Rim brakes, pints of Guinness, and “F*** the UCI” frame graffiti: How to win the British hill climb championships (and prove rim brakes ain’t dead!); Mathieu van der Poel races rally driver – and wins; Ineos “in bits”, says Wiggins + more on the live blog

It’s been a long, difficult 12 months, but the disc brake reign of terror is finally over (and before anybody jumps into the comments, it’s only a joke, I know it’s not really about the bike, you don’t need brakes for a hill climb… You know the rest).

Because at the annual two-wheeled masochism convention otherwise known as the national hill climb championships, the highlight for many of the British cycling calendar, Harry MacFarlane and Illi Gardner eschewed the tech conventions of the 2020s and secured a much-needed victory for rim brake traditionalists everywhere.

> “A dark day for hill climbing”: Widespread horror as British hill climb championships won for the first time using… disc brakes

On the Dipton Mill Road climb in Northumberland yesterday, all eyes (some of them peering through dinosaur costumes) may have been on reigning four-time national champion Andrew Feather, and his £17,500, disc-fitted SWI superbike.

(Andy Smith)

But it was the on-fire MacFarlane, off the back of five open hill climb wins this autumn, who upgraded his fourth from last year for a maiden national title, beating Feather by just two seconds with a blistering time of 3.09 on the 1.2km, 10 per cent brute.

Oh, and the TAAP Kalas rider did so while wearing sunglasses and mounting a 360 camera on his bike. Marginal weight weenie gains be damned.

And, use of old-school rim brakes aside, it’s fair to say that MacFarlane’s bike – a Cervélo R3 from the previous decade – is eye-catching in its own right:

Quick mate, some bored GCSE student’s been at your bike!

Though, judging by MacFarlane’s design team, that may actually have been the case:

I hear David Lappartient has already launched an investigation into the culprits and their forthright critique of the world governing body.

And, if that wasn’t enough, according to cycling author and rim brake and hill climb enthusiast Simon Warren, the 27-year-old also immediately sunk two pints of Guinness while waiting for his national title-winning effort to be confirmed (and many more afterwards, and a few shots, by the looks of things).

Now, that’s what I call a national champion.

“Genuinely, I didn’t expect to win here. I thought I might get on the podium, so I’m over the moon to win. There have been lots of really strong riders this season who are going really well,” a stunned MacFarlane told Cycling Time Trials after his big win.

“Everybody comes from different areas of the country, and there are lots who you don’t race against until the Nationals, so it’s great to make it a real occasion, and you just never know what can happen.

“The crowds were amazing, lining the course the whole way up. It was a wall of people at the top and I was just in the moment. I could see objects rather than people as I was just in the red, trying to find the line.

“Conditions were OK, but there was a headwind which doesn’t suit me as I’m not the lightest rider so it was hard going.”

To underline the rim brake supremacy in Northumberland yesterday, Queen of the Mountain Illi Gardner secured her third consecutive national hill climb title, beating Lizi Brooke by 12.5 seconds in a repeat of last year’s podium.

“I didn’t feel confident at all after finishing, so I’m very happy to have won,” Cardiff-based Gardner, who tends to prefer the longer climbs of the Alps and Pyrenees, which she attributes to her “overdoing” the first minute on yesterday’s climb.

“I definitely got a bit carried away at the start which made the second half really difficult! The crowds were awesome though, I’m really pleased to win.

“The crowds were incredible in the last few hundred metres – I couldn’t actually see the road or finish line at all. It was definitely a bit overwhelming and I slowed down a little (well that’s my excuse for not having a super strong finish!) but it was a very cool thing to experience.”

(Andy Smith)

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Harrogate rider Harry Hudson won the junior men’s race – again on disc brakes – with a storming time of 3.12, which would have been more than enough to bag the third podium spot behind MacFarlane and Feather in the senior event. Remember the name.

The future is bright, the future is rim brakes… Well, in hill climbing anyway.

0 from 5 bottles for Sam😬

Sam Laidlow🇫🇷 struggles to get his hydration at one of the early aid stations.

👑 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship, Kona - Men
📺 LIVE NOW | https://t.co/Z2x55q9ecc, YT, Outside TV, DAZN, ZDF, L‘Equipe, beIN Sports, iQIYI & more#Kona2024 #IMWC pic.twitter.com/v5yGlnuU1a

— IRONMAN Triathlon (@IRONMANtri) October 26, 2024

Alright, who can beat five consecutive missed bottles?

Though who knows, maybe the bottles were all filled by Victor Campenaerts, and Ironman pro Sam Laidlow was actually outsmarting us all?

> “Intimidating behaviour” sees police called to cycle lane consultation, as council cancels next event to “protect members of staff involved”

With the great and the good of 2010s-era British cycling lining up to give their opinion on the latest crisis engulfing the Ineos Grenadiers this off-season, it was only a matter of time before we heard from Bradley Wiggins, the man synonymous with the now rapidly fading Team Sky glory days.

Speaking to Daniel Benson at the London 3 Day track meet at the weekend, Wiggins – there supporting his son Ben – reflected on his induction into British Cycling’s Hall of Fame, an accolade he described as a “great honour”, despite the often complicated, jiffy bag-related recent history between the 2012 Tour de France winner and the national governing body.

“I probably expected the Hall of Fame selection at some point, but I think the way that it ended with British Cycling and the whole package stuff, and what happened there… what actually happened we’ll never know but it was a bit bitter for a couple of years,” he told Benson.

“I won’t mind admitting that. But the new team that has taken over have been really hospitable and reached out to me a few times. It’s a new generation now. I’m really honoured.”

> “Ineos seem to love a review”: Ineos Grenadiers announce new staff and performance structure changes after turbulent season – but fans say latest overhaul “like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic”

Turning his attention to more recent developments – particularly the Ineos Grenadiers’ worst ever season and the ongoing managements reshuffles taking place – Wiggins admitted it was “sad to see” the steady decline of a team that dominated cycling’s grand tours in the 2010s.

“They’re in bits,” he said. “It seems to have gone that way with a slow decline since Dave Brailsford took his foot off the gas and left. Rod Ellingworth took over for a couple of years, but it peaked when they had all the money in the world and could buy any rider at one point. They were dominating the sport.

“Pidcock and Geraint have done amazing but it’s sad to see in many ways because it was a huge British Empire at one point.

(Will Palmer/SWpix.com)

“It’s fixable, of course it is. It is probably a very similar situation to the one at Manchester United in many ways. It’s a huge club, it’s a huge team, a great history and great riders.

“I do know that Steve Cummings hasn’t been with the team since June. I’ve heard lots of different stories as to why and it’s interesting that someone like Steve got some of the best performances out of the team when Geraint was third at the Tour. But they’ve also landed on a very particular year in cycling when one man was extremely dominant,” he noted, referring to Tadej Pogačar’s era-defining 2024.

“Brailsford had his hand on the whole thing when I was there and with all those characters and personalities, like myself and Chris Froome, he managed it. I couldn’t even tell you who they have now but is it all a sign of how well Dave and everyone ran that team?

“It has been in slow decline and what I’ve found odd is that complete change of philosophy of trying to win Grand Tours. Then it went to racing hard, winning stages, but once you’ve set out trying to win Grand Tours, anything after that is going downhill really.”

> “People around Tom Pidcock don’t help,” says Geraint Thomas, as 2018 Tour de France winner weighs in on “c*** situation” and “bull****” at Ineos after Il Lombardia deselection drama

And with star rider Tom Pidcock’s future still up in the air following the Olympic mountain bike champion’s dramatic last-minute deselection at Il Lombardia, Wiggins says he agrees with Geraint Thomas’ recent suggestion that Pidcock’s entourage could be behind his rift with Ineos.

“I just spoke to a couple of people about it and I read what Geraint Thomas said about it last week. Everyone is just scratching their heads a little bit but I think Geraint summed it up quite well when he said it’s more about the people around Pidcock,” he said.

“It’s a unique situation in cycling, and I don’t think we’ve ever seen that. Especially someone of his quality after what he did in the summer. But I guess his days are numbered at Ineos now. I can’t see how he can come back. I imagine the transfer will be on the horizon.”

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Wout van Aert (@woutvanaert)

Is there any end to Wout van Aert’s abilities?

Well, for anyone who had to sit through his second rendition of Song 2 – after being unveiled as the crime-fighting squirrel on Friday in the Flemish version of the Masked Singer (who’da thunk it, eh?), the answer is simple: Yes, yes there is.

What on earth did I just watch pic.twitter.com/BPQU4WnIYc

— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) October 25, 2024

Fair play, I suppose?