Welcome to your Wednesday live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
Live blog: Sir Bradley Wiggins back on the road for 12-date UK theatre tour this autumn (tickets on sale Friday), Tom Dumoulin out of Giro but “not ready to go home,” UCI investigating Alessandro Petacchi for blood doping + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond…
Wed, May 15, 2019 20:39
SUMMARY
15 May 2019, 20:39
Tour of California stage 3 highlights
The stage was won by Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Remi Cavagna, who made an attack about 70km from the finish and managed to pull away for an emphatic solo victory.
15 May 2019, 20:39
The CPA are calling for media and team motorbikes to keep their distance from riders in pro races
It’s not just the public concerned with close passes it seems, as the CPA (Cyclistes Professionnels Associes) have announced that riders have brought it to their attention that motorbikes, especially those from the media, are getting up too close to the action. The president of the CPA Gianni Bugno sayds: “The safety of our girls and our boys is fundamental, same as the correct execution of the race. The competitive result must be as fair as possible, it cannot be compromised by drawings, which, even if for few seconds can affect the regular development of the event. The riders themselves are asking the motorcyclists, especially those from the TV, to stay at a greater distance from them, whether they are ahead in or in pursuit. The technology we now have at our disposal allows excellent quality shots even at a greater distance than that what, unfortunately, is becoming habitual. We demand greater attention to this intolerable problem, which creates risks for the safety of the athletes, influences the development of the competitions and jeopardises the real value of the athletes.”
There is a UCI Security Commission meeting in June where the UCI will bring up the campaign, saying they will push vehemently for stricter rules to be put in place to avoid collisions such as the nasty example above.
15 May 2019, 20:39
How safe is your helmet?
15 May 2019, 20:39
More doping suspensions hit the Giro
Kristijan Koren will not start today’s Giro stage after the UCI published more potential Anti-Doping Rules Violations following the Aderlass investigation.
This is all linked to the case where a skier was caught in the middle of a blood transfusion and it’s already implicated several pro cyclists and some managers.
Koren, who rides for Bahrain Merida, finished 2’47” behind yesterday’s winner. He’ll be joined on the naughty step by Bahrain Merida Sports Director Borut Bozic, though his sanction seems to have been from when he was a rider, not during his time in management.
More to follow.
15 May 2019, 20:39
Utrecht tops global cycling city index
The Dutch city of Utrecht has topped a new Bicycle Cities Index from German insurer Coya which ranked 90 cities around the world on cycle-friendliness. Read more here, and watch the video below to see some of the infrastructure that helped it secure top spot.
15 May 2019, 20:39
"He will give it his best shot": Dumoulin cleared by Sunweb medics to start Giro stage 5
Team Sunweb physician Stephan Jacolino updates on @tom_dumoulin.
pic.twitter.com/RYPzQKJRkM— Team Sunweb (@TeamSunweb) May 15, 2019
Dumoulin was involved in a nasty crash yesterday that left his GC hopes in tatters and is still suffering with his knee, but it’s been confirmed he will start stage 5.
Team Sunweb physician Stephan Jacolino said: “Medically speaking he is cleared to race, but the day’s eventuality is dependent on how much pain his knee brings. Hopefully it goes well and the pain subsides as the day goes on.”
15 May 2019, 20:39
Conor Swift joins Andre Greipel's team Arkéa–Samsic
Connor Swift, l’actuel champion de Grande Bretagne, court désormais pour notre équipe !
Le coureur de 23 ans rejoint notre formation pour épauler nos sprinteurs. Il débutera demain à l’occasion des Quatre Jours de Dunkerque.
https://t.co/8jthMAEcPg #WelcomeConnor pic.twitter.com/wdfl6NSLTd— Team Arkéa Samsic (@Arkea_Samsic) May 13, 2019
As the Pro Continental team have a Tour de France wildcard, this could pave the way for Swift to get himself into the race this year as Greipel’s lead-out man.
15 May 2019, 20:39
Swedish e-scooter share company Voi announce expansion across 150 cities with new e-bike range (and they only launched 8 months ago)
Fledgling micro-mobility company Voi, best known for their shared electric scooters in cities across Europe, are expanding and have now also launched e-bikes alongside their new generation of e-scooters. Full story on eBikeTips.
15 May 2019, 20:39
UCI investigating Alessandro Petacchi for blood doping, Italian denies allegations
Alessandro Petacchi is the biggest name from cycling so far to be linked to the Austro-German blood doping investigation codenamed Operation Aderlass, and is one of four individuals the UCI has today confirmed are under investigation for potential anti-doping rule violations.
The Italian, who retired in 2015, is being investigated for alleged doping in 2012 and 2013, when he rode for Lampre. His leadout man there was Danilo Hondo, who on Sunday admitted his involvement in the blood doping ring.
The other three people who, like Petacchi, have been provisionally suspended, are ex-pro Borut Bozic, now assistant sports director at Bahrain Merida, the team’s rider Kristijan Koren, who had been racing at the Giro d’Italia, and the UAE Team Emirates rider Kristijan Durasek.
Petacchi was linked yesterday by French newspaper Le Monde and Italy’s Corriere della Sera to Mark Schmidt, the former Gerolsteiner and Milram team doctor at the centre of Operation Aderlass, which hit the headlines after arrests were made at February’s Nordic Skiing World Championships.
He denied having undergone illegal blood transfusions, saying: “I found out from you that this Mark Schmidt was team doctor at Milram when I ride for them [2006-08]. Maybe he treated the German athletes: I’ve never seen or met him. I’ve never been to his clinic, in Germany or elsewhere. I’ve never had a blood transfusion. And I have no idea of the reason why my name may appear in this dossier.”
Regarding his former team-mate, Petacchi said: “I’ve always considered Hondo a friend, we exchanged messages wishing each other well just a few months ago and there’s no reason for a vendetta. I really don’t know how to explain such a huge falsehood.”
15 May 2019, 20:39
Wiggins sticks his oar in, day 2
Sorry, @FlechaExtra x pic.twitter.com/BhdvboEh8t
— Brad Wiggins (@SirWiggo) May 15, 2019
We’re thinking this might become a regular thing, but Sir Wiggo is at it again “talking to me phone like a complete idiot” as the man himself describes it. Today he’s predicted Caleb Ewan to take the win on Stage 5 of the Giro, saying he’s getting better every day.
15 May 2019, 20:39
Tom Dumoulin has abandoned the 2019 Giro d'Italia
.@tom_dumoulin abandons the #Giro d’Italia during the transfer to Km 0 | @tom_dumoulin abbandona il #Giro durante il trasferimento al Km 0
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 15, 2019
After having a nasty crash on stage 4 yesterday, it appears the pain is too much for the 2017 champ to continue. He got as far as making it to the transfer to the start of the stage before calling it a day.
15 May 2019, 20:39
British Cycling unveils new Mental Health Strategy
British Cycling has unveiled a new Mental Health Strategy for the Great Britain Cycling Team that will see its medical staff take a preventative approach to managing athletes’ mental health and wellbeing. Find out all about it here.
15 May 2019, 20:39
Giro latest - peeing it down
Start in the rain in Frascati today #Giro -Follow the live: https://t.co/YwNaoGwI5O |
Oggi partenza sotto la pioggia da Frascati #Giro – Segui il live: https://t.co/YwNaoGwI5O pic.twitter.com/KldAsb9FgK— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 15, 2019
The sun seems to have migrated across to the UK for once, because it’s pretty wet in Italy at the moment. In absence of Tom Dumoulin after his abandon at the start of today’s stage it appears his teammate Louis Vervaeke is flying the flag admirably for Sunweb, as he leads the race with under 40km to go.
Approaching 40km to go and @LouisVervaeke is still flying the flag for us at the front of the race. Live data on screen thanks to @VelonCC is looking ! pic.twitter.com/EjIaskwAeD
— Team Sunweb (@TeamSunweb) May 15, 2019
15 May 2019, 20:39
Giro d'Italia: Ackermann doubles up to win Stage 5, Roglic maintains lead
It was a bit of a wet one today. Read our report here.
15 May 2019, 20:39
Giro d'Italia: Dumoulin out but "not ready to go home"
Tom Dumoulin has spoken of his disappointment at having to abandon the Giro d’Italia – a race he won two years ago – due to the injuries he sustained in a crash yesterday.
“I came here for a three week adventure and I wanted to finish it, I’m not ready to go home,” said the Team Sunweb rider.
“I went on the trainer this morning in my room and it was actually kind of ok, but when I stood up on the pedals my knee was really sore. I also tried it seated but that didn’t work either – I could spin the legs but not race.
“For me it’s terrible,” he continued. “Months and weeks of preparation and dedication went into this Giro and in one moment it’s over.
“It’s not how I wanted it to go of course, but it is how it is. I don’t know how bad the injury is, we only know that nothing is broken and it will probably just be swollen for a few days, but we have to see. For now I will just rest and see how it goes.”
Team Sunweb doctor Stephan Jacolino said: “Unfortunately the pain in Tom’s knee was too much for him to continue today.
“He sustained bruising to his quadriceps tendon and surrounding soft tissues, and we hoped the pain might ease as the day went on, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
“We’ll see if additional examinations are needed when he returns home but hopefully with some rest, he should be back on the bike with a week doing some easy training.”
15 May 2019, 20:39
Avon and Somerset Police launch close pass op - not everyone on Facebook is impressed
They’ve highlighted a horrific crash in which a cycle commuter was seriously injured by a motorist. Read our full report here.
15 May 2019, 20:39
Wiggins back on the road for 12-date UK one-man show
Sir Bradley Wiggins is getting back on the road, for a 12-date one-man theatre show across the UK – and tickets go on sale here at 10am on Friday morning.
The tour will see him recount stories from his racing career, and there will also be a chance to take a close look at some of the bikes that he rode to win five Olympic gold medals and the Tour de France, plus other memorabilia.
Here are the dates – you’ll notice that the one in Harrogate takes place during the week when the North Yorkshire town is hosting the UCI Road Cycling World Championships, an event in which Wiggins won the rainbow jersey in the time trial in Ponferrada, Spain, in 2014.
Fri 6 Sep – The Engine Shed, Lincoln
Sat 7 Sep – Hull City Hall
Thu 19 Sep – De Montfort Hall, Leicester
Fri 20 Sep – Birmingham Symphony Hall
Sat 21 Sep – Edinburgh Festival Hall
Mon 23 Sep – Royal Hall, Harrogate
Tue 24 Sep – Cambridge Corn Exchange
Wed 25 Sep – Bath Forum
Fri 27 Sep – The Anvil, Basingstoke
Sat 28 Sep – Newcastle Tyne Theatre
Mon 30 Sep – Theatre Royal, Brighton
Thu 3 Oct – Liverpool Echo Auditorium
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Jack is group editor across road.cc, off.road.cc and ebiketips, overseeing all three sites in the F-At Digital group to make sure everything’s up to scratch. He’s been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of road.cc including tech, news and video, and also contributed to ebiketips before being named editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town, and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master’s degree in print journalism, and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it’s a long story).
His writing has been described as “emotionally loaded” by oxymoronic road.cc forum contributor MaxiMinimalist.
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Latest Comments
mdavidford 11 minutes ago
Sounds like a recommendation to me - after all, who'd want their writing to be emotionally empty?
mdavidford 13 minutes ago
I think MM's point is more fatally flawed than that - people *do* complain about inequality in running. There might be less inequality than in cycling, but there's still an over-representation of white people and barriers to participation.
Jack Sexty 22 minutes ago
@MaxiMinimalist Sorted 👍
Rendel Harris 34 minutes ago
@MaxiMinimalist Would you care to give an example of any of those traits to which you claim Jack inclines, because I can't see any of them on display here.
Rendel Harris 1 hour ago
@lemonenema You start at grassroots, reach out to every community and give them a chance to try the sport and go from there. You maybe encourage pro teams to think about trying out more young black athletes, they're well known for taking youngsters from sports like rowing and cross-country ski-ing and turning them into cyclists, I'm sure with the natural advantages of Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes there are some young men and women in those nations who could be great climbers if encouraged to try. Nobody is saying just take the best twenty black women cyclists and dump them in the peleton. You seem to be concerned about the unfairness of something that nobody, as far as I can see, is actually proposing.
Rendel Harris 1 hour ago
@MaxiMinimalist Nobody complains about a lack of diversity in marathon running (if such exists, I don't really follow athletics any more but there seem to be plenty of white runners whenever I see it) because equality of opportunity in the sport already exists and nobody objects if the best then get to the top. Road cycling in many regions is almost 100% white dominated and there are problems with a lack of encouragement for black youth to get involved in road racing at least (near me the excellent Peckham BMX club does sterling work getting black kids to try BMX racing on our Olympic-standard track, with the result that it's hugely popular with that demographic and we are seeing black kids start to come through at national and international level). If equal opportunities existed and no black rider made it into the pro peleton then so be it, but until they do the complaints are justified. Your analogy rests on a false premise and is frankly rather stupid.
lemonenema 1 hour ago
And that's very commendable, but it needs to be done right, not done for the sake of appearances. How do you ensure that potential barriers are removed and diversity is promoted without unfairly selecting specific ethnicities for the sake of inclusion?
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@lemonenema Good job that Ms.McGowan is not asking, as far as the evidence above goes, for any sort of quota system then, isn't it? She's talking about increasing the opportunities for black women to participate in the sport and removing any barriers that may exist to them reaching their greatest potential, not simply enforcing an X% black women representation regardless of ability.
GSte 2 hours ago
Driver expected to drive in accordance with the highway code. I can see why he was vexed by that!
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
Leaving aside the joke sentence, how on earth did someone with a history of mental problems, substance abuse and serious crime involving motor vehicles manage to obtain a licence and then employment driving the most dangerous vehicle on the road? Who did the vetting and when are they resigning?
6 thoughts on “Live blog: Sir Bradley Wiggins back on the road for 12-date UK theatre tour this autumn (tickets on sale Friday), Tom Dumoulin out of Giro but “not ready to go home,” UCI investigating Alessandro Petacchi for blood doping + more”
Ex Lampre lot getting caught
Ex Lampre lot getting caught juicing, quelle surprise
Sad to see Dumoulin out.
Sad to see Dumoulin out. Classy rider.
No one should be even
No one should be even concerned about doping in cycling or pro sports “ all of them”:
its all part of what’s needed to compete at the very highest level . PED’s have never gone away and what you are watching is no different from the Pantani era the Armstrong era or the Sky domination era . It’s just more advanced now ( better knowledge) Time to stop wasting money and make PED’s legal and end the charade that’s going on in sport. I don’t even watch cycling now , it’s a bore fest of pulled up socks and TT’s up mountains. Excitement has long gone all we have is a race full of spinning bores who look at their computer screen to judge their performance. A bit like walking in a coffee shop and seeing everyone looking at their phones . Nothing organic about cycling now ,it’s technocrat racing .
Xena wrote:
If you let them take PEDs then it is no longer sport. It’s also no longer safe.
Xena wrote:
Well, letting them all juice won’t fix it, will it.
And cos cheaters gonna cheat yo (ie get an illegal start on rivals) and aren’t purely limited to PEDs, we might as well just accept blood doping and motors too. Sounds fun.
Helmut D. Bate wrote:
No one should be even concerned about doping in cycling or pro sports “ all of them”:
its all part of what’s needed to compete at the very highest level . PED’s have never gone away and what you are watching is no different from the Pantani era the Armstrong era or the Sky domination era . It’s just more advanced now ( better knowledge) Time to stop wasting money and make PED’s legal and end the charade that’s going on in sport. I don’t even watch cycling now , it’s a bore fest of pulled up socks and TT’s up mountains. Excitement has long gone all we have is a race full of spinning bores who look at their computer screen to judge their performance. A bit like walking in a coffee shop and seeing everyone looking at their phones . Nothing organic about cycling now ,it’s technocrat racing .
— Helmut D. Bate Well, letting them all juice won’t fix it, will it. And cos cheaters gonna cheat yo (ie get an illegal start on rivals) and aren’t purely limited to PEDs, we might as well just accept blood doping and motors too. Sounds fun.— Xena
And don’t forget gene editing, it’s an experimental risky procedure with unknown side effects, sounds perfect to add in to the mix, might as well start on the junior ranks so they can make the most of it by the time they’re racing as pros….