Cycling in the headlines - road.cc's weekend news roundup

Welsh cyclist Geraint Thomas says he would jump at the chance of signing for Sky's new cycling team and British Cycling's performance manager Shane Sutton has revealed he is in the running.

According to a story in Wales on Sunday, the cycling star, who is recovering from a crash in Italy, is the first name on a list of stars being lined up to join the multi-million pound project, aimed at winning the Tour de France.

British Cycling principal Dave Brailsford returned from last weekend’s world track championships in Poland with the Team Sky road team his top priority for the summer.

As well as striking gold in Beijing last summer, Thomas was the youngest rider to complete the Tour de France two years ago, and also completed last year's Tour of Italy.

In the article, Sutton says of Thomas: “He has all the attributes needed to be a competitive rider on the road. It just needs good coaching to get him there.

“Geraint can drag himself over the climbs and is good tactically. He’s also fast against the clock so has the speed to win on his own. So, yes, he would definitely be the first guy on our team sheet."

The Independent picks up on our story about London design duo Amy Fleuriot and Sarah Buck, who have launched a new range of women's cycling accessories in Top Shop. The launch is well-timed to take advantage of the surge in women cycling thanks, in part, to a number of high profile initiatives, including the launch of Sustrans' www.bikebelles.org.uk website. Read about the Cyclodelic range here.

A story in the Observer points towards a further boost in cycling's Olympics and recession-inspired popularity thanks to an increase in traffic-free routes.

The story lists new trails such as the 27-mile Lakeside Way, which runs around Kielder Water, the largest artificial lake in the UK, the final link of which was completed last week.

In Devon, Drake's Trail is a network of walking and cycling trails linking places related to the life of Sir Francis Drake, and Wat's Dyke Way, a 61-mile route along the Welsh-English border, is another new route for cyclists.

Political reporter John Knox has been reporting on Scottish devolution for the past ten years. Now he joins the ranks of long-distance-cyclists-with-a-purpose (a purpose other than simply cycling for fun and enjoyment, that is) by spending April pedalling from Gretna Green to John O'Groats asking people what difference devolution has made to their lives.

Meanwhile a story in the Midlands-based Sunday Mercury says comedian Dave Gorman, who is about to cycle across Britain on a stand-up comedy tour, has been told by his mum not to do it. "She's told me not to do it because I'll kill myself," says the comedian in the article.

It transpires this could be because of a few near misses Gorman has experienced while cycling around London. He says: “Once a very elderly man in a very grand car was so oblivious to me that I had my hands on his bonnet before he spotted me and stopped, though thankfully he was going very slowly."