Police give Ukrainian boy new bike – and receive a flood of anti-cycling and racist replies; “Genius” Lotus bike designer Mike Burrows dies; Dumoulin retires; Viviani’s busy day at Euros; Roglič returns for Vuelta; Bottas on gravel + more on the live blog

The photos you find when digging through the archives 😂 a junior @GeraintThomas86 and a high rise stem before aero mattered. pic.twitter.com/FKisuQ6m7C

— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) August 15, 2022

That stem…

Just waiting for @TamauPogi to troll. He’s been quiet since @LeTour Must be tired.

— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) August 15, 2022

Finn's Bronze medal after a such a brutal breakaway where there was so much attacking to leave everyone on their last legs shows how strong the domestic riders are
1. Aaron Gate
2. Daryl Impey
3. Finn Crockett#bikeracing pic.twitter.com/aCCUFBao8F

— British Cycle Sport (@VeloUK) August 7, 2022

Now, that’s how you celebrate a Commonwealth Games medal.

Finn Crockett, the 23-year-old Scot who sprinted to third place behind Aaron Gate and Daryl Impey at last weekend’s Commonwealth Games road race, graduated from the University of Stirling just weeks before the race, so celebrated his surprise result in the way only a true student can – by scrounging as many free pints as he possible could.

“It seemed that having one of these gongs around your neck in Birmingham qualified you for free drinks,” the promising Ribble Weldtite rider told the Daily Record.

“I wasn’t saying no and I do confess to a few days of partying at the closing party and the Scotland team party after that.

“It was a brilliant experience for me and I’m still letting it all sink in. In the sprint, I knew I would stand a chance even though the calibre of the opposition was crazy. Half of the Ineos team were in the field and a lot of major professionals.”

He continued: “Competing in the Games and representing Scotland was living the dream but I’m taking it in my stride. I’m just going to try and build on it. My degree would definitely come in handy if I managed to get a move to a big pro team.

“Anyone in my position would probably be dreaming of the Tour de France so who knows what might happen?”

Hopefully Crockett’s bronze medal can score him more than a few gin and tonics…

Mike Burrows, the legendary frame builder and bike designer famed for the groundbreaking Lotus carbon bike that propelled Chris Boardman to victory at the 1992 Olympic Games, has died, aged 79.

Burrows’ iconic collaboration with Lotus not only helped secure Boardman his individual pursuit gold medal, its low-slung one-piece frame – designed in an era when bikes were still almost entirely built from metal tubes welded together – was a revelation, and influenced a whole host of imitators in the 1990s.

In the mid-nineties, Burrows once again revolutionised the world of frame design with his Total Compact Road (TCR) for Giant, with its sloping top tube inspired by the mountain bike world, and which paved the way for all modern road bikes.

Boardman has paid tribute to the man he described as “the godfather of modern bicycle design”:

Very sad to hear Mike Burrows, the designer of the Lotus bike, passed away today. He was the godfather of modern bicycle design and my life would not have been the same without his influence.

— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) August 15, 2022

 Others, such as TT specialist and writer Michael Hutchinson and transport journalist Carlton Reid have shared their own stories:

Sorry to hear this. Mike was a very original thinker, full of ideas, and always happy to talk about bike design and innovation. In fact it was usually difficult to stop him! He'll be badly missed. https://t.co/u6HtyrqshH

— Michael Hutchinson (@Doctor_Hutch) August 15, 2022

Mike Burrows would call me every month, and always on the landline. That was the only reason I kept the landline. I’ll miss our chats.

— Carlton Reid (@carltonreid) August 15, 2022

Sad to hear that Mike Burrows, designer of the Lotus 108 and Giant's TCR compact frame among many other things, has passed away. One of my best memories of writing 'The Race Against Time' was interviewing him at his Aladdin's Cave workshop in Norfolk.

— Edward Pickering (@EdwardPickering) August 15, 2022

Patrick con Rad Patrick sin Rad pic.twitter.com/iHDCNYVNkQ

— Hugo Stoffretter (@ulle_war_sauber) August 14, 2022

A heart-warming piece of news here, on how bikes can inspire children and help foster community spirit – until, that is, you read the comments on Facebook…

Last week, police in Ribble Valley, Lancashire, shared a post on social media about the work done by the Longridge Neighbourhood Policing Team, who have secured funding to promote sustainable transport in the area.

Using that funding, the team were able to donate a bike to ten-year-old Nikita, a refugee from war-torn Kharkiv, Ukraine, who is now living in Longridge.

“Nikita has already had lots of use of his new bicycle due to this lovely weather, and is very grateful for the opportunity to integrate with other children in the area who already have bicycles of their own,” Ribble Valley Police posted on Facebook.

While many users flocked to the post to applaud the police’s initiative, which one commenter praised for “bringing some joy” during a traumatic period, the more unsavoury elements of British society (rather predictably) reared their unfortunate heads in the comments.

For some reason, a number of Facebook users saw fit to use Nikita’s new bike as an opportunity to bash cyclists and fill out their anti-cycling bingo cards.

Helmets, oddly enough, were a continuous source of discussion in the comments (presumably because anyone who rides a bike must be pictured with their helmet on at all times?).

“Hope they are getting supplied with helmets at the same time,” wrote ‘Lauren Lauren’ (maybe just a massive fan of Arsenal's early noughties-era right back?), while Carol typed: “Well done. I hope he has a cycle helmet too.”

Alfie concurred: “Great to see but where is his helmet?”

“Wow, can't believe the police are letting a child ride a bike without a helmet, so irresponsible, shame on them!” wrote another, and Doug demanded that the child “absolutely should be wearing a helmet”.

After countless helmet-related comments, Ribble Valley Police replied that “the helmet was put to one side for the photograph, but the bicycles are distributed with one.”

> Eight-year-old cyclist rides round Richmond Park to raise thousands of pounds for Ukraine

Simon also decided to steer the conversation away from helmets, and onto hi-viz clothing: “Just a suggestion to Ribble Valley Police... It might be a better idea to use some of that fund to buy and give out HI VIZ tops to some of the silly cyclists, old enough to know better, riding around in black/generally dark clothing who are almost asking to be run into.”

As well as Simon's completely necessary anti-cycling remark (and more than a few sexist jibes aimed by others at the police officer in the photo), Longridge police’s good deed also attracted the ire of the country’s grammar-challenged racists.

“How about giving depraved kids that are British born a bike and a helmet I feel 4 the kid in the Ukraine but charity begins at home,” John wrote, in between spelling lessons.

“Looks deprived in his £80 plus PSG kit. Then gets a free bike too,” raged another commenter, while another claimed that the bike donation proved “the country is a shambles”.

“There isn’t any English children that are looking for their first bike then? This kid doesn’t look like he’s under privileged? More woke signalling by the police makes me so angry!” exclaimed Rob Green (presumably not the former England international goalkeeper, who I once saw in a pub in Manchester…).

Fortunately, not everyone was frothing with gammon-soaked anger at Nikita’s new bike, with many instead praising the initiative for what it is – helping a young lad in a traumatic situation, by giving him the best thing you can give a child, a bike.

There was plenty of news on road.cc over the final – final! – scorching hot weekend before the sweet, blessed water begins to fall from the sky (the accuracy of this statement may depend on where you’re currently situated)…

First, we had a long-awaited update to the now infamous Near Miss of the Day 806 (you know, the one with the dog), as North Yorkshire Police has finally admitted that the force’s initial decision not to act on the staggering footage was “wrong” and that an investigation into the incident is now “required”. As someone said on Twitter, it only took some national outrage for them to act, but fair play anyway.

In more ‘killer motorists getting laughably lenient sentences’ news, a speeding lorry driver was sentenced to seven months in prison and banned from driving for a whole 27 months after killing a 71-year-old great-grandfather who was out riding his bike. According to the judge, the motorist, who had previous convictions for careless driving, “just didn’t see him”.

In Edinburgh, a 75-year-old cyclist was angry with the city’s council after they appeared to dismiss his complaint about a particularly dangerous pothole, which he says poses a concern for schoolchildren on their bikes.

And we all finally know what Roy Keane is doing when the absolute shambles that is the current Manchester United side concedes yet another goal away to Brentford… No, not foaming at the mouth uncontrollably like the cartoon character he’s morphed into in recent years, but out on his bike, away from all the manufactured stress and aggro of the Premier League (looking at you, Tuchel and Conte).

Though the Irish legend is at pains to point out he’s “not Sean Kelly”, remember.

No, Sean is a much better pundit, after all…

On Sunday, live blog favourite CyclingMikey made the headlines again, after a hilariously posh, and ever so slightly unhinged, “ex-military” convertible driver took umbrage at Van Erp pointing out his blatant illegal texting behind the wheel.

I’m not sure he was “following the correct protocols” at all, but it did lead some Twitterer to compare our heroic, kerb-hitting friend to a “posh Ronnie Pickering”, which made my day.

Camden Council also said that new protected cycle lanes on Haverstock Hill will benefit both businesses and cyclists, after some local traders (predictably) complained, while over in Italy, a plucky amateur has been accused of motor doping after storming to victory at the Maratona dles Dolomites gran fondo, and doing some dodgy handlebar twitching on the way…

Finally, rugby union pro Ed Slater and author Davy Zyw, who both suffer from motor neurone disease, completed two epic rides to raise awareness and money for MND charities. Fair play, fellas.

So @eliaviviani had himself A DAY at the Euros 🤩

Seventh place in the road race this morning. Then in the evening… Gold on the track in the Elimination 👏🤯 #EuroTrack22 🥇 pic.twitter.com/26hO3sG9xy

— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) August 14, 2022

The next time you wake up on a Sunday morning, your legs sore from the previous day’s heavy mileage, and think, ‘I can miss today’s group ride, it’ll be fine’, just take a deep breath and whisper to yourself: WWVD (What Would Viviani Do?).

Because Elia Viviani scoffs at the need for rest and recovery.

It’s safe to say that the 33-year-old Italian made the most of his busy schedule at the European Championships yesterday.

Between 10.30am and 3.00pm, the Ineos Grenadiers rider was representing his country in the 208km-long Euros road race, where he finished a very respectable seventh in the bunch sprint behind Dutch winner Fabio Jakobsen (wearing a sacrilegiously light orange skinsuit). In true Italian-team-at-a-major-championships fashion, Italy’s other designated sprinter, Alberto Dainese, was four places behind his team-mate in eleventh.

Sapevamo che per provare a vincere bisognava fare tutto perfetto, ci abbiamo provato, come sempre! Il 7 posto poi è quello che le mie gambe potevano fare, niente di più. Grazie ragazzi e grazie Italia @Federciclismo pic.twitter.com/C4s0vTmILL

— Elia Viviani (@eliaviviani) August 14, 2022

After the road race, Viviani tweeted that seventh was all “my legs could do, nothing more”. Turns out he was fibbing…

In the five hours following the conclusion of the over four and a half hours-long road race, Viviani had grabbed a bite to eat, put his feet up with a good book (I imagine), and then, by 8pm, donned the rainbow bands of world champion and took to the Munich boards for the Elimination Race… which he duly won, seeing off Germany’s Theo Reinhardt with a blistering acceleration.

Who else but Elia Viviani!? 🥇

The Italian eases to gold in the men's Elimination race 🇮🇹@eliaviviani | #Munich2022 pic.twitter.com/zPrEhQZ75b

— Eurosport (@eurosport) August 14, 2022

Easy, eh?

Irish rider Sam Bennett, who finished fifth in the road race (so knew just how much it took out of the Italian) was one of the many in awe at Viviani’s powers of recovery:

This is insane!💪🏻🔥 https://t.co/xiA2iycyXk

— Sam Bennett (@Sammmy_Be) August 14, 2022

Just finding out about Elia Viviani’s reasonably tiring day yesterday and my mind is 🤯- what an amazing achievement!

— Ned 🚲 Boulting (@nedboulting) August 15, 2022

Chris Boardman at the start: “I can’t see Viviani lasting long”. 😂

— L (@LessL57) August 14, 2022

So, when you’re next staring at the turbo trainer, contemplating whether you need that extra day of training, just say to yourself: ‘What would Viviani do?’

I’m sure there’s a market for half-rainbow stripes, half-Tricolore wristbands somewhere…