be a reason for keeping violent recidivists out of prison of course, nor drug/drink drivers who kill, but it is a factor worth considering for lower-level offences.
@Surreyrider I ride in Surrey a fair bit and absolutely many do look like that but the point is they all *think* they're driving perfectly reasonably (as one discovers when remonstrating with someone who's skimmed one by 30cm, "I gave you masses of room") so deterrent penalties have little effect. That's why we need to strike at the root cause and actually train drivers properly and test them stringently (and more than once over the course of a potential 70+ years of driving, it's absolutely absurd that competence and knowledge in what for most people is the activity in their life that will run the biggest risk of killing people you never have to have your qualifications renewed).
@mitsky Imprisonment currently costs over £50k p.a. per prisoner and obviously that will rise over the course of a ten-year stretch with inflation. Regarding culpability and mitigating sentences etc, of course I'm not against condign punishment for drivers who kill (and cyclists on the tiny, tiny handful of occasions when this happens), including prison as appropriate; I was objecting to the ridiculous and oft-repeated demand of MM that drivers who kill cyclists must get ten years, "no excuses, no exceptions".
Hey, but their wool blend cycling adjacent t-shirts are/were fantastic.
@Surreyrider Still the boss. Ride one, you'll see why
@Smoggysteve "Most would happily ride on the roads and be treated with respect by drivers". But people aren't - and as far as I can see they won't be. Not until there is a lot less driving and it's slower around cyclists, and far more people driving have "skin in the game" eg. they sometimes cycle and their friends and family do also. That's what leads to the model - which is perhaps most advanced in NL - where cycling, walking and driving are all seen as separate normal transport modes. Their needs, vulnerabilities and any dangers to others are considered. And *that* leads to "mix / share when possible, separate when necessary". But "possible" is "where your 10-year old would be safe to cycle unsupervised" - so very few motor vehicles, going slow! And AFAICS everybody - even "existing cyclists" - is happy with the result. (I dunno about a few pro cyclists - but don't they tend to have training camps in different counties anyway?)
@quiff as an Edinburgh resident I can confidently say he's speaking without moving his lips in one sense: - while as I noted in a separate comment there *is* now some real separated cycle infra, all the examples i can think of have *at least as much space* for pedestrians. The rest of the "cycle infra" is essentially similar to the situation in the rest of the UK: eg. bus lanes*, cycle lanes and shared use paths (eg. "build" infra by sticking up a sign). Edinburgh is one of the places with a moderately extensive network of former railways which have been converted to "shared use" paths (completely motor traffic few). However though shared they are not narrow by UK standards. And this is all effectively a "free extra" for all non- motorised users, not like the "sign a cycle path" where pedestrians do lose space. I think this all comes from the "popular understanding" of cycling in which ultimately cyclists are the "other". They don't fit "motor vehicle" or "pedestrian" (including wheelchairs on the very rare occasions people think about that). Thus "cyclists are cheating" in multiple ways! They shouldn't get their own space as "there aren't enough" of them. And "they can just use the road / path". But being able to *choose* "on the road" or "on the footway" (shared use path) is clearly unfair - nobody else gets to do that! BUT of course even if they did pick just one of road OR pedestrian space it's still not fair anyway because they're "too slow" for the road (don't pay "road tax" etc...) and "far too fast" for pedestrians... * Though some existing cyclists may appreciate them when there are few buses, buses and bikes are a very poor mix for several reasons.
Whilst a shame for any employees, their bib shorts had the worst chamois pad I’d ever encountered, utter waste of my money. Even though they were Strava challenge discount purchases, still a waste of money.
22 thoughts on “Absolute belter or explosion at a paint factory? Lotto’s striking new kit divides opinion; “Rubber on rubber for that friction feel”: How NOT to fit brake pads; Tadej Pogačar blitzes iconic Paris-Roubaix Strava KOMs + more on the live blog”
Is it possible for Strava
Is it possible for Strava KOMs to be ‘iconic’?
Of course – you just need to
Of course – you just need to resize them to ~25×25 px
HarrogateSpa wrote:
If the sector itself is iconic, and PR cobbled sectors definitely are for road cyclists, then by extension, yes.
I don’t see why not. If we
I don’t see why not. If we are going by the parlance of the youth these days then your gran going down the shops is iconic. Even by the standard definition I wouldn’t say it excludes famous strava segments.
Remember Randy Scott, the
Remember Randy Scott, the ESPN anchor from yesterday who posted about how he was held up for a couple of minutes by some cyclists?
(He also lied about using his phone to film them – claiming it was his passenger leaning across in front of him and recently crashed his SUV because it was raining).
Apparently he was driving to school to pick up his kid(s) and (after “a ton of thought”) he’s come up with a brilliant way to make the roads around schools safer; ban bikes so drivers can do 40mph without hindance!
https://x.com/RandyScottESPN/status/1907427206764073234
Smart idea. Those cyclists
Smart idea. Those cyclists hold everyone up and are a danger to themselves – and our children! Plus they’re not buying our cars or fuel *. So unfair. 70% tariffs on all cyclists NOW!
Of course this chap has already had his wish come true, almost! In fact for the vast majority ALL roads are permanently “bicyclist Do No Enter” zones.
* except for the cyclists who do in fact own cars (most). But the children don’t – so we need to encourage their parents to drive them…
You have to have a grudging
You have to have a grudging appreciation that someone so thick in the head has managed to get such a well paid and high profile job. Then again, theres a lot of that going about in the US at the moment.
I just spat tea over my
I just spat tea over my keyboard reading that
You’ve watched ESPN before
You’ve watched ESPN before right ?
IanGlasgow wrote:
Two thoughts on this. I would have thought having his passenger lean across him would be even more dangerous than him filming it himself. And, as you suggest, cyclists slowing down traffic near a school seems a really good idea to me.
I would have thought having
I would have thought having his passenger lean across him would be even more dangerous than him filming it himself
There are different levels of danger! And when the police don’t care about offending, you can do what you like
https://upride.cc/incident/mj55hro_berlingo_mobiledruguse/
This is two morons charging around Garstang doped up on nitrous, shouting, veering side to side across the road, the driver steering with either 1 or 0 hands on the wheel holding his phone in the right hand and displaying 2 large naked female breasts. No reponse from Lancashire police
I can’t help but think that
I can’t help but think that wank-panzers doing 40mph by an elementary school is more dangerous than cyclists doing 10mph.
Tyre-wall braking.? It is
Tyre-wall braking.? It is not a new idea however. Spoon braking dates back to the 1800s.
I think this particular rider was nostalgic for happier times.
Pub bike wrote:
Don’t say that, future reviews of new wheels and groupsets on here will have the comments filled with things like “why no spoon brake option?”
I never heard of anyone
I never heard of anyone having their leg sliced off / unexpectedly wiping out using a spoon brake, but discs…
Except for the wear which
Except for the wear which might suggest they’ve been that way for a while. I’d point out that rim blocks have a habit of switching 90 degrees exactly like that if you don’t tighten the bolts properly.
Big fan of the Lotto kit, are
Big fan of the Lotto kit, are they wearing it just for Flanders? I’d like to see them use it for the rest of the year. I’m actually tempted to order one, team kit or not.
+1 here too. It might
+1 here too. It might actually be recognisable in the peloton from a helicopter camera.
The riders look a lot less
The riders look a lot less impressed with it than the road.cc commenterati.
Are Lotto going for the
Are Lotto going for the peloton equivalent of “dazzle camouflage” as used by the Navy in both world wars (example below of the HMS Olympic camouflaged for use as a troopship)? It uses contrasting colours and a range of geometric shapes to confuse any enemy observation, make it difficult to assess range, heading and speed – could be useful when launching a breakaway.
It’s impressively effective –
It’s impressively effective – anyone would mistake that for a painting.
That was the whole trick you
That was the whole trick you see, U-boat captains would ask the lookout if there was anything to report and they would reply no, just a couple of Impressionist-style paintings bobbing along the horizon.