Live blog: The Friday Leave/Remain poll, Scrapped HS2 cycleway would have provided five times the return on investment as the rail line; Deceuninck-QuickStep genitals training + more
SUMMARY
Deceuninck-QuickStep to train riders not to rub their genitals against waitresses
Earlier this week Belgian Deceuninck-QuickStep rider Iljo Keissewas was accused of rubbing his genitals on a waitress while she was having a photo taken with him and some team-mates.
He was thrown off the race and fined by a judge.
Team manager Patrick Lefevere was reportedly so incensed by the decision that he briefly threatened to withdraw the team from the race.
Several of the team’s riders then sat out Wednesday’s podium ceremony, citing ‘fatigue’.
Yesterday we reported that Keisse’s father said that the woman involved was partly to blame. Google Translate (perhaps unfairly) has one of his comments down as: “That woman is also very suggestive with her ass behind.”
Keisse, for what it’s worth, had already apologised.
None of this is a good look and Cycling News reports on “tensions” between the team and new title sponsor Deceuninck. Specialized has also said it is taking the matter “extremely seriously” and is “working with the team reinforce the expectations” it holds of riders.
All of which perhaps explains why the team has now issued a “sincere apology,” in which it promises to implement “specific conduct training protocols” to ensure “this kind of thing won’t happen again.”
“The Team would like to make a sincere apology for the events of the past few days, firstly to the woman involved in this regrettable incident, and additionally to all women, fans, and sponsors. We don’t condone this type of behaviour. Our team’s core values include mutual respect, and that was not upheld in this situation. Iljo also personally acknowledges his mistake and takes full responsibility for his actions.
“As a team, we are aware that one of our main roles is to educate the riders and make sure they demonstrate respect for everyone. The events of these past days are something which we can – and already have – learned from, and for that very reason we have decided to implement in the near future specific conduct training protocols for all riders and staff to ensure our values and make sure this kind of thing won’t happen again.
“Again, we are very sorry to everyone affected by this regrettable incident.”
TfL asks the public’s views on four major new cycle routes
Full consultation to follow.
Scrapped HS2 cycleway would have provided five times the return on investment as the rail line
Last year the government published a 2016 study which looked at the possibility of building a national cycleway along the route of the HS2 railway.
The gist was that it was an extremely good idea that neither the Department for Transport (DfT) nor HS2 Ltd, the company building the high-speed line, were willing to fund.
“Sadly the HS2 cycleway train has left the platform,” observed Roger Geffen, Cycling UK’s policy director.
Our erstwhile colleague Laura Laker reports in the Guardian that a 50-page business case for the cycleway put the health, congestion and economic benefits at between £3 and £8 per £1 spent.
The return on investment of the HS2 rail line is £1.5-£1.7 per £1, according to the National Audit Office.
What snow?
Soooo… who rode in and is the only person in the office? pic.twitter.com/d7pMHrdSuX
— road.cc (@roadcc) February 1, 2019
Did you still make it to the office this morning? Show us your pics!
UK Cycling Expert, bang on the money
He only complained about it to try to get more money. pic.twitter.com/f8yetNXcPa
— UK Cycling Expert (@ukcyclingexpert) January 31, 2019
Cyclist defies polar vortex to set new course record in Arrowhead 135
Not that guy. He’s another competitor who did a better job of illustrating the conditions.
Preview of the World CX Champs course
Rising British U23 star Cameron Mason takes us around the very fast course for the World Cyclocross Championships. Tomorrow’s races are available on the UCI’s YouTube channel, but the main races tomorrow are geo-blocked as they’re on Eurosport Player.
Leave or Remain?
Leave or remain? That seems to be the only thing getting asked these days. So we thought we’d jump on that particular bandwagon. It’s just a bit of fun. Unlike the other thing.
Call for congestion/pollution charges to be applied to black cabs
“Even ambulances have to pay the pollution charge.”
More here (including a petition).
Looking to lose some Winter weight? (rough translation from the French)
Vous avez pris un peu de poids pendant l’hiver ? Pas de panique : nous avons LA solution ! pic.twitter.com/jGaHKKWAWz
— Dans la Musette (@DansLaMusette) February 1, 2019
*Warranty possibly voided
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Latest Comments
Hi Bungle, I saw you follow-up comment. I can't imaging there's a tolerance of 4 seconds on camera enforced lights, seems an odd decision - an offence is committed if a vehicle starts crossing on a red, any tolerance is discretionary. There does seem to be some odd thinking about 'advanced stop lines' where the rules relating to them are identical to a regular stop line, as explained correctly elsewhere in the Highway Code. It does seem a regular offence. Where I live it doesn't help that some of them are very faint and disappear in rain.
@ktache Not sure he's totally ruled out of the worlds yet (though I think it would be best if he doesn't), normal recovery time is about eight weeks but surgery can halve that...depending on the nature of the break he could be just about fit to ride by the time of the elite men's race, but he'll have missed a lot of training. Hopefully his managers and team will persuade him to wait until Lombardia, if not just to knock it off for the rest of the year.
@Bungle_52 The Met told me a couple of years ago when rejecting a submission that they needed a clear three seconds of red visible before they would consider it for an RLJ prosecution. I pointed out to them that this meant that at 30 mph a driver could see a light change to red from 40 metres away and still get through without sanction, or 55 m if they accelerated to 40 as most do. They just replied "them's our rules..."
@Ben Graham I have just checked the footage from my report. The driver crosses the 1st stop line 4 seconds after the light turns red. All on camera from behind the vehicle. No further action. So I assume the margin is at least 4 seconds.
Oh, and active travel funding per head (in England at least) is laughable compared to other places. Plus it is delivered intermittently. It's more like a Blue Peter contest...
Yup, I see those opportunities being missed all the time in Edinburgh. When it gets really bad, dig it all up and put it back down again how it was. Contrast with what seems to happen in NL - when things are dug up the whole thing seems to get a "let's redo this according to the current standards" treatment. They even coordinate with the utilities, so that after a refurb the street isn't immediately dug up again because of leaking pipes / we suddenly realised the new estate being planned for round the corner will want broadband etc. Pros and cons of course - you may wait longer there for changes as smaller changes may be deferred until a major redo is due. (Though in the UK case you likely wouldn't get them at all...) It seems we "can't have nice things" in the UK in part because a) we have greater motor traffic speeds/volumes spead across "streets" / within urban areas b) the funding and organisational responsibility differs. Are we in the "Sam Vimes boots" territory (being too poor to afford better products which not only save money over time but actually work)? There is long term money pressure on LAs and it seems that due to poor construction and maintenance we have to regularly pour money into (pot-)holes in the road. And it seems there's no budget to check up on or enforce adequate standards from utilities work or even private building.
Shame about the world champs defence. Speedy recovery. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/aug/30/tadej-pogacar-vuelta-a-espana-cycling-crash-hospital-stage-nine
I believe the accepted form for this kind of argument is "I know you are, you said you were, but what am I?".
Also the ability for drivers to see things is far worse as it's significantly obstructed by the frame of the vehicle.
19 thoughts on “Live blog: The Friday Leave/Remain poll, Scrapped HS2 cycleway would have provided five times the return on investment as the rail line; Deceuninck-QuickStep genitals training + more”
Quote:
IT’S POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD!
What is the world coming to when you can’t even rub your genitals against a waitress anymore, because of the PC-Thought-Police, bleedin’ ‘ealth ‘n’ safety, the EU, and Gary Lineker (probably).
“Deceuninck-QuickStep to
“Deceuninck-QuickStep to train riders not to rub their genitals against waitresses”
Headline of the year.
I blame his helmet.
I blame his helmet.
The HS2 figures for return on
The HS2 figures for return on investment, of 1:1.5, only stand up if you make some very questionable assumptions about the benefits e.g. that time on a train is non-productive, which is clearly not true. All the independent analyses of HS2 say it is not an economic proposition.
On the contrary, the benefits of providing for cyclists are solid and unquestionable, and even with the skewed system, are vastly better value than major road and rail schemes.
So which ones get funded?
Answers on a postcard to your local MP.
burtthebike wrote:
The ones that allow wealthy people who bought a slightly cheaper house out in the country so they could afford to buy another house somewhere sunny to commute to their Very Important office job in a hedge fund or bank in the City.
(Sorry, I might be generalising a bit there and being unfair to someone in pinstripes
).
brooksby wrote:
Yes, because everyone who uses the WCML is wealthy, has a hedge fune, or works in the city, don’t they………….
Bungle73 wrote:
We’re talking about hs2, though. Pay way more money to get to London five minutes faster… I don’t know about the west coast main line, but hs2 damn well *is* aimed at wealthy businesspersons.
brooksby wrote:
The purpose of HS2 is to releive pressure from the WCML, which has severe capcity problems. Like most people, you crictise the building of HS2 without even knowimg why it is being built.
Bungle73 wrote:
The only valid reason I’ve heard for building HS2 is to provide the tories donors with lots of profit. If it was a decision based on value for money, it wouldn’t be happening, but a proper national, regional and local cycle network would. The decision to build it was clearly not based on economics, or wider benefits.
burtthebike wrote:
You have a very short memory. HS2 was the brainchild of the last Labour government. The Tories mistake was not scrapping it.
fizrar6 wrote:
My memory is fine, and the last labour government wasn’t labour; it was tory with a pink rinse.
Bungle73 wrote:
That would be “relieve pressure” by moving the people in the first class carriages onto a dedicated super speed permanently first class rail line? How does that disprove my point??
burtthebike wrote:
the problem is building a cycling scheme would not occupy the many thousands of construction workers/builders/architects etc for the best part of a decade at a time, these big infrastructure projects like HS2 or CrossRail, are as much about providing reasonably medium term employment prospects for lots and lots of people, and all the subsidiary support business around it. Thats where the real ROI comes from in terms of the governments spend on them, these people get paid a wage they can live on, they pay tax, they spend money back in the economy, it all creates economic growth.
That these things when constructed eventually are ultimately often marginal in terms of actual cost benefit,well youll have had a decade of near guaranteed growth in the construction industry by then, who will have then moved on to the next big government funded mega building project and the whole merry go round starts again.
Awavey wrote:
You are undoubtedly right, but a national cycle network, with regional and local segments, would provide more employment for longer and be vastly more beneficial in all areas, including financial.
So why isn’t that funded? I think the answer is that HS2 and other mega-projects are ego schemes for the politicians, who love to be able to point at something and claim the credit e.g. channel tunnel. Transport is one of the few areas where politicians can have a fairly direct effect, unlike most other areas of public policy. Although cycling is a vote winner according to all the polls, it’s still a bit too tree-hugging leftie for most politicians, and rail and road have powerful and vocal supporters.
Seems to me that Keisse’s
Seems to me that Keisse’s genitals have been blown way out of proportion.
Hmmm…. maybe I could have phrased that better.
It’s 2019. It’s quite simple
It’s 2019. It’s quite simple. Don’t rub your genitals, or even pretend to, against anyone who hasn’t specifically given their consent for you to do so.
On the other hand, I’m in no way denying the stupidity of the act by saying that it was clearly intended as a bit of a joke that has gone down like a lead balloon. John Cleese once said that an Englishman would rather be told that he is a bad lover than that he has so sense of humour; well, about a hundred thousand people have told Keisse that his attempt at humour sucks, so surely that should be punishment enough?
And never mind that in a sport that still has podium girls at almost all races, and continues to belittle and underfund the women’s side of the sport, there are an awful lot of people sat in glass houses throwing stones.
Leave/Remain; isn’t there a
Leave/Remain; isn’t there a third way? Just coast by seeing if they look productively engaged in a repair, and if not call out ‘Y’alright?’
Organon wrote:
Seems sensible, so I doubt parliament will vote for it…
Organon wrote:
I normally try to Leave, but just end up cutting my own throat and bleeding to death.