Welcome to Monday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team…
Is this the most bizarre road rage video ever? (Defo the cheekiest; GB men to be 2 riders down at Worlds? Wrong turn costs Joe Skipper 12 hour TT record; Trump (jr) vs Lance Armstrong; Clarkson rant …reaction; More Trump+more on the live blog
All today’s news from the site and beyond as we start a new week…
Mon, Aug 12, 2019 20:12
SUMMARY
12 August 2019, 20:12
ICYMI: weekend catch-up
Bernal’s Tour prep ‘secrets’, Clarkson, laughing in the face of flood water, Jeremy bloody Clarkson… here’s the weekend news highlights from road.cc:
“Bikes can f*@% off” says Jeremy Clarkson in YouTube rant
National titles for both Backstedt sisters at National Youth and Junior Track Championships
Police appeal for victims after youths on bikes film “The Maddest Day Ever In Brighton”
12 August 2019, 20:12
And what?
Seriously? pic.twitter.com/PSlOUbPu3H
— Tankslapper (@tankslapper) August 11, 2019
12 August 2019, 20:12
Triathlete Joe Skipper believed to have broken 12 hour time trial record yesterday... but is waiting for verification after making a wrong turn
The national 12 hour time trial championships took place yesterday in Norfolk, and pro triathlete Joe Skipper blitzed the field riding a whopping 325.31 miles at an average speed of 27.1mph according to his monstrous Strava upload (yes we’re sticking to miles as is British TT tradition thanks, multiply by 1.609 for how fast and how far in kilometres).
According to the Cycling Time Trials database the current record is 321.44 miles set by Adam Duggleby in 2018; which means pending verification, Skipper has smashed the record by nearly four miles. A potential hurdle is that Skipper took a wrong turn on the course, so he’s still waiting to see if the distance can be ratified. He told road.cc this morning: “I’m not 100% sure as I accidentally took a wrong turn, so at the moment they have docked me some miles but apparently they might try to work out exactly how far I’ve gone.”
The 12 hour time trial record went into the history books back in 1967 when Beryl Burton rode 277.25 miles, at the time the farthest ridden in 12 hours by any man or women. The women’s record was eventually broken more than 50 years later by Alice Lethbridge, who covered 285.65 miles.
Skipper is currently recovering from a running injury so cannot compete in triathlon events, and it appears his switch to time trialling in the meantime has been pretty successful. We’ll update as and when we find out if the distance will be officially recognised by CTT…
12 August 2019, 20:12
Crafty: Dundee e-bike scheme made to relocate planned charging point away from BrewDog beer garden
Before everyone piles in on the hipster craft ale giants, Brewdog said they were very happy to see the new e-bike scheme open in Dundee, but just wanted this particular charging point located away from their Panmure Street beer garden out front of the pub so it didn’t encroach on the space. Full story on eBikeTips.
12 August 2019, 20:12
Special edition S-Works Roubaix with Romance X Parra custom paint now bidding at slightly more than non-custom S-Works Roubaix
It’s perhaps not going quite as swimmingly as the auctioneers might have expected, but this special edition Roubaix being auctioned off in aid of World Bicycle Relief is now bidding at £10,100 – a ‘standard’ 2020 model Specialized S-Works Roubaix with SRAM Red eTap AXS groupset will set you back £9,500.
There’s four days left to go before bidding closes, if you have plenty of dosh and want to help a great charity head over to the eBay auction here.
12 August 2019, 20:12
Jeremy Clarkson: tweet round-up
We won’t spend too much more time on this (read our full rebuttal of his daft comments here) but here are some of our favourite tweets in response to Mr Clarkson’s rant…
Come on @JeremyClarkson, it’s OK to admit that men in Lycra turn you on https://t.co/AtR6FMrWuP
— Hannah // absolute cyclepath \ (@theeyecollector) August 11, 2019
This is what he said in 2012. Like his friend Boris, he’ll say whatever gets him attention at the time pic.twitter.com/E0rZSuUS7a
— Hackney Cyclist (@Hackneycyclist) August 11, 2019
I can’t be arsed reading this.
— Dave Dee (@dodgyd) August 11, 2019
It’s just all nonsensical verbal diarrhoea from an obnoxious angry old drunk.
I wish James May would try to talk some sense into him, but Clarkson is too busy trying to scapegoat everything else imaginable for the problems caused by cars.
— Garlan Tyrell (@SerGarlanTyrell) August 11, 2019
12 August 2019, 20:12
You can now get a Fausto Coppi 5 euro coin
Italy: New collector coin salutes Italian cyclist Fausto Coppi, the “Champion of Champions” https://t.co/W0hjiIAfey pic.twitter.com/kHVG6JDVF1
— LatGold (@Latgold) August 8, 2019
The special edition coin includes a profile portrait of Coppi, and the image is “surrounded by the text REPUBBLICA ITALIANA, and symbolically, a bicycle chain that is placed along the edge”, according to coinupdate.com.
It will be available from 2nd September, bookmark the website here if you fancy it or if you think it will make a perfect gift for the biggest Fausto fan in your life.
12 August 2019, 20:12
The inaugural Harlech Hell Climb took place on the newly-crowned world's steepest street yesterday
Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech was finally recognised as the world’s steepest street by Guinness Book of Records last month, so of course the right thing to do was to hold a hill climb event up the hellish road with a peak gradient of 37.45%, dubbed the Harlech Hell Climb.
It took place yesterday, with Calum Brown winning in a time of 50 seconds on the 0.33km course. Andrew Nichols and 2017 national hill climb champ Dan Evans were second and third respectively in the men’s race, while the women’s top three were Rebecca Richardson, Jessica Evans and Lucy Lee.
Overall results from yesterday’s Dringfa Ffordd Pen Llech are as follows
Thank you to everyone once again for making it such a brilliant day and a successful event – we hope you had as much fun as we did!
Well done to all competitors; seriously impressive times pic.twitter.com/sMX1owVNSk
— Welsh Cycling (@WelshCycling) August 12, 2019
12 August 2019, 20:12
Lance Armstrong drops Mike Pence while cycling - and Donald Trump Jr isn't impressed
Wow dude you’re a real bad ass… did you need to use steroids this time too or was that just to cheat others out of wins throughout your career? #dope https://t.co/M2H9GU6SWe
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 10, 2019
12 August 2019, 20:12
A bicycle traffic jam in Utrecht
As one of the commenters says, just imagine if all these people were in cars?
12 August 2019, 20:12
Video: Elia Viviani wins European championship
12 August 2019, 20:12
road.cc reader visits Velolife
The Velolife cycling cafe near Henley-on-Thames had a busy weekend due to all the publicity surrounding Windsor & Maidenhead council saying cyclists are not allowed to meet there – and among those showing their solidarity with the business was road.cc reader Andy Gray, who sent us these snaps.
12 August 2019, 20:12
Review: Bristol Bicycles E-Touring
How did this Bristol-born city slicker get on over our test period? Find out in the full review over on eBikeTips…
12 August 2019, 20:12
One signed by the current champ Egan Bernal, perhaps?
What could make a cycling fan granny happier than receiving a yellow jersey signed by @chrisfroome for her 79th birthday? pic.twitter.com/YnjfVTNBNy
— Florent Malézieux (@FloMalezieux) August 11, 2019
No disrespect to Tour legend Mr Froome, but we couldn’t resist!
12 August 2019, 20:12
CTT confirm Joe Skipper HASN'T broken the 12 hour time trial record due to wrong turn
This morning, professional triathlete Skipper told us he was awaiting news on whether a new potential new 12 hour time trial record of 325 miles he recorded at the national championships yesterday would stand – and unfortunately it’s bad news for the 31-year-old.
On their report just published this afternoon, CTT say that Skipper clocked a provisional 309.52 miles, which was still enough to take the national title by a margin of around six miles, but is way short of what he uploaded to his Strava account.
Skipper said: “I wanted to try and break the competition record so I was paying attention to that after five or six hours as it looked like it was on, but the finishing circuit was slow so I wasn’t sure I had done enough.
“I had mapped out the course and was following that rather than the signs, and turned too early before one of the roundabouts. I just wasn’t paying attention which was annoying, as if I had been following the marshals I would’ve been OK.”
This all means that the record of 321.44 miles set by Adam Duggleby in 2018 still stands.
In the women’s race, the winner was Vicky Gill with a distance of 278.38 miles, around 10 miles more than second-placed Christina Murray.
12 August 2019, 20:12
British Cycling confirms meeting with council leader regarding Velolife cafe
We look forward to meeting @MrSimonDudley, Leader of @RBWM later this week. We, together with @WeAreCyclingUK, want to make sure that people on bikes can ride, socialise and visit café’s together, both now and in the future https://t.co/EYGCmNkcXu
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) August 12, 2019
12 August 2019, 20:12
Cyclist's tweet graphically illustrates scale of theft problem at Cambridge's massive Cycle Point bike parking facility
Costing the best part of £3 million and with space for around 3,000 bikes, Cambridge’s Cycle Point, next to the city’s railway station, was supposed tp provide a secure place to park your pride and joy – after all, it’s covered by more than 100 CCTV cameras.
Unfortunately, that’s not how it’s turned out, with one theft even making it into the Guardian last year. Now, another cyclist who has fallen victim to the thieves has toured the building taking photos of the broken locks he found – more than 30 in all. It would certainly make you think twice about leaving your bike there …
Just had my bike stolen from the ‘state of the art’ £2.5m Cambridge station cycle park. I had a wander around & counted more than 30 cut locks (within view of ~100 CCTV cameras!) Brazen criminality with apparent impunity. Police & station staff seem powerless and/or apathetic. pic.twitter.com/UrJ6jY2tA2
— Edward Anderson (@edanderson101) August 12, 2019
12 August 2019, 20:12
Fair point
He looks like he hasn’t a clue what he’s looking at pic.twitter.com/8pMx5sUw6M
— Feargal McKay (@fmk_RoI) August 12, 2019
12 August 2019, 20:12
The most bizarre road rage video ever ... ?
Neither the taxi driver nor the cyclist come out of this with any credit to be honest … and the taxi driver doesn’t emerge with much dignity either as his shorts fall down and reveal he isn’t wearing underwear (but don’t reveal much else, thankfully). Truly bizarre.
Naht my highlight of London 1/2 pic.twitter.com/iwMhFTI1Bk
— Georgie (@Yorkshire_G) August 12, 2019
He cycled the wrong way up the bus lane then looked for a fight. After circling the taxi in traffic and hurling abuse at the driver and us, he punched the window by my Mum and kicked the taxi. Quick scrap and no one badly injured pic.twitter.com/vdF3qb0Ytd
— Georgie (@Yorkshire_G) August 12, 2019
12 August 2019, 20:12
Great Britain to be two riders down in road race at World Championships in Yorkshire
Great Britain is set to be two riders short in the men’s road race at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships next month – despite the event taking place on home roads in Yorkshire.
Sportsmail reports that with Denmark’s Michael Morkov finishing fifth in the road race at the European Championships yesterday in Alkmaar, that country has moved into 10th place in the UCI World Rankings.
As a result Great Britain, whose highest-placed rider was Chris Lawless in 13th, will be pushed down into 11th place, pushing Great Britain into 11th (although the website has yet to be updated).
The top 10 countries in the standings – calculated by adding together points accumulated by the eight highest-scoring riders – will each have eight men on the starting line in Leeds on 29 September, while those ranked 11-20 will have just six.
Simon Yates, helped by his Vuelta victory and last month’s two Tour de France stage wins, has been the country’s top point scorer over the past 12 months, followed by his twin brother Adam then Geraint Thomas.
Neither Chris Froome nor Mark Cavendish feature among the top eight British riders, having amassed 50 and 44 points respectively in the past year.
Tao Geoghegan Hart is currently the country’s eighth-ranked rider, on 325 points.
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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).
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Latest Comments
chrisonabike 45 seconds ago
@Hollis Jones as Rendel said, the key difference here is there were two strong pieces of evidence distinguishing this from "we all *know* they were aware of the cyclist, one of them a human witness. Outside that it's simply "but they honestly didn't notice..."
leedorney 2 minutes ago
Having experienced this in Anglesey and most of it is unnecessary, it does give the driver a big lesson in 'looking extra', as travelling slower does that !
leedorney 5 minutes ago
It's true, you aren't feeling yourself any favours wearing black/dark colours, BUT you've got to look, soo many dont and the campaign should be for motorist - look, simple as, it's not hard and drop the speed to, maybe if the police where actually outside rather than on Facebook looking for the naughty words/viewpoints, drivers would be caught speeding, not looking, pulling out, not braking in time, going through red lights, overtaking at a bad time, cutting up cyclists and a lot more..
wtjs 6 minutes ago
@Rome73 There are still too many motor vehicles in the central Oxford Street area. There should be zero, except for delivery vehicles at proscribed... prescribed times
Rendel Harris 12 minutes ago
@Hollis Jones The crucial difference is the fact that Richardson stopped, exited the vehicle, tried to pull Mr Mullins free and when he couldn't got back in and drove on. He knowingly, actively and voluntarily engaged in the harmful behaviour that caused Mr Mullins' death, which is what made it murder. The hit and run driver hasn't deliberately hit a cyclist and although driving away is of course utterly reprehensible it's only covered by the laws regarding failing to stop at the scene of an accident, which only attracts a six month prison sentence maximum. It's high time the law was changed so that firstly the penalties for failing to stop and render assistance are far higher and secondly so that if the medical evidence is that the victim would have survived with prompt assistance then the driver can be charged with manslaughter or murder. However as it stands murder requires evidence of malice aforethought with an intention to kill or to cause GBH resulting in death. Richardson clearly displayed this by resuming driving even though he knew Mr Mullins was stuck under his car; the hit and run driver in an "accident" didn't have that intention so can't be charged with murder however atrocious their behaviour after the event.
matthewn5 15 minutes ago
@robgru76 "I am gobsmacked by the number of cyclists I see" So you had no problem in seeing them, what's the issue?
Rendel Harris 33 minutes ago
@jaymack I know, sorry! I do accept they deserve some credit for not trying to pass it of as a DBDD but the evidence is so clear it would have been s scandal even by British justice vs cyclists standards if they'd gone for anything below manslaughter.
chrisonabike 36 minutes ago
@Rendel Harris yeah but it could have been spent on widening a few metres of road...
Rome73 39 minutes ago
I have worked and socialised around Oxford street for decades. There has been major change in that time - as you would expect in a major metropolis. When I was young you could drive down the whole of Oxford St. When that was stopped everyone screamed the world was going to come to an end. Then it was narrowed in parts to a single lane, the pavements widened and New Oxford Street and Charing Cross road were closed to cars. Everyone screamed the world was going to come to an end. Then Tottenham Court Road was made two way!! And yes, you guessed it, the world was going to come to an end. Then cycle lanes were built all along Gower Street down to Shaftesbury Avenue and the taxi drivers went mental with rage, and the world was going to come to an end. Soho, where I worked for over 10 years, was slowly purged of through vehicles and every time a road was closed or made one way - the world was going to come to an end. But the pedestrian and cyclists increased and so did retail and bars. Thinking back to it, it’s crazy to remember how soho was once clogged with cars, all stuck in self imposed traffic, belching fumes and poison into the narrow streets - until ULEZ and road closures reduced all that. There are still too many motor vehicles in the central Oxford Street area. There should be zero, except for delivery vehicles at proscribed times.
Rendel Harris 44 minutes ago
@slc Just read that comment to Mrs H, worryingly she looked thoughtful and said, "Mmm...how nice a bike are we talking here?"
15 thoughts on “Is this the most bizarre road rage video ever? (Defo the cheekiest; GB men to be 2 riders down at Worlds? Wrong turn costs Joe Skipper 12 hour TT record; Trump (jr) vs Lance Armstrong; Clarkson rant …reaction; More Trump+more on the live blog”
Are Porn Hubs louder than
Are Porn Hubs louder than Hope free hubs, I might spunk some cash on them if they are
I can’t see how miles covered
I can’t see how miles covered by going off course can be included in a record – in CTT events STrava doesn’t count and his distance will be whatever he acieved on the course….
exilegareth wrote:
Unfortunately for Joe that may well be the case – we’ve asked CTT for an update.
Jack Sexty wrote:
I can’t see how miles covered by going off course can be included in a record – in CTT events STrava doesn’t count and his distance will be whatever he acieved on the course….
— Jack Sexty Unfortunately for Joe that may well be the case – we’ve asked CTT for an update.— exilegareth
According to club rumour I hold the record for unfortunate wrong turns this season – but none of them would have seen me at the head of the race anyway. It’s a seriously strong performance on his part.
Just on a simple point, can we drop the distinction between tri athletes and testers? We’ve a few tri fans in our club, but if they pin on a number and ride in a TT, then they’re a tester….
exilegareth wrote:
Usually I’d agree 100% and wouldn’t describe someone who competes in both sports as a triathlete, but in Joe’s case it’s literally true – his job title is professional triathlete.
exilegareth wrote:
Are they also a cyclist?
Jack Sexty wrote:
I can’t see how miles covered by going off course can be included in a record – in CTT events STrava doesn’t count and his distance will be whatever he acieved on the course….
— Jack Sexty Unfortunately for Joe that may well be the case – we’ve asked CTT for an update.— exilegareth
Race report is here now – https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/race-report/18908#anchor – looks like the record is out of the window but that’s one hell of a missed turning…
I love the CTT website, it’s
I love the CTT website, it’s so, well, retro – and entirely in keeping with the slightly weirdy-beardy view of TTing I have. I mean, even Audax UK have gone all responsive and modern these days…
Railway stations must be the
Railway stations must be the delicatessens of the bike theiving world. I would never leave a bike I value locked and unattended for any length of time at a station. Sad that it has come to this, but apparently the police just aren’t interested…
dassie wrote:
I presume that parking outside a train station is the same as parking outside a cinema – any thief knows the odds are in their favour that they’re going to have a long time before the owner returns.
I wonder what had been going
I wonder what had been going on just before the taxi passenger started filming the delivery cyclist kicking the taxi. I mean, I just can’t bring myself to believe that the taxi driver was anything other than a completely innocent party who hadn’t done anything stupid to annoy another road user…
brooksby wrote:
Either the taxi driver did something to provoke it, or the cyclist is just nuts. Given the behaviour of both in the video, either could be the case.
The twitter feed says the
The twitter feed says the cyclist had been riding the wrong way up a bus lane and then started circling the taxi in traffic, punching the window and kicking the door. Presumably, though it isn’t mentioned, there was some altercation in the bus lane, even if only the taxi driver shouting at the cyclist, to make him turn around and give chase. Both seem a bit nuts and I wouldn’t have felt comfortable riding in that taxi or just being around.
Is there no limit to how low
Is there no limit to how low Clarkson will go for attention?
It would be better if road.cc didn’t actually link/embed the video, it only gives him more clicks (which will only encourage him).
Georgie wrote:
Hmm, cyclists randomly picks on a taxi to attack… calling BS on that!
Cabbie is such a big hard man to attack a vulnerable road user and then, with his victim on the floor, rapidly retreat to his big protective metal box.
If I’d have been in that cab I’d have just got out and said “no thanks, I don’t support hate or violence, enjoy the traffic!”.