“Putting cycling behind a paywall isn’t how to grow the sport”: Fans react to “awful, disgraceful” news of ITV losing Tour de France broadcast rights, Does Pogačar lack morals for signing bumper new contract with UAE Team Emirates? + more on the live blog

“At my age, this sort of thing takes much longer to heal,” the former Top Gear presenter said after falling off his bike near Hammersmith Bridge...

> James May forced to complete charity cycle in car after “busting wrist” in bike crash – and drives into bollard

Lots of big questions there…

If you missed yesterday’s big pro cycling story, the best male cyclist in the world at the moment, and perhaps ever, Tadej Pogačar extended his contract with UAE Team Emirates until 2030 — and on commenced the chatter around sportswashing.

Sportswashing, if you didn’t know, is a tactic through which corporations, governments and nations use sports to improve the public perception of the entity, and cleanse any tarnished reputation they might have accumulated.

And if you’ve followed cycling in recent years at all, there’s no lack of sportswashing — from petrochemical conglomerates such as TotalEnergies and Ineos sponsoring and owning teams, to entire nation states like Israel and UAE having their names on their respective teams.

So with the world’s biggest cycling superstar who’s just had one of the greatest seasons in cycling history choosing to stay with the same team (for an alleged €8 million a year, up by €2 million from his current contract), cycling fans were quick to raise eyebrows.

> Is cycling's 'sportswashing' debate too big to ignore? World Championships protest shines spotlight on less-than-green sponsors

Emma Bianchi asked: “Genuine question: why? With his profile, he could probably go to any team he wants. They would all free a chunk of budget to sign him. Why does he stay? Is it only the money?

“Because he’s actively contributing to the sportswashing agenda of a country that has very *questionable* human rights? I wouldn’t be allowed to exist there, so how can I be his fan? Other people might have to take the contract if they have no option, but he has all the options??”

One person pointed out that several riders choose to ride for teams with questionable entities backing and funding the machinery, the most recent example being the Aussie Ben O’Connor, runner-up at the Vuelta a España this year, choosing to leave Decathlon-AG2R Mondiale to join Jayco-AlUla, an Australian team but co-sponsored by the Saudi Arabian city of al-Ula — then, why should Pogačar be crucified for doing the same?

Bianchi responded saying: “If anyone has the options to demand the world, it’s him. I’m specifically annoyed by him because he’s the only one who’s truly free to choose.”

One more person criticised Pogačar saying: “He has already shown he clearly has no morals, so I don’t think it plays a factor in his decision making.”

(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

However, there were once again others who defended his choice, suggesting that he’s been with the team almost all his professional career as well as knowing that they’ve built a big team around him with riders he seemingly has a great camaraderie with, giving him all the right tools to succeed and beat the odds when he’s having a bad day (as preposterous as that sounds currently).

And finally, there was yet another school of thought, which considered the sharp critique reserved for Middle Eastern countries in sportswashing as rather unfair, and called on fans to look inwards, specifically Europe.

> The UAE is investing heavily in cycling — but can we trust that its intentions are genuine?

Cycling fan account going by the name ‘Tratnikuchismo’ wrote: “In my opinion it's highly hypocritical from the Western world to criticise Middle East for sportswashing while not mentioning how we continuously abuse Third World Countries, move our industries there, exploit slave workers and with that support dictatorial regimes without a sense of shame.

“Plus as a part of NATO we consistently invade countries for our interests. In that sense we are in no sense worse than Middle East. If you criticise sportswashing by those countries, please first criticise our own countries and regimes, before standing on the moral high ground and preach about others.

“Yes, Pogačar is sh*t for staying at UAE and supporting a bad regime. At the same time we are also sh*t by not doing anything about abusing third world countries.”

As always, we’d be more than interested to know what you think... Do you think Pogačar should have seen his previous contract out and moved to a new team (if so, which team?), or is he justified in staying loyal to the team which has helped him fulfil all his cycling goals, despite the sportswashing accusations? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!

After seeing its profits slashed last year amid “significantly worse than expected” bike sales, Halfords says its leisure cycling sector has remained a challenge throughout the first half of 2024, following the UK’s “wettest spring since 1986”.

> Halfords says new premium bike range is a hit – but cycling market remains challenging following “UK’s wettest spring since 1986”

It might not be a the most stylishly taken photograph, but my word, if a picture could speak a thousand words…

In the foreground, we have dozens of Lime bikes — the London share bikes that just refuse to go down in popularity (remember that video from All Points East this summer?) — parked on a pavement as pedestrians walk past the white and green mosaic, with one person in the corner engaged in the process of either hiring one and riding away, or unmounting and adding their own brushstroke to the hodge-podge.

In the background, we’ve got another row of the Santander bikes on the edge of the pavement, all neatly docked in their stations — a stark contrast to the chaos imposed by the Lime bikes — all while four lanes of motor traffic, gridlocked into a prison of their making wait to be set free.

Whilst this is frustrating it is also a testament to how popular cycling is and that given the choice people would prefer to cycle. Campaign for better infrastructure and reclaiming some of the vast amount of space occupied by automobiles ( see the 4 lanes behind ) https://t.co/fJuLPAclLM

— Bob From Accounts 🚲 (@BobFromAccounts) October 24, 2024

Now, a lot of people have a lot of opinions about hire bikes, especially Lime bikes which operate on a dockless basis, having designated parking areas where they must be left by those taking them out. For some, it’s the ultimate convenience when it comes to picking their mode of transport, for others, “an eyesore”, “clutter” and “just a blight on our pavements”.

> “We’re an alternative to the selfish customer who wants to leave their bike anywhere and make it somebody else’s problem”: Boris Bikes set for “game-changer” upgrade as Transport for London aims to double e-bike fleet to counter dockless Lime challenge

The image was shared by Sam Bowman, editor of the magazine ‘Works in Progress’ who captioned it: “This is such a pain in the ass. These e-bike companies should be required to lease out car parking spots and make their riders park them in them.”

However, popular cycling account on Twitter ‘Bob from Accounts’ took umbrage at the sentiment and said: “Whilst this is frustrating it is also a testament to how popular cycling is and that given the choice people would prefer to cycle. Campaign for better infrastructure and reclaiming some of the vast amount of space occupied by automobiles (see the 4 lanes behind ).”

And from the outset, it seems that most cyclists tended to agree. Biological scientist and journalist/filmmaker Kate Middleton (no, not that one), replied saying: “We should be converting car parking spaces to e-bike parking in areas like this. Resident’s parking in boroughs like Greenwich is around 30p a day for a tank sized SUV - let’s change some of that public space into e-bike spaces.”

David Burridge said: “It highlights the popularity of the freedom given by non-dockable cycles! Yes, there needs to be better infrastructure, but let’s keep positive: this is a great emerging tech; delivering healthy transport solutions. No to the extreme ‘regulate and ban’ people.”

Another person said: “Dozens of people travelling around a city while emitting almost no CO2 and generating almost no traffic is definitely worth the trade-off.”

However, there were some people who called for organised parking, instead of “dumping” them on the pavement, leading to some interesting replies…

Yep, common sense pic.twitter.com/u7wdwPy4We

— Bob From Accounts 🚲 (@BobFromAccounts) October 24, 2024

And cars ? pic.twitter.com/AfCGxhePuG

— cycleoptic💙💚 (@cycleoptic) October 24, 2024

What makes this situation even more interesting is the apparent battle even Transport for London seems to have picked up with Lime, either catching on to the discontent about the haphazardly-parked bikes or playing it a way to tilt attention towards its own Santander bikes.

Just this Wednesday, TfL announced that it will be upgrading its ‘Boris bikes’ fleet by by doubling its e-bike fleet to 4,000, in a bid to quell the dockless private hire bike challenge of recent years.

TfL’s head of cycle hire David Eddington even said: “What we offer is a safe, well-managed, considerate scheme – a docked scheme. People know where they have to go to get a bike, and where they have to be left.

“We provide an alternative to the more selfish customer who wants to leave their [dockless] bike anywhere and make it somebody else’s problem.”

Order vs chaos, Black and red versus white and green… you know the drill.

What do you make of it? Should there be docks for Lime bikes and if yes, then do you agree if there needs to be reclaiming of some car parking space to make way for them… or does this current system work as it is and should stay the same? Let us know in the comments.

 

 

 

 

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At least we'll always have new rumours about Remco Evenepoel leaving Soudal Quick-Step and joining *insert team name* every three months I guess!