“I can confirm European cyclists are built different”: American rider clings on for dear life at Spanish Gran Fondo… and leaves wondering “why are these people so fit?”; Shimano gets Pogačar’s Roubaix neutral service bike back + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"I can confirm European cyclists are built different": American rider clings on for dear life at Spanish Gran Fondo... and leaves wondering "why are these people so fit?"
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A bit of a shock for this US rider over in Europe who rocked up at the start of a Gran Fondo and quickly found the pace to be essentially a race. Some locals may well take issue with the assessment that the sportive just outside of Girona was in Spain but, politics and regional identity aside, one thing was clear… the pace was hot.
Many events on the continent, even just a local one like this, attract many a rider not far off pro level. The front of these events is almost always more race than sportive, but probably more so given this one started near one of Europe’s cycling capitals, Girona.
“This was a local one, just outside of Girona called ‘La Barroca’,” our US rider explained. “I recommend it if you’re ever in the area when it’s happening. There’s two routes, I did the shorter one which is 90km and 1,230m (of climbing). We finished in 2hr 40 min, 33 kph avg. I never drove pace, just tried to survive… these cyclists are built different!
“This is me simply surviving in the front group of a GRAN FONDO in Spain. Why are these people so fit?”
As someone who had their head kicked in at a similar event in the Canary Islands last autumn, I can certainly relate to that last question. The continental Gran Fondo scene is more aero socks and attacks than the often (but not always) more sedate sportives I’m accustomed to over here in the UK.
Someone else on the thread summed it all up quite nicely: “Incredibly fast and technical as the speed increases. It’s maximising ever corner and watt to create gaps. Goes beyond fitness and into the realm of competing with caution thrown to the wind. Loved the video and comments that accompanied it. You were riding super strong.”
Bike-stealing thief attempts to evade police by riding on race course… and gets caught after overtaking peloton
Shimano neutral service bike was like riding "a wheelbarrow" at Paris-Roubaix, claims Tadej Pogačar
Shimano mechanics will be hosing the neutral service bike as we speak, the brand’s excitement to get its Tadej Pogačar-ridden ride returned after Paris-Roubaix possibly now tainted by the Slovenian’s review… that it was like riding a wheelbarrow.
PUNCTURE FOR POGACAR 😱
The world champion is off the back and riding a Shimano neutral service bike! pic.twitter.com/Gyd84WXAlt
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) April 12, 2026
The world champion reportedly told the Slovenian press that was his assessment of the bike, which Het Laatste Nieuws has suggested looks remarkably like an unbranded Canyon model.
“It felt very uncomfortable,” Pogačar is quoted as saying. “I got a ‘karjolo’ [wheelbarrow].
“I was able to start my chase, but it had been a long time since I’d ridden a Shimano bike. The saddle height wasn’t right. And the wheels weren’t suitable for the terrain either. So I had to switch again.”
And to think this morning Shimano were buzzing to tell us how they’d got the bike in question back and wouldn’t be washing it for a while…
Engineers begin work on new cycle bridge as part of HS2 construction
A new cycle bridge will soon link Offchurch Greenway in Warwickshire and Route 41 of the National Cycle Network. Engineers are currently installing the bridge as part of wider HS2 construction works, with the active travel infrastructure expected to be completed by September.
Vicki Lee, HS2 Ltd senior project manager, said the bridge would “improve safety and connectivity” for cyclists. Warwickshire County Council has also called it a “key link” and one that will “benefit many generations to come”.
Paris-Roubaix... on a folding bike
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That 28kph average speed is mighty impressive, get that rider over to a Spanish Gran Fondo ASAP…
“Just a bloody annoyance”: Ex-BBC journalist told Met Police won’t investigate his stolen bike, despite deliberately parking under a CCTV camera
Excuse me?
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Spanish pro cyclist Jaume Guardeño remains in intensive care two weeks on from training crash
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Caja Rural-Seguros RGA have released a follow-up statement about Jaume Guardeño, the pro rider who was airlifted to hospital following a training crash two weeks ago.
The team said Guardeño remains in the intensive care unit and is “critical but stable”. Guardeño is due to undergo “further procedures” in the coming days.
Climber Guardeño finished 29th at the Volta a Catalunya and 14th at the Vuelta last season, the 23-year-old rushed to Tauli Hospital in Sabadell following a crash at the end of March.
Spanish media reports suggest Guardeño lost control when he hit a rock in the road, before then colliding with a car being driven on the same route. There is no suggestion at this stage that the crash was caused by anything other than the rider hitting the rock.
A Caja Rural-Seguros RGA spokesperson said: “We continue to send all our strength and affection to Jaume, as well as to his family and friends at this time.”
"The old horse still has some kick": Taylor Phinney eyes track cycling comeback ahead of LA 2028 Olympics
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Two-time individual pursuit world champion Taylor Phinney is making a comeback. In his own words: “The old horse still has some kick”.
Phinney, who retired from pro cycling back in 2019 at the end of a career which saw him win a Giro d’Italia stage and three US national time trial championships, admitted he’d “never in a million years” have predicted he’d be returning to the sport… “but here we are”.
“What started as a return to gravel racing has delicately snowballed into a full on Olympic dream,” he said, revealing his comeback will be on the track with an eye to the 2028 home Games. “It’s been super fun and rewarding to find the love for training and ripping high speeds again over the past few months.
“I laughed it off at first, but with encouragement from wifey (Kasia Niewiadoma) the seed started to grow and before I knew it all I could think of was closing this final loop in my cycling career.
“The track was where I first found love and success in this sport, it was even the first discipline to break my heart when my specialty event, the individual pursuit, was removed from the Olympic programme, which prompted me to swiftly abandon the track and go all in on the road.
“Recently the USA boys have been making huge strides in the Team Pursuit, and I couldn’t be more stoked to be joining them in the chase for the Olympic dream.
“I have a lot of work to do in the gym and refining the position, but after my first camp with them (and first time in a TT position in probably 7 years…) I must say, it’s awesome to be back in a team environment. I’m happy with how I slotted into the group considering I’ve only been ‘back’ training since November, and I look forward to stepping up over the course of the next two years. The energy and vibe of the squad is top notch.
“Regardless of whether I make the official team for LA28 or not, I’m honoured to be in the running and will look forward to making some World Cup teams to elevate the team to its highest potential and Olympic qualifying position.”
"Well... that's one we're never washing again": Shimano gets its Tadej Pogačar-ridden Paris-Roubaix neutral service bike back... and fans want an eBay auction
“Well… that’s one bike we’re never washing again…”
Shimano has shared the footage of it getting its bike back post-Paris Roubaix, the neutral service ride having had probably the most exciting afternoon of its life when Tadej Pogačar took it for a spin after a puncture at 120km to go.
The components giant even suggested the bike would be kept in its raced condition for the foreseeable… “Straight from the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix back to the Neutral Service car. After a ride from Tadej Pogačar, this one might stay like this for a bit. Some bikes get cleaned. Some you leave… just for now.”
We reckon it might be headed for a display at HQ or Shimano’s Experience Center in the Netherlands (although hopefully it won’t suffer the same fate as the “irreplaceable” bikes ridden to extraordinary performances by names such as Peter Sagan, Mathieu van der Poel, Julian Alaphilippe and Egan Bernal, which were stolen during an overnight burglary back in 2024).
Some fans urged Shimano to get the bike listed on eBay, although, considering his ripped Milan-San Remo jersey went for €95,100, god knows how much the neutral service ride would reach…
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@chrisonabike True, things went back to normal once the pandemic was over. In this case, however the problems are still ongoing, and aren't likely to be resolved in the near future. If anything, they're going to get worse. Food shortages are predicted because of the effect that the heatwave has had on crops. This is bound to push prices up. The Straits of Hormuz aren't likely to reopen anytime soon and the strategic oil reserves are running low. Russia is having to import petrol because its own refineries have been badly hit, so that's even more competition for an even more scarce resource. I think that more and more people are going to see cycling as a way of cutting household bills.
I think if "grown up" cyclists * are quibbling about ASLs we've very much missed the road safety point anyway. (Not to mention the wider "better transport choices" picture). ASLs are poor-to-useless "cycling infra", even for their design intent. If the idea is "for less confident cyclists" then a design that requires that you re-position in front of the motor traffic - waiting to accelerate - seems unhelpful. Of course they're only designed to help when traffic is stopped, and you can reach the front in time and if vehicles aren't already occupying them. As we're noting here drivers frequently ignore them - whether that be deliberate, a lack of road craft, because they were concentrating on following the vehicle in front, or because the paint has rubbed off. * Aside: shouldn't cycling also be safe and accessible for kids? Or should they only be allowed to do this when accompanied by sufficient qualified adults? Or be limited to parks and otherwise being driven around by their carers? Perhaps there is another way...?
Hi Bungle, I saw you follow-up comment. I can't imaging there's a tolerance of 4 seconds on camera enforced lights, seems an odd decision - an offence is committed if a vehicle starts crossing on a red, any tolerance is discretionary. There does seem to be some odd thinking about 'advanced stop lines' where the rules relating to them are identical to a regular stop line, as explained correctly elsewhere in the Highway Code. It does seem a regular offence. Where I live it doesn't help that some of them are very faint and disappear in rain.
@ktache Not sure he's totally ruled out of the worlds yet (though I think it would be best if he doesn't), normal recovery time is about eight weeks but surgery can halve that...depending on the nature of the break he could be just about fit to ride by the time of the elite men's race, but he'll have missed a lot of training. Hopefully his managers and team will persuade him to wait until Lombardia, if not just to knock it off for the rest of the year.
@Bungle_52 The Met told me a couple of years ago when rejecting a submission that they needed a clear three seconds of red visible before they would consider it for an RLJ prosecution. I pointed out to them that this meant that at 30 mph a driver could see a light change to red from 40 metres away and still get through without sanction, or 55 m if they accelerated to 40 as most do. They just replied "them's our rules..."
@Ben Graham I have just checked the footage from my report. The driver crosses the 1st stop line 4 seconds after the light turns red. All on camera from behind the vehicle. No further action. So I assume the margin is at least 4 seconds.
Oh, and active travel funding per head (in England at least) is laughable compared to other places. Plus it is delivered intermittently. It's more like a Blue Peter contest...
Yup, I see those opportunities being missed all the time in Edinburgh. When it gets really bad, dig it all up and put it back down again how it was. Contrast with what seems to happen in NL - when things are dug up the whole thing seems to get a "let's redo this according to the current standards" treatment. They even coordinate with the utilities, so that after a refurb the street isn't immediately dug up again because of leaking pipes / we suddenly realised the new estate being planned for round the corner will want broadband etc. Pros and cons of course - you may wait longer there for changes as smaller changes may be deferred until a major redo is due. (Though in the UK case you likely wouldn't get them at all...) It seems we "can't have nice things" in the UK in part because a) we have greater motor traffic speeds/volumes spead across "streets" / within urban areas b) the funding and organisational responsibility differs. Are we in the "Sam Vimes boots" territory (being too poor to afford better products which not only save money over time but actually work)? There is long term money pressure on LAs and it seems that due to poor construction and maintenance we have to regularly pour money into (pot-)holes in the road. And it seems there's no budget to check up on or enforce adequate standards from utilities work or even private building.
Shame about the world champs defence. Speedy recovery. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/aug/30/tadej-pogacar-vuelta-a-espana-cycling-crash-hospital-stage-nine
I believe the accepted form for this kind of argument is "I know you are, you said you were, but what am I?".
5 thoughts on ““I can confirm European cyclists are built different”: American rider clings on for dear life at Spanish Gran Fondo… and leaves wondering “why are these people so fit?”; Shimano gets Pogačar’s Roubaix neutral service bike back + more on the live blog”
“What do you mean my bike’s not UCI approved? I was told this was a cat 1 race.”
90km at 33kmh average is a typical Sunday morning club run for some
With 1230m climb? That would need about a 300W average for a 70kg rider, that would be pretty good going over 2.6 hours.
“The saddle height wasn’t right” says Pog on the shimano bike. That’s what the dropper post is for! Could it be this roadie has never touched a mountain bike before? Alas we may never know.
It’s a quick release, not a dropper.