“Why don’t you shave your legs?”: Jonas Vingegaard gets asked the all-important question by amateur cyclist during training ride and replies, “I’ll shave before the Tour”; Fans call out “embarrassing” lack of Brit riders at Ineos + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Hey Siri, what's another word for mud?
A comprehensive glossary of words to choose from if you inadvertently end up ‘crossing on your road ride this winter, courtesy of our very own Jo Burt…
Fans call out “embarrassing” lack of young British riding talent at Ineos Grenadiers, claiming Visma-Lease a Bike is “surely a more appealing proposition to any developing rider”
As teams start publishing their rosters for 2025 season, fans have started taking note of the eye-catching number of Brit riders in Visma-Lease a Bike’s stacked squad.
The Dutch team, which conquered the 2023 pro cycling season, winning all three Grand Tours with three different riders had a lacklustre showing last year, but coupled with a slew of shrewd transfers and promotion of young riders from its Development Team to the senior squad, the team looks stronger and much more well-balanced than last time.
Besides Tour de France stage-winning Belgian rider Victor Campenaerts joining the team, the team has strengthened itself with British riders too, including the signing of Simon Yates from Jayco-AlUla and Daniel McLay from Arkéa-B&B Hotels as well as the promotion of Matthew Brennan from its junior team.
Further, the team already has the likes Giro d’Italia stage-winner Ben Tulett who joined from Ineos in 2024, as well as the 23-year-old Thomas Groag. Visma have also signed 19-year-old Jed Smithson to its Development squad, along with the 18-year-old sensation Imogen Wolff, who recently secured a podium at the women’s Exact Cross race, on a three-year contract.
While the recent struggles of Ineos Grenadiers are well-documented, fans have reacted negatively to the flocking of major British talents away from the British WorldTour team, including Tom Pidcock who joined second-tier Q36.5 Pro Cycling after a long-winded transfer saga, as well as Ethan Hayter, who has signed on to Soudal Quick-Step.
Andrew Hill wrote on social media: “VISMA Lease a Bike way ahead of INEOS when it comes to scouting new talent. Embarrassing really,” while Richard Hamilton commented on Facebook: “Visma is surely a more appealing proposition to any developing rider.”
The current crop of riders at Ineos includes six British riders as of now, which include Sam Watson, Ben Turner, Ben Swift, Connor Swift, Josh Tarling, and Geraint Thomas, with the latter set to retire at the end of the 2025 season.
“If you are on that descent with a gear limit, no one can move up. Now the gears are so big that you still think about overtaking”
Two years after the Belgian cycling federation opted out of the UCI’s decision to remove gearing restrictions in junior races, one of the country’s biggest stars, Wout van Aert, has now spoken out in favour of introducing a junior gear-style system in the WorldTour, arguing that limiting the peloton’s gearing choices would slow speeds on descents and “make the sport a lot safer”.
Thibau Nys also skips Duinencross Koksijde along with Mathieu van der Poel and Lars van der Haar
The X2O Badkamers Trofee race in Koksijde — one of the biggest races of the cyclocross season — will miss four of the sport’s biggest stars after Baloise Glowi Lions announced last-minute that Thibau Nys not taking part after falling ill in the last few days.
Nys’ teammate Lars van der Haar is suffering with an injured knee, while it was reported yesterday that the world champion Van der Poel is still recovering from the ongoing rib problems due to his final lap crash at the Exact Cross.
“Thibau did not feel well this morning and tried it on the rollers anyway. But after the warm-up it turned out that he has not recovered enough. And so he will not be present in Koksijde,” the team said.
Meanwhile, Michael Vanthourenhout has also withdrawn from the race, with the Belgian rider deciding to focus on the World Cup fully.
Puck Pieterse finally wins at X2O Badkamers Koksijde after four podiums in five races
PERFECT PUCK 🔥
Puck Pieterse seals her first win of the Cyclo-cross season at X2o Badkamers Trofee in Koksijde 👏 pic.twitter.com/0aI2wl5CcN
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 3, 2025
After recording a podium position in four out of her last five races, Fenix-Deceuninck’s Puck Pieterse has finally got herself a win at Duinencross Koksijde, with Baloise Glowi Lions’ Lucinda Brand and Visma-Lease a Bike’s Fem van Empel coming second and third, respectively.
“I am really super happy,” Pieterse said after the race. “I had to wait a long time for it and that was sometimes frustrating, but the team staff saw, just like me, that I was getting closer and closer. That’s why it’s great that I’m winning such a big race like Koksijde. I’m not always that good in the sand, but today it went smoothly. Now it’s up to me to keep the momentum going.”
Cycle racks “suspended” and taped off outside train station where one bike is stolen every two days
Thameslink has encouraged cyclists at St Albans City station – which boasts the highest bike theft rate in Britain – to use the station’s cycle hub and CCTV-covered parking areas, where bikes have also been stolen in recent years.
Laurens Sweeck storms through the sand to win X2O Trophy Koksijde
A skilful, dominating performance through the sandy course saw Laurens Sweeck take a deserved victory at Duinencross Koksijde, with Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Tibor del Grosso finishing second 26 seconds behind, while Deschacht-Hens-FSP’s Toon Aerts finished a distant third, almost a minute behind the leader.
“ENTER THE SANDMAN!” 🔥
Laurens Sweeck joins an elite list of winners at X2O Badkamers Trofee Koksijde 👏 pic.twitter.com/BKuvPvzpb4
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 3, 2025
With no Van der Poel, Van Aert, Nys or Van der Haar in the Belgian cyclocross race today, the Crelan-Corendon rider, on the back of winning the Superprestige Diegem last month, opened up a gap in the second lap with only Del Grosso managing to stay on the Belgian’s wheel.
Del Grosso even managed to get ahead of Sweeck, but his lead didn’t last very long and Sweeck, with some expert bike handling, go past Del Grosso with two laps to go, finally opening up a comfortable lead after the Dutch rider’s pedal caught on the fencing, forcing him to lose momentum.
“The wins mean a lot. I really like it here… the sand, so I’m happy to be the first and on the podium,” Sweeck said in the post-race interview.
“I have no choice but to remain patient”: Mathieu van der Poel forced to withdraw from UCI World Cup Dendermonde due to “too much pain in ribs”
After sitting out today’s X2O Trophy Koksijde race, Alpecin-Deceuninck has announced that Mathieu van der Poel won’t be able to race in Sunday’s UCI World Cup race Dendermonde due to the persisting rib pain as a result of his injury from the crash in Exact Cross Loenhout last week.
The team wrote: “Mathieu van der Poel forced to skip Dendermonde as well. Initially, Mathieu van der Poel planned to make a decision by Saturday, but the call came earlier than expected: the World Champion has announced his withdrawal from the World Cup round in Dendermonde.”
Van der Poel said: “There’s no point in waiting any longer. I did another test today, and it’s clear that Dendermonde comes too soon. On heavier off-road terrain, I’m still experiencing too much pain in my rib. I have no choice but to remain patient.”
Alpecin-Deceuninck added: “As planned, Mathieu will head to a training camp in Spain after Dendermonde. Later this month, he is set to compete in the World Cup races in Maasmechelen and Hoogerheide before making a bid for his seventh world title in Liévin in early February. For now, the rest of his cyclocross program remains unaffected.”
This means that this would be the second time that fans won’t be greeted to a showdown between the old rivals Van der Poel and Wout van Aert, who’s set to ride the World Cup race. In December, it was the Belgian who had to withdraw from Superprestige Mol — supposed to be the duo’s first face-off of this season due to falling ill.
JUST IN: CyclingMikey is Daily Mail's "TOP VILLAIN OF 2024"... alongside Oasis and Paddington bear
“Does this mean I’m one of the good guys?” the road safety campaigner asked…
“Why don’t you shave your legs?”: Jonas Vingegaard gets asked the all-important question by amateur cyclist during training ride and replies, “I’ll shave it before the Tour” (also sprints at 800w)
At this point, we all know that shaved legs — although having the potential to be uncomfortable for first-timers — do provide a somewhat ambiguous aerodynamic advantage and are perhaps one of the cheapest and easiest ways to save precious watts for any ambitious amateur cyclist. And now, two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard has also chimed in on the subject, in his typical awkward fashion.
> How much faster are shaved legs for cycling? Should you shave your arms too?
On a training ride in Spain with his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Wilco Kelderman, he was approached by cycling influencer Artem Shcherbyna, who managed to stick to the duo’s wheel for their sprint and descending training ride who asked him the all-important question.
“Why don’t you shave your legs in the winter?” Shcherbyna asks. “Everyone was asking last year. They saw that you and Roglič were not shaving legs in the winter!”
Vingegaard replies: “I’ll shave it before the Tour.”
Popular influencer Artem catched Jonas Vingegaard on a training and also asked him some questions, this one was the best 🤣
Full video: https://t.co/zGVMJ8LL4U pic.twitter.com/iHIOAMRRmM
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) January 2, 2025
Shcherbyna continues with a follow-up question, asking if it’s better to have unshaved legs during training, but unfortunately, Vingegaard’s response is indecipherable due to the wind.
Agh, I guess we’ll never know. One might say, the answer is blowin’ in the wind…
In the same video published on YouTube, Shcherbyna also asks the 28-year-old rider what was his maximum power on the sprints, and he replies: “800 watts.” However, Shcherbyna says that he doesn’t believe him, and it looked like it was 1400 watts instead.
“No. I’m not a sprinter,” replied the Dane.
To be fair, during the sprint which can be seen later in the video, Shcherbyna does go north of 1,000 watts while sprinting much behind Vingegaard, even writing: “I was really amazed how Jonas was sprinting, from the back it was looking like he can outsprint even best sprinters.” (Cue comments: Is Jonas coming for the rainbow jersey?).
The cyclo-tourist Shcherbyna was in the news last year two years ago after he tried to stick to Remco Evenepoel’s wheel during a training ride in Calpe and was promptly waved away by the Belgian.
After the video was posted online, several fans and pros alike jumped to Evenepoel’s support. “The guys are working there in their ‘office’, let them work and give them their space,” wrote former pro cyclist Michael Burghardt. “They are also not walking into your office.”
“I’d be pissed off too if I’m completing interval’s and you’re sat on my wheel trying to keep up,” another Instagram user wrote. “Even if slightly off my wheel. I wouldn’t go stand over the shoulder of a worker plastering my wall. You’ve gotta respect and leave them to it when they are doing work. It’s nice to get the content, however you’ve gotta be respectful and ask if you can either ride with them or film them doing an interval.”
On the other hand, there are instances of the act going down rather well too. Just a few days ago, a 17-year-old amateur cyclist recalled the “unforgettable experience” of clinging to Tadej Pogačar’s wheel for two kilometres and pushing 490 watts during the world champion’s KOM ride on Coll de Rates.
“In the first corner, we saw someone from UAE standing there with a stopwatch,” Quinten Muys told Sporza about his close encounter with his sporting idol. “That’s when we knew something special was about to happen. About 2.5km from the summit, we suddenly heard a car honking, signalling us to move aside. Then Pogačar flew past us.
“I managed to stay in Pogacar’s wheel for two kilometres. I was pushing 480 to 490 watts.”
“Afterward, his team directors gave me a pat on the back. It was an unforgettable experience. Something really cool… That’s something that will stay with me forever.”
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Latest Comments
@Mr Blackbird It's quite a skill.
@Terry Hutt good point, although while doing testing without a helmet I broke my shoulder and have suffered various other contusions. So I suggest the control should not be "no helmet" as in my experience that adds the confounding variable of your other limbs and appendages as (for some) instinct will mean you sacrifice them to protect your head...
@mdavidford or the highly skilled cycle football / radball players...
@No Reply dunno about childish, but I haven't heard that one since the 90s. Can't say I miss it.
Bit harsh on the BMXers.
@No Reply Er, nope - there are no age restrictions on the site. As previously noted, though, if it were restricted to adults, your choice of language would seem to mark you out as someone who shouldn't be on it.
@Mr Blackbird This is an adult forum. If adults are getting so worked up over the term bum chum, then they need to get a grip. People have a right to be offended, people have a right to offend. But if someone finds offence in something, it doesn’t mean its offensive. It means they are offended. Two different things. I am as free to offend as you are to feel offended. Freedom of speech. Do you want to silence freedom of speech? Or just silence things you don’t like?
@No Reply You obviously have a lot of knowledge of cyclo cross and make a valid point, but why detract from your comment by using a phrase that is probably offensive to the majority of readers?
@chrisonabike I think the important message here is that your head will fly 20% further if you are wearing a collapsible helmet. Has anyone researched how far your head will fly if you're not wearing a helmet at all? Seems worthy of a research grant.
Any cyclist caught cycling backwards (on a non-fixed wheel bike) should be jailed for at least 2 years and have their bike confiscated. Such a despicable manoeuvre is dangerously confusing to motorists and pedestrians.
20 thoughts on ““Why don’t you shave your legs?”: Jonas Vingegaard gets asked the all-important question by amateur cyclist during training ride and replies, “I’ll shave before the Tour”; Fans call out “embarrassing” lack of Brit riders at Ineos + more on the live blog”
Essex drivers improve – year
Essex drivers improve – year on year stats show less NIPs and more NFA.
I’d love to know the outcome
I’d love to know the outcome of this one
Take that cyclist scum ! (first clip).
The outcome would not be true
The outcome would not be true justice, because that would’ve entailed the driver being suspended from Tower Bridge by his balls for a week, and that’s the sort of thing we’d’ve heard about because it would’ve been on the news.
I’d love to know the outcome
I’d love to know the outcome of this one
Ay, there’s the rub! Misuse of what they call GDPR, FOIA etc. by the police is their most useful weapon, in addition to lying, in their longstanding campaign to do nothing about offences against cyclists by refusing to tell you they did nothing. The number of NIPs is a worthless statistic- it’s just a count of the number of cases where they thought they couldn’t get away with declaring ‘NFA’ straight away, but where they abandoned the prosecution for some stupid reason made up later. These are the ones where Lancashire abandoned the prosecution after 18 months (Covid backlog) ‘because there was no rear-view camera footage’ (repeats, of course!)
https://upride.cc/incident/j111kdw_bmwgrancoupe_uwlcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/j111kdw_bmwgrancoupe_closepassuwlcross/
This is the one where they claimed to have ‘done something’ but then spent years claiming it was illegal to tell me what they’d done
https://upride.cc/incident/4148vz_travellerschoicecoach_closepass/
We know they’re lying about that because Northamptonshire tells victims just that all the time. We’re awaiting the Met. telling Rendel what’s happened to their ‘outcomes’ web page, and whether there’s any weaselling when it eventually appears
I agree. Bedfordshire hide
I agree. Bedfordshire hide behind GDPR. It’s nonsense. After a conversation with TVP I was actually a bit shocked that they had no idea what neighbouring county, Northants did. It’s also worrying that there’s no peer to peer sharing.
Even the police are not that
Even the police are not that thick! They’re just lying about ‘not knowing’ what’s happening in adjacent forces- it’s ‘head in the sand’ and hoping all this active travel/ cyclist cameras etc. bollocks will just go away.
IIRC Beds and TV share
IIRC Beds and TV share traffic policing resources.
Beds share with Cambs and
Beds share with Cambs and Herts. They’re based out of Stevenage.
Judging by some of the
Judging by some of the comments under that clip (not all of them thankfully), it was clearly the cyclists fault for falling into the car on purpose. Or for slowing down (I assume because it is in fact uphill) causing the driver (who was clearly not too close and was prevented from anticipating any potential change in speed by err… you know… the cyclist existing) to accelerate into the cyclist.
This safe overtaking manouevre was entirely justified because: 1) being a single live carriageway under temp traffic light control, the whole passing safely & leaving 1.5m thing can be discarded, 2) the cyclist was “wobbling about” (therefore making themselves a target rather than a potential hazard,) 3) the cyclist was not doing AT LEAST the prevailing speed limit, so an overtake is the only option for the experienced driver, 4) the cyclist should have leapt into the nearest hedge and deferred to the almighty automobile anyway.
5) The cyclist brake-checked
5) The cyclist brake-checked the Merc.
I hope that commenter lives alone. Can’t imagine living under one roof with such gaslighter.
Clem Fandango wrote:
I had similar from Cheshire Police, as ‘… due to the narrow width of the country lane, a motorist cannpot be expected to give you 1.5m clearance when overtaking’.
I wonder if Cheshire police
I wonder if Cheshire police officers are of the opinion that the driver is entitled to ram a cyclist off the road if he ‘takes the lane’ in those circumstances?
Exposed uk dash cam go with
Exposed uk dash cam go with another cyclist opener
“You were in my blind spot”
The non-road-tax-paying
The non-road-tax-paying cyclist came out of nowhere. Would have been more visible with numberplates.
Manchester United fans are
Manchester United fans are realising that the involvement of INEOS is the kiss of death.
I think INEOS are doing a
I think INEOS are doing a long overdue reset on Man Utds business/financial model, thats going to be painful, but might longterm allow them to compete again with clubs owned by nation states.
their fans complaining they arent in the top half of the league, when less than 10miles away fans of another club had to watch their club be expelled from the football league due to administration.
there are plenty of football fans who year in year out suffer alot more than their club not qualifying for European competitions.
Kapelmuur wrote:
and long may it continue.
what fans exactly are
what fans exactly are claiming its “embarrassing ” ?
I dont think most British fans care which team has the most Brits, Ineos long gave up the notion they were THE British team. We only seek that Brits have the opportunities to ride for the top teams, and that they have a presence in the world tour.
it doesnt feel that long ago, though probably still is, but hey pro cycling existed before 2011, when we were happy to see a Brit on a pro tour team.
“French rider Victor
“French rider Victor Campenaerts” Ah, yes, the famous French accent of French rider Campenaerts.
He might speak French, but he
He might speak French, but as he is Belgian born in Wilrijk, Antwerp in the Flemish speaking part of Belgium, his mother tongue is likely Flemish.