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Hill climb champ smashes 'UK's toughest climb' KOM by two minutes; Cargo bike courier rubbishes Bath Conservatives' steep hills claim; €37,000 raised for injured ultracyclist; Supermarket bikepacking; Storey's 15th gold; Rog memes + more on the live blog

Happy Wednesday folks, Dan Alexander is here for your middle of the week live blog dose
25 August 2021, 16:13
How Specialized and Deceuninck-Quick-Step delivered the first Tour of Flanders won on clinchers (with some help from Kasper Asgreen)

Definitely not the takeaway point Specialized wanted us to take from this vid, but anyone else really enjoy watching a pro rider working on their bike in a dingy garage workshop? Maybe it's just me...

25 August 2021, 15:50
Supermarket bikepacking

But do they clip to those little Lidl wheelie baskets? 

25 August 2021, 15:38
Jasper Philipsen withdraws from Vuelta a España with fever symptoms
Jasper Philipsen wins Vuelta stage two 2021 (copyright ASO/Photogomezsport)

Double stage winner Jasper Philipsen has left the Vuelta a España because of some mild fever symptoms. The Belgian sprinter says although "very very disappointed" he understands his team's medical staff urging him to withdraw. The 23-year-old won stage two and stage five before coming third on stage eight. He was second in the points classification, 16 behind Fabio Jakobsen.

25 August 2021, 14:52
€37,000 raised for ultracyclist who suffered broken neck in wild boar crash
Ana Orenz (GoFundMe)

More than €37,000 has been raised for Spanish ultracyclist Ana Orenz who sustained a horrific list of injuries after crashing into a wild boar on a fast descent during the 3,500km Trans Iberica event. Ana collided with the animal and lay unconscious in the road for an hour before coming around and lying unable to move for another hour.

She was eventually found by two other racers who called for medical help. Orenz was transferred to Pamplona Hospital where she is currently being treated for a broken neck and severe facial trauma. Thankfully, although severely bruised, her spinal cord was not severed and she did not suffer any brain damage.

The first-responders said she was lucky to be alive and a traumatologist added that it may be a year before the single mother to daughter Ruby is able to stand by herself. Her facial injuries will also require months of surgical reconstruction.

Orenz set multiple records prior to the incident and is the first woman to triple Everest, won the 24 hour Cyclo Circuit Valencia and is normally the first female finisher at any event she races.

The GoFundMe page is over two thirds of the way to its 50,000 euro target and says: "Of course we dream that Ana will ride again, that she will win another race, but our reality today is that Ana’s goals are to sit up, to walk, to go home and to relearn the basics of life that we take for granted. She faces many months off work and the donations we ask for will go towards her physical therapy and allowing her time to rest and recuperate, to be looked after for once."

25 August 2021, 14:03
Pothole concerns ahead of Women's Tour

The Simac Women's Tour may be happening this week in the Netherlands but here in the UK we've got a Women's World Tour Women's Tour of our own. The stages are mainly in the south east of England, including stage one in Oxfordshire that Dave mentions above. 

25 August 2021, 13:37
Alison Jackson bags debut Women's World Tour win

Liv Racing's Alison Jackson won the opening road stage of the Simac Ladies Tour, the latest Women's World Tour race to hit our TV screens. Canadian Jackson and her breakaway companion Maëlle Grossetête survived to the finish in Hardenberg with the 32-year-old winning the sprint seconds before the peloton surged over the line. Jackson also takes the leader's jersey from yesterday's prologue winner Marianne Vos; the pair are level on time ahead of stage two tomorrow.

25 August 2021, 11:20
Hill climb champ Andrew Feather smashes KOM up 'UK's toughest climb' Bealach na Bà
Andrew Feather Bealach na Bà Strava

British National Hill Climb champion Andrew Feather is on a summer tour of Scotland, smashing KOMs wherever he goes. Last night he took the one climb to rule them all...Bealach na Bà. Often dubbed Britain's toughest climb, the Bealach is 9.32km at 6.7 per cent, but includes 3km at 10 per cent, 1km at 13 per cent and a steepest 600m averaging 19 per cent...Brutal.

It racks up 627m of ascent, pretty good for here in the UK. The aptly named Feather made light work of our most infamous climb, reaching the top in 24:44 at an average speed of 22.6km/h and more than two minutes faster than previous KOM holder Ross Fawcett.

The two-time hill climb champ's power data explains why he can boast that title...432w for the duration of the 24 minute effort.

What's more, once he'd conquered the westbound ascent Feather rolled down the other side and claimed the eastbound KOM too...

Andrew Feather Bealach na Bà Strava

This one was a bit closer...he only took the second KOM by 1:50. Feather summited the eastbound ascent (8.37km at 7.5 per cent) in 24:25, again holding a mind-boggling 406w for the duration of the climb. Check out the Strava activity in all its glory here.

Earlier in the summer we tasked road.cc's Liam with the unenviable challenge of trying to beat Andrew on some of our local climbs in Bath. To level the playing field a touch we gave Liam an e-bike...see how he got on here.

Then in the rematch we went the other way and let Liam ride his normal bike and made poor Andrew slog progressively more horrible machines up Bloomfield Road's 12 per cent slopes...did Liam beat a hill climb champ riding a battered old folder?

25 August 2021, 11:52
Rog is one cool cat
25 August 2021, 10:58
Vuelta a España prepares for silly steep stage finish in Valdepeñas de Jaén

The Vuelta route looks a little lumpy, but a closer look at the finish will tell you just how hard it is going to be for those riding and how enjoyable it will be for us sat on the sofa. The final ramp peaks at 25 per cent and averages 9.2 per cent for 900m...

For context, Mur de Huy is 1.2km at 9.9 per cent. We can't wait.

25 August 2021, 10:48
Idles frontman Joe Talbot cycling from London to Bristol to raise money for a youth mental health charity

The frontman of British rock band Idles is cycling from London to Bristol to raise money for Empire Fighting Chance, a youth mental health charity which uses non-contact boxing to support young people. Talbot and fellow musical artist Willie J Healey are setting off from Banquet Records in London on Friday, the day after a gig in the capital, and aim to reach Friendly Records in Bristol 128 miles later.

Talbot, whose band was nominated for a Brit Award and Mercury Prize in 2019, trains at the gym he's raising money for and said: "It is with huge excitement and honour that Willie and I can start to give back to Empire Fighting Chance and support the work they do.

"I’ve trained in the Empire Fighting Chance gym for a long time and it has been amazing to see how many young people they have helped and supported through boxing - you can really see the impact their work has, giving people a new focus and honestly changing lives. I’m sure this won’t be the last challenge we take on for Empire, but as first tries go it’s definitely ambitious."

Bristol bike manufacturer Temple Cycles has donated bikes for the challenge.

25 August 2021, 10:03
"No risk, no glory": Primož Roglič and the rest of the cycling world reacts to Slovenian's stage ten crash

Primož Roglič did not seem to concerned after the finish of yesterday's stage, telling Sepp Kuss, " it's nothing". The cycling world went into meltdown as the rider, who saw his Tour de France hopes ended because of a crash, fell again on a fast technical descent having attacked up the final climb of stage ten. Some are calling him the new Geraint Thomas, others joked that even when he crashes Roglič still takes time on Ineos...

We shared the screenshot on the live blog yesterday of Tadej Pogačar liking a meme poking fun at his compatriot's fall. Pog loves memes. 

25 August 2021, 09:31
"I have no doubt in my mind. I was close enough": Cornwall cyclist convinced he spotted big cat while mountain biking near Bodmin
Black panther (wikimedia commons/ Bruce McAdam Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)

Nigel Barker from Truro is convinced he spotted a big cat the size of a large lurcher while he was out mountain biking with his kids at Lanhydrock, near Bodmin. The 52-year-old told Cornwall Live they were the first on the trails early in the morning when the large, athletic cat, described as charcoal grey with a 2ft long tail and bushy fur darted across the trail.

Nigel said the animal was a similar size to his lurcher and far too big for a domestic cat. He then saw a deer and believes the cat was hunting the doe when he startled it. "I stopped just to compose myself a little bit," he told Cornwall Live.

"I was a bit of an agnostic," he said. "I have friends on the moor who said they've seen them. I have no doubt in my mind. I was close enough." The Beast of Bodmin?

25 August 2021, 08:51
Dame Sarah Storey wins 15th Paralympic title - her eighth Games where she's won gold

Dame Sarah Storey won her first Paralympic gold at the Barcelona Games in 1992. This morning in Tokyo she won her 15th. Storey smashed her world record by more than four seconds in the C5 3,000m individual pursuit qualifier before comfortably catching fellow Brit Crystal Lane-Wright in the final.

The result means she's now just one gold behind swimmer Mike Kenny's record of 16. A sign of her domination was that the final was over after just 1,750m.

"It's quite overwhelming," Storey told the BBC. "I don't know if it will sink in until I get home. I came here with a really solid plan of what I wanted to do and I've delivered it, so it kind of blows your mind a bit. I talked before about breaking your personal best, in my case a world record, a small margin at a time. And I just knocked 4.3 seconds off."

25 August 2021, 08:01
Cargo bike courier rubbishes Bath Conservatives' claim about delivering up steep hills

If you're going to claim its impossible or impractical to transport your business and supplies by cargo bike in a hilly city like Bath...it's probably not a good idea to dispute the fact with a business that has been doing it for five years. 

Bath Conservatives did exactly that and were all too happy to jump in when a Twitter user suggested businesses should ditch their vans and cycle supplies into the Clean Air Zone to avoid charges. They said the idea showed how some in Bath have "literally no idea" how others live.

Anyway, this is where Three Bags Full cargo bikes stepped in to share an article about a London plumber who does 95 per cent of his business by cargo bike. This went down well...

Nice of Three Bags Full to keep the 'we've been doing it for five years' ace up their sleeve until Bath Conservatives had committed to making themselves look silly... 

Three Bags Full's website says it is 'Cleaner, faster, cheaper - Three Bags Full is Bath’s zero-emissions only mile delivery service' and is on a mission to swap 'the hordes of heavily polluting diesel vans with a fleet of zero-emissions electric cargo bikes'. Amen.

Dan is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. Having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for the Non-League Paper, Dan joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.

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25 comments

Avatar
Awavey | 2 years ago
1 like

Two WWT call outs in the live blog, including the result of an actual stage, wonders will never cease  3

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Richard_pics | 2 years ago
0 likes

Potholes - They are mere minor conveniences compared to the ones around Colchester. Essex Council are simply shocking at repairing anything. Shitshowofashambles...

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brooksby replied to Richard_pics | 2 years ago
0 likes

Imagine the embarrassment to a council, if an international professional cyclist was injured by a dropped drain cover / worn off section of roadway / (fill in a blank here) that had been there for months or even years and never fixed....

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Awavey replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes

Well have they been reported to stand a chance of being fixed ?

Also isnt that how Marianne Vos crashed out of the last edition ?

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
2 likes

About to mention that about Vos in 2019(?). Her colleague hit the bump which then caused her to knock Vos down. 

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Awavey replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

Yes coincidentally enough that stage was held in Oxfordshire too

https://YouTu.be/_hIVOjX9VTc?t=257

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Captain Badger replied to Richard_pics | 2 years ago
0 likes

Richard_pics wrote:

Potholes - They are mere minor conveniences compared to the ones around Colchester. Essex Council are simply shocking at repairing anything. Shitshowofashambles...

Perhaps they could be seen as a feature, like the Paris-Roubaix?

Avatar
mdavidford replied to Richard_pics | 2 years ago
4 likes

Richard_pics wrote:

Potholes - They are mere minor conveniences

Using them for that is just anti-social.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
1 like

mdavidford wrote:

Richard_pics wrote:

Potholes - They are mere minor conveniences

Using them for that is just anti-social.

Potty-holes

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Hirsute replied to Richard_pics | 2 years ago
0 likes

Spent all the money on 2 roundabouts.

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pasley69 replied to Richard_pics | 2 years ago
1 like
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vthejk replied to Richard_pics | 2 years ago
0 likes

Funny that - I just rode the 2019 TOB Stage 7 (I think) intermediate sprint segment down Brinklow in Warks. If the peloton were riding down it in the condition it's in now....

Good job the tour ain't coming anywhere near Warwickshire this time, so the pros can stay safe and we can live with the godawful jittering roads for another year.

Avatar
brooksby | 2 years ago
3 likes

If I have never heard of the Idles does that mean I am now officially Old?

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Hirsute replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
1 like

I've heard of Eric Idle !

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IanMK replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
1 like

Idles have quite a following in the "aging punk" market as well as (lyrically) appealing to "disenfranchised youth". I should be seeing them on the 3rd September in Brockwell Park (Brixton). I'm not divulging which of the two categories I fall into, I'll let you guess smiley

Avatar
Captain Badger | 2 years ago
13 likes

Quote:

Cornwall cyclist convinced he spotted big cat 

The key question here is not whether they exist, but are their rates more reasonable than bears in America?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
10 likes

Captain Badger wrote:

Quote:

Cornwall cyclist convinced he spotted big cat 

The key question here is not whether they exist, but are their rates more reasonable than bears in America?

It's well known that bears shit in the woods, but if I were a big cat (spotted or not), would I puma pants?

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
1 like

hawkinspeter wrote:

 

It's well known that bears shit in the woods, but if I were a big cat (spotted or not), would I puma pants?

Oh very good sir, chapeau!laugh

Avatar
mdavidford replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
9 likes

Captain Badger wrote:

Quote:

Cornwall cyclist convinced he spotted big cat 

The key question here is not whether they exist, but are their rates more reasonable than bears in America?

Nope - prices are lower in a bear market.

Avatar
eburtthebike | 2 years ago
18 likes

Priviliged tories explaining to the masses how they don't understand how they live "...literally no idea...." 

Does anyone know of a good irony meter repairer?

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brooksby replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
13 likes

Isn't it a case of "I couldn't possibly do that, therefore nobody can possibly do that"...?

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Secret_squirrel replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
6 likes

Its literally a case of "I cant imagine ever doing that, so I'll leave to the plebs without bothering to do any fact finding"

You can lead a horse to water etc etc....

Lots of Tory's (other parties too, but the tories are the worst) are a) part of a demographic that desperately wants to live in the past without life changing, as long it it doesnt impact their trough nuzzling or b) willing to fake it to fearmonger to a large chunk of the electorate who either dont like change or are scared by it.

See also a USian Republicans.

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IanMK replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
8 likes

What's the quote; not being able to imagine how things can be done differently is only evidence of lack of imagination. It's not evidence that things can't be done differently. (or something like that).

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AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

I don't know who Katzenjammer is, but he seems to desperately need a boiler for some reason. 

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mdavidford replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
0 likes

Their old one has become dangerous - it's leaking a lot of steam out of their ears.

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