“Stop victim blaming”: Government’s New Year’s call for all road users to “share responsibility” for safety slammed; Ganna teases new Kask ear-o helmet; Larry Warbasse bags “ultimate” 89.5km Strava KOM; Mud bath bike tests + more on the live blog

Ah, 1 January – when resolutions are made, alcohol is sworn off (at least for a while), futile training regimes are implemented (and swiftly discarded), and professional cycling teams and riders inundate social media with image after image of their sparkling new kit and equipment.

Carrying on that proud annual tradition yesterday were the Ineos Grenadiers and their time trialling supremo Filippo Ganna, who posted a litany of training camp photos to Instagram, ostensibly to show off the British team’s new kit sponsor (Gobik) and the ever-so-slightly modified colour scheme of its jerseys and Pinarellos.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Filippo Ganna (@gannafilippo)

But, hiding in plain sight, was a far more interesting revelation than Ineos’ change from red to slightly more orangey red tones.

Every photo uploaded by Ganna showed the Italian superstar and a handful of his teammates wearing what appears to be a brand-new, and very interesting, aero road lid from Kask.

The helmet, a likely replacement for the six-year-old Kask Utopia, features a shell which covers the top of the rider’s ears – a sort of halfway house between the non-existent ear coverage favoured by traditional road helmet designs and the maximal approach of pure time trial lids.

With helmets increasingly blurring the line between road and TT in recent years, the as-yet-unconfirmed new design from Kask appears to be pushing the boundaries of aerodynamic gain hunting in road races even further – in what could be a watt-saving coup for those of us with, ahem, wind-catching ears.

And there we were thinking January kit launches were boring and useless…

> Best handlebar tape for cycling 2024 — get some cost-effective comfort and grip by choosing quality bar tape

After his mud bath at the GP Sven Nys yesterday, Cannock-born Lewis Askey will be pleased with his local council’s decision to install new cycling and walking routes in the area, which will be added as part of the £9m worth of road improvements to the A34 in Staffordshire.

The work, including repairs, is due to start today in Stafford and Cannock, with streetlights to be replaced and drainage works undertaken between Weeping Cross and Queensville, the BBC reports.

David Williams, Staffordshire County Council’s member responsible for roads, said the project – the majority of the work for which will take place in the spring – will result in “considerable improvements” to the A34.

The future of the Tour O The Borders, the popular Peeblesshire-based closed road sportive, suddenly appears a whole lot brighter after a recent council survey revealed that local residents and businesses were “overwhelmingly” in support of the event continuing – just months after the 2024 edition was cancelled when the local authority received complaints from a group of unhappy residents.

In June, we reported that the route of September’s Tour O The Borders was redesigned to by-pass an area where a small group of locals have campaigned against the road closures which form a key part of the event’s appeal.

That long-term opposition then caused the sportive’s very future to be thrown into uncertainty, with organisers Hillside Outside claiming that the Scottish Borders Council ruled that the current route cannot be staged on closed roads in 2024, following a consultation with Ettrick and Yarrow Community Council.

> Tour O The Borders sportive faces cancellation after residents complain about event’s road closures

A subsequent statement from the council, which claimed that it was not responsible for halting the event, was described by the organisers as “utterly ridiculous” and “disingenuous”, with Hillside Outside arguing the local authority’s claim that the decision to bring an end to the decade-old sportive was “entirely avoidable” does not provide “an accurate reflection of what has been happening over the past few months, and demonstrates an unwillingness to accept responsibility”.

Since June’s very public debate over the sportive’s future, Scottish Borders Council launched a post-event evaluation survey to gauge the opinions of local residents and business in Peebles, Innerleithen, and the Ettrick and Yarrow valley areas.

Of the 597 respondents, three-quarters said they were in favour of the event, believing that it has a positive impact on the Borders.

(Credit: Ian Linton)

“Although we’ve not had any detail or discussion with SBC yet, this sounds like very good news,” Tour O The Borders organiser Neil Dalgleish told the Border Telegraph following the survey’s results.

“Obviously we’re now very hopeful that there’s some kind of future for Tour O The Borders as a closed road event, but we need to be clear we have definitely not been given a green light at this stage.

“We’re looking forward to discussing next steps with SBC to find out what the road map for progress from here will look like. We’d like to see the event move forward while taking consideration of all views within the communities affected by it.”

> Tour O The Borders organiser slams council’s “utterly ridiculous and disingenuous” claim that it is not responsible for sportive’s demise

He added: “It’s great to see such overwhelming support for the Tour and hopefully this will help finally settle the debate.

“Given how much the event has done to put the Borders on the map as a top road cycling destination and the number of new and repeat visitors to the area associated with the event, this response is what we were hoping for.

“It’s worth bearing in mind that our own survey on this attracted 1,400 positive responses, so the available data certainly feels robust now, but we’ll always be respectful of all the parties involved.”

 (Credit: Richard Turley)

Following the positive response from locals, the Scottish Borders Council says it will now work with Hillside Outside to ensure the event can continue on closed roads.

Councillor Scott Hamilton, executive member for business and community development, said: “This survey was specifically targeted at those residents and businesses most likely to be impacted by the Tour O The Borders closed road event in 2023 and I am pleased that so many took the time to complete it.

“We will continue to engage with the event organisers to support the continuation of the event on closed roads and encourage continued proactive engagement with those communities along the route as part of the event planning process.

“As with any event which results in road closures, it is important that the positive impacts, including on our local economy, are balanced against any disruption this causes to communities.”

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Team Polti Kometa (@eolokometacyclingteam)

Ehhh, Polti-Kometa, what in the name of underwhelming nostalgia is this? A bland, mostly white kit with mere hints of colour (red shorts notwithstanding)?

Where’s all the yellow? And green flashes and animal print? And mad 1990s styling?

Come on, Bertie and Birillo, there’s still time – give the people what they want!

How did you spend the seemingly never-ending, chocolate and TV-laden vacuum between Christmas and New Year?

Probably not in the same manner as Larry Warbasse, anyway, as the 33-year-old American ditched the Back to the Future marathon for a successful stab at one of the world’s toughest Strava KOMs – the 89.5km Mauna Kea volcano climb in Hawaii.

Starting at sea level, the Mauna Kea climb tops out at a staggering 4,214m, averaging around 4.7 percent throughout its 90-odd kilometres, and boasting a brutal final 21km at nine percent (that’s tougher than Mont Ventoux) and a 10km, 12 percent dirt section (think the Angliru or Mortirolo, but on gravel), which forced Warbasse to push his bike on occasion.

Despite the odd spot of walking, the Decathlon AG2R rider (yeah, that’ll take a while to get used to) became only the second rider to break the five-hour mark for the monster climb, reaching the top of the volcano in 4.59:04 to beat retired pro and former KOM holder Phil Gaimon by just 15 seconds.

“Sorry Phil,” a tired Larry wrote on Strava after his “ultimate” Strava success. “That was brutal.”

Now, there’s the understatement of the year so far.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Larry Warbasse (@warbasse)

Expanding on his epic ride on Instagram, Warbasse said: “I’ve been coming to the Big Island for years, but I never attempted to ride up Mauna Kea, it just seemed too hard. But this trip, I figured it was about time to give it a go…

“Let’s just say it was a bit tougher than I expected. Once you pass 3,000m, you have a 10km gravel section at an average of 12 percent. It’s pretty loose and not entirely rideable without wider tires. At one point I had to walk for a few minutes… and then magically, the gravel turns to pavement again, for the last few km to the summit at 4,200m/13,800ft.

“But there it was even steeper. It was like hitting the last few km of Tre Cime Lavaredo after riding up one of the steepest hills of the Strade Bianche that went on for 10km. But somehow after feeling like I was never going to make it by sunset, I got to the top.

“Can’t say I’m in a rush to do that one again, but a cool way to finish off 2023. And happy to check that KOM off the list.”

Fair play Larry. Now, where’s my last few Celebrations and Roses?

With 2024 now underway, yawning and in desperate need of a coffee, we decided to fetch our crystal balls (enough with the puns already – grow up) from a dust-infested corner of the road.cc office and come up with some almost certainly terrible predictions for the 12 months ahead in cycling, from active travel and tech to the Tour de France and the bike industry… 

> What’s in store for cycling in 2024? road.cc shares some two-wheeled prophecies for the year ahead (which may or may not be completely rubbish)

(If you stumble across this article in December, feel free to have a laugh at how wrong we were. Apart from my brilliantly accurate predictions, of course.)