Snood or no snood? Specialized’s aero balaclava divides opinion; “Roads are not for leisure purposes”, says driver; G's gilet; Bahrain Victorious fallout continues; Tadej the Twitter troll; Seven-year-old to ride London to Paris + more on the live blog

Even more than the rainy, treacherous conditions, the online chatter around today’s opening time trial of the Tour de France has been dominated by Specialized’s latest aero development – the, errr… snood.

According to Specialized, the balaclava is designed to smooth airflow around and through the brand’s helmets (including their new 1950s astronaut-style TT5 lid modelled by a few riders in Copenhagen), by flattening the ears, hair and shape of the rider’s head.

Either that, or Peter Sagan and Kasper Asgreen will be breaking into the Danmarks Nationalbank later this evening…

Alexander Vlasov taking snood style tips from Samir Nasri pic.twitter.com/xwCnDiSEj5

— Andy McGrath (@Andymcgra) July 1, 2022

What do you reckon? Would you rock up to a club ten dressed like Samir Nasri in his Arsenal days? Or would you be happy to take the aero hit for the sake of your dignity?

supersurvey

Geraint Thomas forgot to take his Gilet off lmao #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/FuLGGK0mre

— Nairo en maillot vert (@NairoInGreen) July 1, 2022

For all the talk about aero gains, snoods and fancy skinsuits in the run up to the Tour, 2018 winner Geraint Thomas rode today's time trial... with his gilet on.

The Welshman - and all of his Ineos team - failed to notice that Thomas (sporting one of his squad's eye-catching new TT visors) was still dressed for his warm up when he took to the start ramp, with the 36-year-old only realising that he was overdressed once he was under way.

G forgetting to take off his gilet and still turning a 50kph+ TT with what is basically a parachute on is the most Geraint Thomas thing ever #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/DUTWNmWwR0

— Joe Bleasdale 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (@SirBleasdale) July 1, 2022

"The legs were good, it's just a shame about the start of it," he said at the finish. "And that bl-, that blinking gilet.

"Because I zipped it up, it was all nice and snug, I totally forgot I had it on. And nobody spotted it either at the start.

"Ugh, that was cracking me a bit as well. I did think about taking it off, but that would have been a bit dodgy. It's one of them... but the main thing is that the legs were good."

Remarkably, Thomas currently sits in the top 20, only 30 seconds down on surprise leader Yves Lampaert, who - ahem - pulled his socks up to usurp Wout van Aert...

Nightmare for EF Education-EasyPost's Stefan Bissegger, one of the pre-race favourites for today's opening time trial, falling not once but twice in treacherous conditions around Copenhagen...

💥Caída de Stefan Bissegger! 👉El suizo fue al suelo cuando tomaba una curva! 🇫🇷 #TDF #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/HQlsIAFaSD

— NotiCiclismo ▶ #TDF2022 (@Noticiclismo1) July 1, 2022

Bissegger down AGAIN! This course is going to throw up some surprises.#TDF2022 #ITVCycling pic.twitter.com/vLV05FGBd5

— ITV cykling 🇩🇰 (@itvcycling) July 1, 2022

 Ooops.

World champion Elisa Balsamo pipped Marianne Vos to the line in a thrilling sprint finish to stage two of the Giro d’Italia Donne in Tortolì.

The stage win, Balsamo’s first at her home grand tour, is also enough to lift the 24-year-old into the maglia rosa after she finished third in the prologue, six seconds behind winner Kristen Faulkner.

Jumbo-Visma’s Vos, a three-time Giro winner with 30 stages already under her belt at the Italian stage race, looked set to add to her collection, bursting out of the peloton with 250 metres to go.

But after a sensational lead out from Balsamo’s Trek-Segafredo teammate and Paris-Roubaix winner Elisa Longo Borghini, the world champion just managed to overhaul the Dutchwoman right at the line – winning by less than half a wheel – to add a pink jersey to go along with her rainbow one.

A seven-year-old boy is set to emulate the Tour de France peloton by riding to Paris this July, as he takes on the 200 miles between London and the French capital to help a charity that supported him after his father died.

Rupert Brooke, from Leicestershire, has already raised almost £20,000 for the Children’s Bereavement Centre, which helped following the death of his father Tom in a work accident in 2019.

“I was only four and it was difficult for me to understand that I would never see him again, that he was never coming back. Nothing was ever the same again and my life was changed forever,” he says.

Rupert plans to start his ride on 6 July, and the charity reckons he will be among the youngest ever cyclists to take on London to Paris.

The seven-year-old says the 200-mile ride will be a “massive challenge” but “I want to raise money for the Children’s Bereavement Centre so that they can help more people like Mummy and me. 

“Riding my bike reminds me of my short time with my Daddy… Together we can raise the money whilst also making more memories in memory of my Daddy.”

Kate Baxter, CEO of the Children’s Bereavement Centre, told the BBC: “We are absolutely thrilled Rupert has decided to support the Children's Bereavement Centre by taking on this amazing challenge.

“It's an achievement for anyone to cycle 200 miles from London to Paris but for a seven-year-old boy, as far we are aware the youngest known person to cycle this route, to take on this epic journey is incredible.

“Rupert is a real inspiration.”

You can donate to Rupert’s JustGiving page this link.

So, with just over three hours before B&B Hotels-KTM’s Jérémy Lecroq rolls down the start ramp and gets the 2022 edition of the Tour de France underway, it’s time to put your money where your keyboards are.

Who do you think will win today’s 13.2-kilometre time trial around Copenhagen?

As you may have noticed in our Tour preview piece, all of us (even road rookie Suvi!) plumped for Top Ganna to take the honours on his first ever stage of the Grande Boucle.

But you can never rule out Wout van Aert on a time trial of any distance, while Stefan Küng (who put in a brilliant ride throughout the Tour de Suisse but left some of his legs behind for the final TT), Mathieu van der Poel, home hero Mads Pedersen and, of course, the two overall favourites, Pog and Rog, all stand a chance of unseating the machine-like Italian if things go their way.

For those of you planning to sneak in some Tour viewing while at work, remember to be on the ball, as all of those riders mentioned above take to the road in the first 65 minutes of today’s proceedings, with Pogačar, Ganna and Van Aert heading off back to back during a particularly tasty three minute segment just after 4pm.

Over to you…

Super Survey

The Rider Firm, the UK-based e-retailer and owner of Hunt Wheels, Cairn Cycles e-bikes and Privateer mountain bikes, has received a significant investment from Santander which aims to help the company increase sales in the UK and US.

According to bikebiz, the bank’s investment, the exact details of which have not been disclosed, will allow the company to expand their marketing (including professional sponsorship and social media activity) and hire 20 new staff this year at its West Sussex headquarters and US subsidiary in Colorado.

The Rider Firm will also use the funding to research the use of recycled material in its products, as well as attempting to gain B Corp Certification, an industry standard for sustainability and responsible business practice.

“The whole team at The Rider Firm have worked hard to serve riders by developing the best available performance cycling products,” says Peter Marchment, who founded the company alongside his brother Tom in 2013.

“With Santander UK as our funding partner, we are well positioned to grow our direct-to-consumer led business and serve more riders in our core UK and US markets and expand into Europe. We are very grateful for the tremendous support of both Santander UK and Gambit Corporate Finance in this process.”

I know, I know – another day, another story about the ongoing anti-doping investigation swirling around the tight-lipped Bahrain Victorious team (I’ll move on to something else soon, I promise).

After the squad, led by Damiano Caruso, Jack Haig and Matej Mohorič (and also featuring British rider Fred Wright), announced yesterday that nothing had been seized by police in an early morning raid on the team’s hotel in Copenhagen, a pre-Tour press conference in the afternoon was swiftly and abruptly curtailed after Haig, Mohorič and performance manager Vladimir Miholjević refused to answer any questions about the investigation.

Reports then circulated in the French media last night alleging that medical products and electronic devices had been seized during a series of raids on Bahrain Victorious members’ homes on Monday, including those of three riders (one of which was Caruso, the Italian himself has since confirmed), a manager, the osteopath and a team doctor.

According to leparisien.fr, the Marseille public prosecutor’s office – who led the initial investigation after raiding the team’s Pau hotel at last year’s Tour – specified that material had been taken in Italy, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia and Denmark.

The prosecutor’s office stated that the items include “electronic equipment (telephones, computers, hard drives) and medicines whose nature and origin are still unknown. All items seized will be further investigated and analysed.”

Drug raids, medical products seized, press conferences abruptly ended, a lack of transparency, and a Tour build up dominated by the doping question – it’s like it’s 2007 all over again…