“This is what we’ve been waiting for”: Peter Sagan jives to Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog, and the results are as glorious as you’d expect; 9-year-old cycles up the 8.8% gradient Muur with trainers; Philipsen rides seatless e-bike + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Wrong turns, more 'optical illusion' bike lanes... and the Tour is coming to the UK! Here's your weekend roundup
O ye of little faith, did ye hear the Boucle is coming to Wales and Edinburgh in 2027?
> Check out Geraint Thomas’s 2018 Tour de France-winning Pinarello Dogma F10 X-Light
Kaden Groves becomes first victim of UCI’s rule to penalise riders for celebrating teammates’ win, as fans brand Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne sprint decision “ridiculous”
You might remember that in January, it was reported that the UCI would be introducing a new rule that would see riders decelerating during a sprint and celebrating their teammates’ victory before crossing the line being slapped with a fine.
It hasn’t taken too long for such a scenario to unfold, and the sport’s governing body has responded with a yellow card, a relegation for Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Kaden Groves, and a fine of 500 Swiss francs.
The Australian sprinter and two-time points classification winner at the Vuelta was tasked with being the leadout man for Jasper Philipsen — a task he performed perfectly, sticking to the barriers and moving aside to help Philipsen get his first win of the season.
However, after the race, it was revealed that Groves was not only shown a yellow card, but also relegated form 10th position to 57th — a decision that has divided fans, with some calling it “ridiculous”, while others saying that the ultimate purpose of this rule is to ensure the peloton’s safety.
Poisson-pilote de Jasper Philipsen sur Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, Kaden Groves a été déclassé et a écopé d’un carton jaune. Un nouveau point de règlement sanctionne un coéquipier qui “célèbre dans le peloton” en “retirant les mains du guidon”. #KBK25pic.twitter.com/HWhiUH6GQk
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) March 2, 2025
One person said: “It’s ridiculous, he’s not doing anything dangerous. If we do that, we might as well downgrade the winners to raise their arms in the sprints too,” but another fan thought: “When he raises his hand, he weaves slightly. The day when a guy impales himself at 60km/h in it, we will be very happy that the yellow card exists.”
The official wording for the new regulation from the UCI was: “Rider decelerating during a sprint and endangering other riders (knowingly staying within the line of other riders, celebrating in the bunch, talking on the radio or taking hands off handlebars while in the bunch).”
Another cycling fan said: “It is a difficult one to learn for riders as you’re on your limit and there’s a lot of emotion.” So maybe we can expect a few more of these as riders come to grips with the new rules…
*Wholesome content alert* 9-year-old scales the 8.8% gradient Muur effortlessly… wearing trainers!
I know we often joke about riders getting younger and better a lot here, but this is just flat out impressive, brave… and so wholesome!
9-year-old Gioia has really put most of us cyclists to shame, climbing the Muur van Geraardsbergen, the penultimate climb in Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, before her idols would scale the famous steep, narrow road with cobblestones in Belgium — while wearing trainers!
As someone said, “These are the memories from your childhood you’ll cherish for the rest for your life…” For all we know, she could be climbing the Muur with the actual rainbow stripes, in little over a decade.
Calls for Mallorca 312 cycling event to be cancelled over “abusive” road closures which “violate” locals’ rights to “enter or leave their homes” and turn island into a “theme park”
Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne’s iconic steward has swapped his e-scooter for a seatless e-bike… and Philipsen seems to have taken a liking to it
A year after giving fans one of the coolest pro cycling videos of escorting last year’s winner Wout van Aert after the race while riding his e-scooter with the suave and nonchalance that’d put James Bond to shame, everyone’s favourite Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne steward is back!
And would you believe it, he’s swapped (read: upgraded) his e-scooter to an e-bike… a seatless one too, for some reason. And just like last year, he was the steward responsible for escorting the winner, recreating the same video.
But wait, there’s more! Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen, who won the race thanks to a superb leadout from Kaden Groves who was controversially relegated by the UCI for celebrating before finishing the race, seems to have taken a liking to the contraption, even taking it out for a spin.
Vervangt @JasperPhilipsen volgende editie onze steward Rik Bossuyt? 🤣#Wherelegendsareborn pic.twitter.com/xIHaF1ogbF
— KuurneBrusselKuurne (@KuurneBxlKuurne) March 2, 2025
Surprise surprise! Mathieu van der Poel will start his road season tomorrow at Le Samyn
Alpecin-Deceuninck, after winning yesterday’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, will be looking to make it back-to-back wins, with the team’s star rider Mathieu van der Poel set to race on the road for the first time this year at Le Samyn.
The Dutch rider, fresh off the back of his heroic cross exploits, which saw him win every race he participated in, culminating in the brilliant winning performance at the world championships in Liévin, France, will be counting on himself to kickstart his season with a victory at the first classic in Wallonia, Belgium.
Van der Poel’s inclusion in the race comes as a surprise, due to the fact that Le Samyn wasn’t a part of his programme. In a social media post, the team had the rider saying: ““If the itch gets too strong, you just have to race!”
Thanks for the Monday motivation MvdP!
Cycling banter we live for... at the expense of Unibet Tietama Rockets
Spare a thought for all the Pro and Conti teams looking for a good result at Le Samyn tomorrow, because the surprise announcement that Mathieu van der Poel will be racing as well is certain to knock the wind out of a couple of riders or more.
At least, Dutch ProTeam Unibet Tietema Rockets have resorted to humour in the face of the Van der Poel-shaped adversity, and attempted to humour us fans with this video…
We’re cooked. 😨
🇧🇪 #GPSamyn #EnzameSamynClassic pic.twitter.com/gxNDWa4Pr7
— Unibet Tietema Rockets (@rockets_cycling) March 3, 2025
Cyclists could face on-the-spot £500 fines for riding in pedestrian zones under new bill – but campaigners slam “meaningless rhetoric” and ask: “How is this justice?”
“Extra Eyes has no vision”: Cyclists declare “no confidence” in police, after close-passing driver is judged to be “showing consideration” by moving across white line
A cycling campaign has blasted the police force and declared that they have “no confidence” in their ability to protect cyclists after they judged a driver to be “showing consideration” just because they moved slightly to their right across the white line in what appears to be a shocking close pass.
Colchester Cycling Campaign, sharing pictures of the incident, wrote on social media: “According to Essex Police, ‘The driver is clearly showing consideration by moving out, across the centre white line.’
“Sadly, we have no confidence in Essex Police or Safer Essex Roads in protecting cyclists from careless and dangerous drivers. Extra Eyes has no vision.”
According to @essexpoliceuk.bsky.social “The driver is clearly showing consideration by moving out, across the centre white line”. Sadly, we have no confidence in @essexpoliceuk.bsky.social or Safer Essex Roads Partnership in protecting cyclists from careless and dangerous drivers.
— Colchester Cycling Campaign (@colchestercycling.bsky.social) 2 March 2025 at 20:23
Extra Eyes is a road safety campaign launched by Safer Essex Roads Partnership (SERP), a joint initiative between various departments within the county, aimed at encouraging road users to capture footage and submit it to the team.
On its website, the team says: “The increasing availability of mass market ‘on the go’ cameras mean more irresponsible, dangerous, and illegal road behaviour is being recorded in video form than ever before. Through ‘Extra Eyes’, this footage can be sent to us for review by an investigator within Road Policing at Essex Police.
“In appropriate cases, we will have no hesitation in taking positive action against offenders, using the evidence that you supply, providing it meets the criteria.
“Where appropriate, offenders will be offered a driver improvement course at their expense to educate them and ultimately improve their attitude towards driving. Where the criteria for one of these courses is not met, a fixed penalty notice or escalation to court proceedings may follow.”
Colchester Cycling Campaign shared another picture of a close passing driver and wrote: “Apparently the Mercedes driver is showing consideration but the driver of the Ford merited a course or conditional offer. Does this make sense to anyone?”
The news hasn’t been taken well by cyclists on social media, who have condemned the police’s actions. One person wrote: “Essex is my least favourite place to cycle. Roads are totally lawless and Essex Police are completely ineffectual. The Met area or Herts is better.”
Another person said: “It’s Essex. Neither Essex Highways nor Essex Police really give a shite about the safety of anyone cycling on their roads.”
Yet another Bluesky user added: “That’s not good enough, moving out slightly is not a consideration. Whoever makes these decisions and supports them is not fit to do the job and should resign. I’ve not reported anything for months, they are only interested in making excuses for dangerous drivers.”
The cyclist who goes by the online persona of ‘Chaponabike’ replied: “It’s a resource issue. Cheaper to send out a warning letter and hope the offending driver behaves themselves in future. The police don’t have the resource to pass all of this to the CPS,” to which Colchester Cycling Campaign responded saying: “We don’t accept that. Changing the behaviour of drivers is far cheaper than dealing with the consequences.”
This isn’t the first time cyclists have been left disappointed with Essex Police’s decision-making in judging a close pass. In June last year, we featured one such rider on our Near Miss of the Day series, who was left “shaken” when a speeding driver overtook him before a traffic island.
He criticised the police for offering the offending driver the choice of points or a fine as punishment, saying: “I reported it to Essex Police as soon as I got home. After chasing for the result, they stated the driver will be offered the choice of a driving course or points and fine.
“I felt let down by this and did write to them to complain about the outcome, but to date have not received a response.”
The Extra Eyes initiative also came under heavy criticism in April 2023, when SERP’s Twitter account replying to a question asking why one example of a cyclist’s footage of a mobile phone-using driver would not be accepted, saying: “We accept these if they are reported by cyclists who record it in passing while on their commute but not from those who proactively seek out examples of poor driving.”
“This is what we’ve been waiting for”: Peter Sagan jives to Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog, and the results are as glorious as you’d expect
If you somehow missed the most exciting news of the 2025 cycling season, Peter Sagan is on Let’s Dance, the Slovakian version of Strictly Come Dancing, and clips of the iconic rider doing the twist to Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog in a shimmering gold jacket (a bit too loose if you ask me) and slicked back hair. Dare I say, his idol Patrick Swayze would be proud…
But obviously, take the word of your live blog host with a grain of salt, as I’d humbly accept I’m no good when it comes to matters of dancing. As the judges of the show, and more importantly, Ryan would tell you, Sagan’s dance maybe wasn’t all that great, considering he only ranked seventh out of the 11 contestants, one of the judges even giving him a three out of 10…
As cycling fans would know, this isn’t the first time Sagan has done a kitschy bit — it’s been almost a decade since that John Travolta ‘You’re the One That I Want’ impression. By the looks of it, the three-time world champion’s trade of S-Works 7s for some shiny dancing shoes isn’t going too badly.
Next, Geraint Thomas on Strictly, please?
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The reckless behaviour may have been intentional, but can you prove beyond reasonable doubt that the specific intent was to kill the cyclist? If you charge with murder instead of manslaughter and can't convince all 12 jurors of that, you get no conviction.
The French will try anything to get a Tour de France winner.
Unfortunately convicted Fraudster Louise Haigh is unavailable to serve as Transport Minister as she has been given (checks notes) the lead role for Ethics and Propriety as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. That’s right - Burnham has appointed to an ethics and propriety role a person who not only committed fraud, but reportedly stayed silent when the person she sold one of the phones she stole to got arrested for having bought it from her in good faith.
Perhaps because the riders are going to fairly fatigued at this point of the race, and with a load of big stages still to come, so more likely to be using (if indeed they are)?
Well, "Texas law recognizes manslaughter as criminal homicide under section 19.04 of the state’s penal code. A person commits the crime of manslaughter if he or she recklessly caused the death of an individual. This differs from murder, where the accused intentionally and knowingly caused the death of someone. Manslaughter can be interpreted as an action that unintentionally caused a death, which is referred to as reckless behavior." I would say trying to hit a biker with a car so hard that she completely shattered the Honda's rear hatch window and crushed the hatch inward is severely intentional. The driver has been "booked into the Brazos County Jail 13 times since 2012...Those include criminal mischief, theft, resisting arrest, assault, hit and run, escape from custody, deadly conduct, possession of a controlled substance, and multiple driving offenses."
Well, the new transport secretary isn't Lousie Haigh, she's been appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Has anyone worked out what that job is yet?
@jh2727 I fear you may be right but if you are I find it a very unsatisfactory state of affairs. If it is an offence then they have the choice of sending a NIP, a warning letter or an advisory letter instead of NFA. All of these should be just a matter of pressing a button. In the case of the NIP, once the driver has been identified and checked for previous they have the option of a course, a fixed penalty notice or taking it to court. The first actually generates income, the second only goes to court if it's contested. I can see why they don't always use the courts but I can't see any reason not to use the others. Some on here would say that letters and courses are a waste of time but I don't. It hasn't happened to me yet but if a driver has already been dealt with in that way then the next time it's going to be very difficult to justify not taking action. I have also noticed a marked improvement in driving around me since Gloucestershire started sending advisory letters rather than NFA for close passes.
Also, with 8 seats and space for 6 standing, that's over 1 tonne just in passenger weight, plus the weight of the vehicle. Okay, they might not usually be at capacity, but a company is hardly likely to run them almost empty. It was vehicle weight which damaged the bridge and they're solving that with more vehicles? This report is just a press release reissued. The Barnes and Hammersmith Electric Light Transit is supposedly a grassroots community group that developed this junk?
@Another_MAMIL I'd say yes. I've not read up on the requirements lately, but my understanding is that while the heavy lifting of doping tests can be done after competition as it routine at the Olympics and in tennis, or as part of the whereabouts testing (athletes specifying when and where they'll be for an hour each day), the doping authorities have the right to turn up and request a test any other time, specifically to deter microdosing. They can't get into trouble if they aren't there when the testers turn up, but refusing is not an option. I have heard of testers turning up on mass at tournament hotels used by tennis players, including one time in the run up to the start of the Paris Masters event. I remember because rumour has it that one well known player had a sudden and coincidental family emergency that meant they had to temporarily leave the country. That was around the time biological passports were coming in, and they were taking blood samples. If memory serves me right, that was late at night, but not the middle of the night. While some players may have been in their pyjamas, it sounded as if all of the top players were targeted, and the tournament hadn't yet started, so much less disruptive, and harder for any player to claim they'd been victimised. As much as I support actions to catch or deter doping, it's because sport should be fair. Having just one or two competitors woken in the night is not fair.
11 thoughts on ““This is what we’ve been waiting for”: Peter Sagan jives to Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog, and the results are as glorious as you’d expect; 9-year-old cycles up the 8.8% gradient Muur with trainers; Philipsen rides seatless e-bike + more on the live blog”
“close-passing driver is
“close-passing driver is judged to be “showing consideration” by moving across white line” – and yet is still waaay closer than 1.5 metres, I think. Are Essex police basically saying, “Well, there was no collision so it’s all good”?
I’ve lost count of the number
I’ve lost count of the number of times close passers with whom I’ve remonstrated have shouted, “I was over the line, I was over the line!” There is a huge lack of understanding of the fact that the average UK lane width is around 300 cm, a cyclist will be about 60 cm wide and riding to Highway Code recommendations 50 cm off the kerb/verge, leaving roughly 190 cm between their offside and the white line, meaning that to leave them the required 150 cm passing distance all but 40 cm of the car width must be in the oncoming lane, i.e. at an absolute minimum the nearside tyres should be touching the centreline. In my experience the majority of drivers appear to believe that if their offside wheels are over the centre line they must, by definition, have left enough space. Perhaps it’s time safety campaigns stopped using well-intentioned illustrations of what 1.5 m looks like and simply start saying that if your left hand tyres aren’t on the centreline then you are too close to the cyclist.
I wonder if the advice should
I wonder if the advice should change so that the overtaking driver should be entirely in the other lane.
AidanR wrote:
I think the problem is the contradiction in highway code rule 163 (which is badly worded)
“give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders and horse drawn vehicles at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car”
and the accompanying picture of the car, which shows the correct distance to the cyclist.
The wording states “give as much room… as you would when overtaking a car”.
If there are two lanes in the same direction and the driver in the right lane is overtaking a driver in the left lane, the actual distance between the right side of the vehicle in the left lane and the left side of the vehicle in the right lane can be quite close.
Which means a driver could argue, if accused of close passing a cyclist or other vulnerable road user, that they were following the rule to the letter.
However, the highway code
However, the highway code revisions now provide more detail and the cyclist overtaking picture has been updated. e.g.:
Rule 211 has not been updated I think but does refer back to rules including 163
However of course a) “wasn’t in there when I took the test 60 years ago” b) people just drive like others are driving e.g. more or less “carefully and considerately” – but sometimes “less” c) it is a “should” so merely “guidance” d) … and indeed in practice police and courts have established plenty of precendents for ignoring the “MUST” actual law parts…
Are Essex police basically
Are Essex police basically saying, “Well, there was no collision so it’s all good”?
Yes- that’s exactly what they, along with most UK forces, are saying. If there is a collision (a police way of saying that the driver ploughed into the cyclist) then there’s insufficient evidence to contradict the uninjured party’s statement that the cyclist came out of nowhere, I didn’t stand a chance, I’m a cyclist myself…
I think thats exactly what
I think thats exactly what they are saying. “What are you whinging about, I didn’t hit you” basically.
mctrials23 wrote:
whereas the whole point is that they didn’t hit you this time
I have some video and
I have some video and correspendence I must send through at some point.
Summary is pickup passes 4 cyclists at spped on a narrow road (not quite single track, but no white) line. Lincs police agree there is action needed. Registered keeper won’t name driver. Court summons, charges of inconsiderate driving, not revealing driver. Week before it comes to court CPS decide not to submit video because it shows the driver “did slow down” (you could see his brake lights was their explanation – obviously after he had passed me) and in their view he had left 1.5 metres, even though the road is max 4.5 meters wide and we were riding 2 abreast because we hadn’t had time to single out. Also note that the 1.5 meters is for speeds up to 30mph.
As a result of no evidence, not guilty on both counts.
At the moment I am still too angry to go through all the stuff to put it together. At the time it happened I was convinced I was about to see one of my mates seriously injured.
I am also really concerned because the attitude of the keeper refusing to name the driver indicates a real issue, and I fear that now they won’t be stopped until they actually hit a cyclist.
Seems to me Essex Police are
Seems to me Essex Police are completely correct – the driver has seen the cyclist and considered how far over they need to move to avoid scratching their car.
The Groves penalty looks fair
The Groves penalty looks fair enough to me – he doesn’t swing far enough over before sitting up, and obstructs other riders (primarily the Trek rider) still trying to sprint behind him. The celebration is neither here nor there.