“Cycling’s greatest ever sprinter”: Reaction to Mark Cavendish’s historic 35th Tour de France stage win; Illi Gardner smashes her own Alpe d’Huez Strava QOM; Speed limit reaction in popular park; Pogačar avoids near disaster + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"A simple gesture can inspire the next generation": British Tour de France pro gifts ecstatic young fan water bottle in heartwarming video
“A simple gesture that can inspire the next generation…”
A simple gesture that can inspire the next generation 🥹 #KeepChallenging #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/pb1onwhqRc
— Team dsm-firmenich PostNL (@dsmfirmpostnl) July 2, 2024
Here’s the moment a Team dsm-firmenich Post NL rider made a young Tour de France spectator’s day/week/month. The little number flag behind his Scott tells us the rider deserving all the praise is British debutant Oscar Onley who had tried to get into the morning’s breakaway before later finishing 42nd on yesterday’s high-altitude Galibier stage as Tadej Pogačar performed another masterclass up front.
It’s been the Tour of uplifting ‘kids getting bottles’ content, Tadej Pogačar having invited a young fan to the start in Florence who he famously passed a bottle too during the Giro, a video of which got plenty of attention at the time…
THREAD
The best moments from this year’s Giro d’Italia.
1. Tadej Pogačar giving the bottle to one young fan. It is about small things which can make somebody a memory for the whole life. 🥰 (🎥: eurosportitalia) pic.twitter.com/dLJ2pBYo9A
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) May 27, 2024
We’re all for it frankly. Better that than it getting lobbed into a bush or a ravine…
Obviously we can’t move on without mentioning the Tour of Britain’s contribution to the genre, that clip that was seen around the world of a young cyclist smashing it along the pavement to keep up with pros, rewarded with a bottle, of course.
Three hundred and fifty days ago @PascalEenkhoorn and Xander Graham teamed up to create this unforgettable moment.#TourOfBritain 🔴🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/2CB3Cxvl0g
— Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain (@TourofBritain) August 27, 2022
Keep calling for bottles, kids… just leave some for us big kids…
Continental, DT Swiss and Swiss Side team up to create the Continental Aero 111, the 'world’s first aerodynamic tyre': here are our first ride impressions
Illi Gardner knocks a minute off her own Alpe d'Huez Strava QOM with mind-boggling effort quicker than Tour de France times
There was an outrageously impressive climbing performance in the French Alps yesterday, a famous climb tamed in a lung-busting, quad-burning display of mountain mastery. Step forward Illi Gardner (okay, Tadej Pogačar, you were all right too).
The hill-climbing queen of Britain, who has been the national champ in the discipline for the past two years, has a Strava page that’ll impress anyone… it seems just about every day there’s another new climb QOM being conquered. In fact, wait for this, Strava says she has 531 pages of QOMs and CRs (‘course records’, when she’s sometimes inevitably quicker than the men too). With each one displaying 20 that makes more than 10,500 QOMs and CRs. See, I told you it was impressive…
And in the past days she’s been down in the Alps, ticking off some big names: Alpe d’Huez, Col de la Madeleine, Col du Galibier. Yep, not content with smashing the Alpe d’Huez QOM out of the park last week, she returned last night to knock another minute off her previous effort.
Gardner’s 46:47 is a second shy of three minutes quicker than Emma Pooley’s long-standing QOM set way back in 2012, and the 34th fastest time (male or female) ever uploaded to Strava up the famous mountain so regularly raced by the Tour de France and the world’s best.
She averaged 243w for the 46-minute effort and held an unslipstreamed average speed of 17.8km/h up the Alpe’s eight per cent slopes. Gardner’s heart rate monitor shows it was at 186bpm and topped out at 199bpm. Ouch, that’s a proper effort.
Now you’ve read all about it, get back up to that activity and drop some well-earned kudos…
Tour de France stage four — a meme experience
Juan Ayuso has been on the receiving end of the internet’s memes post-stage four. The Spaniard for his amusing inability to come to the front and give João Almeida a turn, presumably because he was on the limit, but not so on the limit he couldn’t sit with the fastest riders for another few kilometres. It gave us all a laugh, even if Almeida unsurprisingly didn’t see the funny side as he flogged himself into a headwind up the Galibier. Cue the memes…
Ayuso hiding at the back of the group hoping Almeida and Pogi wouldn’t notice pic.twitter.com/PDgHM5asnK
— Tratnikismo (@Tratnikstan) July 2, 2024
— Davide Gomes (@DavideGomes17) July 2, 2024
Visma-Lease a Bike took some hits too, after all if you make a big song and dance about how your ‘Control Room’ is going to take your tactical analysis to the next level, you’re probably going to take some stick if all your domestiques get dropped and Tadej Pogačar takes loads of seconds on Jonas Vingegaard.
You caught that in the control room @vismaleaseabike ? pic.twitter.com/lvLN6nwTI2
— #SiempreGino (@NairoInGreen) July 2, 2024
No idea what Visma did to annoy the person running the NairoInGreen account, but boy were they swinging yesterday…
— #SiempreGino (@NairoInGreen) July 2, 2024
Time will tell who gets the last laugh on that front, Vingegaard apparently very pleased post-stage, telling the TV cameras: “My time will come.” After seeing how far he’s come since that Itzulia crash just THREE MONTHS AGO, we’re not going to argue…
"The biggest risk to road safety in Richmond Park by far, is that posed by motorists": Reaction to disagreement over speed limit advice in Richmond Park
Yesterday we reported that a group which aims to “represent all cyclists and para-cyclists who use Richmond Park” is in disagreement with the Royal Parks over advice to cyclists about speed limits in the south-west London park.
Last month, the Royal Parks said it would be reviewing its cycling policy “following several cycling-related incidents” and cyclists riding “at excessive speeds” causing crashes. The charity also cancelled cycling club London Dynamo’s time trial events on safety grounds as “they directly encourage cyclists to go faster than speed limit”, although curiously the London Duathlon in September (half of which involves a closed-road bike event) has not been called off.
In response a reader who regularly rides in Richmond Park told us: “The biggest risk to road safety in Richmond Park by far, is that posed by motorists. In this clip, I was riding two abreast. It wasn’t busy, we weren’t holding up queues and queues of cars, it was a quiet evening, but this Audi driver seemed to take offence, and can be seen swerving toward me, far in excess of the prescribed 20mph speed limit. Leaving me somewhat shocked and shaken.
There be Audi drivers taking pot shots at cyclists in Richmond Park this evening. 🙁 pic.twitter.com/l69fHqyeOl
— Chapona Bike (@ChaponaBike123) June 24, 2024
“…And we’re told by the Royal Parks, that an early morning cycle time trial event, has been banned due to safety fears. The best way to tackle safety in the park, is to look at banning motorists. Time and time again, and given plenty of chances to get it right, there are some that still try and hound cyclists out of the park. I know it’s a minority, but that minority is spoiling it for the many careful drivers that always get a friendly wave or ping of the bell.
“The Royal Parks has yet to provide a solution for this, or indeed do anything, but ban a London Dynamo event. They are one of the most respected clubs in the park, and their leadership take safety and their reputation very seriously. It’s all a bit bizarre, and just shows the Royal Parks have some sort of hidden pro-motoring agenda, that they don’t hide very well.”
Thoughts? Anyone else local got any reaction to yesterday’s news?
Tour de France bikes vs the bikes you can buy in the shops — are they actually the same?
> Tour de France bikes vs the bikes you can buy in the shops — are they actually the same?
Lidl-Trek commit heinous crime against the nation of Italy
Who ordered the special edition @LidlTrek pizza 🍕 #GirodItaliawomen ?!
Some Italian 🇮🇹 pride, a touch of British 🇬🇧 royalty, a dash of Dutch 🇳🇱 spiciness, a good dose of Australian 🇦🇺 energy and the delicious @lidl ketchup 😜
Ingredients 🗒️ @ElisaLongoB @Elisa_balsamo… pic.twitter.com/zpv93t59WK
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) July 3, 2024
Cycling's latest tech innovation? Super glue, apparently: Biniam Girmay’s Intermarché-Wanty team using glue to get around UCI rule on helmet covers at Tour de France
Meanwhile in Oxford... blanket ban on cycling in public parks set to be reversed
The Oxford Mail reports that laws imposing a blanket ban on cycling in Oxford’s public parks are set to be reversed. Officers have recommended the reversal of the laws, councillor Chewe Munkoge saying that it’s “high time” by-laws were “amended to reflect how our parks are enjoyed by everybody”.
“The proposed changes are a long-overdue, positive step towards creating a more accessible, pragmatic and sensible framework for users to ensure a cleaner, safer environment within our city’s green spaces,” he said.
There has been agreement from Green councillor Emily Kerr who told the local paper that she thinks it “makes sense” as there are already cycling paths at some green spaces, but not others, so it would help if this access was “consistent across the city’s parks”.
She said: “Cycling in parks is always going to be slower than cycling on-road, so I don’t foresee fast and confident cyclists switching to parks. I imagine they’ll be mostly used by children, novice cyclists, and those who are nervous of traffic.”
Four areas, namely Hinksey Park, Lye Valley Nature Reserve and Trap Grounds Nature Reserve will retain the cycling ban following the responses to the consultation.
Cav tinkering, Pog avoids near disaster, breakaway goes for a three-pointer — what's happened at the Tour today?
It’s been quite a sleepy sprint stage for the most part, so not loads to write home about. With 50km to go it has just started to rain and things got a bit nervy when nobody signalled the upcoming traffic furniture and yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar was forced to take evasive action to avoid a crash. Unfortunately for those behind him, his evading and the ripple effect caused others to hit the deck. If only someone at the front had put their arm up and signalled the hazard
👀 ¡𝗦𝗮𝗹𝘃𝗮𝗱𝗼́𝗻 𝗱𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗴𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗿 𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗶́𝗱𝗮 𝗱𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗯𝗮𝗼!
😔 A punto estuvo de comerse la separación de la mediana el líder y el español no pudo evitar chocarse.
📱📺🖥️ Sigue el #TDF2024 en directo en @eurosport_es y @streammaxes pic.twitter.com/xLpbCVXFQA
— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) July 3, 2024
With wet roads and a full peloton ramping it up after an easy day, I don’t think anyone will be surprised if that isn’t the last crash today. Fingers crossed everyone gets around safe. We should get a sprint, which means another shot at number 35 for Cav and those who missed stage three rejoining the party. Will Alpecin-Deceuninck, Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen dominate? Can Girmay double up? Of course it wouldn’t be a sprint stage without some last-minute tinkering from the Manx Missile. That one was stamped off the bingo card early today…
Perhaps the most entertaining thing to happen so far was Clément Russo going for three, but seeing his bottle agonisingly bounce back.
🏀 @russo_clement with the lay-up… Ouch, it missed, too bad!
🏀 @russo_clement avec le lay-up… Aïe aïe aïe c’est manqué, dommage !#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/24JBidrmdd
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 3, 2024
It’s been that sort of day. Don’t you worry though, there’ll be more action in the next hour. That’s a promise.
Mark Cavendish makes history with record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win
> Mark Cavendish makes history with record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win
"Cycling's greatest ever sprinter": Reaction to Mark Cavendish's historic 35th Tour de France stage win
Anything happen at the Tour this afternoon? What are we going to talk about now?
⚔️ SIR MARK CAVENDISH 🏆
🇬🇧 @MarkCavendish#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/v6GBrCYjoH
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 3, 2024
The queue to congratulate the Manx Missile was seemingly in triple figures, rider after rider stopping to say ‘well done’ to the history maker, who now stands outright as the winner of the most Tour de France stages ever. One of the first was former teammate Geraint Thomas, someone whose career has overlapped and been intertwined with Cavendish’s throughout, from the track and Great Britain through to Sky and THAT Giro sprint in Rome. The 2018 Tour champ told the TV cameras he never stopped believeing.
“It’s unbelievable. I’m so happy for him”
Geraint Thomas 🏴 reacts to Mark Cavendish winning his record breaking 35th Tour de France stage victory 🙌#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/EQ3v6wg4Va
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 3, 2024
THIRTY FIVE! 🚀
Sir Mark Cavendish. Cycling’s greatest ever sprinter.#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/vqzOF2nIsP
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) July 3, 2024
Another former teammate, Luke Rowe, was feeling like the rest of us… (either that or he sat on his phone)…
Msbencavwusofmh35wkamshdh
— Luke Rowe (@LukeRowe1990) July 3, 2024
While former UCI president Brian Cookson wrote: “That. Was. Fantastic. Thank you
Mark Cavendish for everything you have brought to our sport.”
In the post-stage interviews Tadej Pogačar, who was NINE when Cav won his first Tour stage, called the achievement “incredible”, adding: “He came to me and said don’t break the record but I don’t think I can.”
Records are made to be broken. Bravo Sir Mark Cavendish on 35 stage wins. 👏
Les records sont faits pour être battus. Bravo à Sir Mark Cavendish pour tes 35 victoires d’étape. 👏#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/Y1ZA52aJtg
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 3, 2024
The brains behind Cavendish’s resurgence, coach Vasilis Anastopoulos, was in tears: “You know it has been so many months of hard training with so many setbacks. We spent three months in Greece from 2 April, every day believing and every day training. We went to Turkey and it was like he was done, gone, he’s not going to sprint but we kept believing. We brought him back to Greece and had some really good sessions and were optimistic but on the first day he had heat stroke so we thought we had done something wrong but he did it again.
“We had a plan and stuck to it. Everyone knew exactly what to do. We made a calculation on what pace to follow. He was super strong at the end. He was the old Cavendish.”
There’s plenty more reaction to come, we’ll keep it rolling here on the live blog as it comes in…
"Everyone has a smile today, even Eddy Merckx": Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme reacts to Cav's win
“Everyone has a smile today, even Eddy Merckx”
Tour race director Christian Prudhomme reacts to Mark Cavendish’s record breaking 35th stage victory 🇫🇷#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/fAGcxz9eaZ
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 3, 2024
Speaking to the ITV cameras, Christian Prudhomme said, “Everyone has a smile today, even Eddy Merckx”.
“The best sprinter in the history of the Tour. He already was, but he is much more now. Just unbelievable. Nobody believed in him, everybody thought it was too late, but him. Today he won, it’s just wonderful, a wondeful story.”
Here’s the moment Cav stepped onto the podium…
Mark Cavendish steps onto the podium for his history making 35th Tour de France win with his family! pic.twitter.com/sQz3PCp6YN
— Eurosport (@eurosport) July 3, 2024
"One Tour de France stage is enough to make a rider's career, 35 is enough to make a legend"
If you need a lesson in the value of persistence, of tenacity, in the merit of sheer, bloody-minded hard work, allow this race, this stage win, this man to be your teacher. One Tour de France stage is enough to make a rider’s career, 35 is enough to make a legend. Arise Sir Mark.
— Orla Chennaoui (@SportsOrla) July 3, 2024
Mark Renshaw is a man with more contribution to the record than most, Cavendish’s former lead-out master-turned-sports director heaping praise on his Astana riders post-stage.
“The guys nailed that,” he said. “To be honest, lost my voice already, I didn’t really get to see the final, our TV wasn’t working, it just flashed up during his victory salute and for probably five seconds we didn’t know… amazing… he’s just a fine wine, he just gets better and better. The team had so much confidence in him, we’ve had confidence all year.”
They say champions always believe in themselves.
I remember twenty-odd years ago this fella always said he was going to be the best sprinter in the world.
And so it is!
Well done old pal 👏 @LeTour pic.twitter.com/9bQ6cyl21o— Ed Clancy OBE (@Ed_Clancy) July 3, 2024
Who needs a chain? Taking the record with his signature celebration
😱 And by the way, yes, @MarkCavendish claimed his 35th Tour stage win with a broken chain.
😱 Et au passage, oui, @MarkCavendish a remporté sa 35ème victoire en cassant sa chaine.#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/JqlDcLwbUH
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 3, 2024
The iconic celebration…
CAV WITH THE TRADEMARK DROPPED CHAIN CELEBRATION LETS GO 💥💥💥‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/0Nvips9exS
— Cameron Mason (@camerooney_) July 3, 2024
As cyclocross star Cameron Mason then explained: “Explanation — sprinting full gas at 60kph+ in 54×11. Rider stops pedalling abruptly and half pedals back to celebrate. Cassette’s momentum keeping going and pops the chain off the big ring at the front. Happened multiple times to Cav in his career and to others.”
🚨30 MINUTES UNTIL HIGHLIGHTS REMINDER🚨
Much happen today? I heard it would be a typical boring flat stage 🤔
— Steven Prince (@stevenwbaprince) July 3, 2024
Cavendish's family have front-row seat for history (+ sprinter's son gets a gift from Tadej Pogačar)
“I never wanted him to sit at home and wonder if he could have done it”
Peta Todd, Mark Cavendish’s wife, talks to Daniel about what this record breaking win means and the sacrifices their family have made this year 🙌🇮🇲#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/vuavgQ10S7
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 3, 2024
Daniel Friebe, ITV interviewer and Cycling Podcast host, had some words of his own for Cavendish’s date with destiny.
It’s taken 17+ years but – after a career that’s been one long tale of defiance – Cavendish has defeated the final boss of doubts, obstacles, records, critics, quibbles & conventional wisdom. Surrender would have been totally out of step with all the rest. Now he can finally go.
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) July 3, 2024
Meanwhile, Cavendish’s son was making a (very famous) friend.
💛 LOVE from @TamauPogi #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/bKSHjNeV40
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 3, 2024
"In the street they heard me screaming!": road.cc reader reaction
Geoff Ingram: “Absolutely delighted with Cav’s win. Do not be surprised if my posts today reflect a few celebratory glasses.”
Cayo: “I was geeing him on vocally as the sprint started and just feeling a little moisture in the eyes afterwards (must have left a window open somewhere for that dust to get in my eyes).”
jaymack: “I did not watch this; I was working. I did not watch this; I was working. I did not watch this; I was working*. An absolutely fantastic achievement, the man really is a legend.
*Some of the statments in this post may be untrue.”
— Steve (@stephen365) July 3, 2024
stonojnr: “I love it when a plan comes together”
Monsieur Michael: “Awesome achievement. Chapeau!”
quiff: “Screaming and tears. Absolutely incredible to watch, just surfing the wheels. Chapeau Cav.”
Flintshire Boy: “Same same. In the street they heard me screaming!”
I'll leave you with this...
See you all tomorrow, same time, same place — maybe even with stage win No. 36. Until then…
3 July 2024, 08:12
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Latest Comments
Marginal margins.
The covid / post-covid boom is driven primarily by failures of capitalist strategy, causing over supply and price gouging. What we are seeing now is the correction. Most so-called ‘Western brands’ bikes are made in Eastern countries anyway - who have long been the leading manufacturers of carbon bikes. Now these makers are becoming brands / sellers too and Western brands have been put on notice. Inflation is driven by greed, not need.
@Benthic A125 motorbike can be ridden by a 17 year old can do about 75MPH; a legal e-bike that a 17-year-old cannot use can do about 15MPH.
The latest moral panic. "From August, the legal age to ride an e-scooter in Ireland will rise from 16 to 18" But, in Ireland you can still drive a: - moped from the age of 16 - 125 cc motorbike from the age of 17 - 3.5 tonne car from the age of 17 So that makes complete sense.
@mitsky I am seeing those Amazon ones in Manchester pretty much every day.
Quite. There's also a demand side story to accompany your eloquently written post, in that domestic demand has dampened from the captive COVID market of a few years back, and less international demand due to tariff-led policies and anti-dumping laws. On Chinese competition, I don't think it's necessarily Western profit-seeking behaviour which has caused increased Chinese supply and competitiveness as much as higher Chinese investment leading to higher quality output, innovation, and economies of scale. I don't know about Chinese frames as I haven't bought one and haven't seen one, but for wheels I don't see any inherent quality advantage for Western brands. Indeed, innovation seems to be coming from Chinese brands along with lower prices, just like we're seeing with electric cars. So higher quality and lower prices.
They should concentrate on the road users who do most of the killing and injuring: car drivers.
I've used the "why aren't you on the motorway?" one before, except here it would be "highway" or "Interstate." The other one I like is: "Get on the sidewalk!" (pavement) "On the side what?" "On the sidewalk!" "So it's not called a side-bicycle then?" Also one I've used a couple of times: "You're not a car!" "Neither are you!"
I've used Challenge, Vittoria, Veloflex and Continental tyres. What stands out for me regarding Challenge is how robust their supple tyres are. Usually there is a tradeoff there, but Challenge somehow manages to keep both.
Well, many of them are more correctly "emit elsewhere". However as we do successfully move away from "coal, oil, and latterly gas and wood" the fraction that is actually emitted does go down. So overall, welcome. (It's complicated... the renewables business is just business like any other so we aren't keen to discuss all the resources being used / new places that get trashed. Example being how much steel (mostly still "dirty") and concrete we need for the new infra. And of course where humans can, they will, as much as they can afford, so Jevons Paradox applies).
15 thoughts on ““Cycling’s greatest ever sprinter”: Reaction to Mark Cavendish’s historic 35th Tour de France stage win; Illi Gardner smashes her own Alpe d’Huez Strava QOM; Speed limit reaction in popular park; Pogačar avoids near disaster + more on the live blog”
Has anyone else started
Has anyone else started getting a browser pop-up saying that the comment editing box isn’t secure? I’ve been getting this the first time I log into road.cc and make a comment, for about a day or so.
Just the once – yesterday, I
Just the once – yesterday, I think. But that may have been the only time I had to log in in the last week or so.
Yes! What does it mean?
Yes! What does it mean?
Pretty much as it says. CKE
Pretty much as it says. CKE is well-used software – some time back they came out with v.5 which was “better” but also require you to start paying for commercial use…
brooksby wrote:
I think that message is from the CKEditor 4 component itself. Version 4 is end-of-life and won’t receive any more security updates, so Road.cc should be looking at moving to version 5 to avoid us seeing that message.
Won’t somebody think of the
Won’t somebody think of the poor drivers. Bloody tories blocking the road with their Maccies breakfast.
What? No pineapple!
What? No pineapple!
WOOO HOOOO !!!!!
WOOO HOOOO !!!!!
What an excellent finish to
What an excellent finish to today’s stage.
mark1a wrote:
Somewhat pleasing, one must admit.
What a way to do it – that
What a way to do it – that was a freaking masterclass!
mdavidford wrote:
Could not have been better, could it? No lucky breaks, no crashes, just unadulterated power and class.
My head told me it probably
My head told me it probably wouldn’t happen, but then with 1k to go you could just see it panning out. Absolutely classic Cav.
I was geeing him on vocally
I was geeing him on vocally as the sprint started and just feeling a little moisture in the eyes afterwards (must have left a window open somewhere for that dust to get in my eyes).
For me, it’s been a massive turnaround – when he first arrived on the scene, he came across as an arrogant, rude and bad-tempered oik I had no time for, but over time (and undoubtedly after he met Peta), he mellowed gradually into a thoughtful, respectful (and sometimes still bad tempered!) student of the sport who does himself and that sport massive credit. And the queue of riders waiting to congratulate him said it all.
Vinakourov may be a disgrace as an athlete but thank goodness his powers of persuasion and faith in his rider are so good.
Roll on 36!
Absolutely delighted with Cav
Absolutely delighted with Cav’s win. Do not be surprised if my posts today reflect a few celebratory glasses.