Safe cycling author calls for “less exaggeration of danger” and says cycling on the road is “very safe” – but cyclists argue “massive cultural change” for drivers is needed instead; Cav: “I don’t watch cycling”; Xmas bike stands + more on the live blog

In ‘news’ (yes, I know, it’s stretching it a bit) that may well shock some cycling fans, but come as no surprise at all to anyone who’s spent time with competitive cyclists, pro or otherwise – it turns out Mark Cavendish doesn’t actually watch that much cycling on the TV.

The retiring Manx Missile revealed that he’s cycling’s version of Ben White (the Arsenal player who isn’t that arsed about football, apparently) as he collected his Lifetime Achievement award at last night’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.

> Mark Cavendish wins “special” BBC Lifetime Achievement award after record-breaking final season

As Chris Hoy, Laura and Jason Kenny, and a very dapper Bradley Wiggins watched on from the stage (and Liverpool centre half Virgil van Dijk appeared in a pre-recorded video… because he’s Dutch?), the 39-year-old delivered, in true Cavendish style, the most world class display of unplanned waffle you’re likely to see this side of Boris Johnson’s book tour.

(And before you accuse me of Cav blasphemy, the former world champion – known for his analytical, rapid-fire recaps of sprint finishes – admitted himself that he was unprepared and waffling on.)

“I’ve always been a sports fan,” Cavendish said, desperate to link his career to SPOTY’s annual shindig, which saw 800m star Keely Hodgkinson nab the top prize.

“And sport has this incredible ability to inspire, whether you want to compete, or do it for fun, or as a family. It doesn’t matter what you do, if you want to keep fit. You can do what you want with sport, especially cycling – that’s what I loved about it.

“But also to watch as a fan. I’m a sports fan, not just… I don’t really watch cycling actually. I watch everything else!”

Well, there goes that Eurosport punditry gig…

Speaking of John Franklin, Cyclecraft, and why “self-confidence” is apparently key to making cycling safe for everyone, cycling writer Peter Flax has taken to BlueSky to share his thoughts on the kind of messages shared by Franklin, who argue that cycling on the roads is safe… as long as you’re assertive, of course.

“If you are chatting with someone who says they’re a big cyclist and they’re arguing against bike lanes... ask them what their favourite bike book is,” LA-based writer, and former editor at Bicycling, Flax posted this week.

“If the answer is ‘Effective Cycling’ (John Forester), ‘Cyclecraft’ (John Franklin), or ‘The Art of Urban Cycling’ (Robert Hurst), then move along.

“Most folks who love those books are middle aged men who like to ride fast. They’ll likely disavow being a vehicular cyclist, but advocate for riders to learn expert skills to assert themselves into urban traffic to be safe – and advocate against efforts to make roads more hospitable to casual riders.

“If I’m honest, I think all three books are interesting. They offer useful information and perspectives that many riders, especially experienced riders, can apply.

“But as far as offering a philosophy or policy prescription that can grow participation and make cities safer, they are complete dogshit.”

So there you have it, the anti-Franklin argument…

During his glittering, victory-laden career, more often than not, when it really mattered, Mark Cavendish was first past the post (alright, I’ll stop now).

So it’s only fitting that the Isle of Man Post Office has celebrated their home hero’s retirement from cycling with a new collection of commemorative stamps, depicting some of the finest moments of the Manx Missile’s career.

The Isle of Man Post Office produced its new eight stamp sheetlet to coincide with Cavendish accepting the BBC Sport Personality of the Year lifetime achievement award, to celebrate the 39-year-old’s “outstanding career” and “incredible achievements”.

This isn’t the first time, of course, that Cavendish has been honoured by a “postal tribute” on his native Isle of Man.

Ahead of the 2012 Tour de France, where the then-Sky sprinter won three stages in the rainbow jersey, the Isle of Man Post Office also released a set of Cav stamps, while a special 50p coin was minted too, bearing the world champion on one side and Queen Elizabeth II on the other.

And if you look closely at this latest collection, you’ll quickly spot that the Isle of Man Post Office hasn’t pushed itself too hard when it comes to providing cycling fans with an up-to-date appraisal of Cavendish’s career, lingering mostly on his achievements between 2006 and 2011 instead.

Of the eight stamps featured in the new collection, six are from the 2012 set, including images of Cav at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and during his T-Mobile days in 2007, while another one – a stylised image of Cavendish in Team GB kit in 2016 – is from the 2021 ‘Great British Olympians’ set. Meanwhile, another stamp depicts the sprinter winning in the green jersey in Paris in 2011.

But at least the sheetlet itself features his record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win from July.

“Sir Mark Cavendish KBE is one of the greatest sport stars of all time, smashing records and setting new standards during his 19-year professional career. It is fitting to mark the retirement of such a legend, and especially so for the Isle of Man Post Office to celebrate a Manx-born great,” Maxine Cannon, the General Manager of Stamps and Coins at the Isle of Man Post Office said in a statement.

“This sheetlet brings together wonderful images of Cav at his competitive best, sprinting to victory and proudly celebrating his success. The island is immensely proud of Mark and everything he has achieved. This was perfectly demonstrated in August when the raceway where he began his career was renamed in his honour and so many members of the Manx community came out to pay tribute to our home-grown legend.

“Isle of Man Post Office has celebrated highlights throughout this remarkable career and is proud to mark Cav’s retirement with this commemorative sheetlet.”

Hardly ‘throughout’ Maxine, but I get your point.

So, if you want a ‘Cav: The Early Years’ stamp collection (or at least, that’s my unofficial title for it), the set is available to order now, and is expected to dispatch in the middle of January.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Lotto Dstny Cycling Team (@lotto.dstny)

It’s a new kit bonanza today, as the soon-to-be Dstny-less Lotto squad unveiled their 2025 threads this afternoon.

And as well as embracing vowels again, Lotto appear to have dipped into full-on nostalgia mode, with a dark red and black look that harkens back to the Belgian squad’s design style from the 1990s and early 2000s (which, to my eyes anyway, was uncharacteristically understated for that particularly garish period in cycling fashion).

In other words, I think it’s very cool.

And, after a turbulent few seasons scrapping for UCI points, I’m sure Lotto will be hoping that the retro vibes conjure up some of the magic of Andrei Tchmil, Peter Van Petegem, Robbie McEwen, and Rik Verbrugghe in 2025…

Our colleagues over at off-road.cc are currently chasing this one up, but it seems that things are looking less than rosy at GT Bicycles, the iconic US mountain bike and BMX brand.

Last night, pro downhill and BMX racer Phil Kmetz claimed on his ‘Skills with Phil’ YouTube channel that GT’s parent company Pon Holdings has decided to “pause” the brand, while letting go of all its employees and sponsored athletes.

“We were just informed that GT is going to be no more – this wasn’t a decision any of us knew about,” Kmetz said in a video.

“Pon are going to sell off the inventory. And then once that inventory is done, they’re going to pause the brand. It’s a bummer.”

However, speaking to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN), GT’s managing director Jason Schiers insisted that, while there will be lay-offs before the end of the year, the brand will continue to sell bikes in 2025 – but will pause any new product launches.

“To ensure a sustainable and successful future, we are implementing a strategic reorientation to align with evolving customer preferences,” the official statement by GT said.

According to the statement, the brand will focus “on core strengths, and refining our strategy to position GT for long-term growth” and “will continue to sell our current range from existing inventory”.

The statement continued: “GT Bicycles remains a brand with strong potential, and this decision has been taken to lay a solid foundation for its next chapter.”

Last year, GT separated from the Cycling Sports Group group to become a standalone Pon Holdings brand, a year after Pon acquired the group, which also includes Cannondale, Schwinn, and Mongoose, from Dorel for £600m.

However, warranty and customer service will be handled by Cycling Sports Group over the next few months, GT said this week.

While selling a range of road bikes over the years – including the one which helped propel André Tchmil to victory at the 2000 Tour of Flanders – the brand in recent years has returned to its off-road roots, an apparently short-lived “renaissance” emphasised by Schiers earlier this year.

We’ll have more on this story when we get it.

The Linthorpe Road cycle lane saga, chapter 780. Or at least it feels that way, three years on…

> Plans to scrap “unpopular” cycle lane unanimously approved by council, as mayor aims to bring “credibility” to active travel initiatives

One of the greatest classics riders of all time, and cycling’s oldest living world road race champion, the Emperor of Herentals Rik Van Looy has died at the age of 90, according to reports in the Belgian press.

Het Nieuwsblad reported this morning that Van Looy, arguably the sport’s dominant figure in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s, passed away from a short illness, days before his 91st birthday.

After an incredibly dominant spell in the amateur ranks, Van Looy turned pro in 1954, going on to amass 161 professional victories (though some sources put that figure as high as 377) during a groundbreaking 15-year career.

Originally known as Rik II, after his namesake and boyhood idol, the double Tour of Flanders winner Rik Van Steenbergen, Van Looy soon eclipsed the feats of his hero, and soon gained the rather more regal nickname ‘the Emperor of Herentals’ (though he was actually born in nearby Grobbendonk).

Van Looy’s autocratic reign at the top of the sport saw him become the first rider (and one of only three in history) to win all five of what are now known as the monuments – Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders (twice), Paris-Roubaix (three times), Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and the Tour of Lombardy – and the first to win all eight of what were then deemed to be the biggest one-day classics (the monuments plus Paris-Brussels, Paris-Tours, and Flèche Wallonne, which he won in 1968 at the age of 34).

A powerful sprinter who could hold his own on the climbs – gaining a rather unfair reputation as a “wheelsucker” – Van Looy also won the world road race championships twice, as well as seven stages at the Tour de France, 18 stages of the Vuelta a España, and 12 Giro d’Italia stages.

A sleek and handsome star of cycling, Van Looy was known to be generous with fans and journalists, but ruled his Faema team with an iron fist, prompting British rider Vin Denson, who spent the 1965 season alongside the Belgian legend, to describe him – at least when it came to his finances – as a “complete bastard”.

As Van Looy’s career faded in the late 1960s, his status as cycling’s greatest one-day rider seemingly secured, his successor – a certain Eddy Merckx – proceeded to smash all the records Van Looy had cultivated over the previous 15 years.

But then again, there’s only one Emperor.

Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad, Merckx – who had his own scare last week after a bike crash – paid tribute to one of Belgium, and cycling’s greatest stars.

“Rik’s passing is very sad,” Merckx said this morning.

“I was aware that things had not been going so well for him recently. He is one of the best Belgian riders ever. He was a great champion and a great opponent. If you had to ride against Rik... it was not against just anyone. His willpower and his will to win are things that will always stay with me.”

> Last minute Christmas gifts for cyclists 2024 — very last minute ideas + lots more for the cyclist in your life