Annemiek van Vleuten’s dramatic World Championships crash — confirms front tyre didn’t “explode” before fall; Bauke Mollema suffers untimely mechanical… later collides with seagull; Angle grinder bike thefts are back + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Annemiek van Vleuten's dramatic World Championships crash after "front tyre exploded" straight off the start ramp
Annemiek van Vleuten — the all-conquering winner of all three of this year’s women’s Grand Tour replicas, including the Tour de France Femmes — crashed out of the World Championships mixed relay time trial this morning (UK time) and says she is on the way to hospital for X-rays. Her right side is heavily bruised, the prolific winner who will retire at the end of next season said, and she is “especially worried about my right elbow and arm”.
⚠️ CRASH for @AvVleuten!! ⚠️
Mechanical issue causes horrible crash for the Dutch superstar.
Really disappointing day for the Dutch. #Wollongong2022 pic.twitter.com/rU5LYNnlcu— UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 21, 2022
In the same social media post updating fans about her condition, Van Vleuten said the crash happened when her “front tyre exploded”. With the challenging road race on Saturday all we can do is hope one of the biggest names in the sport is on the startline to continue her sensational season…
> From Coppi to Van Vleuten: Cycling’s greatest ever seasons
It was a nightmare afternoon/morning (depending on your time zone) for the Dutch in the new(ish) mixed relay time trial — the event which replaced the team time trial a few years back and involves three male riders from a nation riding a TT before three women finish it off, starting when the men have completed their course.
Things went wrong for the riders in orange from the start ramp — Bauke Mollema’s chain getting snagged, although sadly no repeat of his hilarious sponsor-bashing outburst at the 2019 Giro…”I always ride with (SRAM) 1x (no derailleur). First time this happens this year. Bad luck at the worst moment,” he said after today’s mechanical.
Nightmare for the Dutch as Bauke Mollema drops his chain very early on the team mixed team time trial. Great news for Australia who sit in the hot seat. #Wollongong2022 #cycling pic.twitter.com/rmIZ4cV0n0
— Brendan Bradford (@1bbradfo) September 21, 2022
Images you can hear. #Mollema #SRAM #Wollongong2022 pic.twitter.com/yXopGGfMpa
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) September 21, 2022
Anyway, on the seventh anniversary of ‘Ronnie Pickering’ going viral, here’s everybody’s second favourite vid…
Oh, you want to know who actually won the mixed relay? Sorry, now we’ve got that stuff out the way I’ll tell you…
It was Swiss dominance, powered by European champion Marlen Reusser and nearly man Stefan Küng. Pretty strong back-up too when you can call on Stefan Bissegger, Mauro Schmid, Nicole Koller and Elise Chabbey for support.
> “It was terrifying”: Remco Evenepoel and World Championships pros suffer magpie attacks
Italy missed out on the win by three seconds, while home favourites Australia did enough to earn bronze, 38 seconds behind their Swiss rivals…. and breathe. That’s a lot of drama for before 9am…
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) September 21, 2022
And to think the magpies have been getting all the bad press…
> “It was terrifying”: Remco Evenepoel and World Championships pros suffer magpie attacks
"I don't know what happened but it looks like the tyre exploded after I hit the side of the road"
Don’t know what happened but looks the tire exploded after I did hit the side of the road. So that was not the problem. Something caused I got out of balance, but what ever caused it: it will not help or change my situation. Now in the hospital. 🤞🤞 https://t.co/ApGAY4YITt
— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) September 21, 2022
Bauke Mollema: pro cyclist and enemy of avian life
This happened yesterday…shared on Bauke Mollema’s Insta…
Birds, birds, birds: Bauke Mollema aangevallen door Australische ekster #Wollongong2022
👇https://t.co/hQ2afX0dEg pic.twitter.com/1bgzn8Jxnq
— Sporza 🚴 (@sporza_koers) September 20, 2022
What did poor Bauke do in a previous life to be Australian birds’ public enemy number one?
UCI president David Lappartient has been on the receiving end too…
David Lappartient…”I feel very safe riding in Wollongong…except for the birds!” 🤣 @wollongong2022 @UCI_cycling
— Cadel Evans (@CadelOfficial) September 20, 2022
Australia’s got a history of tough cycling laws and hefty fines, but enlisting your wildlife for a campaign of physical and psychological attacks is a step too far, surely?
Can confirm (Parkes St, Port Kembla) pic.twitter.com/L7DPWWYXEK
— Lambeaux (@MicahLambert) September 20, 2022
Angle grinder bike thefts are back
In fairness, I doubt they ever went away, we just didn’t see them.
Bike theft Happened in the crouch end yesterday evening at 6pm pic.twitter.com/Au2if5GuXs
— London & UK Street News (@CrimeLdn) September 21, 2022
More footage of bike thieves using an angle grinder to cut through locks and take a bicycle, this time in Crouch End, north London. We’ve already covered multiple incidents of similar offending, often in London, this year, including back in March when a group, unfazed by the growing crowd of onlookers, cut through locks.
It’s not just London, however. A month earlier in Edinburgh footage emerged of hooded thieves using an angle grinder to try to steal a nurse’s bike from a busy city centre street. Fortunately, in that case, they were thwarted by passers by.
Last year one of our most read stories was the footage of a brazen bike thief using an angle grinder to steal a Trek bike locked outside busy shopping centre in south east London.
"101,000 views of people being normal"
Now 101k views of people being normal https://t.co/c5Y7RX1uCM
— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) September 21, 2022
The most-prized signature in cycling? Wout van Aert extends Jumbo-Visma contract until 2026
𝙁𝙖𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚. #WOUT2026 pic.twitter.com/TCiXQ0hPw4
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) September 21, 2022
Two more years of Wout van Aert being an absolute cycling god in the yellow of Jumbo-Visma? Oh go on then…
The men’s MVP has extended his deal, which would have expired in 2024, to the end of 2026, saying he is “obviously happy” to stay with the team where he “can perform at my best”.
“It surprised me the team wanted to negotiate my contract again, but it’s a nice recognition. We quickly agreed. I don’t think a longer partnership poses any risks because we’ve been able to get better for the past four years,” Wout said.
Ready for dubious quote of the day? Here goes…
“One of the team’s slogans is ‘better every day’, which is not coming out of thin air. We keep improving in performance, the team’s facilities, everything.”
Thanks for that, Jumbo comms manager…sorry, I mean Wout…
Anyway, thinking about what Wout’s palmares might look like come December 2026 is enough to makes us, and the entire peloton, shudder… Flanders? Roubaix? Rainbow jersey? Five green jerseys?
Staff bikes: Dave's custom Dward singlespeed — a steel beauty
Van Vleuten fractured elbow confirmed by Dutch team — BUT "road race remains an option"
In the last few minutes the Dutch cycling federation has released the following statement:
After her fall in today’s Mixed Team Relay, Annemiek van Vleuten will remain in the selection of the KNWU for the world championship on the road in Wollongong (Australia). A (stable) fracture in the elbow has been detected in the Olympic time trial champion. A final decision on whether or not to participate in the road race will be made later this week.
National coach Loes Gunnewijk said a decision will be made in consultation with the team doctor and Van Vleuten over the next few days.
“Annemiek is allowed to cycle with this stable fracture, but the question is of course with how much pain that will be. We will see that in the coming days. We hope that Annemiek can still start, but that has to be justified,” she said.
Accidental shift? Chain jam? Tubeless "explosion"? What caused Annemiek van Vleuten's crash?
Speculation and amateur detective work have been underway since the early morning… Annemiek van Vleuten’s initial suspicion was her front tyre had “exploded”, a conclusion presumably reached by the state of her wheel…
(I guess it is sensitive content if you’re a tubeless fan)
— Jose Sion (@Yayosion) September 21, 2022
Ik hoop heel hard voor u dat alles uiteindelijk meevalt. Vingers kruisen dan maar. Dat je op zaterdag toch uw kansen kan verdedigen en nog eens lekker ouderwets op die pedalen kan rammen. Ben net zoals de hele wieler wereld benieuwd naar het uiteindelijke medische bulletin. pic.twitter.com/kTGFPwcPKh
— franck vanneste (@sprezaturra) September 21, 2022
The Dutch favourite has since said the damage, like her ripped off rear derailleur, was caused by her bike’s impact with the road/barriers and was not the issue that caused her to fall. So what caused the sudden lurch? Social media rumours have suggested a chain jam or cleat pulled from the pedal, the former supported by this extremely grainy still…
appears the chain jumped to the small chainring… putting down all these watts will throw you off, full stop pic.twitter.com/NbQZ8I1eWp
— oh dear… (@oh_dear66) September 21, 2022
Gkam84 in the blog comments suggested an accidental gear change could have been to blame: “Having watched it a number of times over, the only thing I can think happened to AVV, as she was getting ready to change position, she accidentally downshifted the front (if she had switches on her brakes) and it caused her to lose her balance from the unexpected shift. Certainly as she has corrected, the tyre wasn’t blown until the bike his the kerb and smashed the wheel up.”
Rendel Harris added: “Looks to me like a highside potentially caused by the back wheel locking up, bad shift temporarily caught the chain and locked the wheel?”
Cyclocross World Cup round moved from London to Dublin
No pre-Christmas ‘cross in the capital this year, after all. I mean, I’m sure you can find a cyclocross race to watch, but the world’s best almost certainly won’t be there…
No cyclocross World Cup in London.
But to Dublin.
Maasmechelen replaces Rucphen.
Gavere replaces Dendermonde pic.twitter.com/jLqdEVdhWm
— José Been (@TourDeJose) September 21, 2022
The early December round has gone to Dublin instead, the Irish capital is always worth a visit…although if bike racing’s your primary motivation you might as well head to Belgium. It might even be closer to your house…
Anyway, opinion is split here in the road.cc office… Liam is gutted to be missing out on racing the support event…BUT on the bright side, a change of location means Northern Ireland-based Ryan’s eyeing up a trip south.
The Birds: starring Bauke Mollema
Remake > original
(Sorry @BaukeMollema, we had to do it 😜)#Wollongong2022 pic.twitter.com/elwGp4NbAP
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) September 21, 2022
Entries for 2023 RideLondon-Essex 100 open on Wednesday 28 September
Entries for next year’s RideLondon, to be held on Sunday 28 May, open a week today. The first 10,000 places will be available on a first come, first served basis on Wednesday 28 September (we will try to find out the exact time entries open), with the remaining places then decided by a ballot, which will close at 17:00 on Friday 28 October.
We’ll let you make your own mind up about paying the £99 it costs to ride the event, but once again RideLondon says the 100-mile challenge will start and finish in central London and include a loop of Essex, offering riders 100 miles of traffic-free roads.
Last year’s inaugural event using the Essex loop saw 22,367 participants take on either the 100, 60 or 30-mile events.
Time for another bank holiday? Celebrating seven years of Ronnie Pickering
While the person on the receiving end of this most famous of road rage confrontations was a motorbiker, of course cyclists the world over can relate to the exchange… and therefore, regular Twitter and cycling Twitter alike have been marking Ronnie Pickering Day, because it’s exactly seven years since the fiery footage first emerged…
Happy Ronnie Pickering Day to all those who observe it pic.twitter.com/P8yY9tnOBa
— Lucie Fur (@Lucie_Fur99) September 21, 2022
Should really have a bank holiday for Ronnie Pickering Day
— Tim (@piearce9) September 21, 2022
‘Do you know who I am? Ronnie Pickering!’ but it’s performed by an Indie Band pic.twitter.com/vMN5rgaMh3
— Michael Fry (@BigDirtyFry) January 9, 2021
A lot of analysis and a whole load of memes have appeared in those seven years, and last year the incident was even immortalised in song by comedian Michael Fry, who performed the entire exchange in the style of a noughties landfill indie band.
If you prefer your victims of road rage to be riding bikes without motors, check out some of our Ronnie Pickering-esque greatest hits. Happy Ronnie Pickering Day!
> Driver aims ‘can-can’ kick at cyclist, misses – and falls on his backside
> Ronnie Pickering, eat your heart out: the angry canal man
> Road rage meltdown driver who threatened to kill cyclist fined for public order offence
21 September 2022, 08:13
21 September 2022, 08:13
21 September 2022, 08:13
21 September 2022, 08:13
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Latest Comments
@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.
@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.
@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.
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?
@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.
Driver expected to drive in accordance with the highway code. I can see why he was vexed by that!
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?
The short bio at the bottom of the blog reads : "Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master’s degree in print journalism, ..." He now contributes to road.cc live blog where he demonstrates an inclination towards biased communication, pejorative language and emotionally loaded writing.
@Rendel Harris Be careful what you wish for - we know where a lot of historic British sporting brands have wound up and there are things worse than non-existence.
When was the last time did elite male and female marathon runners complain about the lack of diversity in their sport? Whoever pretends to become a pro cyclist must have power, endurance, stamina, self-confidence. And more. Race and faith don't intefere with data and results. American wokeism is the last thing the women's pro peloton needs at the moment. Instead, live broadcasting, TV rights and sponsors are most welcome.
15 thoughts on “Annemiek van Vleuten’s dramatic World Championships crash — confirms front tyre didn’t “explode” before fall; Bauke Mollema suffers untimely mechanical… later collides with seagull; Angle grinder bike thefts are back + more on the live blog”
https://www.gazette-news.co
https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/22314427.essex-cyclist-awarded-800k-devastating-collision/
800k seems a bit light to me, although it doesn’t say the age of the cyclist.
5 years to get a settlement !
First comment on there BTL is
First comment on there BTL is anti vaxxer and the second is how its just an advert for ambulance chasers… Gotta love those Colchesterites!
Colcestrians (door mirror)
Colcestrians (door mirror)
(wing mirror)
(wing mirror)
Thanks for flagging that one,
Thanks for flagging that one, it’s on the news list.
It took 4 years to get my
It took 4 years to get my settlement – even with admission of guilt and no mitigating circumstances.
I know the hoops I had to crawl through for my £100k plus compensation, and I know how fecked up I am as a result.
£800k says to me that the victim was severely injured and will never, ever have a decent quality of life.
I really wish the guy the best, and hope that the award can get them a decent level of care for as long as they need it.
I wonder why the Crouch End
I wonder why the Crouch End thieves started to go one way, then turned and went the other (making sure they were seen by even more witnesses)? Looked like they had a mechanical… Who would have imagined that angle grinding a bike lock off might cause damage to the bike…?
The replies though…
The replies though…
Apparently it is easy to take down someone with an angle grinder and there is no way you will be injured in such an action.
I don’t know about you, but I
I don’t know about you, but I bl00dy well wouldn’t try it.
Not me – too slow for that.
Not me – too slow for that.
Reckon AlsoSomniloquism’s wife would wade in though !
Having watched it a number of
Having watched it a number of times over, the only thing I can think happened to AVV, as she was getting ready to change position, she accidentally downshifted the front (if she had switches on her brakes) and it caused her to lose her balance from the unexpected shift. Certainly as she has corrected, the tyre wasn’t blown until the bike his the kerb and smashed the wheel up.
Look to me like a highside
Look to me like a highside potentially caused by the back wheel locking up, bad shift temporarily caught the chain and locked the wheel?
Any reason given for the
Any reason given for the Cyclocross calendar change ? As in effectively is it a postponement or cancellation that impacts whether it reappears on next years calendar.
FWIW I think I’m closer to the Belgian coast as the crow flies, than London by road/train distance anyway.
Awavey wrote:
No reason given but in the statement it said they will continue working towards including London on the 23/24 calendar, so hopefully all is not lost. Shame, I was looking forward to that, I know we are spoilt for most things in London (so I don’t expect anyone to shed too many tears for us) but top-class cycle racing isn’t one of them.
those bike thieves – I could
those bike thieves – I could think of a thousand unpleasant things that could be done to them. It’s that they get away with it so often that infuriates.