Ultimate close pass deterrent? Coronavirus Olympic risk; London car-free day returns; NYPD tickets cyclists (again); Niklas Eg and marshal collide at UAE Tour; Miltag launch Carter USM kit + more on the live blog

The Tokyo Olympic Games, due to start on Friday 24 July, may have to be cancelled if the coronavirus outbreak is not contained by the end of May, International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound has warned.

The Canadian, former president of the World Anti-Doping Organisation (WADA) and the longest-serving member of the IOC, having been elected to the body in 1978, told the Associated Press: “It's a big, big, big decision and you just can't take it until you have reliable facts on which to base it.

He said that the IOC is in close discussions with the World Health Organization (WHO) and that while current advice “doesn't call for cancellation or postponement of the Olympics,” the scale of the event meant that putting the event back by a couple of months was not an option.

“You just don't postpone something on the size and scale of the Olympics,” he explained. “There's so many moving parts, so many countries and different seasons, and competitive seasons, and television seasons. You can't just say, we'll do it in October.”

While Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate in the London mayoral elections, has said the city could step in – something Tokyo’s governor dismissed as an electoral stunt – shifting the entire event elsewhere is not an option, nor is spreading the sports around different cities worldwide.

Pound pointed out that there are also huge problems in co-ordinating global TV coverage outside the current two-week window.

Ultimately, he said, it would depend on how successful efforts to contain the virus are within the window beyond which a decision would have to be made.

Referring to the pandemic estimated to have claimed 40-50 million lives between 1918 and 1920, he added: “If it gets to be something like the Spanish Flu, at that level of lethality, then everybody’s got to take their medicine.”

I get asked every so often what the biggest difference is when stepping up to the Pro ranks. When it’s easy it’s very easy and when it’s hard it’s biblical. Uae is an extreme case but this was the first hour today. Hands up if you could’ve kept up 🙌 pic.twitter.com/9QrOj5jF4G

— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) February 25, 2020

"When it’s easy it’s very easy and when it’s hard it’s biblical", explains the 2019 national TT champ - and this data from his TrainingPeaks account shows that most us reading this probably would have been able to keep up with the peloton for the first hour of the UAE Tour today. Dowsett average heart rate was just 87bpm and his power was just 92 watts, averaging a speed of 34.3km/h. 

The charity, launched in 2013, provide refurbished second-hand bikes to refugees and asylum seekers, and have now been rewarded for their good work by being appointed the official Charity of the Year for the 2020 edition of RideLondon. To date The Bike Project has provided over 6,000 bikes to refugees living in London and Birmingham; but with a waiting list of over 800 people in need of a bike, they say riding in support of the charity at RideLondon will help to get everyone a bike who needs one.   

You can find out more about The Bike Project here and register your interest to support them at RideLondon here. 

If you like cycling and bizarrely-named Madchester* bands, this new Miltag collection could be for you. Consisting of a jersey (£80), bib shorts (£100), cap (£20) and snood (£20) the kit pays homage to the indie punk heroes, who reached the height of their fame some time around 1989 with their landlord-hating hit Sheriff Fatman. 

You can shop the kit here. 

*Edit: Not actually Madchester as pointed out by EddyBerckx in the comments, they're from London and didn't really fit into any genre really. Singer Jim 'Jim Bob' Morrison also formed another band called Abdoujaparov in 1998 named after Uzbeki cyclist Djamolidine Abdoujaparov. Sorry for being rubbish folks!

We've just received a statement confirming the news, with HSBC's UK Chief Executive commenting: “We are extremely proud of what our partnership has delivered over the last three years and excited about what it can achieve this year. When we set off on this journey together we wanted to get two million people cycling regularly and we’re on track to smash through that this year.

“2020 will be an exciting year for the sport, with Britain willing on our athletes to medals in Tokyo. It’s been a privilege to be involved in building the grassroots of a sport with such a fantastic future.”

Full story to follow. 

Delete your account.

— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) February 25, 2020

This will obviously pose a major challenge and it will be gutting if valuable frontline work is cut as a result of this.

Weak leadership in dealing with historical and present-day issues could have cost the sport millions 😔

Thanks to HSBC for the support they provided! https://t.co/JhqVZ0WEgX

— Callum Skinner (@CallumSkinner) February 25, 2020

Callum Skinner says it will pose "a major challenge" if true, with the BBC's Dan Roan claiming that HSBC will exercise a break clause in the contract just three years into an eight year deal. 

We've contacted British Cycling to confirm the news, and a full story will follow. 

A Bristol cyclist has thanked his e-bike for helping him to get away from an armed and organised motorbike gang, who appeared to be targeting expensive bikes along the Avon Gorge cycle trail. 

The man told the Bristol Post that he was riding his e-mountain bike along the River Avon Path at lunchtime on Saturday, when he noticed he was been followed by a man riding a pushbike and talking on his phone. He got spooked when he realised he was been followed and detoured, but as he rode up the steep trail he heard a motorbike racing towards him with three white males sat on top of it, all wearing dark clothing. 

He said: “I quickly turned around and rode downhill just before they got off their bike. They tried to grab me and had some tools in their hands but I didn’t wait long enough to find out.

“When I rode downhill towards the river path, the guy who followed me was waiting at the bottom." 

He said that if he wasn't on an e-bike, he doubt he'd have been able to accelerate away from the motorbike quick enough to escape: “I was riding an e-bike and think that saved me. I would have no chance to outrun the motorbike on the river path on a push bike." 

The man reported the incident to the police, and the story has now been shared across social media to warn other cyclists in the area. 

Germany’s National Cycling Plan has resulted in a 12% increase in bike trips, a 35%+ increase in km’s cycled/day, & 30%+ fewer cyclist fatalities. Their walking-friendly framework proposes 7 targets & 5 strategies to make streets friendlier to pedestrians. https://t.co/vaZFkEsMq8 pic.twitter.com/TWAkAkOkY1

— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) February 24, 2020

The pedestrian-friendly policies to reduce car parking spaces and increase health benefits amongst other targets has also led to an increase in cycling, with a 12% increase in bike trips and fewer fatalities. 

It's all based on Germany's “Avoid, Shift, Improve” approach to planning, which means to shorten trips by designing cities with everything in easy reach and shifting the modes of transports by encouraging cycling and walking, which leads to the improvement.