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"Is a mid-season transfer before the Tour possible? Asking for a friend": Cycling world reacts to Cav's Tour de France omission; Bristol City FC go cycling; National champs round-up; Council's zero deaths target; Tour teams + more on the live blog

It's Tour de France week! Five days to go between you and three weeks of (rest days aside) uninterrupted elite bike racing...Dan Alexander is here for the first of five pre-Tour live blogs (with plenty of other stuff from the cycling world too)...
Mon, Jun 27, 2022 09:12
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SUMMARY

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"Is a mid-season transfer before the Tour possible? Asking for a friend": Cycling world reacts to Cav's Tour de France omission; Bristol City FC go cycling; National champs round-up; Council's zero deaths target; Tour teams + more on the live blogMark Cavendish British national road race championship win (SWPix)
27 June 2022, 16:58
27 June 2022, 15:52
Live pictures from Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl HQ
27 June 2022, 15:38
27 June 2022, 14:55
Hole load of trouble...
Pothole graffiti (supplied by road.cc reader)

Cheers to the reader who spotted this in Burton upon Trent this morning and sent it in...

Not quite on the level of pothole campaigner — 'Wanksy' — who made headlines with his penis paintings in 2015...

27 June 2022, 14:07
The cycling world reacts to Cav missing out on a spot in Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl's Tour de France squad

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl's tweet announcing the Tour squad is under siege from disappointed fans of the Manx Missile in scenes more closely resembling a Premier League football team's social media page than a WorldTour cycling outfit...

Here's some of the reaction...

There are more than 300 replies and 200 quote tweets to Quick-Step's announcement at the time of writing... translation: it's pissed off a lot of people...

What have you been saying?

peted76 said: "Taking 'debutant' Fabio instead of the greatest sprinter ever who happens to be in form. I'm miffed because it leaves me less 'invested' in the tour and the Tour, for me, is all about the side story arcs and less so about who wins it overall, (up until the final week obvs)."

quiff agreed: "I think I got about 10 excitable mins between catching up on Cav's nationals win (yay!), and reading that he's still not going to the tour (boo!)"

captain_slog commented: "I'd love to see Cav at the Tour but can understand the dilemma faced by Patrick Lefevere — he's got to balance risk and reward. Cav wins: massive coverage, particularly in the UK. Jakobsen wins: normal coverage but possibly in territories the sponsor cares about more."

Fabio Jakobsen has hardly put a cleat wrong this year, winning 10 races...but despite being arguably the best sprinter in the world at the minute will line up for his first Tour de France under enormous pressure. Petition for Patrick Lefevere cam to be part of GCN's coverage...

Main image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com

27 June 2022, 13:51
27 June 2022, 13:01
Tour teams: UAE Team Emirates announce Pog's support crew, third Brit confirmed...but it's not Cav

Tour de France

So there we have it, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl have confirmed their Tour de France line-up...the headlines? No Cav OR Julian Alaphilippe. Full story coming on that shortly...

One Brit who will be in Copenhagen is Team Arkéa Samsic's Connor Swift who has made the cut to support Nairo Quintana. Movistar, Trek-Segafredo, Astana-Qazaqstan, B&B Hotels - KTM and UAE Team Emirates have also joined the party since Friday's blog...so let's dive in...

UAE Team Emirates: Tadej Pogačar, George Bennett, Marc Soler, Rafał Majka, Brandon McNulty, Matteo Trentin, Mikkel Bjerg, Vegard Stake Laengen

Team Arkéa Samsic: Nairo Quintana, Warren Barguil, Connor Swift, Maxime Bouet, Amaury Capiot, Hugo Hofstetter, Matis Louvel, Łukasz Owsian

Trek - Segafredo: Mads Pedersen, Jasper Stuyven, Bauke Mollema, Giulio Ciccone, Tony Gallopin, Quinn Simmons, Toms Skujiņš, Alex Kirsch

Astana Qazaqstan: Alexey Lutsenko, Gianni Moscon, Joe Dombrowski, Fabio Felline, Andrey Zeits, Samuele Battistella, Simone Velasco, Dmitriy Gruzdev

Movistar: Enric Mas, Gorka Izagirre, Carlos Verona, Imanol Erviti, Iván García Cortina, Matteo Jorgenson, Nelson Oliveira, Gregor Mühlberger

B&B Hotels - KTM: Pierre Rolland, Alexis Gougeard, Franck Bonnamour, Cyril Barthe, Jérémy Lecroq, Sebastian Schönberger, Cyril Lemoine, Luca Mozzato

27 June 2022, 11:05
POLL: Would you take Cav to the Tour?

QuizMaker

27 June 2022, 10:38
Oxford County Council vows to eliminate road deaths and serious injuries from traffic collisions by 2050
Oxford vigil (Cyclox)

Oxfordshire County Council has set targets of a 25 per cent cut in casualties by 2026, 50 per cent by 2030, and eliminating all road deaths and serious injuries by 2050. A spokesperson said "a commitment to minimising deaths on our roads has been long overdue".

> "One month, two dead cyclists": Oxford's cycling city sign defaced after second death

"Recent tragic incidents on our roads have focused everyone's minds on the vital importance on making our roads and streets safer for all users — especially the most vulnerable," Andrew Gant, cabinet member for highways management told the BBC.

The council will commit an initial £250,000 to improving road infrastructure and comes after three cyclists were killed in the city since the start of 2022. 

27 June 2022, 10:29
27 June 2022, 09:47
How many centre-backs does it take to fix a puncture?

If their gaffer doesn't ride a Pearson I'll be very disappointed... 

27 June 2022, 09:11
National champs round-up: Bora's 1-2-3-4-5; Sagan makes it EIGHT; Mavi's mastery; Slovenia's best cyclist?

So, you were busy all weekend and missed the results from across the world. Don't fear, here's your one-stop live blog shop for national champions...

Here at home, Alice Towers won the women's title, you probably already know who won the men's race...

Alice Towers, British road race championships 2022 (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

Tim Merlier is Belgian champion once again, while there was something of an upset in the women's race as Kim de Baat took her second pro win, ten years after her first. What a time to do it. Over the border bidon-sharing Pascal Eenkhoorn took a popular Dutch title and Riejanne Markus won the women's title.

World champion Elisa Balsamo has a fresh non-team-issue kit for January (assuming she doesn't defend the rainbow bands, that is), winning Italy's Tricolore. Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè rider Filippo Zana took a surprise men's title.

Ineos Grenadiers' Carlos Rodríguez and UAE Team ADQ's Mavi Garcia are Spain's champions, the latter winning the TT champs and road race...for the THIRD YEAR RUNNING...domination.

Bora-Hansgrohe finished first, second, third, fourth and fifth at the men's Austrian race...Felix Grosschartner was the chosen son to cross the line first. What a photo...

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was a popular winner in Denmark and will be lighting up the peloton with her red jersey (and entertaining interviews) for the foreseeable. Trek-Segafredo's Alexander Kamp won the men's race.

In France, Audrey Cordon-Ragot did the double, adding the road race title to her sixth TT championship...Cav's teammate Florian Sénéchal showed his speed to sprint into the men's jersey.

Nils Politt and João Almeida are Germany and Portugal's men's champions respectively, while Kristjan Koren can claim to be Slovenia's best male cyclist (although two lads at the Tour de France might have something to say about that)...

WiV SunGod's Rory Townsend won the Irish men's title. Further afield, Merhawi Kudus won Eritrea's road title, Yukiya Arashiro Japan's, and Teniel Campbell Trinidad and Tobago's women's crown.

Oh, Peter Sagan's Slovakian national champ too...water's wet etc. And breathe...

27 June 2022, 09:03
The man of the moment
27 June 2022, 08:50
Kaitlin Armstrong sold black Jeep Cherokee for $12,000 day before fleeing Texas
Kaitlin Armstrong via US Marshals

Police in Texas say they have found the vehicle belonging to on-the-run murder suspect Kaitlin Armstrong, who is the prime suspect in the investigation into the shooting of gravel cyclist Moriah Wilson.

> "That's why it's so shocking": Colin Strickland says on-the-run murder suspect Kaitlin Armstrong "one of the least volatile people I have ever met"

The black Jeep Cherokee was sold to a dealership on May 13, the day after Armstrong was questioned by Austin Police Department, and the day before she was spotted at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (above). Investigators believe she may have used her sister's name to board a flight out of the state.

An anonymous donor has added $15,000 to the $6,000 reward for information leading to Armstrong's arrest.

27 June 2022, 08:30
Some late additions to the reaction party

A couple more...

27 June 2022, 07:55
"Insanity if Cav not at Tour de France": All the reaction to Mark Cavendish's second national champs win

Moments after winning his second British National Road Race Championship, Mark Cavendish asked the TV cameras: "Can you imagine winning your 35th Tour de France stage in the British champion's jersey? It would be pretty beautiful".

It would indeed...BUT (there's always a but), Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl and Patrick Lefevere have well-documented other ideas about how to win stages at next month's Grand Tour.

To the backdrop of his team boss making it clear Fabio Jakobsen is no.1 sprinter at the Belgian outfit, Cav promised to be ready if he's required...and boy is he ready...

No sitting behind Michael Mørkøv today...Cav was in the breaks, pushing the pace, shutting down attacks, leading from the front...not bad for just a 'sprinter'...

It's fair to say the performance has sparked a few calls for the Manx Missile to make a last-minute appearance in Copenhagen this Friday, not least from retired racer David Millar who called the idea of his former teammate not racing the Tour "absolute insanity".

> Wiggins: "Any other team would be crazy" not to take Cav to the Tour de France

Patrick Lefevere, the people have spoken...

I mean, if the Giro can decide the combativity prize via a Twitter poll, the natural next step is team selection for the most important race of the season.

So what did the main man have to say? 

"I felt incredible. I know I've got better form than last year. I'm going so much better than I was this time last year"...

Main image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com

Dan Alexander

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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39 comments

Avatar
Surreyrider replied to IanMK | 1 year ago
2 likes

I've seen oncoming cars brake to a near halt because some idiot thinks he/she is the only road user that matters. That person should not be allowed anywhere near a car as a driver. 

Avatar
Kapelmuur replied to BalladOfStruth | 1 year ago
7 likes

Happens every ride, not just blind bends but also crests of canal and rail bridges where oncoming traffic can't be seen.

I put it down to riding on quiet rural roads where oncoming traffic isn't expected.   

Avatar
pockstone replied to Kapelmuur | 1 year ago
2 likes

Kapelmuur wrote:

I put it down to riding on quiet rural roads where oncoming traffic isn't expected.   

Because, as we know, there are NO other cars on the road ...EVER!!!

Avatar
IanMSpencer replied to BalladOfStruth | 1 year ago
2 likes

I've just watched most of that and it does seem to have upped the "quality" of appalling driving captured, wrong way through junctions, ignoring give ways, casually colliding with other vehicles and driving off, plus a nice little un-self-aware post of someone speeding through an urban road and being miffed that someone pulled out on them as they attempt to straight line a mini-roundabout.

Avatar
BalladOfStruth replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
1 like

IanMSpencer wrote:

...un-self-aware post of someone speeding through an urban road and being miffed that someone pulled out on them as they attempt to straight line a mini-roundabout.

Yeah, him and the guy who tries to overtake a 20+ cars with only about 60m of visibility and nearly has a head-on with a van coming the other way. The fact that those two actually thought that they were in the right and actually had the gall to submit the clips is quite scary.

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to BalladOfStruth | 1 year ago
1 like

Plus the geezer doing 75 (on the cam so probably over 80 on his speedo) in a downpour. 

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IanMSpencer replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
0 likes

But at least he got his comeuppance without involving anyone else.

Avatar
brooksby replied to BalladOfStruth | 1 year ago
3 likes

Those video clips show some truly appalling driving, but I think what worries me more is how many of them are just ever-so-slightly worse examples of the sort of driving we all see every day.... 

Avatar
IanMSpencer replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
1 like

I take a small crumb of comfort that they show many drivers are appalling and most cycling incidents are a result of this rather than a concerted campaign by motorists to drive cyclists off the road - literally.

They are not even worse examples of what we see - like the lady who overtook us as she thought our sticking our right arms out before a junction was us waving her through, or cars overtaking a group when you know that they can see the oncoming car, they've just got cyclingitis of which the main symptom is MGIF.

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