Jasper Philipsen survives last-minute on-the-fly shoe switch to sprint to victory; Prince William joins Greg James on the Comic Relief tandem; Pidcock wins; Bike lane moaning; The end of bike shed planning sagas? + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Jasper Philipsen survives last-minute on-the-fly shoe switch to sprint to victory
He’s not the first and certainly won’t be the last rider to swap out a shoe mid-race, it’s the cycling equivalent of that tricky winger calling to the bench for a switch of footwear. In Philipsen’s case the shoe swap ended with him netting the winner, the Belgian opening his account for the season at Nokere-Koerse.
Shoe change for Jasper Philipsen! 👟👀
Jasper Philipsen opts for a late shoe change at Nokere Koerse — and makes it look easy! pic.twitter.com/YEniU3VVHg
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) March 18, 2026
First male rider to ever win a Belgian semi-classic wearing a different coloured shoe on each foot? One for the statos to check this evening. Compatriot Jordi Meeus and Juan Sebastian Molano took Philipsen on in the finish but, as has happened so often in recent years, there was no beating the Alpecin-Premier Tech star.
Heartbreak and ecstasy! 😮
Alec Segaert is caught by the peloton in the final metres of Nokere Koerse — with Jasper Philipsen coming through to take the win! 👏 pic.twitter.com/L2iKpHT3GQ
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) March 18, 2026
How superstitious Philipsen is remains to be seen. Will he now be forced to race San Remo with a silver left foot and white right? No word yet on why he needed to switch it out, but all’s well that ends well.
Anyway, someone who didn’t need such mid-race tinkering was Lotte Kopecky, the two-time world champ winning the women’s race with a typically powerful finish, her third success at Nokere Koerse.
Kopecky takes it! 🚀
Lotte Kopecky picks up her third win at Nokere Koerse with a super sprint! 👏 pic.twitter.com/i0Tm1ZHSWL
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) March 18, 2026
"Wins aren't easy to come by, so of course it's nice to get my hands in the air"
Speaking after his Milano-Torino victory, Pidcock told the TV cameras he’s happy to get another victory under his belt early in 2026.
“They’re not easy to come by, so of course it’s nice to get hands in the air,” he said.
“It was a weird day, felt like the first race of the season, almost. With all the accelerations all day, I felt a bit heavy-legged, but luckily in the end I had a kick.
“Primož is hard to read, he’s always in the saddle. I was expecting him to be good there. I was hesitating to attack, everyone was looking pretty strong, I knew at one point I had to go.”
Tom Pidcock wins Milano-Torino
PIDCOCK RIDES AWAY 🔥
Tom Pidcock plays the final climb of Milano–Torino perfectly to win! pic.twitter.com/QIOIiF67qw
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) March 18, 2026
Tom Pidcock starting 2026 as he ended 2025, in cracking form. What better way to show off the legs ahead of Milan-San Remo? Those Poggio descent drone shots would be quite something if the British rider is in the mix this weekend, shades of Matej Mohorič’s dropper post-aided plunge to victory, perhaps?
Well, Pidcock has his second win of 2026, regardless of what happens on Saturday. He stormed to the top of the Superga climb, leaving Tobias Halland Johannessen, Primož Roglič, Giulio Pellizzari and the rest of the (extremely reduced) peloton flailing behind and unable to answer his kick.
It follows his win at Ruta del Sol last month, Pidcock hoping to go closer at the opening Monument of the season on Saturday than he managed at Opening Weekend in Belgium, where he admitted afterwards the miserably cold conditions got the better of him.
A seventh place at Strade Bianche was a sign things might be moving in the right direction, form wise, today’s win the proof. Get stuck into them at the weekend, Tom…
Rohan Dennis criticised for Instagram post describing his car as “a weapon”, less than a year after receiving suspended sentence over driving incident which killed wife Melissa Hoskins
"This could be a good time for Pogačar... if he attacks at the right time": Eddy Merckx plots world champion's blueprint to Milan-San Remo glory
If there’s a man who knows a thing or two about winning Milan-San Remo, it’s Eddy Merckx. The Cannibal took the longest race of the season seven times, the modern-era greatest, Tadej Pogačar, once again lining up at the race this weekend looking to win his first and take another step closer to the Monument full house.
“This could be a good time for Pogačar… if he attacks at the right time,” Merckx told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Tadej must drop him, because after 300 kilometres on Via Roma, if they were still together… the favourite would be Mathieu. The long distance could be a friend to the Dutchman.
“[He should attack] on the Poggio. Even though he can break away from everyone on the Cipressa, last year only Van der Poel and Ganna were able to stay with him. He’s capable of long breakaways, but at the San Remo, the chances of them catching you are increased. And if there were strong headwinds on the Cipressa, it would be very difficult to make a difference. Even though he’s Tadej Pogačar.”
What do we reckon? Personally, I think Pogačar light things up on the Cipressa again this year, but is Merckx right? Should he save all his bullets for the Poggio?
Is Hammersmith & Fulham Council's claim new cycle lanes won't cost local taxpayer anything disingenuous?
It’s a very interesting point from Rendel in the comments, not least coming from a live blog regular on this site who’d obviously be on the pro-cycling infrastructure side of the ‘debate’. Is Hammersmith & Fulham Council justified in claiming the new schemes won’t cost local taxpayers a penny? Is this disingenuous?
“I am all for new cycling infrastructure, obviously, and I’m happy for local councils to spend money on it, but it’s a bit disingenuous of Hammersmith and Fulham to claim that their new cycle lanes come at ‘no cost to local taxpayers’,” he wrote.
“If you pay council tax in London, around 25% of it goes to the Greater London Authority, and part of TfL’s funding comes from the GLA, so local taxpayers are paying for it to an extent, the money is just taking a slightly circuitous route. Money well spent, but the council should be honest about it and not talk as if it is without cost.
“(Obviously, before the attack of the pedants, the council could claim that by “local taxpayers” they mean “people who pay that share of the council tax that goes to the local council” but that’s clearly not the impression they’re trying to convey).”
Driver set to go on trial for alleged attempted murder of Alejandro Valverde in road rage incident
> Driver set to go on trial for alleged attempted murder of Alejandro Valverde in road rage incident
Could we soon see the end of bonkers bike shed planning sagas in Ireland?
Some news from across the Irish Sea this week where Housing Minister James Browne has promised a “significant” review into planning rules.
The Irish Independent reckons this could mean bike storage in front gardens is exempt from planning laws.
It’s one of a number of rumoured changes reportedly looking to cut red tape and ease planning restrictions.
“Other exemptions will include subdivision of a property into two homes, dormer extensions, attic conversions, external wall insulation and bin and bike storage among other measures,” Ireland’s Minister of State for Planning John Cummins said.
“I am seeking to cut red tape to ensure the system is simplified, removing items from the planning process that don’t need to be in it.”
We’ll see how things develop, but could it be the end of bizarre case studies such as these?
"Ah, one of those chainstay-mounted derailleurs I've heard about"
Hookless wheels keep getting bad press — after several recent controversies, can brands sticking with the technology weather the hookless storm?
Prince William joins Greg James on Comic Relief tandem epic
James: “Is there Lycra underneath that?”
William: “There’s not Lycra but I am going to join you”Prince William surprising Greg James! Cute moment 💕 pic.twitter.com/xppJ345aae
— Hanz (@fashionistaera) March 17, 2026
The Prince of Wales joined Greg James for a half-hour stretch of his Comic Relief tandem challenge yesterday afternoon. Radio 1 DJ James is cycling 1,000km from Weymouth to Edinburgh, sharing the tandem with famous faces along the way, including Geraint Thomas.
Now, not casting any aspersions on Prince William’s pedalling prowess, but we’re guessing G might have offered a bit more assistance on the wattage front, even if the 2018 Tour de France winner admitted he hasn’t ridden a bike for six months since retiring.
“I didn’t kill the future king,” a relieved James commented after Prince William’s departure from their South Yorkshire spin.
“That’s the tightest I’ve grabbed the handlebars for the whole week.”
During the live stream the Prince of Wales told James, “What you’ve done is set an example about helping out. That’s the thing.
“It’s volunteering some of your time, putting yourself through a bit of pain at the same time, and supporting others. It’s something we do very well in this country, but we don’t really shout about it enough.”
The fundraiser has raised £1.1m for Comic Relief, with the Radio 1 DJ hoping to reach the finish line in Edinburgh on Friday.
We’ll keep the updates coming throughout the week here on the live blog…
“Everyone gains when more people cycle”: New report suggests cycling saving the NHS more than £72m per year
Council promises new cycle lane will reduce congestion and won't cost local taxpayers a penny... but grumpy Facebook commenters miserable they once saw a cyclist run a red light
So, according to Hammersmith & Fulham Council in London, a couple of new cycle routes at Holland Park roundabout and from Hammersmith Broadway to Olympia, will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians, reduce congestion and emissions, and come at no cost to local taxpayers… the residents are going to be buzzing.
Well, some of them are. The usual Facebook comments section crowd is doing what it does best, a belting round of anti-cycling bingo underway under the council’s post here.
The context is that Hammersmith & Fulham Council has this week given its backing to two new cycle schemes through the borough. Cycleway 34 in Shepherds Bush and Cycleway 9 in Hammersmith, which are both be “delivered at no cost to local taxpayers” and funded by Transport for London (TfL).
“These schemes demonstrate our clear commitment to making cycling and walking safer, while also meeting our ambitious targets to tackle climate change,” local councillor Florian Chevoppe-Verdier said.
London’s walking and cycling commissioner Will Norman called the infrastructure “vital” and said many across the city remain committed to making “it safer and easier for people to cycle in London”, in turn “reducing congestion and improving air quality for local residents”.
Starting with some of the more positive Facebook comments, before we get stuck into the reason why we’re all here, Miika Nicholson told the council: “Slowly moving in the right direction with reducing traffic in London and encouraging safe cycle opportunities like Denmark, Netherlands etc. If only TfL would have put a cycle lane over Kew Bridge. There was absolutely no need for four lanes of traffic.”
For our segue into the ranting, we’ll leave it to Mindy Stasiulaitis who “loves reading the angry comments here”. Well, you’re in luck, Mindy…
“Cycling people should get driving licence”
“More phone snatching is going to happen and more idiots jumping red lights”
“No rules for cyclists”
“More traffic issues then and no cyclist using the lanes anyway”
Happy Wednesday, everyone!
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The big thing that the technical analysis missed out is positioning on the bike. Modern riders do aero work on their road bike and have much better discipline on holding position than even riders 10 years ago. I think Dan Bingham summed it up, his team rode with an old POC helmet with a massive peak whereas Sky had a little stub tail Cask helmet the idea being that it was less sensitive to head position. Bingham said that the long tail helmet was about 15W faster. “How hard would you train to get 15w more power, is it harder than training yourself to live with that helmet?” Pantani is standing up on the pedals, bare head, shirt open, rocking and rolling everywhere with his position, vs someone who is sat on the seat in a quasi time trial position. The 90’s riders were rank amateurs compared with those today, so it’s not a massive surprise that 30 years of progress can beat EPO.
@HoarseMann Oh I can assure you that plenty of passes can be proved with absolute certainty to have been illegal purely from generous guesses on the size of cars and the size of lanes. Lets say you drive a 2m wide car that takes up 2/3rd of a lane in a video. Someone with a basic grasp of maths would be able to tell you that you couldn't overtake a cyclist without moving into the opposite lane even if the cyclist was 0cm wide and somehow riding on the very edge of the road where it meets the pavement. Someone with a basic understanding of maths would be able to tell you that unless the car was 1.5m or less wide on a 3m wide road, its impossible to overtake by staying on your side of the road with 1.5m space even if the cyclist took up 0 space. They simply don't want to do anything about it. Its got absolutely nothing to do with holding up in court because that wouldn't be an issue in a huge number of cases and they know it. No one in their right mind would go to court to contest it.
That's... not right. The prosecution has to* prove beyond reasonable doubt that the offence was committed, but not that every single detail of statements made by their witnesses is accurate. And HoarseMann is correct that it doesn't mean the same as "with absolute certainty", otherwise it would be "beyond *all* doubt". [* More accurately, should have to. In practice, when it comes to offences against cyclists, the system often does seem to demand that it's proven beyond unreasonable doubt as well, but that's not what the standard is supposed to be, or what's applied to other offences. ]
has anyone else seen this story from the BBC - basically, a cyclist in West Yorkshire reported a close pass, and the police went through their footage and the cyclist ended up paying a £1,200 fine for dangerous cycling for squeezing in the gap between a parked car and an oncoming car. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cd9w2l2wqvdo I'm a believer in fairness, proportionality and so on, so there are several key things here: -that is a terrible piece of cycling, posing a danger to themselves, and some small danger to the driver because the cyclist could have ended up smashing through the windscreen -there is absolutely NO WAY that any driver in West Yorkshire has been fined £1,200 for a close pass on a cyclist, even if they took it all the way to court and had to pay costs etc. -there is a strong "man bites dog" element to this story. Drivers endangering cyclists is mundane and everyday, not worthy of being reported in the BBC. Cyclists endangering drivers is the unusual exception, which then gets reported. P.S. as a measure of the standard of driving which endangers cyclists but DOESN'T get prosecuted by West Yorkshire police, they decided that this close pass/undertake wasn't a crime: https://vimeo.com/1079291114/f8d5ab5f41
Completely agree. Neutralising GC half way through a stage is just utterly absurd. What are they thinking? Imagine if Del Toro had not made it back on in time, what would have happened then? He'd have lost the white jersey *because* of ASOs dumb decision to try protect the starting GC standings. Either the GC standings are frozen at the gun (still requiring them to finish) or they should be taken at the end of the stage.
I'm fine with GC being taken far from the line. Those who want to race can, and by God they did, and those who want to kick back and enjoy the last hour of the Tour waving to fans can do that, and by God they earned it.
HoarseMann, Beyond reasonable doubt means precisely that. If a witness statement mentions a distance "he was less than a metre from me" then the prosecution needs to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the distance was less than a metre. Can't do that, then no conviction. It's a function of us not having a minimum passing distance law in the UK, the highway code gives a guide figure but certain cycling accounts push for this as an absolute figure which it isn't. This mena that the more precise people try to be in statements the less chance they have of a successful prosecution. It's a case of being careful what you wish for.
A while ago I spoke to a team leader for the Met police's unit that deals with dangerous driving reports. They said that the Met police seniors spoke to court/prosecution staff to find out which cases were most successfull, to work out which reports to prioritise/NFA as they are now getting too many to handle in a timely manner. I think this might have been after the 2022 highway code update and the answer was phone use given it is pretty much a slam dunk with good evidence. So I guess Wales police are basically taking this approach to the nth degree.
That last stage was EPIC. But, by neutralising the GC, it almost becomes a classic at the end of a grand tour. I want a bit of jeopardy all the way to the final finish line.
Well, no, because if the times are taken before they get to the climb there isn't going to be the terrain on which to make a 20-30 second difference, so it would be pointless, just as it was when it was a flat stage.
10 thoughts on “Jasper Philipsen survives last-minute on-the-fly shoe switch to sprint to victory; Prince William joins Greg James on the Comic Relief tandem; Pidcock wins; Bike lane moaning; The end of bike shed planning sagas? + more on the live blog”
“TfL launches trial of new radar‑based speed cameras”
I wonder if these will face the same vandalism as the ULEZ cameras did recently.
https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2026/march/tfl-launches-trial-of-new-radar-based-speed-cameras
If those become commonplace RIP radar rear lights. I always get false positives with my rtl510 and the radar based traffic counters, but they’re rare. If every speed camera would be emitting radar it would get quite bad.
Re The Cycle Routes In Shepherd Bush And Hammersmith.
“All cyclists should have driving licences.” Garghh!
Around 85% of them do for fuck’s sake!
And what about cyclists ahead under 17? For fucking fuck’s sake!
From my limited experiences of driving in London, I would have thought that any measure to reduce the need for driving would be a positive and embraced by all. Especially as it as no cost to the taxpayer.
aged under 17
I am all for new cycling infrastructure, obviously, and I’m happy for local councils to spend money on it, but it’s a bit disingenuous of Hammersmith and Fulham to claim that their new cycle lanes come at “no cost to local taxpayers”: if you pay council tax in London, around 25% of it goes to the Greater London Authority, and part of TfL’s funding comes from the GLA, so local taxpayers are paying for it to an extent, the money is just taking a slightly circuitous route. Money well spent, but the council should be honest about it and not talk as if it is without cost.
(Obviously, before the attack of the pedants, the council could claim that by “local taxpayers” they mean “people who pay that share of the council tax that goes to the local council” but that’s clearly not the impression they’re trying to convey)
I see this with stuff happening locally, and while I think it’s right to point out that it’s a separate funding stream, people are aware that it is still coming from tax revenue, and it’s not unreasonable to complain about that slight of hand.
That said, I also think it demonstrates the benefits of having separate, ring-fenced pots of money, with decisions on this kind of infrastructure being made by people who aren’t also directly responsible for deciding how much goes on all of the very many other things that people suddenly care about when they hear cyclists might benefit from any public spending.
Customer, passenger, taxpayer and worker, different names but a single pocket to support the flow of public spending.
“Race proven in USA”
…but not up to the rigours of the daily commute.
“Cycling people should get driving licence” That’s the moronic level of intelligence of some people, Makes you wonder why they’re ever allowed behind the wheel of a vehicle.
“The Irish Independent reckons this could mean bike storage in front gardens is exempt from planning laws.”
In the meantime I suspect that if the storage in the photo was on some heavy duty castors it wouldn’t need planning permission.