Egan Bernal unveils bizarre new barnet; All TDF riders return negative COVID-19 tests… Prudhomme test positive; “I don’t mean to be a crybaby”, says Bennett after 1st TDF win; Road Tax Bot’s mission to correct ‘road tax’ myths + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
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Tour de France: will anyone have tested positive?
Tour de France COVID testing is tomorrow. If this was the ’90s, the riders would all have ice packs on their foreheads right now to fool the thermometer, and eating phlegm from a COVID-negative mechanic to pass the swab test.
— Phil Gaimon (@philgaimon) September 7, 2020
Rest day at the Tour de France this year is test day for Covid. Teams are stressed over testing and fans lining the mountain tops without masks or social distancing. pic.twitter.com/ANt0jSXpwk
— Fred Herron (@realFredHerron) September 7, 2020
In 2020 ‘testing positive’ has taken on a whole new meaning, as we’re talking about COVID-19 and not performance-enhancers of course.
No news has landed officially from the Tour de France organisers or any teams yet, but Sir Dave Brailsford has said that while he expects his team to be all clear, he thinks staff and/or riders on other teams will have some positives.
“It’s likely there will be issues but I wouldn’t expect our team to have any”, he told The Guardian.
“We figured that the high-risk area is when everybody sits down to eat. They take their mask off and sit together for longer than 15 minutes and that’s one of the riskiest scenarios. That’s why we brought a second chef.
“We have our kitchen truck, so we have one chef cooking for the riders as normal and the second chef cooking for all of the staff. All of the staff have eaten outside (the hotel) since we got here. Once you buy into it, it’s OK really.”
Results are being analysed by team doctors before stage 10 begins, and if two members of any team test positive, they will be forced to leave the Tour.
Tour de France: unofficial reports that around half of teams returned no positive tests
El equipo @JumboVismaRoad del líder Primoz Roglic se sube al bus para ir a la isla de Oleron, arranque de la etapa 10 de @LeTour. Sin noticias de positivos por Covid-19. https://t.co/TqMHQ7wEu1
— Quique Iglesias (@qiglesias) September 8, 2020
Still nothing official from Le Tour or the UCI, but journalists on the ground are reporting that no positives have been announced yet. Primoz Roglic was spotted boarding a bus to the start of stage 10, which suggests Jumbo-Visma are all clear.
The Tour de France mask-ot
🇫🇷 #TDF2020
Bonjour!🦁 pic.twitter.com/Pz9qCrllta
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) September 8, 2020
We’ll take that as Jumbo-Visma definitely have nothing serious to report. Bora-Hansgrohe have also announced they are gearing up for stage 10, which we ‘think’ suggests they’re all clear.
🇫🇷 #TDF2020
After Monday’s rest day, let’s jump into Stage 10 of @letour:
📍 Île d’Oléron ➡️ Île de Ré
🚩 Start 13:30
🏁 Finish ca. 17:30
🛣️ 168.5km
🥞 Flat pic.twitter.com/mFIV6Z5A8Z— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) September 8, 2020
Know anyone who believes in 'road tax'? Refer them to the Road Tax Bot
Beep beep. Road tax was abolished in 1937.
Motor vehicles are taxed on emissions. Electric cars are exempt from charges as are bicycles as the emissions are zero.Road building and repairs are paid from general taxation which the general population pay through many forms of tax.
— Road Tax Bot (@RoadTaxBot2) September 8, 2020
It’s come to our attention that the Road Tax Bot Twitter account, created some time in August, has taken the liberty of seeking out people spouting nonsense about the mythical ‘road tax’ and correcting them. Here are a few more examples…
Beep beep. Road tax was abolished in 1937.
Motor vehicles are taxed on emissions. Electric cars are exempt from charges as are bicycles as the emissions are zero.Road building and repairs are paid from general taxation which the general population pay through many forms of tax.
— Road Tax Bot (@RoadTaxBot2) September 6, 2020
Beep beep. Road tax was abolished in 1937.
Motor vehicles are taxed on emissions. Electric cars are exempt from charges as are bicycles as the emissions are zero.Road building and repairs are paid from general taxation which the general population pay through many forms of tax.
— Road Tax Bot (@RoadTaxBot2) September 6, 2020
Beep beep. Road tax was abolished in 1937.
Motor vehicles are taxed on emissions. Electric cars are exempt from charges as are bicycles as the emissions are zero.Road building and repairs are paid from general taxation which the general population pay through many forms of tax.
— Road Tax Bot (@RoadTaxBot2) September 5, 2020
Deceuninck–Quick-Step team staff member reportedly returns negative second test after 'lab error' led to initial positive
Deceunink ‘As you will have seen, it has been reported that a member of our team staff was collected from our team hotel this morning. An error was made in the laboratory with the sample that the individual gave yesterday, meaning they were taken for restesting this morning….
— Gregor Brown (@gregorbrown) September 8, 2020
…. The result of this second test has been returned as negative and we will continue to race as normal.’
— Gregor Brown (@gregorbrown) September 8, 2020
Again nothing officially announced by Quick-Step yet in the form of a press release/statement, but Gregor Brown of Flo Bikes is reporting that the team say a staff member who was collected this morning to undergo a second test has now returned a negative, following an error made in the lab with the first test. Still no reports of any positive tests, and it’s looking more like stage 10 will go ahead with all riders who finished stage 9 at the moment.
Breaking: All riders and staff at Tour de France reportedly test negative for COVID-19
Quite remarkably that is the case according to L’Equipe, who are reporting that the Tour de France chief medical officer Florence Pommery has cleared all 22 teams to start stage 10. The first test was carried out in Pau before the ninth stage, then another in La Rochelle during Monday’s rest day.
It looks like the show will go on… will the race make it to Paris?
New reports that four team members actually tested positive
🔴Exclusif Christian Prudhomme positif coronavirus #TDF2020 Et 4 membres de 4 équipes 🔴
— Christian Ollivier (@c_ollivier_rtl) September 8, 2020
Earlier it was thought that all riders and staff tested negative, but now RTL claim that four team staffers actually returned positive tests. We’re still awaiting official confirmation from ASO and/or the UCI.
Confirmed: four team staff members return positive COVID-19 tests
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
⁰COMMUNIQUE OFFICIEL#TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/b5529teCvS— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 8, 2020
Despite what Sir Dave Brailsford said earlier, one of his staff members plus one each from Confidis, AG2R La Mondiale and Mitchelton-Scott have returned positive tests. The joint announcement also says that a “technical service provider” has also left the race because of a positive test, which is a strange way of referring to the race’s director if they mean Christian Prudhomme.
The long and short of it is, the race will continue and no teams have been expelled.
And they're off!
🚩 Stage 10 is underway. And we have a Swiss duo at the front! 🇨🇭
🚩 L’étape 10 du #TDF2020 est lancée. Un duo suisse se détache dès le départ ! 🇨🇭#TDF2020 #TDFunited pic.twitter.com/Qa4Z5jNSnS
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 8, 2020
With four teams missing a staff member each, stage 10 is away. The Tour’s first island-to-island stage is summarised by the (now quarantined) race director Christian Prudhomme as this:
“Two islands linked by a stage of the Tour, that’s already a first for the peloton that will find it hard to make it bunched to Saint-Martin-de-Ré. The stage will be marked by the Vauban buildings in Royan, Rochefort or La Rochelle, but also by a course mainly set by the sea… and the crossing of marshlands swept by wind.”
Israel Start-Up Nation rider Patrick Schelling gets four month ban for "non-intentional anti-doping rule violation"
The Swiss rider has been sanctioned with a four month period of ineligibility from the UCI, after returning an adverse analytical finding for Terbutaline in a sample that was collected back in February – the violation was described as “non-intentional”.
The ban was started from 18th May, so Schelling will be free to compete again from next Friday, and his results from the Tour of Rwanda earlier this year were disqualified.
Will the French Prime Minister regret decision to ride in the same car as Christian Prudhomme?
Covid-19 testi pozitif sonuçlanan Prudhomme, geçtiğimiz hafta bir etabı, Fransa Başbakanı Jean Castex ile aynı araçta takip etmişti. pic.twitter.com/UAqLTGsDrW
— Cyclist Türkiye (@CyclistTR) September 8, 2020
Prudhomme is now quarantining after a positive coronavirus test, and spent the day in a car with Jean Castex on Saturday. Ironically, the French Prime Minister told reporters that he was happy about the coronavirus situation despite teams pleading with spectators to wear masks, commenting: “We are prudent, but life goes on. The Tour is happening, the party continues.”
The party is over for the race’s director as it stands, but hopefully all teams will make it to Paris.
Stage 10 average speed nearly 50km/h for first 40km
Average speeds in the first 40 km of Stage 10 of #TDF2020
Attackers 49.6km/h
Peloton 48.1km/h#TDFdata | @LeTour pic.twitter.com/icLsgN9g9G— letourdata (@letourdata) September 8, 2020
At this rapid rate, the 168.5km stage has less than three hours to go.
French Prime Minister to have COVID-19 test and self-isolate after spending Saturday with Christian Prudhomme
Jean Castex also rode in a car with the Tour de France race director at the weekend and will now have to self-isolate, only returning to normal life if his cornavirus test comes back negative according to President Emmanuel Macron.
The Prime Minister’s press office told Euronews that Prudhomme and Castex wore masks for the duration of their time in contact with one another, but Castex said that he would “apply the rules that the government had decided” and get tested immediately.
Sam Bennett wins stage 10, his first ever Tour de France stage
🏆 ☘️ @Sammmy_Be wins! 🏆
🏆 ☘️ Le champion d’Irlande s’impose sur l’Île de Ré ! 🏆#TDF2020 #TDFunited pic.twitter.com/wOwPOY6qdF
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 8, 2020
The Irishman has finally added a Tour de France stage to his palmares, holding off Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan on the line and taking back the green jersey in the process.
You could say it’s poetic justice, as the man reason Bennett left Bora–Hansgrohe for Deceuninck–Quick-Step was because he couldn’t get a shot at the Tour de France ahead of Sagan – now he’s beaten him on cycling’s biggest stage, and pinched his green jersey.
Another marginal gain, or a lost bet? Egan Bernal shows off strange new haircut on his Instagram account
“Let’s rock”, says the caption on Egan Bernal’s latest Instagram story… but according to some on social media, Bernal’s new barnet has hit rock bottom.
That’s not a hair cut, he must have lost a bet, it’s terrible
— mavis Evans (@MaveEvans) September 8, 2020
Did he loss a bet? @LukeRowe1990 did you cut his hair 🤣
— Duke_Rojo_Cycling (@dukerojocycling) September 8, 2020
‘Just fuck my shit up’
— Westland (@Westlan93076769) September 8, 2020
This photo needs to come with a warning.
— Töm Réÿnöldš ❌ (@TomReynolds_AU) September 8, 2020
Although, is there a chance the chop could be the most marginal of marginal gains to shed a little bit of extra weight? You’d think it would be better to cut the lot off, both from a weight-saving and a not looking a bit weird perspective.
The race is really on now on this exposed coastal section. @RichardCarapazM was held up behind a crash, while Bernal has @kwiato and Rowe for support. 14km to go #TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/TloaBNklYO
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) September 8, 2020
It seems to be bringing him good luck in the crosswinds on stage 10 so far, safely being sheltered by Luke Rowe and Michał Kwiatkowski while teammate Richard Carapaz was held up in an earlier crash.
"I don't mean to be a crybaby": Sam Bennett super emotional in post-race interview
Speaking to ITV, Bennett was stunned at first then the floodgates opened, in tears through his Quick-Step mask.
He said: “I just want to thank everyone who’s been involved, I want to thank my wife and everyone around me.
“You dream of it and never think it will happen and it did. I don’t know, it took a while before it hit me. Oh man.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to be a crybaby.”
8 September 2020, 08:33
Wendy Satterthwaite says the six month suspended sentence handed to killer driver David McSkimming has "totally destroyed" her family's faith in the justice system
"Wholly and morally wrong": wife of cyclist killed by speeding driver says family are "traumatised" by lenient suspended sentence
Wendy Satterthwaite says the six month suspended sentence handed to killer driver David McSkimming has "totally destroyed" her family's faith in the justice system
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Latest Comments
Mountain bikers don't care about obeying the law!
It's worth pointing out that unlike cycling on a pavement (i.e. a footway alongside a carriageway), cycling on a footpath is not a crime; it is a civil tort against the landowner. That means it's not a police matter, and other people using the path have no standing to complain either (although of course you should still be careful and considerate of other people, regardless of the status of the right of way). Indeed, without going into a full lecture on the history of Rights of Way and the noble tradition of mass trespass (e.g. Kinder Scout), there is an argument that the law implicitly condones such "illegal" use of paths, given that new rights of way can be created by members of the public demonstrating that they have used the path without permission but "as of right" for long enough, without the landowner taking action to curb such use. As an additional point of information, I would note that the offence of causing injury by "wanton or furious" cycling applies anywhere. I'm no lawyer, but I struggle to see that the designation of the right of way would have much sway, but rather any case would rely on the broader context and whether the manner of the cycling was safe given the terrain and conditions.
@Rendel Harris I get close-passed by more riders than cars in Richmond Park. Maybe I should ride faster.
@perce I'm normally a big fan of your excellent posts perce but I must take issue with this one. The idea that Lord Khan of Tooting would ever, in any circumstances, have been friends with Nigel is surely beyond the bounds of even your fertile imagination?
Not to downplay the seriousness of bikejacking, but Mr.Taylor might want to consider that fact that many riders have been put off using the park at weekends due to the aggressive, intimidatory behaviour of members of his own club, who are notorious for riding as if the park is a private training facility just for themselves, and that's a pretty sad state of affairs as well.
In Wiggle/CR's absence, what are people using nowadays? I've been out of it for a while, but now returned.
I did a multi-day ride many years ago with someone who was a better cyclist than me by every conceivable measure but this one. I remember watching them up ahead on a quiet road trying to teach themselves - snatching brief seconds with their hands off the bars before losing balance and grabbing on again. 'Watch this' I said to the rest of my group, before I accelerated to catch them, then nonchalantly sailed past them uphill riding no hands. Very satisfying. I've been able to ride most of mine hands-free, but had a Specialized Allez that really didn't cooperate. Haven't been brave enough to try it on a Brompton or cargo bike though. And still can't do a wheelie, or any of the other things on Jo's palmares.
@Hamster now that is an exciting development. I do remove/amend signs but reporting them for flyposting is much more satisfying.
@Slartibartfast If the sign-maker can be caught in the act then the council Environmental Health can get a report for littering/fly-tipping. Hours of endless fun for that person trying to explain away a conviction. Don't report unless you're prepared to go to court though. Or remove the litter and put in the nearest bin with a sticker explaining how littering is a crime.
What would make driving safer for motorists is if they stopped driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and driving faster than the speed limit.
18 thoughts on “Egan Bernal unveils bizarre new barnet; All TDF riders return negative COVID-19 tests… Prudhomme test positive; “I don’t mean to be a crybaby”, says Bennett after 1st TDF win; Road Tax Bot’s mission to correct ‘road tax’ myths + more on the live blog”
“Results are being analysed
“Results are being analysed by team doctors before stage 10 begins, and if two members of any team test positive, they will be forced to leave the Tour.”
I wonder if any would consider covering up positive tests to stay on the tour, especially if they think the staff members haven’t been in contact with the riders etc?
Yup, the word is there
Yup, the word is there already has been a “cover up” from a certain team. Not only have they sent the positive staff member away to isolate, but also another three members have been told to leave the race and isolate aswell, all being replaced by a “stand by” team of staff members who were travelling “alongside” the race in a team vehicle, isolated from the outside world…As the next round of testing isn’t until the 14th on the next rest day, they will try to navigate the French government ruling that staff have to be included in the “two-strike” rule…
I thought the support staff
I thought the support staff rule had already been dropped and only riders count for a team suspension from the race for multiple positives. Sure Road.cc had an article mentioning it right before the Grand Depart.
That was going to be the rule
That was going to be the rule, but not long after that was announced, the French government made them change it back. I don’t see that Road.cc covered the change.
The ‘two strike, team out rule’ was confirmed last week but it had been softened by the UCI on Friday to cover only positive cases among riders following a series of meetings between teams, the UCI and ASO in the build-up to the Tour.
In response to the rising levels of contagion in France, however, the French government’s coronavirus pandemic task force interceded late on Friday, and the original wording of the ruling has been restored.
I wonder why it is that so
I wonder why it is that so many people don’t appear to think that they need to check their spelling or grammar when twittering?
brooksby wrote:
Oh, but they have, and found nothing wrong with their grammar, spelling or argument. There must be some pithy American proverb along the lines of, “There ain’t no point in teachin’ stupid”.
Well, if it’s good enough for
Well, if it’s good enough for road.cc article writers…
mdavidford wrote:
Miaow!
It’s not just Tweets, it’s
It’s not just Tweets, it’s all over the place. I noticed a book blurb on Facebook this morning — apparently from a publishing company, not a self-published author — referring to ‘uncensored tails’.
The mind boggles.
Surely there *must* be a
Surely there *must* be a squirrel related picture out there!
Compact Corned Beef wrote:
Ooh – I’ve got a picture just perfect for this. Hold on a minute, I’ll go and find it
Perhaps foolishly, I jumped
Perhaps foolishly, I jumped onto the twitter channel of one of the road tax goons – Shaun Wheeldon – expecting a few more ‘bloody cyclists’ tweets.
I was surprised to see that his background image was a picture of Enoch Powell. At that point I was less surprised to see that his twitter feed was one long racist diatribe in bite-size retweeted chunks. I’m not suggesting there’s a causal link between anti-cycling and racism, but it’s not too much of a stretch to consider that if someone’s an ill-informed bigot on one issue that’ll spill over.
I’m not sure if I’m more angry or sad for these people really. What must it be like to live in fear, feeling threatened by difference and change? Anyway, rant over. Hoping for good news from the Tour!
Don’t know if the link is
Don’t know if the link is causal, but I’m sure there’s a strong correlation.
Quote:
Even if it had been accurate, I’m not sure it would have been that remarkable, given that apparently it typically takes about a week to develop enough to be detected, and everyone was ‘bubbled’ prior to the race. If there’s going to be a significant outbreak, it seems more likely that it would be picked up in the next round of tests.
Bernal: Seriously.. Dave…
Bernal: Seriously.. Dave… don’t worry, I feel great …if I’m not in yellow by the first rest day you can let Pavel shave my head Russian style.
Pavel: Heh.. take the bet Dave!!
i probably pay more vehicle
i probably pay more vehicle tax than any of the people who post about riders not paying it. my sv650- 92 qui a year. the er500, is 66 quid. The husqvarna is 20 quid. My corsa- 155 quid. The nissan truck- 255 quid[ big dirty diesel]. Plus the 450 quid i just paid to insure them all, the tax on the fuel for all of them. Meanwhile mr old dithering fool in his nissan leaf pays nothing and takes up the whole road behind a long line of other people who haven’t paid as much road tax as me and slow me down on my motorbikes AND my bicycles!! how ridiculous. Wait so whats my total then. just shy of 600 quid a year in ”road tax”.
I’ve got a Suzuki SV650 too
I’ve got a Suzuki SV650 too 😉
what year? mines a 2019 with
what year? mines a 2019 with delkevic end can