Transport chief accused of “trolling vulnerable road users” after ironically tweeting photo of “cleared” cycle lane – with car parked in it; Astana sack López over doping links; No more racing jackets for G; Cav retirement rumour + more on the live blog

Here’s another one for our ever-expanding ‘Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lane?’ folder, which, if we’re honest, may require a whole new filing cabinet at this point.

As the snow fell in Edinburgh over the weekend, the city council’s transport convenor, Scott Arthur, tweeted his gratitude that a footpath and cycle lane on the Comiston Road had been cleared.

However, the Labour councillor – whether intentionally or otherwise – failed to note one crucial element of the photo that ensured that the cycle lane wasn’t completely “clear”:

It's great to see the path and cycle lane has been cleared on Comiston Road. 👍 pic.twitter.com/3ZaKEd3T5V

— Cllr Scott Arthur 🌍🌈 (@CllrScottArthur) December 11, 2022

It’s safe to say that a few people were rather confused by Arthur’s tweet:

You may not have noticed this, but there appears to be a rather large obstacle blocking that bike lane, making it unusable. Perhaps look up the definition of "cleared"??

— Kersti - FIGJAM 🇪🇺 (@kersti) December 12, 2022

All I see is a car irresponsibly parked in a cycle lane, which is a common occurrence throughout the city. Why aren’t we banning this and pavement parking? What’s the point of having ‘cycle lanes’ that are really ‘parking bays’ for vehicles?

— Chris Red🇲🇾🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🚲 (@ChrisRedism) December 11, 2022

Where else would car park of the bike lane was still full of snow?

— Bertil Hatt (@bertil_hatt) December 11, 2022

Wee bit astonished that you didn't reflect on the car parked right in the cycle lane.

— Craig Flunkert (@flunkerts) December 11, 2022

But if there are two things that people on the internet find it difficult to grasp, it’s the ability to have a rational debate and sarcasm:

Maybe I was being ironic? 🤔

— Cllr Scott Arthur 🌍🌈 (@CllrScottArthur) December 11, 2022

However, those who did get the joke were perhaps the most scathing of Edinburgh’s transport convenor, pointing out that the motorist wouldn’t have been able to park in the cycle lane if proper segregation was in place:

Are we working on getting protection for the bike path to avoid that situation?

— Kahve (@hammerotass) December 12, 2022

Is this a piss take or do you just not care about the bloody obvious problem in the picture?

— Aaron (@arnoboko) December 12, 2022

I've lost track, but aren't the council bringing forward bollard removal and easement of parking restrictions inside the cycle lane anyway? If only the Transport Convener was on the case. https://t.co/oBl0zDgnEr

— Dave McCraw (@david_mccraw) December 12, 2022

Arthur became transport convenor in May this year, when a minority Labour administration took over Edinburgh City Council following a deal with Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, but said at the time of his appointment that he will stand down from the role when a “more able colleague” becomes available.

Since then, he has vowed to “move on from the war between motorists and cyclists” but has come in for criticism from cyclists who believe he is reversing the council’s plans for active travel infrastructure.

In response to Arthur’s ‘sarcastic tweet’, cycling advocate Dave McCraw tweeted: “Surely it takes a special kind of balls for a city’s transport chief to simultaneously remove bike lane protections and then troll vulnerable road users about drivers doing exactly what the removal of protection is intended to allow, no?”

Your sarcasm does you no favours.
Sort it or resign.
You are rapidly becoming Edinburgh's Disgrace.

— Jon Drummond (@JonGDrummond) December 11, 2022

Last month, the council voted to extend the Spaces for People walking and cycling schemes – which have since been rebranded as Travelling Safely – for a further 18 months.

“By extending the lifespan of these schemes we’ll have the chance to test and trial the measures to see how they’re working as life in the city settles to a new normality following the pandemic,” Arthur said.

“I know the changes have divided opinion but there is no doubt that providing safe spaces to walk, wheel and cycle can significantly benefit the health, wellbeing and pockets of people in the city, not to mention positively impacting the environment by supporting sustainable travel and better connecting people to public transport.”

> "Moronic" much-ridiculed zig-zag cycle lane now blamed as cyclist injured by shallow kerb crash

In September, the transport convenor said that the council was fully behind retaining “the majority at least” of the schemes, but also acknowledged that people who opposed the installation of bike lanes “feel let down by how councillors have dealt with this. They feel let down and they feel there was a lack of transparency and I think collectively in this committee we have a duty to rebuild that trust.”

The collapse of the B&B Hôtels team last week – after an autumn long search for a substantial funding boost ultimately failed – has ensured that cycling’s rumour mill, usually dormant at this stage of the winter, has erupted into life, as riders contracted to Jérôme Pineau’s ambitious but ill-fated project now scramble to secure new squads for 2023.

One of those out-of-work riders is, of course, Mark Cavendish, the former world champion and 34-time Tour de France stage winner who, along with Audrey Cordon-Ragot, was set to spearhead Pineau’s attempt to achieve WorldTour success.

> “This time it’s over”: Mark Cavendish’s B&B Hôtels team to close its doors after search for sponsors falls through

While the French team’s collapse, confirmed by the UCI’s publication of its squad list for 2023 yesterday, has unleashed a tidal wave of rumours concerning Cavendish’s possible destination, one entirely different kind of rumour has emerged in the past 24 hours: that the Manx Missile is preparing to step away from the sport altogether.

According to the Placeholder podcast, hosted by former Cycling Tips editor Caley Fretz, a source close to the B&B team says that Pineau and the management, when informing the riders last week that the squad was about to collapse, claimed that Cavendish had backed out of his agreement to join the team and instead had decided to retire from the sport completely.

Cavendish’s alleged last-minute decision then caused the incoming big-money sponsors, who seemingly had been wooed by the prospect of having their name plastered across the chest of a potential Tour de France record breaker, to withdraw their funding, causing Pineau’s precarious house of cards to collapse.

As Fretz points out in the podcast, the source – deemed to be reliable – may be correct about the contents of the meeting. Whether Pineau and his fellow management were being entirely truthful about the reasons behind the team’s demise is another matter entirely.

Surely Cavendish, on the brink of a career-defining bit of history, wouldn’t simply slink off into the night without any kind of announcement or fanfare?

 Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com

Pineau’s alleged attempts to deflect the blame for his squad’s collapse appear to have lost even more traction today, as Cavendish’s fellow Manxman and friends Pete Kennaugh told the Never Strays Far podcast that the former world champion has indeed “signed a contract” for 2023.

“From what I can gather, he is very well, very happy, good morale,” Kennaugh said.

“So, he’s definitely signed a contract. With whom, I don’t know.

“He was at Gent Six last time I spoke to him for Iljo Keisse's retirement race. Good spirits, talking about training hard this winter on the Isle of Man.

“He’s doing well and he’s ready for next year. Every top sprinter in the peloton should be very worried. He’s definitely got one.”

As has been the case throughout this off-season when it comes to Cavendish – watch this space.

2022 has been the year of high-profile retirements. Some of the leading lights of the late 2000s and 2010s, including Vincenzo Nibali, Alejandro Valverde, Philippe Gilbert, Lisa Brennauer, Richie Porte, and Tom Dumoulin have finally left the peloton, leaving some big shoes for a new generation of hungry talent to step into.

We learned last night, however, that time may also be up for one of the true icons of that era – the Oakley Racing Jackets.

ASO/Alex Broadway

The distinctive – if rather divisive – glasses have long been discontinued by the Californian company, but have maintained their place in the pro peloton thanks to one famous fan: Geraint Thomas.

The Welshman has stuck with the Armstrong-era throwbacks through thick and thin, from Tour victories to close encounters with trees, so much so that when he was mandated to wear another, more modern, less bug-like pair for one stage only at the Tour this year, ripples of shock and apprehension spread throughout the internet (I may be exaggerating slightly, but it was still a surprise not to see his face dominated by those garish white frames, resembling Bob Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Revue tour).

Shudder...

But all good (or at least memorable) things must come to an end, and while we will see Thomas at the 2023 Giro, we almost certainly won’t be seeing his trademark Oakleys.

Yesterday, the Ineos Grenadiers confirmed that they will be partnering with British brand SunGod for 2023, ending their 12-year association with Oakley.

“INEOS Grenadiers is a performance-led team so we pride ourselves on working with the most forward-thinking, agile and performance-driven partners – that’s why we’ve chosen SunGod as our new, long-term eyewear partner,” Deputy Team Principal Rod Ellingworth said in a statement.

All well and good, but won’t somebody please think of Geraint?

Luckily, cycling writer Caley Fretz has, mocking up an image of what Thomas will look like in his new team-mandated shades:

End of an era and the untimely demise of an icon: Geraint Thomas has to wear SunGod glasses next year. No more Oakley Racing Jackets. "All riders will be contractually required to wear SunGod," a team rep told me.

I have photoshoppped our future. pic.twitter.com/mokc6ZKozC

— Caley Fretz (@CaleyFretz) December 12, 2022

Whatever you think of the Racing Jackets (and personally I’m a fan of the modern, oversized models) that image is just not right.

Why must all my teenage cycling memories be ripped from me, why?

This morning’s cautionary tale about elected representatives trying to be funny on social media has prompted some harsh criticism of Edinburgh City Council’s approach to active travel:

'Transport chief' doing some heavy lifting here 😉 but yes, welcome to Edinburgh where parking in cycle lanes is so common that it seems it's not even noticed (except by those valiantly trying to cycle in the lanes). https://t.co/KO4RR1elzO

— Kirsty Lewin (@KirstyLewin) December 13, 2022

road.cc reader OnYerBike was particularly scathing about transport convenor Scott Arthur’s “cleared cycle lane” tweet, whether it was a misjudged attempt at humour or not:

I don't think there's a good explanation.

Either the tweet was serious and meant to be taken at face value, which suggests the councillor didn't recognise a problem with the car being parked there (whether it be the councillor’s or someone else's).

Or it was ironic/sarcastic, in which case I think it's very poor taste coming from the Transport Convenor of the council, who has done (as far as I can tell) nothing to actually address problem parking across the city since being elected and very little to promote active transport more generally (and indeed has overseeing some measures being removed).

This seems to me a common thread from Cllr Arthur – he talks like he cares about active travel but actions speak louder than words and as time goes on, the silence is increasingly deafening.

Edinburgh be famous.

Not for the quality of its municipal governance though. https://t.co/MYePy6nygx

— 𝙾𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 (@overlandertheb1) December 13, 2022

Meanwhile, Seventyone pointed out that the Met Office’s seemingly “car-centric” weather warnings, and focus on the danger posed by icy conditions to cyclists and pedestrians, could actually be “due to the likelihood that the roads have probably been gritted and the pavements and cycle lanes probably haven't?

“It's actually a subtle hint to councils to grit all transport infrastructure, not just roads?”

Then again, maybe not…

And finally, as we solemnly gathered this afternoon to mourn the passing of one of the peloton’s most distinctive fashion statements – Geraint Thomas’ awful Oakley Racing Jackets – Rendel Harris noted that, thanks to SunGod’s rather groovy Tempests, all may not be lost for G in his quest for outdated racing chic…

While the rumours circulating around Mark Cavendish’s apparently imminent retirement appear somewhat fanciful, one grand tour stage winning veteran has decided to step away from the sport following the demise of the B&B Hôtels team.

Pierre Rolland, a double Tour de France stage winner on summit finishes, announced his retirement from professional cycling on the social media.

“I would have liked for the adventure to continue but destiny decided otherwise and I’m announcing to you that I’m ending my professional career,” the 36-year-old Frenchman said in a video which featured some highlights from his 15 years in the peloton.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Pierre Rolland (@pierre_rolland_cyclisme)

Turning pro with Crédit Agricole in 2007, Rolland burst onto the scene by winning two races as a neo pro, before taking the mountains classification at the Dauphiné Libéré.

In 2011, he won one of the greatest stages in the Tour de France’s modern history, beating Samuel Sánchez and Alberto Contador on Alpe d’Huez, on the way to finishing 11th overall while riding most of the race in support of Europcar teammate Thomas Voeckler, who narrowly missed out on a podium place in Paris.

The following year, Rolland repeated the trick, soloing to the win on the Tour’s hardest Alpine summit finish on La Toussuire.

Already established as one of the peloton’s most dangerous baroudeur, especially in the mountains, Rolland also proved his credentials as a capable GC rider, backing up that win in the Alps with eighth place overall at the Tour in 2012 (along with the white young rider's jersey), before finishing an impressive fourth at the 2014 Giro d’Italia. He also secured the overall victories at several short stages, including the Circuit de la Sarthe and the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, and took two top tens at the Dauphiné.

But it was stage hunting where Rolland really excelled, and in 2017 – by then riding for the Cannondale-Drapac team – he once again soloed to a mountain breakaway stage win, this time at the Giro d’Italia, his third victory at a grand tour.

Rolland wins Stage 16 of the 2017 Giro d'Italia (LaPresse - D'Alberto) 

As he settled into elder statesman status at B&B, the results slowly dried up, though he would remain a constant presence in breaks at stage races and grand tours.

As B&B imploded last week, Rolland was forced to deny that he’d agreed a deal with Peter Sagan’s TotalEnergies team.

“Surprised to discover where my future will be written in the press,” the veteran French rider wrote on Twitter last Thursday. “I will keep you informed in due time on my social networks of what my future will be.”

In a year of high-profile retirements, this afternoon’s announcement closes another entertaining door in cycling’s recent history.