TNT Sports extends broadcast deal for Tour de France to 2032, ruling out full free-to-air live coverage for six years

@Natrix How likely is it that I get all my facts from Wikipedia? I'd be writing a book a week, wouldn't I?

@Wales56 Overbiked Randonneuring reviewed the SeeMee 300 and one of the criticisms was that although the battery life was very good, it was only 75% of the claimed values. I thought the reduced values for the newer model were a result of better testing and it is very disappointing to find out that not only the runtimes in the newer model have been slashed, but they're still hugely exaggerated.

@chrisonabike they could try this on motorists first (because number plates, that’ll have ’em bang to rights Exactly!

@chrisonabike Unfortunately, I think you're disputing with a Very Small Language Model A Low I Pro-Driving Fictitious Cyclist troll, powered by a single AAA battery with those white crystals oozing out of the terminals.

Hi, this is the author. I'm thrilled to see the reviewer say "I've read plenty of books on cycling," but he hasn't read this one. The Green Bullet is a 270-page chronology of Valverde's career from start to finish, so the sentence "He was dynamic and aggressive, punchy and sharp, and he won massive races all the way through his career. However, if you went purely off Rendell’s book, you wouldn’t know any of that," shows that the reviewer hasn't done me (or the road.cc readership) the honour of actually opening the covers and looking in between. On the subject of making light Google searches, I plead guilty. It took a few to find, online, the 353-page Caso Nóos judgment, the 361-page Operación Puerto judgment, the multiple TAS rulings, the Operación Galgo documents, the USADA investigation into Lance Armstrong, plus the newspaper reports described on p. 21 and in the 15 pages of endnotes. I obtained the complete Puerto documentation from other sources. Reading and digesting what turned out to be many thousands of pages of legal Spanish and Italian took a bit more effort, as did getting permission to speak to the Carabinieri officer who investigated Valverde, and whose work brought down Alejandro and, ultimately, Lance too, as published for the first time in the book. To explain how Valverde's astonishing win rate was used by highly questionable sponsors, political groupings, members of the royal family, even religious organisations, to distract public attention from their nefarious conduct, it was absolutely necessary to explore various "rabbit holes and tangents." I don't know how else you could explore the hair-raising degree of the corruption at Banesto, Kelme (and related sponsors), Illes Balears, and Movistar, which has never been documented in a single book, and much of it never in English in any form, short or long. In the past road.cc has published critical but generally positive comments on my work. Have a look at them and you'll see that thorough and uncompromising research is central to all my books. Then ask yourself how realistic this so-called "review" of The Green Bullet is likely to be. Given the months of painstaking work embodied in The Green Bullet, I'm obviously very disappointed that you have persuaded @Natrix, in the Comments above, that "Matt Rendell seems to have used wikipedia to get most of his information." Setting aside the potential damage this does to my employability and standing with publishers, broadcasters and the reading public, I'm curious to know why you would do this to a fellow cycling writer who prides himself, rightly or wrongly, on doing the best and most thorough job he possibly can. Last thing. I don't much like reading or viewing my own work, but a few weeks ago, before a talk, I re-read The Green Bullet. It has never done well commercially (I wonder why?) but I felt–and feel–very proud to have written it. I stand by the book and I'm very happy to be judged on its merits and its failings, provided the criticism is done in good faith.

@jackcycles mind you, perhaps points could be added to their cycling licenses? And you'd think insurance companies * would increase their cycling insurance premiums? An administrative penalty might improve *compliance* - especially if it could be applied immediately after the offence. But I think they should trial that to see if it actually does. For ease of testing they could try this on motorists first (because number plates, that'll have 'em bang to rights). Monitor numbers speeding / going through red/amber lights in an area before and after bringing in fines, say. I dunno how much it would help with road safety though. Then again that's far more to do with removing incentives or even opportunity to behave dangerously, and making the desired safe behaviours "natural". * Currently I pay for membership of Cycling UK, which also gives me liability insurance; I think British Cycling membership does similar.

I saw "Cadel Evans - Lungs on legs" at the weekend. It was excellent! https://riversidestudios.co.uk/whats-on/ld-cadel-lungs-on-legs/ There was an article about it on Road.cc a while back https://road.cc/content/feature/cadel-evans-actor-cycling-full-gas-stage-315891

@jackcycles two-tier justice you say? Quite, that would never happen with driving - they throw the book * at you if you break the law then. You certainly wouldn't just be given "points" and a second chance, or allowed to do a course rather than paying a fine! * The Beano?

@Fursty Ferret "... if I came across a car driving on a bike path..." or "... if I came across someone driving on a bike path..." http://rc-rg.com

@jackcycles Sorry you didn't see it. We covered this story twice on our live blog on Wednesday and Thursday, and the original announcement back in January: https://road.cc/content/news/safety-film-option-cyclists-who-run-red-lights-317487