Climactic day at Tour de France with several Pogacar teammates ill and team avoiding questions; Trek announce new e-bike standards allowing 20mph on the pavement; Chris Froome’s next project; Alpe d’Huez mayhem + more on the live blog
UAE uncertainty
It seems like there’s only one place to start today’s live blog, on the lower slopes of Alpe d’Huez, where half of road.cc appear to have decamped. For nearly three weeks Tadej Pogacar has seemed imperious, untouchable, [insert another superlative here].
But there are more than just rumours that show all is not well. Yesterday we focused heavily on Adam Yates, who we had seen the previous day crawl over the line, pale and broken with the assistance of teammate Tim Wellens. Yesterday, the Belgian told Flemish media he had a sore throat and was not feeling great himself, but I think few would have expected him to finish with just the broomwagon for company, as captured by us on the ground yesterday…
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Yesterday, Brandon McNulty also abandoned the race having been dropped on the opening climb. That leaves Felix Grossschartner as UAE’s only climbing domestique, presuming the team will try and protect Isaac del Toro’s 3rd place, whilst Nils Politt and Florian Vermeersch might not be much use if the race explodes on the opening climbs.
As for the yellow jersey himself, yesterday the World Champion switched to black shorts for the first time in the race, having previously worn white in the world champion’s bands or yellow to match his top half. Coincidence? I’d be surprised.
Yesterday in his post-stage press conference, the Slovenian also only answered three questions – he normally answers five – whilst one of his answers was one word.
Last year of course, he was in a private battle with knee injury which we can say now was perhaps behind his race fatigue and apathy towards the whole rigmarole that surrounds the Tour. Do we have a similar situation on our hands? If so, the onus is on Remco Evenepoel and Paul Seixas to try and make the most of it…
About last night...
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If you’re wondering where our Ryan was in all this, he “just about made it past that lot.” No news on Liam’s whereabouts however…
Fast Trek
This being the last live blog of the Tour de France, today’s offerings will be, as you might expect, quite Huez-focused, but there will be a couple of other thing I want to draw your attention to…
We start with Trek bicycles who have announced they want the American bike industry to come together and agree nationwide e-bike standards, to tackle the messy mishmash of safety regulations from State to State.
That makes sense, and makes you grateful that our political system doesn’t give the devolved parliaments the powers to set their own funky rules. I imagine the people of Oswestry and Berwick-upon-Tweed are particularly thankful.
But what we can’t quite fathom are the e-bike category standards that Trek have set and want the rest of the US industry to follow. Here’s their press release, word-for-word:
“All Trek electric mountain bikes sold in the United States will be Class 1 and will:
- Have a 20mph maximum pedal-assist speed
- Will not have a throttle
“All Trek electric bikes designed for use on pavement and shared paths will:
- Limit throttle assistance to 20mph (if equipped)
- Limit pedal assistance to 20mph or 28mph, depending on model
“These standards strike the right balance between delivering the benefits of electric bicycles, respecting shared spaces, and protecting the trails and paths riders depend on.”
20mph on a pavement and shared path! That seems… too fast? In contrast, in the UK, e-bikes max out at 15.5 mph, regardless of any distinction for MTBs – and we’re talking about legal e-bikes obviously.
Could we not end up with a situation where there are national standards that are so widely adopted they then can’t be changed? It all seems rather risky to us, and a little reliant on cyclists riding sensibly and not maxing out their motors… more than achievable but needlessly risky.
Sacked Turkish Governor latest...
Ryan found time up a mountain yesterday to dive into one of the stranger stories that keeps circulating…
> Turkish governor sacked after criticism for wearing “tight” cycling kit… while promoting cycling
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This being the USofA, doesn't 'pavement' likely refer to hard surfaces (so basically road use, as opposed to trail), rather than the 'sidewalk', as they would refer to it? (Though it still seems sketchy for shared paths, unless that also means something different over there.)
On the Pogacar / del Toro short colour conspiracy.... ...this was never an issue for the Ag2R cycling team. Hideous shorts as marginal gains.
Interesting article and a pleasure to read. A lot of pros say the the climb is tough because the gradient varies so much and they can't get into a rhythm. I have ridden Alpe d'Huez on Zwift. It is tough enough there, without any wind! One point. The phrase "piss and Amstel" could be replaced by "piss and fizzy piss"
@Pub bike Exposed yes, but still internally routed. 😎
@Jakrayan I was cycling on Tenerife for a week this year and you could tell whether cars were driven by locals or (probably) English tourists; locals would consistently pass in the opposite lane even if it meant waiting minutes for it to be safe. While they did this they'd give you a respectful distance. Was quite shocking when you got passed in the same lane or had any sort of aggression at all. The reason Spanish drivers are so good is because of the laws around collisions with people on bikes. I don't know why they can't do something similar here.
I was cycle touring last week, Newcastle to Edinburgh on the Coast and Castles route. Much of it is on dedicated cycle paths but I am at grateful that in six days and especially on narrow country lanes and short stretches of A and B roads I only met with patience and kindness from drivers. I'm thinking of one road in particular that was quite winding, and drivers had to wait a while to pass safely due to blind corners. They must have all had better driving instructors! Some of the worst run-ins I've had here in London have been with driving instructors. And cab drivers - both professional drivers who should know better.
The general public could be left with the impression that being as thick as two short planks is no obstacle to becoming a police officer in the West Midlands. I wonder though whether the same is true of the senior officers who presumably dealt with the initial complaint and still allowed the destruction of the bike to go ahead and the fine to stand. It doesn't inspire me with any confidence in this police force.
"The Sport model (with teal paint where it appears in this article) has fully internal cable routing" except for the dropper post cable coming out of the bottom of the seat tube.
Institutionally anti-lycraist.
The article did mention that he was ignoring his duties and spending much of his time creating social media. You can only get away with that sort of thing in high public office by surrounding yourself with incompetent sycophants who cover up for you (Donald Trump).
2 thoughts on “Climactic day at Tour de France with several Pogacar teammates ill and team avoiding questions; Trek announce new e-bike standards allowing 20mph on the pavement; Chris Froome’s next project; Alpe d’Huez mayhem + more on the live blog”
On the Pogacar / del Toro short colour conspiracy….
…this was never an issue for the Ag2R cycling team. Hideous shorts as marginal gains.
This being the USofA, doesn’t ‘pavement’ likely refer to hard surfaces (so basically road use, as opposed to trail), rather than the ‘sidewalk’, as they would refer to it?
(Though it still seems sketchy for shared paths, unless that also means something different over there.)