“Bring back ITV’s montages”: TNT Sports slammed for “impressively awful” AI Tour de France history video; Iconic Paris-Roubaix restaurant damaged in fire; Pogačar ditches final pre-Tour altitude camp; National champs vs heatwave + more on the live blog

Me, standing atop the Col d’Aubisque, holding my phone, watching another ChatGPT-generated cycling video: ‘Assassins, you’re all artificial assassins, killing off the poor graphic designers…’

Seriously, what’s going on with cycling and AI this week?

Yesterday, we had that horrific dystopian bike ad from American clothing manufacturer REI (though who knows, maybe a second set of bars protruding from the saddle is the next big thing over in the States?).

And now, TNT Sports have decided to up the ante, getting us all excited for the start of cycling’s biggest race by posting this, ahem, ‘interesting’ short video ‘celebrating’ the Tour de France’s first dramatic, much-mythologised venture into the Pyrenees in 1910.

Brace yourself:

 

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I don’t know where to begin.

The terrible scribbly L’Auto newspaper at the start. The way Octave Lapize’s bike occasionally morphs into a modern aero racer, or the way his bike has space for a frame-mounted bottle cage, which wouldn’t come into fashion for at least another 30 years.

Or the way, for some reason, the video moves Lapize’s iconic, mythologised cry of ‘assassins’ in the direction of the race organisers (a moment, like many of the early Tours’ legends, distorted and embellished over time) from the top of the Aubisque to the finish in Bayonne. Come on AI, at least have him screaming on the Tourmalet, like many a lazy hack has over the years.

Or the way AI Lapize falls to the ground in exhaustion, but doesn’t bother crossing the finish line. Or just the whole cringey, ChatGPTness of it all.

So, what’s this all about? Well, apparently, the clip marks the start of TNT’s ‘Cycling Essential Stories’ collection, a series “crafted by our journalists and brought to life visually using AI technology”.

A second episode is coming soon, TNT says. Though judging by the response from cycling fans, it may get cancelled before we reach that point.

“Bad, ugly, putting actual creatives out of work. You charge a fortune and serve up this. Bring back ITV’s beautifully crafted montages instead,” Em wrote after watching the video (presumably through her fingers), while Mike described it as “absolute slop”.

Cycling historian Tom Issit was even less impressed: “Noooo!! The story is wrong and no one needs AI shite like this. Please stop.”

“Please don’t use this slop during actual coverage,” pleaded Ben, while Alex branded the clip “impressively awful” and Chris wrote: “No one wants this AI slop. You’ve now ruined what was otherwise a great story”.

And it seems like many aren’t happy that part of their £31-a-month subscription is being spent on “AI slop”, at the expense of, you know, humans.

“You could have used the f***ing price hike you guys implemented to pay some human beings to make something good, no?” asked Laurie, while Aidan Burgess said: “Charges arm and a leg for cycling subs, can’t pay graphic designer.”

“£31 a month. Asks ChatGPT to make a video,” added Craig, and Hope wrote: “Pay a small fortune to watch live racing only for you to not be bothered to pay real humans to create art and instead opt for AI slop. Do better.”

> “We want football fans to know how great the Giro is”: TNT Sports boss defends channel’s cycling pricing as “genuine value” 

On that note, M Bowden said: “As somebody who has worked in the creative industry, this AI slop is nothing short of insulting to an extremely talented industry in the UK. I’m delighted to have cancelled my subscription.”

“So you guys not charging us enough already?” asked Josh. “Need to up subscription costs to pay for real artists. What utter BS.”

“Cheap AI shit. This is an insult to the Tour. You should be ashamed,” said The Test Lab, while Ollie made the point that “imagine how good this would have been without AI”. But the costs of paying a human Ollie, the costs!

“Generative AI use is for the morally bankrupt. Do better TNT Sports!!!” urged Emily.

And finally, Louis asked: “Can you not go five minutes without embarrassing yourself, TNT Sports?”

To be fair, though, after trawling through all these, ahem, constructive critiques, I did find one positive remark, from James.

“Great content as always,” he said.

Let’s just assume he’s being serious…

There are a handful of contenders for the title of professional cycling’s most iconic building – the chapels on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Madonna del Ghisallo, as well as the Roubaix velodrome, spring to mind immediately – but the restaurant situated at the end of the Carrefour de l’Arbre has to be right up there.

The Restaurant L’Arbre is one of Paris-Roubaix’s most recognisable landmarks, marking the conclusion of the Hell of the North’s last five-star sector, and is a magnet for fans on race day.

I’ve stood near the restaurant during Paris-Roubaix Femmes and have also ridden towards it myself, trying my best to take in the view as I rattled along the Carrefour’s brutal pavé. In an area punctuated mainly by cobbles and fields, the Restaurant L’Arbre and its red bricks dominates the landscape.

However, last night, disaster struck one of cycling’s great landmarks, when a massive fire broke out at the restaurant. Large plumes of smoke and flames were reported at around 6.30pm, when emergency services were called by passers-by.

The restaurant was closed at the time of the fire, with its owners understood to be in Belgium. The full scale of the damage is not yet known, but it has been reported that the roof has almost been entirely destroyed, according to La Voix du Nord.

Olivier Turpin, the mayor of Gruson, near the sector, told the newspaper that the restaurant was “one of the symbols of our community” and that the fire was a “catastrophe”.

In a post shared on Facebook, the restaurant’s owners said they were “deeply touched by the many messages of support, encouragement, and solidarity we have received”.

“We also want to reassure you: the restaurant was closed today at the time of the incident and there was no activity being conducted in the establishment,” they said.

“We extend our gratitude and admiration to the firefighters who are currently mobilised and fighting the flames with courage and professionalism. Their commitment is valuable and we are immensely grateful.

“In this ordeal, your support brings us much comfort. We will keep you updated as the situation develops as soon as we have new information available. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your loyalty and solidarity.”

It’s been a while since we’ve had a proper gawk at Belfast’s much-derided cycling network. And, by the looks of things, not much has changed… Apart from a few extra wands tipped over or completely missing, of course:

> Is this the UK’s worst city for cycling? Riding around Belfast’s abysmal bike network (and why drivers should be cycling campaigners’ best friends) 

Saïd Haddou, a former two-time winner of the Tro-Bro Léon one-day race, has died, aged 43, following a road traffic collision while riding his motorcycle, it was reported last night.

The Frenchman, who raced as a pro between 2003 and 2012 for Bigmat-Auber93 and Bouygues Telecom (later Europcar), was killed in the crash on Monday, according to L’Equipe. No other details have emerged concerning the fatal collision.

 

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Haddou, from Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, won seven races during his career, including the gravel-focused Tro-Bro Léon twice in 2007 and 2009, as well stages at the Boucles de la Mayenne, the Tour du Poitou-Charentes, and Etoile de Bessèges, along with the Tallinn-Tartu Grand Prix and La Côte Picarde.

He was also an U23 European Madison champion and raced both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, becoming the first rider of North African origin to ride cycling’s biggest event since 1954. After retiring at the end of 2012, he became a driver for France Télévisions, where he worked with his good friend and former teammate Thomas Voeckler.

If you’ve been scrolling through Instagram lately, you may have noticed that Visma-Lease a Bike are currently posting a mini-series of World Cup-related question and answer sessions with their riders, mainly to pass the time during training camps.

And to highlight how little professional cyclists know about football, of course.

This latest one is a particular cracker, thanks to Wout van Aert struggling to grasp the point of hypotheticals, some casual national stereotypes being thrown about, and Matteo Jorgenson being utterly dismissive of the physical rigours of playing football:

 

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I bet Jorgenson thinks baseball’s a proper sport, too.

Speaking of Visma-Lease a Bike, the Dutch squad have this afternoon beaten their rivals to the most important accolade of the cycling summer: they’re the first team to publicly announce their line-up for the Tour de France! Who needs a yellow jersey, really?

There’s little in the way of surprises when it comes to Visma’s punctual squad announcement, with Jonas Vingegaard – aiming for his third yellow jersey and a Giro-Tour double – set to be supported by Victor Campenaerts, Edoardo Affini, Per Strand Hagenes, Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss, Bruno Armirail, and Davide Piganzoli.

Wout van Aert, as we all know, misses out on selection for the Tour for the first time in eight years, the Belgian injuring his elbow in a crash while riding his time trial bike earlier this month. He still managed to win a stage of the Dauphiné but was forced to abandon the race after his elbow wound became infected, ruling him out of the Tour.

“I have a lot of belief in myself, and that also gives the other guys belief,” Vingegaard said in a statement today.

“They really believe in the plan we have and believe that it’s possible to win the Tour de France again. It’s now three years ago I won it the last time, and ever since it’s been a big goal for me.”

Some news, courtesy of our resident off-road correspondent Matt Page, from the Tour Divide route, where French ultra-endurance star Victor Bosini is on course to complete the 2,745-mile (4,418 km) self-supported route in record time.

Widely regarded as the pinnacle of ultra-endurance events, the Tour Divide route starts in Banff, Canada, and runs south through the United States along the Rocky Mountains, passing through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico before finishing at the Mexico border.

And with just over 100 miles to go to the finish, 24-year-old Bosini looks certain to add the race to his glittering list of victories, which already include the Traka and the Transcontinental, as well as beating all previous recorded times in the Tour Divide’s history, including any adjustments made to earlier efforts due to route changes caused by weather or trail conditions.

 

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That means the current fastest time, of 11 days, 19 hours and 14 minutes, set by Robin Gemperle, will only last for one year, after Gemperle’s blistering ride in 2025.

And that record-breaking ride comes despite Bosini admitting in a social media post that, with the win in the bag, “the goal is no longer to push too hard or attempt the impossible”.

“With the lead I have now, I’d rather stay smart, play it safe, and manage things wisely until the end,” he wrote.

I wish my version of ‘playing it safe’ enabled me to break records…

> Respected climate scientist killed in hit-and-run with driver: Tributes paid to US professor whose work “equipped scientists with the tools to make more accurate climate predictions”

In a sport where no stone is, seemingly, left unturned in the quest for top form, it turns out Tadej Pogačar can do what he wants.

The world champion, fresh from another oppressively dominant display at the Tour de Suisse last week, was set to join his UAE teammates at Isola 2000 in the French Alps, for a last round of altitude training before the Tour de France starts in Barcelona.

Pogačar, however, has decided to miss at least the start of this short stint on top of a mountain, the four-time Tour winner opting instead to return home to Monaco and spend some time with his partner Urška Žigart, who crashed heavily during the women’s Tour de Suisse, fracturing her jaw.

“I changed a lot of plans in the last two weeks,” Pogačar said after the race. “Now that Urška is recovering, her plans collapsed, my second plan collapsed, and now it’s the third plan and maybe in two days it will be plan four.

“The most important thing is that we stay together the next few days and we see how it is.”

UAE Team Emirates have since stated that their leader’s plans for this week are “still to be confirmed”.

To be honest, I know pro cyclists love an altitude camp these days, but if anyone can afford to miss one in the lead-up to the Tour – and benefit from a mental reset, if we’re honest – it’s Tadej Pogačar.

It looks like heat has become one of the summer’s biggest talking points (not just in cycling, of course), with this week’s swathe of national championships across Europe set to take place in scorching conditions – which, as Sarah Ruggins discovered this week, aren’t all that conducive to riding a bike fast.

And with temperatures of 36 degrees Celsius forecast for Friday’s Belgian time trial championships in Maarkedal, the organisers have introduced a series of measures, including cooling stations and roadside sprinklers, to help cool the riders down.

“Our heat protocol has been active throughout the week,” Belgian Cycling’s sporting director Massimo Van Lancker told Sporza.

“We are going to create a kind of feeding zone halfway around the course. We want to give the riders the opportunity to take ice, water, or a sponge to help them cool down.

“Together with the organisers, we are looking at creating sprinkler zones in places where that is logistically possible. Riders who want to pass underneath them can cool themselves down. They can also ride around them, so nobody will be forced to use them.”

According to Van Lancker, moving the time trials to the morning was logistically unrealistic, with over 100 riders expected to line up across the men’s, women’s, and age categories (though, notably, Remco Evenepoel will miss this year’s TT as he continues his Tour de France preparations).

Van Lancker also explained that extra shade will be provided at the start and finish and cold water will be made immediately available to riders after they complete the course, though ice vests, as per UCI rules, can only be worn before the race.

“We will create as many shaded areas as possible at the start and finish,” he said. “That is not only for the riders, but also for the staff. There will also be plenty of cold water available specifically for the riders after they finish.”

“Riders can use ice and ice vests until they reach the start platform. Under UCI regulations, they are not allowed to race with them. You cannot alter the shape of the skinsuit in a way that affects aerodynamics.”

Big group of middle aged men cycling on Damsterdiep in Groningen, and having a very jolly time of it.

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— Mark McIntyre (@markjmcintyre.bsky.social) June 21, 2026 at 11:13 AM

With the launch of 9-speed CUES shift levers, it’s finally possible to have a fully CUES-branded 9-speed drop bar bike. Does this have wider significance for the continued existence of Shimano’s entry-level road groupsets? As we’ve come to expect from Shimano recently, that’s not exactly clear…

> You can now build a 9-speed Shimano CUES road or gravel bike with hydraulic disc brakes

Those pesky Bucharest trees, so inconsiderate of us cyclists…

When in Bucharest this weekend, we made a pilgrimage to see a tree growing in the middle of a bike lane.

For bike nerds, this is our Mona Lisa. Our Stonehenge. Our Colosseum.

A sacred site. A cautionary tale. A monument to the eternal struggle between infrastructure design and existing conditions.

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— Melissa & Chris Bruntlett (@modacitylife.com) June 21, 2026 at 8:56 PM

In case you missed it last night, one of British cycling’s most iconic records has fallen. And in some style too, loose cleat and all:

> 31.5mph for 100 miles… with a loose cleat: 41-year-old double Paralympic tandem gold medallist smashes 100-mile time trial record, despite finishing with one bolt holding his cleat in place