AI Bulls**t of the Day: Google (incorrectly) claims Jonas Vingegaard is out of Tour de France… based on last year’s crash report; Magnus Cort revives French hotel room reviews — as no toilet brush proves “catastrophic” for Van Aert + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“Philipsen was the victim of something he had nothing to do with”: Alpecin confirm collarbone and rib fractures for Philipsen after crash ends second green jersey dreams, as Coquard apologises for “not deliberate” swerve
Alpecin-Deceuninck have confirmed that Jasper Philipsen suffered a broken collarbone and at least one broken rib in his high-speed crash during stage three’s intermediate sprint, ending the Belgian’s hopes of a second consecutive green jersey just two days after he pulled on yellow for the first time in his career.
Philipsen went down hard 60 kilometres from the finish after Bryan Coquard — veering off balance while battling for position in the wheel of Jonathan Milan — swerved left and shoulder-checked the Alpecin sprinter, who was thrown violently onto the tarmac and skidded several metres on his back. His skinsuit was shredded, his shoulder was immediately put in a sling, and it was clear that the 2023 Tour’s points leader’s aim of taking home the green jersey for a second time was over.
Team boss Philip Roodhooft confirmed that Philipsen was hospitalised with a broken collarbone and rib, and would undergo surgery at AZ Herentals. He said: “It looks bad, of course, with all the abrasions he has. Philipsen was the victim of something he had nothing to do with. We can’t blame the other two directly, either. It was just a stupid crash, something that unfortunately can happen in cycling. And unfortunately, Jasper is paying the price.”
“It’s still too early to say what we’re going to do, but we have other good riders,” he added. “I’m thinking of Kaden Groves, but now is not the time to talk about that. Jasper is still suffering from burns and has been badly bruised, so how we proceed is not the most important thing right now. We have to keep going, and Jasper will want that too, but I’m putting that discussion on hold for now.
“Everyone who saw it happen feels terrible about it. But it happens to others, too; we’ll see. When it happens to someone in your team, you experience it differently, of course. But that’s also the Tour de France, and maybe it’s a metaphor for life: enjoy the moments when you can. Everything can change very quickly.”
Bryan Coquard also responded publicly after the stage, expressing regret. “I was just in the wheel of Milan and I think that when he launched, I don’t even have the impression of having touched anything. Then I was clearly off balance, I lost the pedal on the shoe, I almost lost the shoe,” he said.
“I’d like to apologise, even if it wasn’t deliberate. I’d like to apologise to Philipsen and Alpecin, even if I’m not a bad guy, it’s still not pleasant.”
National Police Chiefs' Council insists there's no reason for police in Wales to stop taking action on cyclists' close pass videos
“You are wasting your time”: Vingegaard says media blew wife’s comments out of proportion after she accused Visma of “pushing him too far”
Jonas Vingegaard has brushed off his wife’s scathing comments about Visma-Lease a Bike, accusing the press of turning her words into a sideshow — and telling journalists they’re wasting their time focusing on family drama instead of the racing.
“She said something and they [the media] put a spin on it,” he said ahead of stage three. “That’s what the media does. That’s the Tour de France, I think… You have limited time and you are wasting it on something that is not important, instead of on the race.”
“It was taken out of context,” he added. “She said something and the media in Denmark made a story out of nothing.”
The “something” in question was Trine Marie Hansen — Vingegaard’s wife and manager — telling Politiken that the team was “pushing him too far now,” and warning: “I’m afraid he’s burning the candle at both ends. I think people sometimes forget the human being behind the athlete — and how to get the best out of him. It could all backfire.”
She also took aim at the team’s training approach. “Jonas doesn’t recharge on another three-week altitude camp with the team. He needs to be at home in Denmark, with us, to feel truly himself,” she said. “Sometimes he needs to reset in the calmest surroundings possible, just with his family. That’s a huge part of who he is and why he’s successful.”
Her comments about GC leadership weren’t subtle either: “If you also focus on stage wins for other riders, that can’t be used for Jonas. You can only have respect for how Tadej Pogačar does it. When he’s at the start of a race, there’s no doubt about who the leader is. Everyone knows his role. I think that’s super important.”
Wout van Aert — very much one of the “other riders” being referred to — said he was surprised by the interview, which dropped shortly after Sunday’s stage.
“We were surprised to read that yesterday after the stage. I don’t want to say too much about it. My performances for this team speak for themselves. I consider this team as my team and I always go one hundred percent for the goals we set ourselves,” he told Sporza.
“Here in the Tour, one of those goals is a stage win for myself. That’s clear to everyone, including Jonas, and that’s what we’re going for,” he said.
“Are we still friends? Of course. But I do think it was good to talk about it. It wasn’t Jonas who said anything either. I regret what it says, but people who know me know they can count on me.”
“5 out of 7 stars”: Magnus Cort brings back Rooms and Ratings for Tour de France… and a missing toilet brush is an early cause of “catastrophe” for Wout van Aert
Back in the saddle and back on hotel patrol — Magnus Cort has brought back his cult-classic ‘Rooms and Ratings’ series for this year’s Tour de France, and after a six-night stay in his current hotel, the verdict is in: decent curtains, working Wi-Fi, no sink in the toilet room, and… no toilet brush. Trouble.
Posting to Instagram this morning, the Uno-X Mobility rider wrote: “Pretty good room with space for our suitcases, working internet, good curtains and AC. Obviously, we bring our own chef for the tour so I won’t rate the food. However, a couple of things made them lose a couple of stars.”
Those things? The French bathroom setup. “As typical in France there was no sink in the room where the toilet was and maybe even worse no brush for the toilet,” he wrote. “I have promised Wout van Aert not to share the catastrophe this can lead to, but I am sure my secret roommate can confirm it wasn’t nice.”
As for the identity of the poor soul sharing the room with Cort? Unconfirmed — though the image shows him sitting on the bed, face covered with a paper bag, Uno-X bib shorts still on.
One fan commented under the post: “Love Van Aert, but I am disappointed that he tries to stop Magnus from producing arguably content for the internet. Real talk!”
This year’s Rooms and Ratings revival follows Cort’s now-legendary pre-Tour suitcase video, in which he climbed out of a Salomon case — sponsor label front and centre — to joke about preparing for France’s “rough” hotel conditions, a nod to both tradition and trauma for pro cyclists.
And last July, he gave a grim one-star review to a crumbling “bunker” in Le Lioran, which smelt like mouldy concrete, had zero Wi-Fi, and featured a vertical layout so impractical that Cort admitted to peeing in a bottle rather than make the multi-storey trip to the loo during the night. “1 out of 7 stars,” he wrote. “I couldn’t find the place to tag the location — maybe it is a deliberate choice from them to avoid a bad reputation.”
The Tour, Giro and Vuelta stage-winner is hardly alone in calling out the accommodation roulette that is the Tour de France. Last summer, Intermarché-Wanty’s Mike Teunissen launched a blistering critique of the organiser-assigned hotels, saying his room was too cramped to open a suitcase and so hot he couldn’t sleep.
“This is one of the biggest sporting events in the world,” he said. “Tennis players at Wimbledon or soccer players in the Champions League: if they ever end up in these places, they’ll turn around immediately.”
"We narrowly avoided disaster": Police recover remaining bikes stolen from Cofidis at Tour de France, after team staff found five "dumped in woodland"
“You can’t park there mate”: Tour de France crashes not just limited to riders, as Soudal Quick-Step team car ends up in a ditch (and has to be towed out by a Dacia driver)
Three stages into the Tour de France and it’s already carnage — green jersey holder Jasper Philipsen out after a heavy crash, sprint finishes strewn with bodies, cobbled chaos for a single KOM point, and GC hopefuls already shipping time to Pogačar and Vingegaard.
Now, even team cars are getting in on the action. On stage two, Soudal Quick-Step managed to lodge one of their support vehicles in a ditch near the feed zone and had to be towed out by a Dacia Duster.
Soudal QuickStep car in ended in a ditch 🫣😬 #TDF2025
🎥: FijiKimbo pic.twitter.com/Zbb3QDxwL1
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) July 7, 2025
Ciprian Dumitrache, who witnessed the whole thing unfold, explained: “It was at the feeding zone on stage two. The space near the road was too small to park there and the QS car ended up in the ditch.”
Photos of the scene show the team’s BMW estate stashed in the rut, with the Dacia Duster hooked up and doing the heavy lifting. Interestingly, the internet didn’t waste a second to come batting for the Romanian brand…
“A+ Quality on that Dacia tow hook,” wrote one person. Another said: “The almighty Dacia for the save!” and yet another, presumably Romanian fan added: “My patriotism flares up when I see a Dacia pull a BMW out of a ditch.”
And of course, there was the usual “You can’t park there mate”. Like clockwork.
One fan asked: “Did the Dacia people get something for their troubles? Some bidons, bags, caps, etc?”. Another added: “Even after winning they seem like Soudal can’t catch a break, don’t they?” while someone else simply summed up the mood: “So bad even team cars are crashing.”
And perhaps the best reaction: “Where’s Boonen when you need his driving skills?” — a nod to the Belgian Quick‑Step icon who swapped to motorsports after his retirement from pro cycling, competing in events like the VW Fun Cup at Spa, the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and Belcar races.
> Tadej Pogačar almost knocked off bike by his own team car at Paris-Roubaix
To be fair, the Belgian team are no strangers to team car mishaps. At Dwars door Vlaanderen last March, a Soudal Quick-Step vehicle collided with a medical car during the men’s race. The team car was heavily damaged, the medic’s vehicle ended up in a ditch and had to be rescued by firefighters, and the women’s race was neutralised for 15 minutes.
Add in Remco Evenepoel, already 49 seconds behind the GC leader Mathieu van der Poel, hitting the tarmac in the final three kilometres of yesterday’s stage — and looking a bit sore in the ribs — and it’s been a rough couple of days for the Belgian team all round.
Still, at least there was one positive to take home for Quick-Step — Tim Merlier came through the madness to win stage three in Dunkirk, beating Jonathan Milan on the line with a splendid surge in a photo-finish sprint. Off the bike? You could say they aren’t leading the convoy classification.
Tour de France stage four preview: Amiens → Rouen
Stage four sends the peloton from Amiens to Rouen — 174km that could easily pass for a transition day — a stage that could have favoured the sprinters — until the riders get to the final 30km. Five categorised ascents are jammed into the run-in to Rouen, returning to the Tour as a stage finish for the first time since 2012 when big German Andre Greipel won in a bunch sprint.
One of the featured climbs is the brutally steep Côte de Saint-Hilaire: 800 metres at 10.6 per cent, topping out with just 5km to go. It’s a finale that will most likely favour punchy riders and late attacks instead of lead-out trains, unless the fast men have somehow kept enough firepower in reserve — or just get dragged along by chaos.
And chaos has been the defining mood of this Tour so far. Three stages in, and we’ve already lost the green jersey Jasper Philipsen to a heavy crash, Filippo Ganna’s gone, Remco Evenepoel’s hit the deck, Geraint Thomas has been patched back together, and a Quick-Step team car has had to be towed out of a ditch. Calm? What calm?
Mathieu van der Poel starts in yellow, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard are still lurking just seconds behind, and tomorrow’s time trial looms. But with narrow roads, twitchy legs, and steep climbs ahead, there’s more than enough room for the GC picture to get shaken up today.
Cervelo says new S5 is “at least 5 watts faster than the bikes of our competitors”
> Cervelo says new S5 is “at least 5 watts faster than the bikes of our competitors”
London low-traffic neighbourhoods cut deaths and serious injuries by a third, new study suggests
> London low-traffic neighbourhoods cut deaths and serious injuries by a third, new study suggests
Lorena Wiebes cruises to Giro d’Italia stage three win as wet roads and roundabout cause late crash in the peloton
A wet roundabout just outside Trento threw stage three of the Giro d’Italia Women into chaos — and left SD Worx-Protime’s Lorena Wiebes with a near-clear path to her 106th career victory.
Only around ten riders made it through the mass pile-up with 2.5km to go, as a heavy downpour turned the roads treacherous and the bunch hit a roundabout with too much speed and too little luck. Among those who stayed upright were SD Worx-Protime’s Wiebes, Lotte Kopecky and Barbara Guarischi — and with that trio still intact, the team had a clear advantage.
“We were very lucky that we were in front when the crash happened,” Wiebes said. “We were still with three of us, and Barbara also did a great job to bring us to the last corner. I was a bit scared on the last corner — I felt my wheels also slipping a bit — but at the end I was able to save it.”
She added: “I would have preferred to go to the finish with a complete peloton but that’s part of racing and you can expect this with the rain.”
Picnic PostNL’s Josie Nelson took second on the day, with SD Worx-Protime’s Kopecky third. Thanks to the 3km rule, everyone affected by the crash was awarded the same time as Wiebes — meaning the GC is unchanged, and Lidl-Trek’s Anna Henderson stays in pink, still leading both the general and points classifications.
Van Rysel launches new carbon endurance bike with 830g frame, 38mm tyre clearance, and prices starting at £4,000
Emilien Jeannière crashes into barriers — and a fan’s camera — in yesterday’s dramatic stage finish
TotalEnergies’ Emilien Jeannière suffered a heavy crash at the end of yesterday’s stage after missing the final corner and riding straight into the barriers — hitting a spectator’s phone in the process.
Footage shows the 25-year-old completely overshooting the bend and ploughing into the fencing at full speed, catapulting over the handlebars and colliding with the fan’s camera. The images afterwards are just as brutal: blood on his face, cotton packed into his nose, and clear signs of impact on his kit and helmet.
Fan’s view of today’s crash is crazy 🫣 #TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/Wy36IJGBGc
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) July 7, 2025
He did, however, finish the stage. Chapeau.
“We strongly condemn any form of harassment”: Cofidis threaten legal action at those targeting Bryan Coquard with abuse over Jasper Philipsen crash
Cofidis have issued a public statement defending Bryan Coquard after the French sprinter became the target of online abuse following Jasper Philipsen’s crash and abandonment on stage 3 of the Tour de France.
The team said Coquard had been “deeply affected” by the incident but maintained that he was not at fault for the collision that took Philipsen out of the race with fractured ribs and a broken collarbone. Cofidis insisted the crash was “an unfortunate racing incident” and warned that it would pursue legal action against anyone violating the integrity of its riders.
“We strongly condemn any form of harassment or insults directed at our riders on social media,” the team said. “The team reserves the right to take legal action against anyone who violates their integrity and wishes to express its full and unwavering support for all its riders. We also wish a speedy recovery to all the riders affected by the crashes this Monday.”
À la suite de l’étape 3, Bryan Coquard a tenu à rappeler à quel point il était touché par la chute et l’abandon de Jasper Philipsen. Il s’agit d’un fait de course malheureux mais en aucun cas sa responsabilité n’est engagée sur le changement de trajectoire. En tant qu’amoureux de… pic.twitter.com/XSe4XVljNr
— Team Cofidis (@TeamCOFIDIS) July 7, 2025
The statement followed a wave of criticism directed at Coquard online and in the media, as well as a fine of 500 Swiss Francs and a yellow card from the race jury for what was deemed an “irregular sprint.”
Cofidis team boss Cédric Vasseur didn’t hold back when asked about the penalty ahead of stage four.
“This is certainly not justified. Bryan didn’t make any mistakes,” he told Sporza. “It was unfortunately a racing incident. He bumped into the green jersey, but just because something happens doesn’t mean someone is at fault.”
Vasseur said the crash at the intermediate sprint was part of a wider ripple effect in the bunch: “If you’re giving a yellow card for this, it devalues what that card means. Because it involved the green jersey, the jury apparently felt they had to react. If that’s the standard, they’ll be handing out 25 cards a day, and in a few days, we’ll all be sent home.”
Cyclist suffers "significant and life-changing injuries" after rope tied across park path
> Cyclist suffers “significant and life-changing injuries” after rope tied across park path
“Pogačar joins the 100 club”: Slovenian wins stage four of Tour de France with punchy sprint in Rouen to beat Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Vingegaard — as Roglič falls further behind in GC
Dread it. Run from it. Tadej Pogačar still arrives — and on stage four of the Tour de France, he arrived first, outsprinting Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Mathieu van der Poel and Visma-Lease a Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard in an uphill sprint in Rouen to win his first Tour stage in rainbows and bring up his hundredth professional victory.
The two had gone head-to-head on stage 2, where Van der Poel narrowly came out on top, but this time Pogačar reversed the outcome with a searing uphill finish. Visma-Lease a Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard followed in third, after what many described as a hugely impressive sprint, keeping himself just eight seconds back on GC.
Tadej Pogacar seals a century of wins on cycling’s biggest stage 💯
The 26-year-old clinches the stage win ahead of his rivals at the Tour de France 💛 pic.twitter.com/EETFp92WAr
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) July 8, 2025
“I hope everybody was at the limit,” the three-time Tour winner said after the win. “I tried an attack on the last climb, and then Jonas followed me, and everything came together. João did such an amazing job to lead me out to the very end as people were attacking. I’m super happy with the team today. Such a nice victory.
“To win at the Tour is incredible — in this jersey even more, and 100 is amazing. You never know what’s going to happen in a final like that. It’s pure racing, and I enjoy it. Tomorrow is the real test, but to win a stage already, for me, I just want to keep enjoying this race.”
Pogačar made his move with 5.4km to go on the steepest ramps of the final climb, the Rampe Saint-Hilaire, momentarily distancing Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard before being reeled in. The duo were caught by a small chase group including Remco Evenepoel, João Almeida, Oscar Onley, and Matteo Jorgenson.
Attacks followed — first from Evenepoel, then Jorgenson — but Almeida shut it down, teeing up the sprint for Pogačar, who launched past Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Van der Poel in the final 50 metres.
Further back, Primož Roglič lost 32 seconds, putting him almost a minute and a half behind in the general classification after just four stages. With tomorrow’s 33km time trial around Caen expected to shake up the standings, all eyes will be on Evenepoel, who has a real opportunity to claw back time on his rivals.
BREAKING: Jonas Vingegaard has not withdrawn from the Tour de France — please stop asking, unless you’re Google AI
Well, this is awkward.
If you happened to Google Jonas Vingegaard’s name today, you might have seen a dramatic-sounding AI-generated summary confidently declaring that the Danish Tour de France champion has withdrawn from the 2025 race. Cause? A fever, coughing up blood, difficulty breathing, and “a crash earlier in the season at the Tour of the Basque Country.”
Just one small problem: he’s still racing.
Vingegaard is not only in the race — he’s third overall, a few seconds behind the yellow jersey, and looking sharper than many expected after being shown up by Pogačar at the Critérium du Dauphiné, even going for a solo attack “for fun” yesterday.
The AI-generated summary goes on to reference a recent Telegraph report about Vingegaard coughing up blood during his recovery from the horror crash last year, then mashes it together with some Wikipedia entries to create what can only be described as algorithmic fanfiction.
Visma-Lease a Bike have made no announcement. In fact, Vingegaard’s already at the start line in Amiens Métropole. Google AI, on the other hand, may need a rest day.
🇫🇷 @kevin_vauquelin 🤍 🤜🤛 🇩🇰 Jonas Vingegaard#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/Kv5E5yQWsx
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 8, 2025
At this rate, we might need to make this a regular feature on the blog: ‘TdF AI Bullshit of the Day’ — because if the algorithms keep hallucinating like this, we’re in for a wild month.
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Latest Comments
Re : Police passing car and cyclist, I am confused. Between the 2 images the cyclist appears to have progressed a cars length or 2, and the car behind him the same, as far as I can see both have pulled over to allow the Police to pass. I'm more confused about WHERE DID THE ***ing GOLF COME FROM in the 2nd image ?
@mark1a However they didn't, of course, spend four months investigating it as Nigel alleges. They received a formal complaint of harassment from Arday's solicitors at the end of November and called the journalist to offer him right of reply to the allegations in February, then closed the case. Anyone who has had any dealings with the rozzers knows how glacially slow their processes are, a three month delay does not mean they are diligently beavering away exploring all avenues in the interim.
I bought a Giant Defy (bad move, moved it on) in 2021. The Giant dealer told me rims would only be hookless within two years and scoffed when I doubted his claim. And here we are. And here am I on hooked rims.
@GravelIsNothingNew I don't agree that Shimano don't innovate, or that SRAM dominate. They might get more OEM spec these days (unsure of the actual numbers) but there's more to it than that. And not all of us want £350 rear mechs or electronic shifting. It's all just chasing sales based on minor spec additions and I'm not sure either brand is truly winning right now.
But on the other hand, why would they want to let all their rivals know exactly what their plans were? The best answer here would have been "Mind your own business."
DON’T FEED THE TROLL (Every time you do, they go off for a crafty w*nk - ignore them and they will go off to get their kicks somewhere else)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0rd9y99grzo
They wouldn’t, however they did spend time investigating the journalist looking into the PhD plagiarism, and the commissioner has since admitted that this was a mistake.
It’s pathetically like Trump (whom Nigel, as I recall, thinks is the greatest POTUS in history), isn’t it? Before one has even finished the headline one knows not only that he’s going to be an idiot about it but exactly what he’s going to say.
9 thoughts on “AI Bulls**t of the Day: Google (incorrectly) claims Jonas Vingegaard is out of Tour de France… based on last year’s crash report; Magnus Cort revives French hotel room reviews — as no toilet brush proves “catastrophic” for Van Aert + more on the live blog”
” French Cyclops junctions… I
” French Cyclops junctions… I’m not sure they’ve read TfGM’s technical guidance… “
Swedish PM’s safety
Swedish PM’s safety jeopardised by Strava data shared by bodyguards (gRauniad)
Data made public by Ulf Kristersson’s security revealed his location, routes and movements over several years
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/08/swedish-pm-safety-strava-data-bodyguards-ulf-kristersson-running-cycling-routes
“completely overshooting the
“completely overshooting the bend” is doing Jeannière rather an injustice, given he was forced to swerve wide by a bunch of people crashing in front of him
Was gonna say the same….I
Was gonna say the same….I don’t think he had much say in the matter.
Correction – Pogacar hasn’t
Correction – Pogacar hasn’t taken yellow, MVDP keeps it on countback. If they had already had a time trial and were equal on time in seconds, the leader would be decided by the tenths/hundredths of a second recorded there. As they haven’t, the organisers have had to fall back on the second way of calculating the leader, which is totalling up all their stage positions and whoever has the lowest total is awarded the lead: MVDP has gone 28, 1, 23, 2 = 54 with Pog 18, 2, 71, 1 = 92, so MVDP keeps the maillot. This was actually the system used to determine the winner from 1905 to 1912, time didn’t matter, it was all down to lowest cumulative total of stage placings.
Pog goes back into the lead in the KoM even though he’s tied with Wellens because it’s calculated on who has the highest number of first places on the highest category climbs they’ve done so far. Pog has two firsts on Cat 3s and Wellens one. Which does put Pog at a small disadvantage because it means he will have to wear the organisation-provided skinsuit tomorrow whereas Remco, Jonas and Rog will be able to wear their own suits.
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I never thought I would ever
I never thought I would ever say (write) this, but that Cervélo looks like a right dog’s dinner. That’ll be a no from me then.
I have travelled around
I have travelled around Europe a million times and for decades, for work, for fun, for business and between homes. And I have to say, French hotels are the worst. Some of them would double up as sets for horror movies. I went through a period, when I used to drive between London and Rome a lot, of staying in Campaniles because at least you knew what you were going to get; a room, motel quality and in and out. But then at one stay, the food was so bad, even the staff admitted it and I have never been back. Some friends came to visit us in Paris recently and they stayed in an Ibis – which they said was good but the room was very small. Well, welcome to Paris 🙂
UK self driving cars v
UK self driving cars v motorbikes
Interesting quote from the article:
The Highway Code would disagree with “Nick Lyes, IAM RoadSmart Policy Director”
Edited: tidied up a bit