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Video of Paris-Roubaix pro using foot to brake sparks disc brake debate; Smell of the North: Matteo Jorgenson gets caught short; Mario Kart bike race; Women's Tour; Bike removals; Don't kill me; Gianni Mosc-off; Cobble snorkelling + more on the live blog

Happy Monday! There's loads to get through today, and that's just the Paris-Roubaix reaction...Dan Alexander will be doing his best to stay at the head of the race...
Mon, Oct 04, 2021 08:42
32
Video of Paris-Roubaix pro using foot to brake sparks disc brake debate; Smell of the North: Matteo Jorgenson gets caught short; Mario Kart bike race; Women's Tour; Bike removals; Don't kill me; Gianni Mosc-off; Cobble snorkelling + more on the live blogChristophe Laporte brake fail Paris Roubaix 2021 (screenshot via Eurosport/GCN+)
04 October 2021, 16:31
Morning bike commuter one of many trying to let ambulance past Insulate Britain protest on Wandsworth Bridge

Loads of talk around today about protests...and there's a cycle commuter in here trying to help get the paramedics through Insulate Britain at Wandsworth Bridge. It's an interesting comparison to the Stop Killing Cyclists demonstrations across London where news editor Simon recalls seeing event organisers quickly act to move everyone out of the road to let ambulances through, before resuming the protest.

04 October 2021, 16:47
04 October 2021, 13:23
Christophe Laporte is everyone's new favourite rider + Paris-Roubaix disc brake debate

Christophe Laporte sprinted to sixth place from the group containing Wout van Aert and Yves Lampaert. The best result of his career in a Monument. Impressive. Even more impressive considering earlier in the day he was using his foot on his rear wheel after his brakes stopped working.

Deceuninck-Quick-Step hopeful Florian Sénéchal also reported braking issues, prompting some to question whether discs were the best kit choice for the race...

On Twitter, John Galloway argued: "Also for the record. Discs are a stupid choice for Paris-Roubaix. Slow wheel changes and with certain pads they lost the ability to stop in a race where braking is not an issue for rim brakes. Forget evangelism, embrace pragmatism. They're mostly fantastic, sometimes there are better choices."

Let the debating begin...

I prefer Tom's take...

road.cc Liam reliably informs me the pad choice theory is a decent bet, the pros would have undoubtedly been better served on sintered pads, not organic ones which can struggle in such wet and muddy conditions and work fine in cyclocross. We'll never know, but it's also something that could have been made worse by Laporte dragging his brakes if he was trying to avoid sliding out on the cobbles. Other possible issues could be to do with the piston or hose...

Which would you rather ride through a wet Roubaix? 

QuizMaker

04 October 2021, 16:20
What you might have missed while watching Paris-Roubaix...Greipel retires, Cav wins again

While the rest of the world was watching Paris-Roubaix, Mark Cavendish and André Greipel danced the dance one last time. The German was riding his final race before retirement and waved goodbye to the crowds in Nienberge.

It was one of the Gorilla's great rivals who took the win, however. A certain Mark Cavendish won from a small group for his tenth win of the campaign. A meeting of two legendary sprinters...

04 October 2021, 16:19
Monday mood

You made it. Four days to go... 

04 October 2021, 14:39
A Kickstarter solution to staying seen as the long winter nights closing in?

There's a new eye-catching cycling Kickstarter, this time it's a bike reflector aiming to offer 360-degree visibility without affecting your bike's performance. The FLECTR 360 WING doesn't need batteries, maintenance and can't be stolen (unless they take the whole bike, of course), according to its designers. There's a challenge for British bike thieves...

What's more, for any performance addicts, it adds zero drag and weighs just four grams. Each reflector weighs one gram, but it's recommended you add two on each wheel front and back.

A good idea? 2,030 people on Kickstarter thought so, at the time of writing. The project has raised £69,105 of its original £9,846 target. Hey, it's got to be better than that GoFaster startup allowing riders to wear its kit one they've proved they're quick enough to wear it...

04 October 2021, 14:15
Marta Bastianelli wins opening stage of Women's Tour

As expected the opening stage of the Women's Tour came down to a sprint, and it was Italy's Marta Bastianelli who took the win. Is there anything the Italians won't win this year?

Chloe Hosking was second for Lizzie Deignan's Trek-Segafredo team and Clara Copponi third. Britain's Hannah Barnes and Josie Nelson both earned a top ten result in Banbury. Bastianelli will of course wear the leader's jersey tomorrow. Talking of which, it's a circuit race around Walsall. Nine laps of a largely flat loop before the town centre finish.

Highlights of today's stage will be shown on ITV4 at 9pm...

04 October 2021, 14:13
04 October 2021, 11:39
Moving house by bike

I'm calling a brief Paris-Roubaix timeout...there's just too much brilliant stuff from yesterday. We'll resume the cobbled brilliance after lunch. For now, here's PedalMe helping someone move house by bike...

And some eagle-eyed CCTV scanning...

04 October 2021, 11:31
Please don't kill me

04 October 2021, 10:48
Queen Lizzie Deignan, Elisa Longo Borghini, Elisa Balsamo, Joss Lowden headline star-studded Women's Tour line-up in Bicester
Lizzie Deignan Trek Domane SLR 9 Paris-Roubaix 3 (A.S.O.:Fabien Boukla)

There's more top class bike racing in the UK this week. The AJ Bell Women's Tour has attracted a stacked field, including world champ Elisa Balsamo, Paris-Roubaix winner Lizzie Deignan, third place at Roubaix, Elisa Longo Borghini and Hour Record breaker Joss Lowden.

> Take a closer look at the bike Lizzie Deignan rode to Paris-Roubaix glory

Today's stage is from Bicester to Banbury, before the race dips into the Midlands for tomorrow's Walsall stage and Wednesday's time trial in Atherstone. The week ends in Essex and Suffolk...Thursday is Shoeburyness to Southend-on-Sea, Friday is Colchester to Clacton-on-Sea, while Saturday's finale will take the peloton from Haverhill to Felixstowe.

Frustratingly, the race isn't being broadcast live, but there will be highlights on ITV4 at 9pm tonight and then 8pm for the rest of the week. We'll keep you updated with the stages here on the live blog...

04 October 2021, 10:23
04 October 2021, 09:39
Roubaix bog snorkelling

Cycling bog snorkelling is unbelievably already a thing. A nudge towards 14 of the world's incredible cycling world records. Number six? Yep, it's mountain bike bog snorkelling. Graham Robinson holds the fastest time on the Llanwrtyd Wells course, but shoutout to road.cc Dave who won the event two years running. The big question: could he beat a topless Frenchman who's been on the beers all morning?

04 October 2021, 07:20
Smell of the North: That wasn't mud on Matteo Jorgenson's shorts...Movistar rider apologises to families who saw him pulling a Dumoulin at Paris-Roubaix

Everyone had brown shorts by the end of Roubaix...

Matteo Jorgenson's place in the front group was lost thanks to "six hours of cow shit and mud in the mouth taking my stomach for a ride and a half". The young American took to Instagram to tell the tale of how he scarred several young families for life by adding to the Roubaix sludge...

The Movistar rider was in the same group as Mathieu van der Poel after the infamous Trouée d'Arenberg sector, but waddled home a few pounds lighter in 65th place after an unfortunate pit stop.

"Sometimes, nature calls and you have literally no choice but to answer," Jorgenson laughed. "Apologies to all the women and children who just wanted a wholesome day out watching Paris-Roubaix, but this is the Hell of the North. Six hours of cow shit and mud in the mouth took my stomach for a ride and a half. Maybe next time I can stay in the winning move once I make it."

The jokers in the comments had fun with Matteo's misfortune, one dubbing it the "winning movement", another congratulating him on being a "hitter"...well, it rhymes with hitter. Ask Tom Dumoulin, it happens to the best of us...

04 October 2021, 08:31
No sympathy for Gianni Moscon: Puncture and crash ends Italian's Monument hopes...to the delight of cycling fans everywhere

Cue the memes...

There was a moment yesterday when it seemed as though, after 30 months of absence and expectation, one of pro cycling's least popular names was going to spoil the party...

Alas, Gianni Moscon punctured, got a new bike with rock-hard tyres, bounced over the cobbles and crashed. The trio of chasers caught up, dropped him, and left the soon-to-be Astana rider one step off the podium in fourth.

It's fair to say there wasn't much sympathy for the Italian during, or after, the race...

Buckle up for a 'why Moscon is peloton enemy number one' history lesson. During the 2017 Tour de Romandie he racially abused French rider Kevin Reza, resulting in a six-week suspension. Later in the year he was accused of deliberately causing Reza's teammate Sébastien Reichenbach to crash. Lack of camera evidence meant the case was dropped. To top off the year, he was then disqualified from the World Championships Road Race for holding on to a team car.

At the 2018 Tour de France, Moscon was kicked off the race for punching Élie Gesbert, and then at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne last year he was disqualified for throwing a bike at Jens Debusschere after a crash...nice chap.

04 October 2021, 07:55
Mario Kart or a bike race? AG2R Citroën team car ends up in a ditch at Paris-Roubaix

The Hell of the North lived up to its title. The first wet edition in 19 years was as brutal/ chaotic/ hectic/ epic as expected. It even made getting out on the bike at half seven in full winter gear worth it. There were crashes, motorbike falls, punctures, Adam Blythe meltdowns, Christophe Laporte using his foot as a brake, Matteo Jorgenson ditch dumping, finish line scenes, and that's just the stuff we saw. 

AG2R Citroën's team car taking a spill was one of the many incidents the TV cameras missed, but thankfully a well-positioned fan didn't let this prime content go to waste.

Dan Alexander

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

Add new comment

31 comments

Avatar
Nick T | 2 years ago
0 likes

With slick tyres on those muddy cobbles it would make a blind bit of difference what brake system I was given, I'd be using them as gingerly as humanly possible

Avatar
Hirsute | 2 years ago
1 like

Watched the highlights of the womens on itv4.
Even my wife said how poor the production was and the lack of information.
Didn't see a single time gap or groupe and very little on how far there was to go. Not a great advert really.

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Awavey replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
0 likes

yep same as previous years unfortunately, thats the problem with highlights only coverage package, because they dont get that automatic on screen graphic production stuff, because its literally just video recorded by camera

so theres no way they can reconstruct the data with all the picture feeds theyve got properly post race in the edit to do it as it would just take too long to work it out and cover the jumps in cuts properly, especially when you have to turn it around that night, you just hope the commentators pick up any main points, and if overall leads in the jerseys change hands.

plus assuming they werent goofs, it has in the past allowed them to edit pictures out of sequence that might tell a more dynamic story of the race, or fits better with the advert breaks.

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Hirsute replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
0 likes

Thanks. I think the commentators could do a better job with working out the gaps though and they were more interested in the crash about 1km from the finish (not that we saw the flame rouge) than the actual finishing sprint where how far they had left was mystery until I saw a 100m sign.

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LastBoyScout | 2 years ago
3 likes

If disc brakes were so crap in wet and muddy conditions, surely everyone riding them in MTB and CX races (not to mention everywhere else) would have noticed by now!

Must have been either the mechanic put the wrong pads in/didn't set them up correctly or a genuine mechanical issue.

Avatar
MattieKempy | 2 years ago
4 likes

Roubaix & disc-brakes: haters gonna hate.

Insulate Britain protests: the chav-twat-(in all likelihood)-Brexit--mouth-breathers have no idea why there's a need to protest. They're part of the problem, not the solution.

Avatar
Mungecrundle replied to MattieKempy | 2 years ago
2 likes

Though I'm not convinced that it isn't possible to have your home insulated without having the taxpayer fund it, I do get what Insulate Britain and XR are trying to achieve and broadly support their actions. But blocking the road to an ambulance?

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Secret_squirrel replied to Mungecrundle | 2 years ago
4 likes

I broadly supported their motives.  Their actions seem to mostly consist of activities designed to polarise and alienate people. 
For the sake of balance I should point out that: 

a) No ambulance actually appears in that video.

b) When the proper XR lot blocked Regent Street they actually had their own marshals clearing the way for Emergency vehicles. 

c) Some of the dragging in that video looks suspiciously like assault to me. 
 

d) How the hell do you get that worked up over loft insulation? Really?

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to Mungecrundle | 2 years ago
3 likes

Mungecrundle wrote:

But blocking the road to an ambulance?

What ambulance?  The same one drivers block every day?  That one?

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ktache replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
2 likes

It's so very wrong to block a road to protest, but queuing for fuel, well that's worthwhile.  Let alone driving a mile or less to the shops or dropping kids off at school.

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chrisonabike replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
0 likes

Ah - but the drivers would be able to move out the way - indeed there would be no delays to traffic - if they weren't being blocked by ... cyclists!

You can make impatient overtakes into wins by just chanting "...another point for XR" as they roar by.

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Flintshire Boy replied to MattieKempy | 2 years ago
1 like

Speaking of haters who hate .... here you are again. What a great contribution you make to any discussion. More, please.

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Awavey | 2 years ago
6 likes

I wondered when the "disc brakes are rubbish again" thing would pop up as a result of that. if you can afford to replace a bunch of carbon rims after a race like that using rim brakes, because theyd be absolutely toast no question, go ahead be my guest. Ill stick with discs and just choose the correct pads for the conditions.

secondly why is it the mechanics are being given such rubbish tools to work with ? and do they not practice wheel changes ? saw that on a race previously the guy fumbled around for ages, like he'd never seen a disc wheel before, and because the thing he was using to unbolt the thru-bolt looked about as powerful as something you could pick up from the bargain bin in Aldi.

Avatar
mdavidford | 2 years ago
5 likes

Quote:

Which would you rather ride through a wet Roubaix?

Your poll seems to be missing an option for 'Sofa'.

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Rendel Harris replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
6 likes

I was going to say "Team car" - then I saw the AG2R ditch surfing...

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Sam3 | 2 years ago
4 likes

Disc brakes allow you to run tires are sizes and pressures where flats - and therefore tire changes - are less likely to occur in the first place. Rim brakes and 25mm tires at 1 million PSI are so yesteryear.... 

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
3 likes

I've got similar wheel rim based reflectors on my wheels, but I just bought some 3M black reflective stickers from Amazon - quicker and cheaper than waiting on a KickStarter.

Avatar
LastBoyScout replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
1 like

£1 a pack for something similar here:

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-parts/bike-wheels/halfords-reflect...

In fact, I got a pack of red and a pack of white ones out of one of their bargain bins for about 20p each a few years ago.

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Global Nomad replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
0 likes

if they've been so succesful why are they raising funds on kickstarter......

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mdavidford | 2 years ago
2 likes

Quote:

it's recommended you add two on each wheel front and back.

I didn't realise my wheels had a front and a back.

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GMBasix | 2 years ago
0 likes

I don't follow racing. Who or what is a Moscon, and why does nobody like it?

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mdavidford replied to GMBasix | 2 years ago
2 likes

It's like a very large mosquito.

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Sniffer replied to GMBasix | 2 years ago
0 likes

The info is in the live blog.  Follow the links for the 'controversies' he has been involved in.

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GMBasix replied to Sniffer | 2 years ago
0 likes

Thanks - missed that because I don't follow racing, but all the btl comments seemed to be making a thing of it. Don't think I'll follow the links: my curiosity has been satisfied now.

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Awavey | 2 years ago
0 likes

no van Vleuten (ok she can barely walk after breaking her pelvis & shoulder on Saturday but she wasnt on the shortlist lineup) no van der Breggen, no Uttrup Ludwig, and of the former winners no Vos, no Niewiadoma, no Brennauer, no Rivera.

in fact of the current top 30 UCI ranked women riders, only about 1/3rd are present in the race.

is that really that star studded a line up?  Canyon SRAM have only entered 4 riders, I dont know if the revised position in the calendar has had an impact, but you get the feeling alot of the teams felt their season concluded at the weekend.

Avatar
sparrowlegs replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
4 likes

Hopefully Lizzie will get the recognition she deserves by the crowds but I personally am really disappointed the race isn't coming to the North-West and doubly disappointed that it's not being shown live on TV. I have 2 daughters and watched the womens PR with my eldest daughter who loved it. I'd have liked to take them both to watch a stage of the Women's tour.

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Awavey replied to sparrowlegs | 2 years ago
0 likes

which is why live tv coverage is so important to keep up engagement with those fans, as the race cant unfortunately go everywhere, it has to go where there is money to pay for it.

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kil0ran | 2 years ago
2 likes

Such was the brutality of yesterday's race I found myself almost feeling sorry for Moscon. Almost. And then I remembered. And laughed. Karma. 

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Miller replied to kil0ran | 2 years ago
0 likes

He sure gave some nice family a moment to remember when he fell off his bike and slid to a halt right at their feet.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Miller | 2 years ago
0 likes

They were lucky he didn't get up and throw it at them.

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