“Tell me you’re leaving Ineos without telling me that you’re leaving Ineos”: Tom Pidcock “deselected” by team for Il Lombardia; Cyclists slam “unfair” Cycle to Work scheme; UCI to fine cyclocross riders for littering on course + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Conservative government “pursued poisonous culture wars” between cyclists and drivers, says new transport secretary – as Labour vows to “take back streets” for all road users
Labour’s Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has vowed to “take back streets” for cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers, after accusing the previous Conservative administration of pursuing “poisonous culture wars against road users of all descriptions”.
Quick, someone get Vine on the phone! The Penny Farthing Guinness World Records Extravaganza starts today
Fancy a ride around a velodrome in your penny farthing and also keen on setting a few records and getting your name in the Guinness Book? Buckle up because I’ve got some good news for you — the Penny Farthing Guinness World Records Extravaganza kicks off today at the Herne Hill Velodrome, Dulwich Park and London Olympic Velodrome.
The organisers described the events, scheduled from 11 to 13 October, as a “once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate the origins of the bicycle, to participate in a unique sporting occasion and to enjoy a wonderfully eccentric British Victorian weekend at some of cycling’s most iconic venues.”
The records being attempted will be the largest number of penny farthing racers in a velodrome, fastest speed and fastest mile on a penny farthing, and also some other eccentric ones such as… furthest distance on a penny farthing in one hour with 1 leg and furthest distance on a penny farthing with ‘no hands’.
Additional competitive activities will include slow riding, slalom race and 4 x 200m International relay race. And if the organisers are to be believed, “everyone participating in this Penny Farthing Extravaganza event will go home with a Guinness World Record”…
You can register for the event here.
"Priorities"
Just to be clear, the powers that be have found the will and money to build a £2bn road tunnel just down the river from here over the exact same period of time that Greenwich foot tunnel has been searching for a long term fix for its lifts for walking and cycling #Priorities https://t.co/qRs4IFUBnf
— Dermot Hanney (@HanneyDP) October 10, 2024
British Cycling Events announces long-term strategic partnership with global sports management company IMG
British Cycling Events, a subsidiary of British Cycling, responsible for delivering cycling events in recent years such as the UCI Track Champions League rounds in London and the Tour of Britain Women and Men, has announced a six-year strategic partnership with global sports, events and representation company, IMG, to support the long-term growth and sustainability of the federation’s events portfolio and generate new revenue to reinvest into the sport.
The British cycling calendar has been facing difficulties of late, including cancellation of races and organising issues, and the partnership hopes to improve that going forward, with IMG assisting with production, media rights distribution, commercial partnerships, digital marketing and advisory services for the Tour of Britain events.
In addition, IMG will provide strategic advisory services for British Cycling Events’ wider portfolio and operations.
British Cycling CEO, Jon Dutton, said: “IMG are renowned across the world for being at the cutting edge of sport and entertainment, and this new long-term partnership signals the scale of our ambition to grow the reach of our events and unlock the true potential of our sport.
“We’re on the cusp of an exciting new chapter in British Cycling’s history, with a renewed purpose to bring the joy of cycling to everyone, and we believe that IMG’s world-leading insight and guidance will further accelerate our progress in the years ahead.”
It is hoped that the partnership will help take the organisations’ major events, including the Tour of Britain Men’s and Women’s races, “to the next level” – improving the experience for fans, spectators, athletes, communities and partners alike.
Robbie Henchman, president of global partnerships at IMG, added: “This partnership is a unique opportunity to build upon and deliver a new purpose-led vision for British Cycling.
“The game-changing agreement with Lloyds Bank will help boost access to cycling through innovative events and concepts that have the potential to engage people of all ages in new and meaningful ways.
“Through IMG’s global network and unparalleled expertise, we have the capabilities to help further reinvigorate the sport, attract new fans and drive deeper engagement with its dedicated fan base, enabling British Cycling Events to extend its investment into cycling at all levels.”
Jonathan Day, managing director of British Cycling Events, said: “The successful delivery of the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Women and Tour of Britain Men, under significant time pressure, has given us real confidence in our operation and an appetite to take the events to the next level in the coming years.
“With IMG’s expertise in production, distribution, digital and beyond, we’re incredibly excited by the opportunity to take our growing portfolio of world-class events to new and bigger audiences.”
“Cyclocross should not have a negative impact on his spring classics”: Could Van der Poel, despite his “love for CX” skip the winter season this time?
After winning the gravel world championship in Belgium and a third-place finish at the road race championship in Zürich, Van der Poel’s has signed off the 2024 road cycling season on a high, winning two monuments, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix earlier this year.
And as he sits back and prepares to defend his title at the Ronde and the Hell of the North, there’s another title he might be interested in defending: the world cyclocross champion, which he wrote his name on Tábor in February this year.
However, there could be some doubts over the Dutch rider’s participation in the cyclocross season this year, despite “his love” for the discipline. Sporza reports that when Philip Roodhooft, Alpecin-Deceuninck boss was asked about Van der Poel’s cyclocross programme, he replied: “We don’t know yet. It’s possible in principle but we’re not going to speculate on it.”
In another interview in Het Nieuwsblad, he said:”My personal feeling is that we will see him at work next winter, but we are certainly not going to impose anything on him. If he wants to approach the level from last spring to next spring, we will have to think very carefully about how we fill the winter. Cyclocross should not have a negative impact on its classic spring. However, I would like to bring this nuance: Mathieu still loves cyclocross.”
Cyclocross riders will now have to throw bottles and trash in “special waste zones”… or face £220 fines from the UCI, and even disqualification if repeated
As the road cycling season nears its conclusion, cycling fans are about to treated to the cyclocross season, which is about to get underway this weekend in Beringen in Belgium.
And with new season comes new rules, with one particular rule change being particularly eye-catching and possibly even having a big impact. Bringing the rules of throwing waste such as bottles, nutrition packs and other unwanted items closer to road cycling, the UCI has announced that now CX riders will also have to stick to throwing them in “special zones”.
The UCI said: “From now on, riders are no longer allowed to throw away their waste and other materials everywhere. They may only deposit their unnecessary clothing, water bottles and other items in the designated material station or special waste zone.
“This new rule, which was previously implemented in cycling, aims at a cleaner and more sustainable sports climate. In the event of a first violation, the fine can amount to 250 Swiss francs (around €265, or £220). In the case of repeated violations, it can even lead to disqualification.”
A similar rule was implemented in road cycling in 2021, with a “bottlegate” controversy following in immediately after, when AG2R Citroën (now Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) rider Michael Schär taking maybe a bit too much time to adapt to the new regulations and ending up tossing his bottle towards a spectator at a “non-designated” spot… and was subsequently disqualified from the Tour of Flanders.
Schär later shared a lengthy social media post addressed to “Dear UCI”, noting how he was handed a water bottle by a pro at the 1997 Tour de France when he was 11-years-old, and which sparked his dream to become a cyclist.
> Bottlegate: no automatic DQ for riders throwing water bottles as UCI softens littering penalties
He said: “I remember it as it was yesterday. My parents drove my sister and me to the 1997 Tour de France in the Jura. We drove to the parcours and waited there for hours in the middle of the crowds. Finally the publicity caravan arrived and we all catched some treats.
“Later the first police motos arrived and the helicopter was hovering aboth us. Exactly this electrifying athmosphere of the bunch approaching us was for me life changing. I was endlessly impressed by the speed and ease these riders could ride their bikes. I wanted nothing else in my life anymore than becoming a pro cyclist myself. From this moment on I was driven by a dream.
“On top of that impression I received a bottle from a Pro. This little plastic piece made my cycling addiction complete. Back home that bottle was reminding me everyday of what my dream was. I rode my yellow Team Polti bottle everyday in full pride. Everyday.
“Now I am one of these Pros who race through all of the happy spectators. During calm moments of the race I always keep my empty bottle until I see some kids next to the road. Then I throw them gently right where they can catch it safely. Two years ago I gave a bottle to a girl next to the road. Her parents told me the girl wasn’t only happy about this bottle for a day. No, she still talks about this bottle. And maybe one day she becomes a cyclist as well.
“These are moments why I love our sport. Nobody ever can take that away from us. We are the most approachable sport who gives bottles along the way. Simple as that. Simple is Cycling.”
“If he’d stayed in his lane, I would have seen him”: Pavement parking taxi driver banned for injuring cyclist after pulling out without indicating – but barrister blames cyclist’s poor “lane discipline” for crash
A taxi driver who was banned from the roads for 12 months after pulling out without indicating and hitting a cyclist, leaving him with a “horrific” arm fracture, blamed the injured rider for the collision, arguing in court that if “he’d negotiated the roundabout properly I would have seen him”.
Legendary crashes of "Tour de France", ft. some really, really, really terrible AI
AI, you know, the talk of the town, the new rage, the thing everyone’s on about… So this is what it’s all about!
Cyclists can’t reach proposed active travel route due to town centre bike ban, as “crazy” plans slammed as “white elephant” that will not benefit cycling
Proposals to install a new toucan crossing near Bedworth town centre, as part of a planned ‘Green Corridor’ for active travel connecting a park to a new leisure centre, have been dubbed a “white elephant” by one local councillor, who claims cyclists won’t be able to reach the crossing thanks to the town’s bike ban.
Cycling campaigners have also criticised the plans, arguing that the pedestrianised town centre – located just 60 metres away from the proposed shared-use route – exposes a “glaring problem” in the scheme and will mean “very few cyclists” will use the new crossing.
However, the local authority has insisted that the current restrictions on cycling will not be removed, while further plans to clamp down on “anti-social behaviour” by people on bikes in Bedworth town centre are currently being considered as part of a proposed new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), a year after a local police officer claimed that “kids wheelie-ing around” and cyclists “rifling through” town centres were “setting the wrong tone” in the borough.
Cyclist suffers broken arm after car passenger shoved him off bike in latest shocking unprovoked attack from moving vehicle
Police in North Yorkshire have appealed for witnesses after a cyclist suffered a broken arm when he was pushed off his bike by the passenger of a moving car, in what is fast becoming a worryingly habitual occurrence on the UK’s roads.
“It’s a season that may never be repeated, by him, or by anyone in general”: Evenepoel says Pogačar is the favourite for Il Lombardia, also hints at riding Milan-San Remo next year
It’s the fifth and final monument of the 2024 road cycling season tomorrow, and it’s safe to say that it wouldn’t take a pro cycling analyst to predict that it’s shaping up to be the final showdown between two cyclists who have enjoyed remarkable, historical seasons this year.
We have Remco Evenepoel on one hand, who won the Volta ao Algarve to kick the year off, finished second and third in Paris-Nice and Tour de France respectively, and then did the hallowed double at Paris Olympics, before defending his time trial rainbow jersey at the Zürich world championships.
On the other, there’s Tadej Pogačar, winner of Strade Bianchi, Volta a Catalunya, Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, road race world championship, and Giro dell’Emilia. Gone are the days when he was being touted as the next Eddy Merckx, but has instead carved out a legacy so rich and gilded for himself that some would argue that he’s even surpasses the Cannibal, and that it might be an honour for Merckx, or any other cyclist to come, to be compared to Pogačar.
Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar at 2024 Tour de France (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
But as these two titans of modern cycling come to the fore tomorrow, Evenepoel has showered Pogačar with praise, while also revealing a bit of his own human side.
The 24-year-old Belgian told Sporza: “It’s logical that he’s the favourite, if you see how he’s been riding this year. He’s had nothing ahead of him, no crashes, no broken things… It’s a season that may never be repeated, by him, or by anyone in general.”
He also spoke about how the injuries from the crash at Tour of Basque Country impacted his season: “It’s hard to say how much is left in the tank. But I feel good to get one more good result. Then it’s over.
“I also feel that it is slowly coming to an end. In some of the past races I would normally last longer or play a more important role in the final. The best seems to have faded a bit, which is only normal.”
“I had the serious injury in April, then the build-up to the Tour and a longer period of top level, then also some illness… It’s going with ups and downs now. But I’m hopeful that I can have a good day tomorrow and achieve a good result.”
And although he didn’t confirm it, Evenepoel also said that adding a third monument, besides Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia to his 2025 calendar could be a possibility (spoiler: it’s not the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix).
“We still have to put the puzzle together for next year. The Flemish classics might get in the way of my big goals,” he said. “If there is a classic I can add, it might be Milan-San Remo. I haven’t talked about it with the team yet.”
“Hellishly complicated”: Cyclists point out problems in “unfair” Cycle to Work scheme excluding lower-income people from buying bikes
A bit of a reaction round up to yesterday’s story about the Cycle to Work scheme, which MPs claimed is “unfair” and excludes people on low incomes from buying a bike or taking up cycling, with the Labour government has admitted that it “absolutely recognises” there are “problems”.
Of the several issues with the somewhat popular yet imperfect scheme which allows people looking to buy new bikes to commute to work to sacrifice some of their salary to pay for the bike in instalments, and thus avail tax benefits as well — perhaps the most significant one was uncovered by Sustrans last month, when the active travel charity published a report which found that 38 per cent of people in the UK on low incomes or in unemployment (or around 1.9 million people) are currently priced out of buying a bike due to the high costs and lack of discounts available.
> “Unfair” Cycle to Work scheme “problems” need to be addressed, admits government minister
Now, some road.cc readers have also expressed their thoughts about the scheme…
G7NXX: “Been saying it for years, cycling related items should be zero VAT rated. No forms, applications, income requirements etc, just a flat 20 per cent discount to encourage cycling.”
brooksby: “Cycle to Work is also hellishly complicated: Which scheme provider do you want to use? How do they deal with the application and the money? How do you deal with the application and the money?
“I recently got a new bike through a C2W scheme. I work for a small business, so my boss had to actually register with a scheme too (he hadn’t had to before, as hadn’t used a scheme).
“The first scheme he contacted never even got back to him.
“The second one did (obviously), but it’s complicated: in my case, it was (1) decide which bike to get and from whom, (2) wait for boss to confirm he’s registered, (3) get a quote from the bike provider, (4) pay their deposit and their extra ‘admin fee’ to cover the money they get charged by the C2W scheme provider (fair enough), (5) pass the quote to the C2W scheme provider, (6) pass the C2W scheme invoice to my boss, (7) once that has been paid, notify the bike provider, (8) bike provider gives me a gift card for the money paid, for me to pay their invoice.
“I suspect C2W might be easier if it was just one scheme run through the DfT or something…”
VIPCyclist: “As a low income person I can tell you that a 40 per cent discount on a bike still leaves me excluded and by a very large amount.”
"Tell me you're leaving Ineos without telling me that you're leaving Ineos": Tom Pidcock expresses disappointment after being "deselected" by Ineos for Il Lombardia
If there were rumours of ill feeling in the Ineos camp before – particularly around the future of its star British rider Tom Pidcock – the 25-year-old has just turned them up to 11 by taking to Instagram to announce he has been “deselected” by his team ahead of the Italian monument Il Lombardia, less than 24 hours before he was expected to be on the start line.
“Just as things were on the up after a turbulent end to the year I am deselected for Lombardia tomorrow”, said Pidcock.
“I am in great shape and was really looking forwarded to it! Good luck to the boys, I guess off season starts early. Thanks for everyone’s support even in the tough times”.
Ineos haven’t commented further, other than revealing their Il Lombardia line-up on its social media feeds. It’s believed Ethan Hayter is in for Pidcock alongside the six other riders: Ben Swift, Connor Swift, Thymen Arensman, Jonathan Castroviejo, Brandon Rivera and Ben Turner.
Reactions online have been pretty scathing on the Ineos socials and sympathetic on Pidcock’s, and the Yorkshireman describing his year as “turbulent” certainly won’t quell rumours that he’ll soon be leaving the team; particularly as, by most pro cyclists’ standards, Pidcock’s year has been personally very successful, having defended his Olympic mountain bike title and won the Amstel Gold Race.
Is Pidcock’s time at Ineos up? It’s not looking great right now…
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Latest Comments
@mdavidford No, you're confusing it with liquified steam.
@Zebra It's in the article. The airbag can be quickly deflated again.
The more safety gear the riders wear, the safer they feel, the more risks they will take, the more often they will crash.
I thought Laura did well, and capped the bullshit firehose effectively - especially as she had never had an attempted mugging from a far-right shock-jock before. Her "the Netherlands was not the Netherlands in the 1970s" is a genius point, which I will remember. She could have added "Why do you want to live in a Carry On film" if she wanted to put JHB back in her hot air balloon.. But nonetheless - enjoyable, even though personally I probably preferred Laura's debagging of Richard Madeley on Jeremy Vine iirc with sheer logic.
If a pro hits the deck wearing one of these and is uninjured apart from some road rash, will he or she be able to jump back on and keep riding? Or will it be necessary to wait and change into a new jersey / skinsuit? That could be a deciding factor for their use in elite races.
My greatest fear is being struck from behind while cycling. If this demonstrably reduces injuries from such an attack, I want one. Anything that improves safety gets my support.
As I think that poster liked to remind us, explosion in the hi-viz aisle of Decathlon is also a big risk for cyclists.
@IanGlasgow indeed - my point was really just in answer to the reviewer's apparent surprise they didn't add discs - but the Kinetic kits show it actually requires quite a lot of change.
...And another one turning up on a bicycle to another former poster's soirée and then being hurt by his reaction?
8 dangerous mistakes that put riders in A&E - was one going on a ride with former(?) poster wheelywheely... and being run over on the pavement by a mob of cyclists riding furiously through a red light on the wrong side of the road ... and then having wheely's wheelchair fall on you?
17 thoughts on ““Tell me you’re leaving Ineos without telling me that you’re leaving Ineos”: Tom Pidcock “deselected” by team for Il Lombardia; Cyclists slam “unfair” Cycle to Work scheme; UCI to fine cyclocross riders for littering on course + more on the live blog”
Hadn’t seen that from Schär
Hadn’t seen that from Schär before, difficult to argue with. Why can’t bottles be exempted from the littering rules in cyclocross, they are clearly very different from gel wrappers and other rubbish in that they will definitely be picked up and taken home to be treasured as souvenirs or to be reused on the finder’s rides. Road riders should definitely be sanctioned if they just toss bottles into ravines and other non-populated areas where they won’t be picked up, this just doesn’t apply in cyclocross where there will always be people around the course who will pick up and take them away. The UCI really are specialists at creating solutions for non-existent problems, aren’t they?
Very strange for bottles as
Very strange for bottles as they’re not used in the same way in cross races, not usually carried on the bike and only allowed to be handed up in the pits?
They can’t even hand bottles
They can’t even hand bottles out in the pits: they need to be attached to swapped-out bikes.
That said, I guess no one wants bottles being thrown into crowds at cross races. Crowds are 10+ deep a lot of the time. It would be chaos if spectators were allowed to grab bidons from the course.
Cummings has been a disaster
Cummings has been a disaster for INEOS. The sooner they get rid of him the better. He was never a team player when he was a racer; why oh why did they give him a DS role, I’ll never know. Pidcock deserves better.
That Artificial Insanity
That Artificial Insanity video is absolutely genius.
A couple of comments about
A couple of comments about Pidcock.
1. No team member should consider themselves greater than the team, Sir Alex Ferguson would have him on the transfer list quicker than Pidcock gets to social media to whinge.
2. Shouldn’t ‘double Olympic champion’ be treated like the rainbow jersey an just be used in Pidcock/MTB stories?
don simon fbpe wrote:
Easy to say from your armchair but cycling isn’t football. But continuing the analogy, when he’s your best goalscorer (including second place – or first human – behind Pogacar at Giro Dell Emilia the other day) why leave him on the bench for a race that really suits him?
Pidcock can come across as abrasive and he gives the impression that he has firm ideas about his racing, his goals and his future. Perhaps that doesn’t sit very well with some people but I can’t say I blame him if he finds the environment at Ineos has become a bit uncomfortable.
Despite that I wouldn’t rush to put all the blame on Steve Cummings; and there are always two sides to every story.
In other news, the Chrono Des Nations is tomorrow (Sunday) and I’m very happy to see that the double* ITT Champion – Olympic and Worlds – Grace Brown is on the startlist. It is likely to be her last race before retiring so she’ll surely be wearing the rainbow jersey and riding a gold bike. What a way to cap it off! Magical.
* triple if you add the Worlds Team Relay
Simon E wrote:
Easy to say from your armchair but cycling isn’t football. But continuing the analogy, when he’s your best goalscorer (including second place – or first human – behind Pogacar at Giro Dell Emilia the other day) why leave him on the bench for a race that really suits him?
Pidcock can come across as abrasive and he gives the impression that he has firm ideas about his racing, his goals and his future. Perhaps that doesn’t sit very well with some people but I can’t say I blame him if he finds the environment at Ineos has become a bit uncomfortable.
Despite that I wouldn’t rush to put all the blame on Steve Cummings; and there are always two sides to every story.
In other news, the Chrono Des Nations is tomorrow (Sunday) and I’m very happy to see that the double* ITT Champion – Olympic and Worlds – Grace Brown is on the startlist. It is likely to be her last race before retiring so she’ll surely be wearing the rainbow jersey and riding a gold bike. What a way to cap it off! Magical.
* triple if you add the Worlds Team Relay— don simon fbpe
No, it’s not football, but it is clearly the tail trying to wag the dog. Never will it be a happy ending for anyone and wholly unprofessional from Pidcock.
Never will it be a happy
Never will it be a happy ending for anyone and wholly unprofessional from Pidcock
I don’t agree, but even if Pidcock was much more culpable I would forgive him with pleasure for beating a Frog at the last moment and in fine style, while the local crowds cried ‘unfair’. Well done, TP!
don simon fbpe wrote:
Whereas taking a rider to Italy for the warmup races to a monument (where he finished 2nd and 15th, incidentally) in which he is one of the favourites for a podium and in which he had been promised lead rider status, then petulantly and spitefully dropping him the day before the race because other teams are showing an interest in him and he may want to leave due to your own blatant and widely acknowledged incompetent management is the absolute epitome of professionalism, of course.
Rendel Harris wrote:
I’m not sure where anyone said that Ineos are professional ( I do believe the team has a history of tarnishing the sport’s reputation), doesn’t change Pidcock being an unprofessional whinger, but I guess he’s got is fanbois where he can do no wrong.
don simon fbpe wrote:
— don simon fbpeI can’t speak for Rendel but I’m certainly no Pidcock fanboy. I think he can be arrogant and brattish (I saw it first-hand at the UK CX champs) but that doesn’t make him either unprofessional or a whinger.
Do you mean that, as a contracted rider, he is not allowed to express any opinion about the situation? Do we only want script-reading robots now?
I really don’t want that to happen. Regardless of whether I like what I see of an individual (which, if we’re honest, is based on the flimsiest of evidence), I prefer to see character / personality / individual traits and quirks. I don’t expect them to be all sweetness and light. We watch because they are the best, hugely driven athletes who can ride a bike much faster and more skilfully than the rest of us.
Simon E wrote:
More than happy seeing people being individuals, not being a team player and whinging publicly about being dropped is indeed unprofessional. Feel free to put your twist on this. Great to see quirky and charcterful Eli Iserbyt in full flow yesterday.
don simon fbpe wrote:
It’s not my ‘twist’; it’s an opinion, just like yours.
Simon E wrote:
I’d be interested to know which management style is promoted where team members having public hissy fits is recommended. At the end of the day, yes, it is an opinion, but I’m keen in reading more about the management style you’re promoting where publicly doing the dirty washing is promoted, it seems quite a quaint idea as I can’t think of any industry, country, business where this behaviour is acceptable.
Only team doing worse than
Only team doing worse than ineos this year is mufc
check12 wrote:
Is that one of those Italian conti teams with 150 sponsor logos on the jersey?