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"I missed the start of a wedding... because of LTNs"; "I was struggling": Peter Sagan reflects on first WorldTour win in 13 months; Timmy Mallett hammers the Highlands; You can't carry that by bike! + more on the live blog

Happy Wednesday, folks! A very sunburnt Dan Alexander (yes, he forgot to put cream on his back...) is back on live blog duty today, soothing his pain with aftersun and cycling content...
15 June 2022, 15:38
Mads Pedersen wins aboard the new Trek Madone

Three men's pro bike races finishing simulatenously...some afternoon to be a cycling fan...

The last of the three is the most significant (in our book) thanks to Trek-Segafredo's Mads Pedersen getting his arms aloft aboard the brand new, recently spotted, Trek Madone. Oh, we did a video on that if you missed it last week...

 Elsewhere in the racing world, Daryl Impey rolled back the years to beat former teammate Michael Matthews on stage four of Tour de Suisse, while Tadej Pogačar returned to action at his home race — Tour of Slovenia.

It wasn't he who won today's opening stage however...instead, teammate and likely soon-to-be key Tour de France domestique Rafał Majka took that honour.

Most importantly of all though...Ryan's old training buddy Matty Teggart won the first stage of the Rás over in Ireland. One, two, three...no, four bike races...to keep an eye on today...

15 June 2022, 14:42
How's the bike industry looking?
Merida Scultura V Team 9 RCCR

Tech editor Mat is currently in the process of putting together a state of the industry piece to give you an in-depth overview of the bike industry. In the meantime, Merida UK's boss has made some interesting comments on the subject.

Talking to Cycling Industry News, Chris Carter noted: "The market appears to have plenty of what it doesn't need right now and not enough of what it does need. For example, there is stock of entry-level MTB and hybrid, but not enough carbon road and e-bikes."

And on outside investment?

"In my view, the jury is out. One of the advantages or disadvantages of having been around for a while is a lot of experience and a hefty dose of cynicism.

"Ribble are consumer direct, with venture capital backing; they have lost £10m in the last three filing on companies house, with the business supported by significant loans.

"The cycle market is seen as this amazing opportunity due to the Covid boom, with extrapolations of the exceptional demand and lofty ambitions, but the reality has always been the cycle industry is a low margin industry."

15 June 2022, 14:41
Cyclist gets knocked off bike by leopard in India
15 June 2022, 13:19
While we're on the subject of Jumbo-Visma mechanics

There's a career in events planning if the cycling mechanic-ing doesn't work out... 

15 June 2022, 13:01
Better than Love Island...

What other cycling-related reality TV competitions would you like to see? Britain's best drivetrain cleaner? 10 minutes, 10 filthy drivetrains, which will be cleanest? Not feeling it? Fair enough...

The Great British Rice Cake Off? 50g of carbs, but whose riding fuel will be tastiest?

Bunny hop idol? Planet X Factor? Winter Glove Island? Big Ring Brother? 

EDIT: Apparently Ryan blogged this yesterday, so lucky you lot getting to read about it twice. Maybe I'll tell you a funny story about an events planner and LTNs later...

15 June 2022, 12:51
"Maybe he should become an 'Events Planter'.....": Reaction to our main live blog story of the day

It's rare a live blog story is completely controversy-free, uniting the comments section...

Plenty along the same lines as thereverent, who said: "For a Wedding Planner, they seem to lack some planing ability."

Although it's The _Kaner winning comment of the day..."Maybe he should become an 'Events Planter'...." Well played....

matt_cycles sought out the locals for some insight: "The comments section about the LTNs article in the Oxford Mail makes for good reading. Seems the signage about LTNs were in place months before they took effect. Like others have said, seems poor planning by the company."

And muhasib was left a bit confused by the whole episode..."Surely weddings can be organised on zoom or MS teams? It seems so 2019 to attend in person an event."

15 June 2022, 12:40
Drum & Bass On The Bike visits Sheffield

Dom Whiting is taking his two-wheeled rave through the streets of Sheffield this Sunday, starting at Tudor Square from 2pm...

15 June 2022, 07:47
"I missed the start of a wedding... because of LTNs"
Southfields LTN in LB Ealing (picture Simon MacMichael)

Here's one that slipped through the net a couple of weeks back but is more than worth a late call-up to the live (two weeks late) blog. Those pesky Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are at it again...*checks notes*... stopping people getting to weddings!?

That's the claim of one events planner in Oxford, who seemingly failed to properly plan his events leading up to the big day, and blames the tardiness on those little wooden planters.

> Low Traffic Neighbourhood 'human bollards' step in following repeated vandalism

Speaking to the Oxford Mail, Chris Jones of Boys and Girls Promotions said they were unaware the LTNs in East Oxford came into effect on the Friday night, so, when he went to pick people up he was faced with... "the perfect storm".

"On the Saturday it took an additional 15 or 20 minutes to pick people up," he told the local news site. "Then it just snowballed with not being able to turn into certain roads, the congestion on Cowley Road, and we were an hour late for a wedding.

"That has never happened in 13 years. So you've already got the stresses and strains of the bride worrying if you're coming, you are trying to set up late, guests are arriving, you know, for somebody's special day, let's say it was not good.

"It breaks my heart to receive a disappointed email from a client but we have apologised to the client, discounted their invoice, reviewed internal procedures, and apologised to our staff ..... we go again!"

He's also going to "have to think about putting our prices up" owing to the increase in travelling time.

"We know Oxford has a major air pollution problem and the town is just not built for the amount of traffic that goes through. But our company has electric minibuses and we like to think we are ahead of the game.

"The LTNs seem short-term. What's needed is a big, grown-up conversation about where we can make a city where everyone drives electric vehicles and that way we can reduce the air pollution. This is just short-term fixes."

15 June 2022, 11:12
"We'll see if the prologue can give me a good present, or if I'll suffer for nothing": Filippo Ganna targeting yellow

TT machine Filippo Ganna sat down with Eurosport's Cycling Show to talk about his Tour de France ambitions, Paris-Roubaix and the possibility of wearing the first yellow jersey of the race in a little over two weeks time.

"We have one of the most powerful teams," Ganna said. "The first big goal is the yellow jersey, we'll see if the prologue can give me a good present, or if I'll suffer for nothing. We hope there isn't a lot of strong wind and my legs spin well."

"It's my first Tour. Everyone says it's fantastic. We'll see..."

Over in Switzerland, Ineos Grenadiers' big hitters: Adam Yates, Dani Martínez, Tom Pidcock, Geraint Thomas, Dylan Van Baarle, Omar Fraile and Luke Rowe are sharpening their tools and racing for selection for the Tour.

Steve Cummings is in the car, DS for the race, and had some eye-catching things to say in his new book about how he believes he was used as an 'extreme diet guinea pig' by Team Sky to trial Wiggo's weight loss programme for the 2012 Tour.

15 June 2022, 11:01
Skarper: Sir Chris Hoy-backed e-bike motor provides power via the rear disc brake
Chris Hoy and Skarper

Sir Chris Hoy is backing a new clip-on e-bike drive system where power is applied via the rear disc brake. Skarper's designers say it means a bike can be turned into an e-bike and back again in a matter of seconds.

Check out the full story on our sister site eBikeTips...

15 June 2022, 10:38
Metro Bank doing things right

You'd be pretty unlucky to have your bike stolen from within a bank. There's a joke in there somewhere, someone more comically able can work it out for me in the comments...

I'm just here for a high street branch welcoming cyclists...I mean you could probably simply wheel your bike in regardless (although maybe I shouldn't assume that), but having somewhere to stand it up is a nice touch... 

15 June 2022, 10:13
You can't carry that by bike!
15 June 2022, 09:57
Timmy Mallett hammers the Highlands

Timmy Mallett's UK tour is back on the road following a Jubilee Pageant hiatus (don't worry, he didn't have to wear one of those silly polo hats Sir Chris Hoy was scared of).

Timmy Mallett Strava

It may be burn your back hot down south, but up in the Highlands it's raining (obviously)...

"It's been seven consecutive days of rain and the forecast is...more of the same," Mallett wrote on Strava. "At home, Mrs Mallett is watering the garden!"

Here's yesterday's ride...

"I rode up the glen with the dark threatening mountains closing in and looking ominous. It's a lonely ride on the single track with these sheer dark cliffs bearing down on me," he wrote.

"All along the way the clouds got darker and moodier and seemed to reach closer.
It's as if the weather Gods live here scheming up different conditions and throwing them down.

"Then I glance across the valley and shafts of sunlight seem to lighten the clouds and laugh at me. It's a spectacular ride and once over not getting the classic Highland view I start to enjoy the way the weather changes that I see all the time."

On Monday, Mallett climbed the famous Bealach na Bà...

Timmy Mallett Strava

You can check out that ride here... 

15 June 2022, 08:34
"I was struggling": Peter Sagan reflects on first WorldTour win in 13 months
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Peter Sagan (@petosagan)

 Reflecting on a first WorldTour win since last year's Giro, Peter Sagan admitted he was struggling during his barren run and "wondered what was going on with me".

"It was not easy, the last five months," he said. "It's not easy to return after a long break without racing. I didn't race for three months, before then I was racing, but I was sick. I was struggling and wondered what was going on with me.

"I'm very happy. It feels great. I have to thank my whole team TotalEnergies for their amazing work."

13 months for win No.120. What odds win No.121 only takes a day?

TDS S4

 

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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67 comments

Avatar
ktache | 1 year ago
2 likes

Merida, I realise you know far more about the industry than I do, but with good weather for some of the country, summer about to start (I refuse to accept June 1st as the new start to meteorological summer, I'm talking to you met office) and fuel prices sky high, and not going down anytime soon, then entry level mountain bikes and hybrids make perfect shortish distance commuter machines.

I know that road bikes and tourers are the thing around here, but what you have a surplus of are great for crap cycle routes, the ncn, towpaths and shit roads.

Avatar
IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
2 likes

TBH what is even more impressive than being knocked off by a leopard is that there was webcam footage of it.

The modern world amazes me at times.

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mdavidford replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
9 likes

It's a leopard - surely no surprise that it was spotted?

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IanMSpencer replied to mdavidford | 1 year ago
2 likes

No change there then.

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chrisonabike replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
2 likes

Leopard - impressive it managed to run down a breakaway but fortunately then got quickly dropped.

Police still refused to take action though because there was only one camera...

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Sriracha replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
7 likes

I enjoyed the comment by some wag on twitter to the effect that we in the UK are just as likely to be knocked off our bike, just Jaguars instead of leopards.

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
8 likes

Good to see Metro bank getting it right; I only wish the new Lidl in Lydney had the same.

The plans showed the cycle parking clearly, near the entrance and overlooked, but, of course, the reality is that they are as far from the entrance as possible and not overlooked.  I wouldn't leave a bike worth more than 50p there, let alone my RadWagon.  I contacted my councillor who says he's had words but it is unlikely that anything will happen, despite the fact he provided me with wording from the planning approval which says that the cycle parking must follow the plans.  I've got back to him suggesting rather more robust action than collective shoulder shrugging.

I also looked up Lidl's environmental transport policies, and I'm sure nobody here will be the slightest bit surprised to find it majors in electric cars, but fails to mention cycling or walking.  I've written to them expressing my disappointment at the cycle parking in Lydney and their failure to even mention active travel.

Honestly, if we can't even get something as simple as cycle parking right, maybe the human race deserves extinction.

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AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
13 likes

Re: Bike Bank. Should be safe.
My Mrs stopped a robbery in a bank, not robbing the bank but mugging someone in the queue for their takings. Of the 4 other people in the queue, one ran out the door and the other chaps stood around. She pushed both "muggers" off the guy and stood in between them and the victim. Then when they ran out the door, she held it shut even when they tried to come back in as she had forced one of them to drop the phone. Only then did the others help to keep the door shut. Dropped phone meant two of the three were caught. Her and the victim were the only ones who were also willing to give evidence in court as well.

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brooksby replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
3 likes

Does your missus wear a cape?

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Carior replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
3 likes

Not all heroes wear capes...

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
5 likes

More like Hulk Smash when she was in action. 

This was several years after she lost the use of one finger when someone threatened her with a knife when attempting to rob her shop. She sprayed the guy with fly spray and grabbed the hand with the knife in it but he pulled away. She realised her hand was sliced when she was on the phone with the Police after he had run away. 

 

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brooksby replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
0 likes

laugh

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chrisonabike replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
2 likes

Chapeau!

I do picture your home life being a bit like "not now Cato!" though.

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cyclefaster | 1 year ago
8 likes

Am I the only one that is getting a bit fed up with the car driver vs cyclist narrative constantly being pushed?  If anything the constant articles and clickbait titles is doing more harm than good and just created more of an us vs them mentality. 

We're all road users trying to get somewhere safely and it's going to take a long time to get the infrastructure in place to support and change people's attitudes towards cycling.  While I've always considered myself a safe driver, it wasn't until I took up cycling that I realised how unsafe it can feel for a cyclist. That made me more aware and a much better driver when I see cyclists on the road. I can't help but think getting more people cycling will let them have the same experiences and make them better drivers and more frequent cyclists. 

 

 

Avatar
Adam Sutton replied to cyclefaster | 1 year ago
2 likes

100% this.

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mdavidford replied to cyclefaster | 1 year ago
17 likes

cyclefaster wrote:

Am I the only one that is getting a bit fed up with the car driver vs cyclist narrative constantly being pushed?

I am, and I really wish that drivers would stop pushing it.

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armb replied to mdavidford | 1 year ago
2 likes

mdavidford wrote:

cyclefaster wrote:

Am I the only one that is getting a bit fed up with the car driver vs cyclist narrative constantly being pushed?

I am, and I really wish that drivers would stop pushing it.

And it's not really a driver vs cyclist thing, because most adult cyclists can also drive. It's a driver without clue about cycling vs person with clue about cycling thing. Which makes it even more annoying that the clueless people pushing it get so much mainstream media support.

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HoarseMann replied to cyclefaster | 1 year ago
4 likes

Change always upsets someone. Hopefully the tabloids will get bored of stoking their raging readers over LTN's, cycle lanes and sensible updates to the Highway Code.

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chrisonabike replied to HoarseMann | 1 year ago
2 likes

"But they changed the law to hand the roads over to cyclists!"

I don't think it matters much - outside of some internet echo chambers - about what a few cyclists say.  A subset of a minority.  The main narrative from the meeja normally doesn't involve cycling at all.  On the rare occasions it does it tends to reinforce the usual stereotypes. (Not a conspiracy BTW.  That's just what the meeja normally does unless the proprietor / boss has a particular bee in their bonnet).

Is this "pipe down, stop being all 'woke' - everyone has got a normal life to get on with already?"  Maybe "it's bad enough cycling without someone outing me as a 'cyclist' "?  I also would like "cycling" to be a non-issue because mundane.   But sometimes it's notably not, so I'll point that out.  I don't see why we shouldn't ask:

https://robertweetman.wordpress.com/2019/03/19/i-want-my-street-to-be-like-this/

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vthejk replied to cyclefaster | 1 year ago
7 likes

Correct, so far as there is an 'us v them' mentality present, but incorrect in that it's not this cycling website and others like it that are promoting such a mentality.

I'm not sure I'm reading your comment correctly, but if you're telling us all off for being against car drivers, you're singing in the wrong choir. The most of what we do is highlight antagonism directed against us. Sorry but not sorry if the group being targeted and victimised does not make humble peace offerings to the other group.

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TriTaxMan | 1 year ago
8 likes

It's really interesting how the wedding planner gets so animated about being an hour late to their venue because they failed to plan properly.

'Chris Jones, partner in Boys and Girls Promotions, based in Magdalen Road, said: “We have a number of staff who live off Cowley Road and we were not aware the LTNs were being implemented on the Friday night.'

I'm pretty sure that statement is a complete lie.  Or is he seriously expecting people to believe that people who are going to be living in an area directly affected by an LTN wouldn't know when the LTN was due to start to operate?  I find that very difficult to believe.

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muhasib | 1 year ago
4 likes

Surely weddings can be organised on zoom or MS teams? It seems so 2019 to attend in person an event.

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Flâneur | 1 year ago
0 likes

From that Strava, Timmy Mallett didn't climb the Bealach na Ba, just e-biked past the Tornapress end of it.

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MoreCoffeeNeeded replied to Flâneur | 1 year ago
0 likes

Yes, I was just about to point out the same thing.

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vthejk | 1 year ago
15 likes

The wedding planner: "Oxford has too much traffic going through."

Also wedding planner: "We should replace Oxford traffic with electric Oxford traffic."

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Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
20 likes

Marketing 101: when trying to persuade people to employ you to run the most important event of their lives, publicising the fact that you will screw up when faced with predictable and long-advertised changes to the local environment is possibly not the best look.

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The _Kaner | 1 year ago
12 likes

Maybe he should become an "Events Planter"....

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Daveyraveygravey replied to The _Kaner | 1 year ago
1 like

What's the phrase about piss poor planning...?

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Clem Fandango | 1 year ago
23 likes

"We know Oxford has a major air pollution problem and the town is just not built for the amount of traffic that goes through. But our company has electric minibuses and we like to think we are ahead of the game.

"The LTNs seem short-term. What's needed is a big, grown-up conversation about where we can make a city where everyone drives electric vehicles and that way we can reduce the air pollution. This is just short-term fixes."

 

Classic.  Acknowledge air pollution/congestion/climate change issue, sees answer as *buy electric vehicle and carry on as before* - problem solved.  

The usual - I don't want congestion etc BUT  I don't want to be personally inconvenienced as part of the solution thanks very much.

Oh, and I'm sh*t at planning.

 

Avatar
Steve K | 1 year ago
13 likes

What if it hadn't been an LTN, but a road closed due to road or utility works?

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