“We’re here to ride bikes, not to be politicians”: Biniam Girmay “doesn’t care” about NSN Cycling’s history as Israeli team; “This isn’t a war on motorists”; Could Winter Olympics star switch to cycling?; Rapha’s RideLondon idea + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"We're here to ride bikes, not to be politicians": Biniam Girmay "doesn't care" about NSN Cycling's history as Israeli team
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Biniam Girmay’s move to NSN Cycling turned some heads this winter, not least because, when it was first rumoured, the team was facing protests and seeing invitations to races pulled over its Israeli identity.
Bike sponsor Factor exited their relationship, as did lead sponsor Premier-Tech. Controversial team boss Sylvan Adams took a step back, investment came in from Andrés Iniesta’s NSN, and the squad got a new look and fresh start.
With the team no longer Israeli-registered and no longer riding around effectively as a billboard for the country, the noise is expected to be quiet around NSN this campaign.
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But what does Biniam Girmay, the team’s new star who won his first race for NSN last week, think about the events of the past few months and the squad’s history?
“To be honest, I don’t care,” he told Marca. Tell us how you really feel, Biniam…
“All I care about is the people on the team and the family atmosphere we have. We’re here to ride bikes, not to be politicians. The name is always the name, but we want to compete. We have ambition, and I’m here to win.”
Comparing his new team to life at Intermarché–Wanty, Girmay said: “Completely different. Here we’re a more global and international team, with many nationalities. I like this atmosphere. It’s a very well-organised team, NSN has higher-quality cyclists and staff.”
No punches pulled in this one…
Nine of the cheapest* 2026 aero road bikes (according to Liam)
Transport for London "working urgently to restore service" on Santander Cycles
Transport for London has apologised for disruption to its Santander Cycles hire bikes, the service’s app currently down and affecting riders’ journeys across the city.
A spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry for the disruption caused to Santander Cycles customers. We’re working hard to investigate the issue and restore services as soon as possible. We will keep customers informed with the latest updates.”
A second statement shared at 1pm said the problem was linked to “a connectivity issue”.
“Lack of action means more people killed cycling”: Campaigners demand change as latest stats show cyclists seriously injured in London up 14%
All roads lead to Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix for Jasper Philipsen this spring
Jasper Philipsen will target a second Milan-San Remo this spring, as well as a return to Paris-Roubaix, where he has finished second behind teammate Mathieu van der Poel twice. Alpecin-Premier Tech outlined the Belgian sprinter’s spring campaign in a post on Instagram, Philipsen also taking in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Dwars door Vlaanderen, and a few semi-classics and smaller races too.
Driver described as “otherwise decent individual” spared jail after ramming cyclist off the road
> Driver described as “otherwise decent individual” spared jail after ramming cyclist off the road
Some more of your reaction to RideLondon's demise
The comments rolled on into the night, here’s a few more on RideLondon being put on an “indefinite pause”…
jaymack: “While I must say that I enjoyed RideLondon I’ve enjoyed audax more. If you want to a cycle challenging distance over an interesting parcours you should give audax a go. There’s none of the bike snobbery I’ve encountered on a sportive; there’s no ‘good luck getting around on that’ and audax is all the better for it.”
Phil on Facebook: “Such a shame, as soon as the woeful Surrey County Council removed their backing it was inevitable.”
Graham on Bluesky: “They couldn’t even sell enough entries on the last running to need to run the ballot so everyone who wanted in, got in. The route was boring boring boring and only went to one ‘sight’. Miles of concrete dual carriageway, little support, roadworks galore. And a shit medal one year.”
The damp finale: Can I ride a 200km Audax 12 months in a row? Ride #12
> The damp finale: Can I ride a 200km Audax 12 months in a row? Ride #12
Looking for an event now RideLondon is gone? Rapha reckons it has got the answer
In the absence of RideLondon, Rapha wanted to shout-out its FARs, a series of big one-day rides available to its members.
The first one of 2026 is coming up on 30 May and, who knows, there might even be a bit of sunshine by then… optimistic thinking, I know…
In essence, Rapha plots a route, you ride it. One of last year’s included a 162km day out with 1,936m of climbing. Members can choose between riding solo, with friends or as part of one of a RCC Ride Leader-led groups.
Doing the maths, Rapha points out to access the rides you’ll need to be a member (£70 for the year), whereas RideLondon famously used to cost up to £99, so unsurprisingly the iconic cycling clothing brand reckons you should become an RCC member, do a couple of its rides a year, and enjoy the rest of the benefits too.
Rapha also tells us it is bringing back RCC insurance later this month and will have a new club kit out at the end of the month too.
Could this Winter Olympics star switch to pro cycling?
Two golds in the current Olympics, XC skier Johannes Klæbo likes his cycling and has hinted at switching to road racing at some point. He is already sponsored by Uno-X. But for now he’s got more medals to win this week
— the Inner Ring blog (@inrng.com) 11 February 2026 at 08:07
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo vs Primož Roglič in the winter sports x cycling royal rumble? Or is this all just a repeat of the Kristian Blummenfelt saga from the last Summer Olympics?
Yep, we were all quite excited when one of the world’s best triathletes was outspoken about his belief he could win the Tour de France within a few years. Blummenfelt ended up disappointing in Paris and the rumours quickly died down, the word from his camp that he didn’t want to give up all the money in triathlon for a lowly pro cycling contract.
What do you say, Klæbo?
For the uninitiated, the Norwegian cross-country skiing legend yesterday won his second gold of the Winter Olympics, the seventh of his career. Last year he won all six world championship events. At 29, any sport swap would need to come soon, but we’re down if he is…
"This isn't a war on motorists at all... this is about a safe, viable choice to travel in a different way"
Let’s kick off Wednesday with some comments from the West Midlands’ Active Travel Commissioner, Beccy Marston, who has been in the local press spreading the word about walking and cycling, shutting down some common misconceptions, and generally doing a good job of promoting active travel.
While projects to boost walking, cycling and wheeling usually see local newspaper headlines and social media discussion about space being taken from motorists and millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being involved, Marston was straight to the point when talking to the Express and Star about her role.
“This isn’t a war on motorists at all. This is about giving you safe, viable choice to travel in a different way,” she said.
“It’s got to be the right tool for the job. Don’t see it as an attack on motorists, see it as a way to improve your health, the air that you breathe. Sat in traffic you are breathing in more pollution and the air you breathe on the side of the road walking is cleaner.
“People get in a car to drive to the gym to do exercise. If you cycle to your office, there is your exercise done for the day. You’ve got an hour back – it’s quicker, it’s reliable and you do more stuff, see nature. It’s worth trying it in the summer.
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@mdavidford True, but why limit the assessment of such incidents to those cherry picked for this article?
"I would even suggest that a rider on the TT bike with thier hands on the skis can still reach the brakes as quickly as a rider on a regular road bike with their hand on the top of the bars. In neother case are they covering the brakes with either hand and both would require a movement to cover it in a split second. So the bike is not in question, its the rider and their skill level." I think this statement is probably correct, but what it ignores is that riders usually use the top of the bars for riding uphill so the speed is a lot slower than when on a tt bike so the rider will have more reaction time for a given situation. Although you are correct to say that no bike is inherently dangerous we are really discussing bikes with riders on them and for the same rider a tt bike is more difficult to control in anything other than a straight line with no sidewind.
Dear Road.cc, please check your emails - I sent an email yesterday evening asking for an original copy of the photo one of you took yesterday of LCC's cycling festival/iBike London ride. Cheers :)
@Steve K Lib Dems and "good" in one sentence. Nah, never happened
@Paul J Those trispoke wheels sound absolutely lethal. I think their use and sales should be banned. The point you are missing here is that just because an aspect of bike design is perceived, without any context, as being more dangerous, it doesn't automatically follow that it should be banned. My argument is that the bike has to be ridden appropriately for the road conditions. Excessive speed in the wrong place is far more dangerous than TT bike geometry or trispoke wheels.
@didsthewinegeek What on earth does that mean? A cheap GPS speedometer means a cheap GPS speedometer, if you don't know what one of them is then I'm afraid I can't help you.
@Paul J You need to READ whay I am saying cos you clearly do not get it. There is nothing inherently dangerous about a bike of any kind. Its 2 wheels, a frame, bars, groupset etc. There is nothing that makes that bike dangerous. A road bike in the wrong hands could be more likely involved in an incident than a TT bike in the hands of an experienced rider. The BIKE is not dangerous. The persons ability to handle it may make it appear more or less, but the inanimate object is not the danger. But tell me what is more dangerous: a road bike with no clip on skis but the rider is not holding the bars close to the brakes, maybe resting their hands on the top of the bars (like people used to do) and have their hands nowhere near the brake levers or a TT bike where the rider has their hands near the brakes not out front but actually on the bar ends near the brake levers? which is more dangerous? And I don't care what Mr Blackbird says, he's not the authority on bike safety and neither are you or I. I would even suggest that a rider on the TT bike with thier hands on the skis can still reach the brakes as quickly as a rider on a regular road bike with their hand on the top of the bars. In neother case are they covering the brakes with either hand and both would require a movement to cover it in a split second. So the bike is not in question, its the rider and their skill level.
@Smoggysteve The raison d'etre of a TT bike is the squashed in position on the skis, and riders are going to train in the position they race generally. If that position is banned, and puppy paws are banned, riders will generally not use them in training... cause... they're training to be able to hold their race position. For a road bike position they'll be training to hold a position with their hands on the hoods just above the levers, and arms level - the fastest position on a road bike and UCI legal competition.
@Rendel Harris So a cheap GPS speedometer isn't unqualified speak for a speed gun?
@Rendel Harris Well, in that case its impossible to say TT bikes are more dangerous. And that is my point entirely. But you could use times where TT bikes are used on open roads like Club 10s. There is a very commonly used one near me in Renfrewshire that's used by a whole manner of clubs. I can see on many Wednesday evenings dozens of riders - some on TT bikes , some on road bikes competing. I see no statistic from my time wathcing and competing in theses events that the TT bikes are involved in more incidents than the non TT bikes. And that is anecdotal but I have watched many event and I don't see a highly elevated danger at all. if there were they would be banned or discouraged. but they aint and that probably speaks more than someone who has very little experience riding them (in the case of Paul J) to decide what is dangerous and what isnt.
4 thoughts on ““We’re here to ride bikes, not to be politicians”: Biniam Girmay “doesn’t care” about NSN Cycling’s history as Israeli team; “This isn’t a war on motorists”; Could Winter Olympics star switch to cycling?; Rapha’s RideLondon idea + more on the live blog”
A keyboard-bothering match-up that our live blogger is presumably hoping doesn’t come about.
RE: the active travel commissioner’s comments: “This isn’t a war on motorists at all. This is about giving you safe, viable choice to travel in a different way”.
Very restrained. She could have gone with:
“This isn’t a war on motorists at all. Never was. It’s been a war on people’s ability to travel safely and conveniently in the public realm, their health in general and the provision of access to pleasant spaces and amenities … all at the service of the motor industries, related trades and their political sponsors. Since before the leaded petrol scam, before the invention of ‘jaywalking’ …”
Biniam Girmaye is a cycling professional who is paid to win races, which he already did with his new team. He may or may not have opinions about Israel but he isn’t willing to express them publicly. The NSN Team PR & Comms manager did a good job. Useless controversy averted.
So… basically an audax then?
Not trying to bash Rapha too hard, but if you just want someone else to plot out a nice long ride, that you can do either by yourself or with friends, then that’s what an audax is.
I guess the RCC Leader-led groups might be nice for someone with less confidence, or if you’ve signed up to the event by yourself and want to be sure of having a group to ride with (with an audax, you’re relying on the kindness of strangers in that situation – not that that is often in short supply).