Cycling world pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II; Sir Chris Hoy, Dame Sarah Storey, UCI, British Cycling, Tour de France and Tour of Britain pay respects + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Cycling world pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II
It has been a strange and, for many, unprecedented 24 hours, leading to the announcement from Buckingham Palace yesterday evening that Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch, had died aged 96. Tributes have poured in from across the globe, and whilst there are thousands of important tributes, as a cycling website we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t report on the way the news was received across the cycling world…
This evening we join the nation in mourning the loss of Her Majesty The Queen, at the age of 96.
Our deepest condolences and sympathies are with the @RoyalFamily at this time. pic.twitter.com/Ed6JxqyNGM
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) September 8, 2022
The Tour of Britain late last night confirmed all remaining stages had been cancelled and sent “our deepest condolences to the whole of the Royal Family”.
Your Majesty, thank you for being our leading lady for such a long time. I will treasure having had the fortune to meet you & always be grateful to have been honoured by you too. Thoughts with the whole family 🙏🏻 #QueenElizabeth #RestInPeace pic.twitter.com/48UIMSc8iz
— Dame Sarah Storey (@DameSarahStorey) September 8, 2022
Sir Chris Hoy joined the tributes, writing: “I share the sadness and sorrow of all Britons and many others around the world in mourning the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
“I had the pleasure of meeting Her Majesty on a number of occasions and always admired her tremendous dedication and absolute commitment to her role, as well as the generosity and compassion she offered to all those she met. Her Majesty The Queen devoted her life to our country, guiding us through so many historically significant moments with great leadership.
“My thoughts are with the Royal Family at this very sad time.”
The Tour de France shares the grief of the Royal Family and the British people in this difficult period. Sincere condolences.
Le Tour de France présente ses sincères condoléances à la famille royale et au peuple britannique. pic.twitter.com/eDKnRY28VM
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 8, 2022
"The true joy of cycling"
Queen Elizabeth II (1926- 2022)
🌹 🚲
The true joy of cycling. 🇬🇧 #QueenElizabeth #londoncycling #cyclist pic.twitter.com/4ggGDiCkX8— Cycle Spirit London (@cyclespirit) September 8, 2022
Raleigh thanks Queen for "leadership, your dedication, and your humour"
Thank you for your leadership, your dedication, and your humour.
Rest in Peace, Your Majesty. pic.twitter.com/fHHbIVaJd7— Raleigh Bikes UK (@RaleighBikes_UK) September 9, 2022
"Surreal final night of Tour of Britain": How cancellation unfolded...
So, the surreal final night of this year’s @TourofBritain ended like this:
6:28pm – two-minute advance warning of the news while in media centre
9pm – first statement published from a Tesco car park
10:30pm – second statement finalised and live from Moto services
3am – bed pic.twitter.com/4jTeZsPDl3— Nick Bull (@nickbull21) September 9, 2022
UCI pays tribute to "an icon with a timeless legacy"
HM Queen Elizabeth II.
An icon across the world with a timeless legacy who will be greatly missed. RIP pic.twitter.com/jGvnoyT3fL
— UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 9, 2022
More tributes from across the cycling world
The passing of our Queen was inevitable but, somehow, never expected. A catalyst for peace, the World will miss her. I met and shook hands with her in 2005 at the Palace. She said: ” Cycling is getting very popular now, isn’t it.” How right (as always) she was.😢s
— Phil Liggett (@PhilLiggett) September 9, 2022
It is with deep regret that we learn of the death of Her Majesty The Queen. Our prayers and sympathies are with her family during this sad time.
The Duke of Richmond and Gordon pic.twitter.com/TvqRoSr6HS
— Eroica Britannia (@EroicaBritannia) September 8, 2022
"A symbol of stability and an absolute role model for tireless public service": Reader tributes
A quick round-up of some of your comments under yesterday’s story:
EnjoyTheRide: “God bless Her Majesty, a symbol of stability and an absolute role model for tireless public service. Amazing to think she inaugurated the new prime minister just two days ago, what an inspiration.”
hirsute: “Not a huge monarchy fan but she was brilliant.”
Under the Tour of Britain cancellation story some wondered why the race had been called off, but we’d just say there are logistical factors, notably the major policing operation, which a major bike race relies on to run safely, plus the fact as I write this the Premier League has postponed this round of fixtures, with many sporting events already cancelling weekend arrangements and many more expected to follow.
I’ll add this: my understanding is that there are also serious operational reasons, involving police resources (motos), why this decision was taken. Officers have been recalled for duty in London.
— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) September 8, 2022
National Mourning Guidance
As per the National Mourning Guidance, major events, entertainment and sports have “no obligation to cancel or postpone events and sporting fixtures”. This may have implications for smaller races or sportive-style events this weekend, with the decision on holding events “at the discretion of individual organisations.”
With that said, it seems likely plenty of road races, time trials, mass-participation events and similar cycling activities will be postponed this weekend. Best to check with your event’s organiser.
Queen Elizabeth's reign in Tour de France wins
37 different riders won the Tour de France during the 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth ll.
— CafeRoubaix (@CafeRoubaix) September 8, 2022
Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne on 6 February 1953 following the death of her father George VI, with her coronation on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey. The following month Louison Bobet became the first of 37 different riders to win the yellow jersey during her 70-year reign. Bobet won the first three, in fact, and it took until 1958 for a non-Frenchman to win the race under the new Queen’s reign, Charly Gaul climbing to yellow in 1958.
The 60s saw Jacques Anquetil win four in a row to become the first five-time winner before, at the end of the decade, a cannibal stormed onto the scene. Through the 70s French success continued, with the fifth and final of Belgian Merckx’s wins in 1974 signalling a ten-year run where the home nation won yellow in eight of the ten editions, spearheaded by Bernard Hinault’s five.
New nations emerged to the top step of the podium in the 80s, Greg LeMond taking the world’s biggest bike race stateside in 1986, before Stephen Roche’s famous win of ’87.
Two more LeMond Tours followed, the final act before Miguel Indurain’s dominance of the nineties. Riis, Ullrich and Pantani’s superhuman performances followed, we don’t talk about the noughties, do we?
So that brings us to the decade when Britain sat atop the cycling world: Wiggins, Froome, Thomas, Cavendish. It doesn’t get much better than that…
Fred Wright wears black armband at La Vuelta
Black armband today for Fred Wright. pic.twitter.com/Rv8AZXs02A
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) September 9, 2022
Tour of Britain cancellation brings forward Richie Porte's retirement
The Tour of Britain was Richie Porte’s final race as a professional cyclist, it remains to be seen if he adds one more late-season day out to have a proper send-off. The Tasmanian’s glittering palmares includes a seemingly never-ending list of week-long stage race wins: 2x Paris-Nice, Critérium du Dauphiné, Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie, Catalunya and, of course, eight stages and two GC wins at the Tour Down Under.
On the Grand Tour front, finishing on the podium at last year’s Tour de France is no doubt the highlight. Now, anyone want to move some things around and get him on the start line at a home World Championships? Just an idea.
Raise a wee dram
🥃 to the QUEEN 👊
— Brian Smith 𝕆𝕃𝕐 (@BriSmithy) September 8, 2022
9 September 2022, 08:12
9 September 2022, 08:12
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They did the towns pretty quietly too. It's only [certain elements in] that there Oxford that's really kicked up a fuss about this stuff. Mind you, most of the time, you'd be doing well to get over 20 going through town anyway.
You're conflating the throttle and the pedal assist. The throttle should only get it up to walking speed; about 6kph. Once it takes it past that, whether or not it's capable of 15mph or 58mph is entirely irrelevant.
@ktache Isn't it "LTNs BAD, cul-de-sacs and a quiet village green good*"? * As long as we can drive into town, of course...
@Robert Hardy As Rendel suggests, I'm not certain that any wheeled mode of transport - even at speeds well below the limit - would have avoided tragedy here. Although the road around the *outside* of the park where IIRC this occurred (Outer Circle) isn't "the main drag" (that would be e.g. Park Road / Marylebone Road) it is wide enough to put a question mark over "casual crossing". And indeed there are signalised crossings... Leaving aside "but racing cyclists!!" for now, looking at how safety might be improved here let's see how others do this. For example: West End of the Vondelpark in Amsterdam is on a "main road" (Amstelveenseweg). (The rest are very much "streets"). What happens there where pedestrians are crossing to and from the park? As it's a main road (and with tramlines) there are cycle paths (in this case unidirectional). That means that everyone knows where everyone else is and what to expect. The cycle path is really obvious, and it's only a couple of paces wide. People expect cyclists in that section, but being narrow compared to the road lanes it's simple to cross - so much so that no lights are used. cross. (Although unusually - presumably due to very high flows of pedestrians and cyclists - there is a *marked* crossing point). Once you've negotiated the cycle lane you can then wait (again in "pedestrian space") and concentrate on "watching for the cars" at a signalised crossing if needed (because it takes longer to cross the road part). I think there is space in the Regents Park case for cycle paths of some kind...
Oxfordshire very quietly made all it's villages 20mph a couple of years back.
My favourite bit was when they passed The Lion & Snake at the top of the hill. I had a nice burger with bang bang cauliflower wings and chips there a few years ago. Maybe an alternative refuelling option for the cyclists.
Those high pressure slick roadie tyres exert more pressure than a landing jumbo jet...
maybe we shouldn't be making cars so big and heavy?
It's worth noting that Fife (where Dunfermline is) started implementing 20's in 2005. By 2015 all residential zones and town centres had them. The additional new ones in Dunfermline reported above are just for a small number of remaining streets to meet the guidance from the SG. Fife Council used traffic calming and compliance is very good as a result. The vast majority of people support them.
@Robert Hardy The lady was standing on a traffic island in the road giving every appearance of waiting for the cyclists to go by. She then, according to independent eye witnesses, for unknown reasons, stepped out in front of the rider when he was two metres away. Even at 15mph two metres takes 0.30 of a second; the baseline reaction time as employed by the guidance in the Highway Code is 0.67 seconds. To have had that amount of time to react (that's to even start pulling the brakes) the rider would have had to be travelling at 7.5mph. The lady's death was, sadly, caused by her own actions in stepping straight in front of a cyclist who had no chance to stop and would not have done even if he had been going at one third of his actual speed. That's why no criminal proceedings were taken against the cyclist. Just for your information, as you seem to think "it was a road in a public park" is somehow damning, the Outer Circle marks the outer perimeter of the park, and it is a very busy standard London road. The Daily Mail and The Evening Standard tried this "cyclists thundering through a public park" line with pictures of locations in the park where cyclists are banned, it has no validity.
12 thoughts on “Cycling world pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II; Sir Chris Hoy, Dame Sarah Storey, UCI, British Cycling, Tour de France and Tour of Britain pay respects + more on the live blog”
I was thinking what year is
I was thinking what year is that TdF photo from? Some research and I make it 2009 and that’s Alessandro Ballan in the WC stripes.
Erm, no. The TdF did not come
Erm, no. The TdF did not come to the UK in 2009. That is the 2014 Grand Depart royal photo op in front of Harewood House in Yorkshire, England.
Ok, so (quick check) it’s Rui
Ok, so (quick check) it’s Rui Costa.
Lovely photos of the Queen
Lovely photos of the Queen cycling – and no helmet or hi viz in sight.
They’re called a “crown” and
They’re called a “crown” and “regalia”. I think she wasn’t licenced then. That’s an amazing headlight though – is that carbide?
I’m sure there will be some
I’m sure there will be some on here who still think that we should have headlights like that and that, LEDs, along with disk brakes and electronic gears, are the work of the devil.
We took the wrong turn at
We took the wrong turn at copper if you ask me. Like most people I’m probably slightly nostalgic for the technology level of my early adult years. EverReady bike lights can stay dead and buried though!
chrisonatrike wrote:
Take that back!
I thought I was king of the road with 3 of them on the front with uprated bulbs and all 3 wired into a switch on the bars. . . . . . . . .OK, they were still rubbish, point taken. ?
I loved the gentle light you
I loved the gentle light you got as the batteries died, the plastic brackets and the momentum the chunky D-cells gave the flying light. 🙁
Ummm, not so much “carbide”
Ummm, not so much “carbide” (whatever that is) as “broken” I think
You’re right, looks electric
You’re right, looks electric not carbide. Lack of maintenance there – shocking (if you put your finger in the socket)! Is that a Raleigh Superbe or sports? Some interesting features on the former.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroraleighs/superbe.html
Nuff said…
Nuff said…
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/sep/10/cancer-breakthrough-is-a-wake-up-call-on-danger-of-air-pollution