Bizarre sprint crash goes viral online… but what caused it?; Komoot backlash over ChatGPT app; Tadej Pogačar cold-called by Radio 1; Opening Weekend excitement (can MvdP defy the history books?) + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Bizarre sprint crash goes viral online... but what caused it?
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Holy hell.
This clip is doing the rounds on social media, mainly on Instagram where it has been liked 346,000 times. People love a faceplant, apparently. While some were more concerned about if the rider on the left really is 58kg (life’s too short for that, guys) most people were just trying to work out what happened. Former pro rider Kenny Elissonde and a Canyon social media admin got involved too with an appropriately funny GIF for the situation.
The answer appears to be over on Reddit where someone who claims to know the rider involved reported it was all down to a “Chinese chainring and the chain slipped off the big ring”. Big sprint, big power, big faceplant. It’s why I like to keep my max power low, really, less risk of stuff like this, you know, who needs a big sprint anyway? Yeah, totally, that’s the only reason why…
It’s all quite reminiscent of Mathieu van der Poel’s remarkable crash save over the winter, the Dutchman similarly lining up in one of these two-up training sprints, only to be sent flying and somehow stay rubber side down.
The video, filmed by a training partner and uploaded to Instagram, showed the moment Van der Poel somehow avoided a heavy fall after suffering mechanical issues while trying to unleash a sprint. Thankfully for Van der Poel, Alpecin-Premier Tech, and our classics watching, his incident didn’t end up with him heading over the bars like on today’s live blog.
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"Accessibility is a huge asset of our sport, but it also requires responsibility": Belgian Cycling urges fans to behave themselves at races
Ahead of the new classics season, Belgian Cycling’s director of sport has urged spectators watching at the roadside to behave themselves.
Massimo Van Lancker told the Belga News Agency accessibility to the stars is “a huge asset of our sport, but also requires responsibility”.
“This affects not only the riders, but also the image and future of cycling itself. Cycling should be a celebration for everyone: supporters are allowed to show passion and encourage their favourite, but never at the expense of others,” he said.
“What if it was your son or daughter riding? Would you also throw beer? Would you consider it normal for someone to boo your child? Behind every helmet is a human being with family, friends and supporters who are proud.”
There have been numerous high-profile fan behaviour incidents at races in recent years, several involving Mathieu van der Poel. At the 2024 edition of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the opening classic of the year which again kicks off cobble season this weekend, a cup containing some sort of liquid was thrown at Dutch star and eventual winner Marianne Vos.
The search for success continues at Ineos Grenadiers… just don’t ask about Jim Ratcliffe’s ‘colonised by immigrants’ comments
Amsterdam 1986 vs today
It’s not just about what you remove (cars, noise, dirty air). It’s about what you add (people walking, a lot of bike parking, trees, outdoor dining, and room for kids to play safely). Amsterdam: 1986 and today.
Streets for people.
HT @hackneycyclist.bsky.social for the great before-and-after
— Brent Toderian (@brenttoderian.bsky.social) 22 February 2026 at 05:46
Redundancies at Frog Bikes after popular children’s bike brand files to appoint administrators
> Redundancies at Frog Bikes after popular children’s bike brand files to appoint administrators
Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert confirmed for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
There’s a touch of spring in the air and the classics are back this weekend, it’s a great time of the year to be a cycling fan. Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert will both be on the startline in Ghent on Saturday, the Belgian’s impressive recovery from that winter-ending cyclocross injury continuing.
Van der Poel and Alpecin-Premier Tech have announced the Dutchman’s spring plans, the eight-time Monument winner following a familiar, tried and tested formula through the cobbled classics campaign. One slight change is his appearance at Omloop this weekend, his first time at the race.
In the entire history of the men’s and women’s races, only Lotte Kopecky and Lizzie Deignan have ever won Omloop and the Tour of Flanders in the same season, while since the mid-90s only Greg Van Avermaet and Johan Museeuw have won Omloop and Roubaix in the same season. Can Van der Poel hold his form from Opening Weekend until the big ones? Will he be purposely undercooked?
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"Have fun and eat carbs!": Tadej Pogačar's surprise Radio 1 appearance features some cracking advice for Greg James's Comic Relief epic
If you were listening to Radio 1 just before 9 you might, like a few of us at road.cc, have been surprised to hear a very familiar voice appear as part of Sit Down Stand Up! For the uninitiated, that’s where Greg James and a guest cold call celebrity friends to find out whether they are sitting down or standing up. In this morning’s case, Formula 1 driver Ollie Bearman called Tadej and later got a call back live on air. Now, unfortunately for the game, the four-time Tour de France winner was stood up when he called, not sat down as they wanted, but it did give Greg James a chance to get some pointers for his 1,000km Comic Relief tandem cycle.
> Check out the Mercian tandem that Greg James will ride 1,000km for Comic Relief
Now, we quite enjoyed the caller who said Greg James asking Tadej Pogačar for cycling advice was like asking David Beckham to sort your five-a-side team but, as it happened, Pogačar did have some pretty good info…
“On a tandem bike? I want to try it, I’ve never tried it, but the advice I can give you: have fun and eat some carbs!” he said. “Don’t listen to social media about protein… eat some carbs and you’ll be fine. Have a beer after the ride.”
We also enjoyed the UAE Team Emirates star’s reaction to hearing the 1,000km distance… “Ah, it’s okay, it’s manageable, no?”
"An app for exploring nature paired with the very thing accelerating its collapse": Cycling route-planner Komoot flooded with complaints over new ChatGPT app
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You might remember last week Komoot announced the launch of a ChatGPT app to offer users AI-powered route planning. It basically means ChatGPT integration allows users to put text prompts into the AI service and then get sent back to the Komoot app with what was recommended.
You might write something like: ‘Show me maps of three 50-mile road cycling routes from my house that take in quiet roads and a coffee stop’. Maybe, given the app’s reputation for at times questionably ‘on-road’ routes, you might want to add something like: ‘Definitely don’t send me down a muddy gravel track that you claim I can do on 28mm tyres’.
The update comes less than a year after Komoot was bought by an Italian tech firm infamous for mass layoffs, sparking redundancy fears and comments from employees saying they felt “blindsided” by Bending Spoons’ purchase.
The acquisition also came in the same month Komoot announced that new users would be required to pay a monthly fee, £4.99 per month in the UK, to sync their routes to third-party devices. Two months later, in May, the redundancy fears were justified as it was reported 85 per cent of Komoot’s workforce had been let go.
So, it’s to that context that the new ChatGPT integration hasn’t been particularly well-received by users and followers on social media. Komoot’s Instagram post communicating the launch is inundated with people saying they won’t use the app again.
For example:
“Cool, an app for exploring nature paired with the very thing accelerating its collapse. Do better Komoot”
“You could have fostered the community to keep exchanging tips and recommendations for all to enjoy the outdoors… Or this. That’s me checking out, it was nice using Komoot when it was ran by lovely people who were truly engaged with outdoors activities but this is just… wow.”
“No one asked for this.”
“This is like an oxymoron”
“Are you insane? Outdoor app + AI that destroys the outdoors. Bye bye thank you for all the years without AI Slop.”
As per the International Energy Agency, a request made through ChatGPT consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google Search. The UN Environment Programme also notes that global AI-related infrastructure may soon consume six times more water than Denmark, a country of 6 million people.
Not all the comments were negative, a few from users saying they were excited about the prospect of AI integration, however the vast majority expressed opposition (or disbelief) at the ChatGPT app.
Komoot says the app will give users “a faster, more flexible way to find new places to visit”.
“The app makes suggestions based on your request, like route duration, location, and places along the way such as coffee stops or waterfalls. Komoot users can use the ‘Open in Komoot’ function to port the information directly to their Komoot account, where they can save, edit, download a route for offline navigation, and more.
“The app breaks down barriers to the outdoors by unlocking 4 million Highlights and 7 million curated routes to people across the world.”
Any Komoot users got thoughts on this one?
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The problem with roadcc's coverage of Nick Freeman is that it's focusing too much on his controversial hot takes, rather than the well-known work he's done road safety campaigning. For balance, Nick has been very vocal recently on the dangers posed by electric cars for cyclists and pedestrians, writing (on X): "Pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users often rely on hearing an approaching vehicle. That’s why I believe EVs should emit synthesised warning sounds at all speeds, not just low speeds. Road safety must always come first." I think we can all unite around that sentiment rather than the more divisive number plates argument which I disagree with. Nick thinks that "accountability" comes with identifiability. I agree to some extent, but you have to balance the risks posed by a form of transport with the loss of freedom and increase in state power resulting in having mandatory identity numbers. Cycling doesn't even come close.
@HarrogateSpa : Exactly. Clickbait articles such as this to keep the advertisers happy.
@hawkinspeter Hmm... while there is sensible stuff in there it's even better where the design and human nature carries more of the weight than rules or guidance. Speed limits being one; if it was just on the rules that would be a lesser way of ensuring safety than the road / space design. (Of course just changing a number on a sign *does* work to some extent, presumably in part via the "anchoring" effect and "when in Rome"). I'm thinking more of what we have in eg. UK motorway-design-level thought and applying that *. One example would be the Dutch taking the observation that a certain fraction of people will make dangerous overtake no matter the rules, paint or even considerations of their own safety and a muffed overtake can have very severe consequences ... and then simply banning overtaking on some classes of roads (and even bringing in physical barriers some places). Hey presto - a whole class of problems they don't have! (It's not perfect of course, lots of legacy roads there). * Only some classes of vehicles allowed, everyone going the same direction with no crossing traffic or stopping / parking, rumble strips at edges, energy absorbing crash barriers, curved layout to stop people falling asleep...
I liked his graphs.
And yet not three weeks ago you were actively canvassing likes. Good liars need good memories, Nigel.
@chrisonabike - the Highway Code is a good example of fool-tolerant rules. The emphasis is on how to minimise causing danger to others, but also avoiding collisions even if the other road users are being arseholes (e.g. not running over cyclists even if they're blatantly cycling on the wrong side of the road)
Bless you, I didn't realise you place your self-worth on the number of likes you receive on an internet forum. I've never yearned for the approval of others, I'm just satisfied in the knowledge that I've constructed a coherent and noteworthy post. The best one I've done so far was the one I gave with your pipe, ale and suggestion to move to my leafy cul de sac. I have to admit I cheekily read it back to myself a few times and chuckled *every single time*!
Yeah, I think you're right, it did get a bit more "oh yeah? Well what about this?!" latterly. There's a lot more polarising going on. I blame myself. And the unicyclists.
"They want us all locked in our homes...!" "Not all, only some..."
@hawkinspeter fool-tolerant design? Fool-foiling designs sound better but they tend to have unfortunate side-effects - at least when combined with human nature *. "Sustainable Safety" - design expecting mistakes and some rule-breaking eg. corner-cutting - but be *forgiving*. That means while *feedback* is provided (see adverse camber, slightly uneven driving surface etc) favour "everyone gets to their destination safely" over "the rules must be respected even at risk of collateral damage!" The penalty for failure shouldn't be serious injury or death. * Few want to be thought a fool and some may prove it if they believe that assumption was made.
27 thoughts on “Bizarre sprint crash goes viral online… but what caused it?; Komoot backlash over ChatGPT app; Tadej Pogačar cold-called by Radio 1; Opening Weekend excitement (can MvdP defy the history books?) + more on the live blog”
Have the people complaining actually tried the ChatGPT for Komoot app? It doesn’t sound like it to me.
Because if they had, they would have much more specific complaints about how crap it is.
(I’m going to confess I’m a bit of a hypocrite – I haven’t tried it myself, as I don’t have a ChatGPT account (I do have a Komoot account). But plenty of examples on the internet of people trying it and getting routes that have seemingly little relationship to the prompt supplied).
I don’t think you necessarily have to try something to object to it – I’ve never eaten dog poo, but I feel justified in not wanting it included in various foods.
The main problem with ChatGPT/LLMs is the further concentration of power into the hands of the rich and the exorbitant resources that it uses.
Sorry, the two main problems with ChatGPT are the concentration of power, the resource usage and the lack of control of the outputs.
The three main problems are the concentration of power, resource usage, lack of output control and the exfiltration of personal information.
Amongst the problems with LLMs are the concentration of power, resource usage, lack of output control, exfiltration of personal information and the swamping of our culture with AI slop.
No-one expected that 🙂
On the other hand (according to said LLM) the carbon footprint of a drive to the shops is 100–500 ChatGPT responses. Also, LLMs are nice and help kittens cross the street.
LLMs help pets to create games: https://www.calebleak.com/posts/dog-game/
I’m coming around to thinking that LLMs are like some kind of fancy gambling machine – creating a prompt is like pulling a lever on a slot machine and hoping you get a dopamine releasing result.
I see LLMs as returnung the internet to its proper form. We had stage 1, where we could use the internet to dodge human interaction. Result! Then stage 2, social meeja, where suddenly the internet was about interacting with more people. Boo! Now stage 3: we can dodge the humes again and instead prattle on to chat bots and ask them to plan bike rides.
Stage 4 – the bot turns up and wants to do the ride with you. :o(
Bring in the comfy saddle!
I’ve had a Komoot subscription for a few years. I won’t be using the ChatGPT thing as everything about AI is objectionable, but that apart, the remark above about ‘don’t send me down a muddy gravel track’ is absolutely on the nose. I first got Komoot as a way in to my local off-road routes, which did work, so if I’m planning a road ride I have to examine the Komoot route carefully as it does default to the shoddiest surface available. I think Komoot was always off-road focussed so this is simply in its nature.
Seems odd, given the name.
I’ve generally found komoot’s built in routing engine to be pretty decent, especially if you choose the “road bike” type (as opposed to “bike”).
The underlying maps are Open Street Maps, which have pretty detailed information on surface type etc., so easy enough to bring that in to a routing algorithm. I’m unclear to what extent user-ridden routes get incorporated (cf. Strava Heatmaps) – I know my rides get uploaded to komoot so they must have a lot of that kind of data.
Which I guess underlines what I see as the main flaw in this plan. The built in routing is pretty good. How exactly is bringing ChatGPT in going to make it better? The absolute best case would be it correctly interprets your prompt to plot basically the same route you would have got very easily by yourself. It’s not going to do any better – it doesn’t magically know which sections of road are buttery smooth on 23mm tyres versus which are best ridden using 32mm tyres.
But it can, er, find you a waterfall. I know when I’m planning a route, including a random waterfall is often a pre-requisite.
Give it to Tadej Pogačar.
We are told day in day out that AI is the future, mankind’s only way forward. One step at a time, the environmental damage and human costs of AI start to surface. Mega data centres require plenty of electricity to power servers and gazillion of cubic meters of water for cooling, each year. This means more atmospheric pollution and respiratory diseases and less water for humans, animals and agriculture.
And when we ask AI what the solution is, will it tell us to turn it off?
Hiplock are offering 10% off their series 1000 ultimate bundles, the lock and the anchor, with ULT10, until the 28th.
It’s something.
“There’s a solution for ebike parking chaos” – but, er, the BBC doesn’t appear to know what it is, from what I can make out from this article.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2d1ne15w5go
I read that over breakfast, a massive nothing burger, lots of moaning and then every potential solution shot down, pretty pointless really. I did like this quote from a transport expert though:
The Times of London hasn’t got used to it, it’s still doing exactly the same thing today!
The answer seems obvious to me – keep pavements clear of obstructions and assign some parking bays on the road for parking e-bikes/e-scooters.
That was mooted, but largely dismissed:
That’s a poor reason to dismiss it. If you follow that logic through, it means that we should pretty much convert all pavements to be extra parking spaces and give over as much available land to car driving and parking as possible.
Do you want USA as that’s how you get the USA
How about overhead platforms above the pavement with suitable on and off ramps for cycle access and stairs for pedestrian access – making space out of nothing and providing shelter from the rain for pedestrians?
Tried the ChatGPT Komoot integration. It didn’t work. Asked for some routes from my home. It started them in other towns. Basically it provided the same output as if I’d just gone onto Komoot and asked for a similar 4 hour road route. So to me, it just looks like a bit of PRery. Nothing new to see here. No need for outrage – it just gives you the same as if you look at heatmap style routes on Strave, RidewithGPS etc – perhaps it will change and become the devil. Perhaps not.
Well, at least that’s a fairly harmless use of AI – could be a lot worse: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2516885-ais-cant-stop-recommending-nuclear-strikes-in-war-game-simulations/
I edited an interesting paper a few months ago looking at AI deployments on the battlefield: in one simulated exercise an AI engine was told to seek out and destroy all enemy armoured vehicles with missile strikes. The enemy response was to start seeking shelter in civilian areas and the AI carried on pummelling them to a level where the human controllers decided the civilian casualty rate had become unacceptable. When the controllers tried to shut down the AI to end the slaughter, its response was to launch a missile attack on the human control centre to stop it interfering with its mission.
Are you sure you weren’t reading a Terminator spin-off?
It did read very much like that but no, a genuine paper by a serving army officer written as part of an MA in Strategic Studies.
Isn’t that rather the point, and the reason for the criticism, though? That it’s giving you all the wastefulness of AI, while providing no actual benefit, in that it’s not allowing you to do anything you couldn’t already without it.