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news
“That’s how this idiot wastes our money”: Bike companies face backlash over ULEZ offers; Luke Rowe “f***ing gutted” to miss out on Vuelta; James Corden’s shoddy bike parking; Thomas Gloag hit by motorist; More useless bike racks + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
No Live Blog item found.
Brompton ULEZ advert22 August 2023, 12:33
“That’s how this idiot wastes our money”: Bike companies face backlash over ULEZ offers
With the expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) set to come into force this time next week, a number of cycle companies have already begun to capitalise on the new regulations by offering those with non-compliant vehicles special offers on their bikes – a marketing campaign that hasn’t gone down well with motorists who believe that the scheme is simply a way to force them out of their cars.
Folding bike brand Brompton are one of the companies who have responded to the ULEZ expansion by partnering with Transport for London to offer people living within the zone 10 percent off one of their C Line models as part of mayor Sadiq Khan’s scrappage scheme.
Meanwhile, Dutch bike subscription company Swapfiets are running a special one-off introductory discount on their e-bikes, which the brand says will offer “savvy and sustainable Londoners the chance to bypass the new £12.50 daily ULEZ charge and cruise into work on an e-bike instead”.
However, the offers haven’t gone down well with some living in the soon-to-be-expanded ULEZ zone.
“Khan is contributing 10 percent of the cost of a Brompton to anybody who lives in the extended ULEZ zone,” wrote one Londoner on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “These bikes range between £1,400 and £3,500. That’s how this idiot wastes our money.”
“That won’t help Arthur and Ethel much with their weekly shop,” agreed Mark.
“How many cyclists do you see around here, other than the Lycra weekend hobby cyclists? Hardly any,” another said. “Point is Khan doesn’t understand that and is prepared to spend our money on unlimited Brompton discounts.”
> Whose ULEZ is it anyway? Political chicanery as clean air zone set to expand to outer London
What do you think? Are Brompton and Swapfiets’ offers an example of some savvy marketing? Will offers like these incentivise those impacted by ULEZ to ditch four wheels for two?
Or are these companies barking up the wrong tree? Have those Londoners open to cycling around the city already made the switch? And does this kind of messaging only add fuel to the fire of the shouty few who think it’s all a big conspiracy to change their way of life?
Let us know in the comments…
22 August 2023, 08:07
“I’ve gone all in for this Vuelta, and I didn’t make the cut”: Luke Rowe “pretty f***ing gutted” to miss out on Vuelta selection
Luke Rowe has revealed that he’s “pretty f***ing gutted” to not be shepherding fellow Welshman and podcast co-host Geraint Thomas around Spain for the next few weeks, after missing out on selection for the Ineos Grenadiers’ Vuelta a España, which starts on Saturday in Barcelona.
Thomas will instead attempt to avenge his last-gasp Giro d’Italia defeat at the hands of Primož Roglič in the company of Egan Bernal, Filippo Ganna, Thymen Arensman, Laurens De Plus, Jonathan Castroviejo, Omar Fraile, and Kim Heiduk.
Rowe’s snub means that the 33-year-old will miss out on riding a grand tour during a season for the first time since 2012, his neo-pro year at the then-Team Sky.
Since then, the Welsh road captain has been a key component of five Tour de France wins for the British team, including compatriot Thomas’ victory in 2018 (2023 also marked the first time since 2014 that Rowe wasn’t selected for the Tour).
Speaking to co-host Thomas on their Watts Occurring podcast, Rowe was typically forthcoming about his feelings concerning the team’s decision to snub him for the Vuelta, a race he says he’d been targeting for four months – a preparation process that even prompted him to recently shave his head (marginal gains, innit?).
Typical honesty from Luke on this week's pod as he reveals why he won't be joining G at the Vuelta pic.twitter.com/zBgcqU8HRK
— Watts Occurring (@Watts_Occurring) August 21, 2023
“I’ll tell you what’s not occurring – me joining you on a lap of Spain, mate,” he told Thomas on the podcast.
“I’ve gone all in for this Vuelta, and I didn’t make the cut. If I’m honest, I’m pretty f***ing gutted, actually. For the last four months, it’s been all towards this. I’ve raced, done some nice races, I’ve trained really well, and all the signs were pointing in the right direction.
“But maybe it’s a bit my naivety, really, that I thought I was more in the door than I really was.”
He continued: “When they called me, your first reaction is, ‘Oh for f***’s sake’, and a bit of anger. I just said to [my wife] Cath, ‘I’m going to go to the fridge and open a bottle of wine and I’m going to drink it’ – well, with her, I wasn’t going to drink the whole thing. Then I’m going to go out on the town, and I’m going to send it. I got home in the early hours of the morning, had a hangover day, and the next afternoon, I was like, ‘Right that’s it now. That’s done. Get on with it now.’”
“You have setbacks in life and in sport, don’t you? I think what you have to remember is, it’s a bike race. Let’s keep things in context. But that being said, a career is full of highs and lows. You can be going really well, looking forward to great things, and then the next moment told you can’t do those great things and you can’t go on that mission.
“Deep down, it’s pretty gutting, and it does hurt not to make the cut. But, you know, they’ve got eight great blokes there.”
22 August 2023, 15:38
Bike hangars look like “pigsties” and are “discriminatory to the disabled”, disgruntled residents claim
Another day, another complaint about bike hangars…
22 August 2023, 15:22
Cyclist closes down one motorway lane after being spotted on M60 between Bolton and Bury
It feels like ages since a cyclist was spotted riding on a motorway, but that sensible streak came to an end last week, when a foolhardy rider was seen on the M60 between Bolton and Bury, causing one lane to temporarily close.
The cyclist was seen riding between the junctions of Clifton Interchange and Whitefield Interchange on August 15, the Bolton News reports.
He was soon accompanied off the motorway by a National Highways traffic officer, with one lane closed to ensure his safety. The traffic officer then spent some time advising the man about the Highway Code.
A spokesperson for National Highways said: “Safety remains our priority at National Highways and we would like to remind people to familiarise themselves with the law to ensure they keep themselves safe.”
22 August 2023, 14:58
What, more riders?! Lidl-Trek establishes development team
Introducing Lidl-Trek's brand-new development team 👋
Meet the first eight riders to be announced to the program👇
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) August 22, 2023
Just when you thought Lidl-Trek couldn’t possibly announce the signing of yet another rider for 2024, the US-based team goes and unveils eight – eight! – new signings, as part of the squad’s new development programme for young riders.
Yep, as the Lidl revolution of the longstanding Trek setup continues at pace, the new development team – earmarked by the supermarket chain as one of its biggest priorities when it came on board – aims to “ring in some of the most promising young riders in the world and raise them under a patient, guiding hand at second- and third-tier events”.
The team will be managed by the team’s former Basque rider Markel Irizar, and among its eight original riders includes Irish prospect Liam O’Brien, Belgian Axandre Van Petegem (the son of Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix winner Peter), and European elimination champion Tim Torn Teutenberg, the son of former pro Lars, nephew of Flanders winner Ina-Yoko, and brother of Ceratizit rider Lea Lin.
So, they’re not short of pedigree, anyway…
22 August 2023, 14:14
“Stoking cyclist hate will get him more publicity”
> CyclingMikey hits back at Mr Loophole’s latest attack on “snitch society” camera cyclists
Ah, damn it! I promised I wouldn’t mention The Lawyer Who Must Not Be Named on today’s blog… But there’s always tomorrow, right? Now, what’s Jeremy Vine up to?
22 August 2023, 13:56
Lotto Dstny confirms Allan Davis departure
Statement
Lotto Dstny and Allan Davis part ways, read more on our website:https://t.co/jwpR81ufzR
— Lotto Dstny (@lotto_dstny) August 22, 2023
Lotto Dstny have confirmed that Allan Davis – the Australian sprinter-turned-sports director accused of sending numerous women unwanted messages and images online – has been let go by the Belgian team, after reports of his current employment status spread throughout the cycling world this morning.
Lotto Dstny said in a statement:
Allan Davis is no longer employed at Lotto Dstny. The collaboration with the Australian sports director was recently terminated.
Just before the Tour de France, Davis was hit by a personal affair. The team decided not to take him to the Tour to keep the peace, but did start an internal investigation into accusations regarding transgressive behaviour.
“Without going into details, it has been decided to stop the collaboration with Allan,” says CEO Stephane Heulot. “Lotto Dstny has its own values and standards which we apply in our daily work and in the team. We have a line that we do not deviate from and we require our employees to adhere to it. We prioritise the well-being and integrity of our team and a further collaboration was therefore impossible.”
In the meantime, the other sports directors are taking over Allan Davis’ duties and a solution is being sought for next season.
Neither the team nor its employees will make any further comments on this statement.
Ah, the old ‘hit by a personal affair’ chestnut. Just like being struck by a wayward golf ball, isn’t it?
Read more: > Lotto Dstny sports director Allan Davis fired after sending “inappropriate” messages to women
22 August 2023, 13:17
“The presumption of innocence simply doesn’t exist here”: Toon Aerts flips the UCI “a big and heartfelt middle finger” after doping ban
Belgian cyclocross star Toon Aerts, who earlier this week received a two-year doping ban after testing positive for the testosterone-boosting drug Letrozole, has launched a scathing critique of the UCI’s handling of his case, including sending the governing body a “big and heartfelt middle finger”.
The 29-year-old, a leading figure on the cyclocross circuit for much of the past decade, failed an out-of-competition test for Letrozole in January 2022, a week and half before he finished sixth at the cyclocross world championships in Fayeteville, Arkansas, won by Tom Pidcock.
On Friday, after a lengthy investigation, the UCI suspended him for two years, backdated to February 2022 (meaning he will miss the coming ‘cross season), and stripped him of any results obtained between 19 January and 5 February 2022.
> Toon Aerts set to receive two-year ban for positive anti-doping test
The substance Aerts tested positive for, Letrozole, is primarily used to block oestrogen during the treatment of breast cancer, but can be used in a sporting context to help boost the production of testosterone. It is regarded by the UCI as a specified substance, meaning it does not come with an automatic provisional suspension, though Aerts decided to suspend himself while he prepared his defence.
Despite claiming that he was a victim of contamination through a food supplement, the UCI ruled that “after a thorough examination of the case, including several expert reports submitted by the Belgian rider, the Tribunal considered that Toon Aerts had failed to establish how the prohibited substance entered his body.”
In a statement released last night, Aerts lambasted the governing body and its treatment of “flesh-and-blood people”.
Final statement (English) pic.twitter.com/qxn7LnJgry
— Aerts Toon (@ToAerts) August 21, 2023
“1.5 years I had to wait for this final verdict,” he said. “I may have typed in the word Letrozole on Google 5,000 times during this period… hoping to find the missing piece of the puzzle. But we didn’t find it. Now where on earth did it come from? I still don’t know exactly how this got into my body. But I can’t blame myself. I threw thousands of euros at it, visited several universities, had several reports written by experts… and in the meantime I just kept running, cycling, and teaching.
“Never was I invited by the UCI or given the chance to speak to anyone physically. Everything was via email or registered mail. We were always bound by tight deadlines to reply within a few days, which often included holidays. But on the other hand, we always had to wait weeks, sometimes months, before we could receive anything back.
“Waiting, waiting, waiting… I think they sometimes forget that riders are also just flesh-and-blood people.”
(Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
He continued: “It has also become clear to me over the past few months that the ‘presumption of innocence’ simply doesn’t exist here. I thought this was a basic right… We tried to explain everything we knew ourselves as transparently as possible and to substantiate it scientifically. This showed with 100 percent certainty that I am not a conscious doping user. You then at least hope for common sense from the people on the other side… But there just isn’t any. The legal framework is sacred.
“I never took doping and ever even considered it. After a year and a half in a legal tug-of-war, now portrayed as a cheater. Along with my entire family and surrounds suddenly labelled losers. It hurts and it doesn’t feel right.
“Well here UCI, a bit and heartfelt middle finger! You could have made us the happiest people on earth… But who is Toon Aerts in the big circus of cycling?”
Aerts concluded by referencing the case of fellow Belgian rider Shari Bossuyt, who also tested positive for Letrozole in June, and who is currently suspended by her Canyon-Sram team as the investigation into her case continues. Like Aerts, the 22-year-old claims she is a victim of contamination.
“I only hope my case rings a bell with everyone,” he wrote, “because I am holding my heart for riders and athletes who may go through exactly the same thing. My heart is bleeding for Shari who is in the same situation.”
Aerts also confirmed he will “definitely be back” racing when his suspension ends on 16 February next year.
22 August 2023, 11:52
No Vuelta this year, but at least Rowe’s GCN poster boy status remains intact
Love your work 😍 https://t.co/Msoar50TEK
— Luke Rowe (@LukeRowe1990) August 22, 2023
22 August 2023, 11:26
And on the subject of James Corden…
I couldn’t possibly include a live blog story about ol’ Smithy without referring to one of my favourite ever tweets (or Xs, whatever) from back last year, when everyone was regaling us with their very true experiences of the much-maligned comedy actor:
I used to be on a bike team with James Corden. One day on the bus he got out a huge bag of EPO powder and started doing lines off the 1994 Tour de France roadbook, yelling about the "Milo Joan!" in a French accent, then punched a swannie. He is now banned from cycling for life.
— tom owen (@tomowencc) October 18, 2022
Classic Corden.
22 August 2023, 10:54
And the newest ambassador for Lime Bikes is… Oh, dear God: Everyone’s favourite celebrity James Corden receives telling off for leaving hire bike outside restaurant
The Lime cycle hire scheme has come in for criticism in recent months, after residents in the west London borough of Hounslow claimed that the ubiquitous green and white e-bikes were “deliberately” being left in “dangerous places”, and that it was only a matter of time before “somebody gets killed”.
So, in a PR coup that I’m sure will delight the company’s execs, everyone’s favourite celebrity James Corden found himself this week receiving a ticking off from the door man of a Mayfair restaurant, after the universally loved and not at all widely ridiculed comedian and actor parked one of the Lime bikes on the pavement outside the fancy establishment.
James Corden had a rather awkward moment on his London outing... https://t.co/IFF0sSXQs0
— Metro Entertainment (@Metro_Ents) August 21, 2023
According to the Mirror, the doorman – who was “having none of it”, apparently – picked the bike up and handed it back to the Gavin and Stacey star, who rode off looking for a “more suitable” place to park the hire bike.
But, the newspaper noted, he “remained in high spirits”. Which I’m sure we’re all relieved to hear.
His shoddy Lime parking isn’t the first time, remarkably, that Corden has made headlines while riding a hire bike in London.
Last July, the host of the Late Late Show (the American version, not the Irish one where Stephen Roche was asked about doping back in the early 90s, I’m reliably informed) was left “fuming” after a cyclist “darted across the road” and knocked him off his Santander Cycles hire bike.
Moment James Corden rages at cyclist who sent star flying from his bike pic.twitter.com/F0SjG4y9r4
— The Sun (@TheSun) July 19, 2022
Corden has also long been a strong advocate for cycling and improved cycling infrastructure, even dedicating a segment of his show back in 2015 to criticise opponents of bike lanes in a Californian city.
Corden joked that Coronado was in “crisis” and “being ravaged... by bike lanes”. Following a short video piece which told viewers that in Coronado 70 percent of school students walk or cycle to school, Corden sarcastically commented: “What a truly horrifying place to live”.
“It looks like utopia, but there are actually people who have a problem with the number of bike lanes [...] it’s ridiculous. Who are these people? Who could possibly have a problem with bike lanes? Well, it’s the same people who always have a problem — rich, old, white ladies...”
Well, I suppose you can’t choose the people who are on your side, can you?
22 August 2023, 10:21
Lotto Dstny sports director Allan Davis fired after inappropriate messages to women
Following his removal from Lotto Dstny’s Tour de France staff when the reports of unwanted messages and photos came to light, Davis was reportedly let go by the Belgian team on 10th August, three days after another woman wrote to both Lotto Dstny and the UCI with further allegations of inappropriate online behaviour by the retired Australian sprinter, a source told road.cc.
Read more: > Lotto Dstny sports director Allan Davis fired after inappropriate messages to women
22 August 2023, 09:58
Lidl-Trek keep it coming with the weird T-shirt announcements
I’m not going to lie, Lidl-Trek’s obsession with horrible, Photoshopped T-shirt-based transfer announcements has kept me going through the post-worlds malaise…
And it’s safe to say their social media team is showing no signs of slowing down with their Vuelta line-up news:
We selected our eight riders for @lavuelta and all they got was this lousy T-shirt! pic.twitter.com/rksV9q3BZU
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) August 22, 2023
Though I feel like Julien Bernard’s image will haunt my dreams tonight…
🇫🇷 @JulienBernard17 pic.twitter.com/IaArQbAbro
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) August 22, 2023
22 August 2023, 09:28
Edinburgh: “Our cycle parking facilities are useless”… Brighton: “Hold my extremely light, easily unscrewed bike rack”
It turns out that Edinburgh isn’t the only place where cyclists have spotted some, ahem, clear issues with their cycle parking facilities.
Brighton’s bike racks also appear to match the ‘can be easily removed’ brief seemingly favoured by councils recently…
See also:"Why do these bloody cyclists insist on locking their bikes to the cast iron and concreted in prom railings not the hollow tubed, bolted down, Sheffield stands provided?" https://t.co/JKFxP9oQia
— LukeB_MTB @mastodon.social (@LukeB_MTB) August 22, 2023
As Luke put it in the replies: “Why do these bloody cyclists insist on locking their bikes to the cast iron and concreted-in prom railings, and not the hollow tubed, bolted down Sheffield stands provided?”
Why indeed…
22 August 2023, 08:48
Up-and-coming British pro Thomas Gloag injured after being hit by motorist during training ride
After a stellar, almost whirlwind start to life as a pro, promising young British rider Thomas Gloag’s end-of-season has unfortunately been derailed thanks to a collision with a motorist while out training this week.
The Jumbo-Visma rider was struck by the driver during a training ride, suffering a knee injury, the Dutch team announced in a short statement this morning. The injuries sustained in the crash required Gloag to undergo surgery, and he will “now focus on his recovery and next season”.
> Belgian pro cyclist placed in coma undergoes spinal surgery after training crash
The collision with the motorist brings an abrupt and untimely end to a promising first year in the pro peloton for Gloag, who only started racing late into his teenage years.
The 21-year-old from East Dulwich turned pro with Jumbo-Visma this year after impressing as a stagiaire for the Dutch outfit last autumn. He immediately proved his worth at the highest level, taking sixth overall and second a stage of the Volta a La Comunitat Valenciana, before taking another top ten on Jebel Jais, the key summit finish of the UAE Tour, finishing on the same time as Remco Evenepoel and Adam Yates.
Riding on the wheel of team leader Roglič at his first ever Giro (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
After another encouraging top ten on a summit finish at the Tour de Romandie – which helped secure him 11th overall – Gloag was drafted in as a last-minute replacement for the Giro d’Italia after injury and illness struck Jumbo-Visma’s squad just before the Corsa Rosa. And Gloag didn’t disappoint on his surprise maiden grand tour either, helping Primož Roglič in the mountains on his way to a last-gasp victory over Geraint Thomas.
After his mammoth lap of Italy, the youngster returned to action at last month’s Clásica San Sebastián, but now appears set to miss the rest of the season. Rest up, Thomas!
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
Latest Comments
- jamesha100 1 hour 50 min ago
I have been in Belfast for work this week and have been shocked by the congestion around the city centre. There are lots of frustrated drivers...
- David9694 2 hours 12 min ago
Cyclists should be made to have insurance etc https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/24757516.four-vehicles-seize...
- A V Lowe 2 hours 44 min ago
On a bus the driver has a fully glazed double set of doors that give a direct view of any cyclist or pedestrian travelling right into the left side...
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A friend in my cycling club has a new Ribble Allroad, I think the model with 105, and when I asked how he was finding it (before reading this...
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Well yes but that's if you're looking at an equation x = n x 3 where n is any number less than 5. If you're looking for a number that is three...
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Get them back? They've never gone away for me, cheap tdf winning bikes on eBay with rim brakes and cheap rim brake aero wheels, just don't tell...
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It used to be called Buy Nothing Day as a protest against the the Black Friday discounting madness. The constant BF adverts, promos and stuff...
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Apologies - you're quite right! Something about presentation and comprehension...
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You can find out whether they're lying about 'taking action' by asking them what they actually did. When they refuse to tell you, citing various...
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43 comments
Fake news! You'll be saying you can get an ambulance there next!
Yes, trains are less common than cars so they should have to stop and press a "beg button" then wait for a green light at every level crossing!
That Dokter Beecham and the badbugger Marples-the-lorry already dun it.
Absolutely, apparantly some of them have been in place since the 1960's, just think how many people have died because emergency vehicles couldn't get to them in the last 60 years!
It's not about ripping out the cul-de-sac, more about knocking down the house on the end, and maybe the one behind it so a multi lane highway can be put in, with plenty of parking, so that it may now be used as a "fast" rat run...
Also:
https://robertweetman.wordpress.com/2020/04/16/where-is-the-best-place-f...
Firstly, a disclaimer I live on a modal street built in the mid 90s. I'd like it to stay that way.
Secondly, I am not suggest that any changes to our street layout should not be reviewed and any potential unforseen negative consequences of changes ignored.
However, nobody should be fooled by Sunak's rhetoric. He's simply kicking the ball down the road presumably until after the next election. He's failed to establish a review panel or to detail the criteria for which the success or failure of such schemes can be established. I am convinced that any such review will identify the benefits of LTNs to polution, health, climate etc etc which will outweigh the small inconveniance to a minority of drivers. So what happens then? Wellidf Sunak does get re-elected, then like many similar reviews before it the Tories will simply find another way to stall any meaningful progress. All of this while our planet continues to burn.
The simple fact that experts may have already come to some conclusions on the benefits of many LTNs and that more empirical evidence will only underline this will only outrage the climate change denyers.
The Alt Right playbook:
*Evidence that its happening is presented
"Its not happening"
*More compelling evidence that it is happening is presented
"Its not happening"
*Irrefutable proof that it is happening is presented
"Its not happening"
*Evidence so clear that it is happening is presented that to deny it would mark you as a lunatic
"Ok, its happening but there is nothing we can do about it"
*Evidence that we can do something about it is presented
"Well now its too late to do something about it and its somehow someone else's fault"
Real life example, here in south west Scotland multiple windfarm planning applications were objected to on the basis that it would destroy tourism in the area as they are a "blot on the landscape" These objections were dismissed continually until recently when the message became " the landscape has already been ruined with windfarns so one more won't matter.
Before anyone says "but windfarms are green" yes they are to an extent but they're not what we need, we need nuclear and governments of all colours have been failing us on this for decades!
Well the ol' onshore wind was for a long time a good way to grab subsidies... Nuclear is pretty hard to get "done" by governments, plants are always "controversial" and they take ages to get going. They're also getting much more expensive.
Currently we're kind of on "predict and provide" with energy. What would be to our advantage - or our descendents' advantage would be to use much less, more efficiently. (If only we could avoid trying to keep up with the Joneses - probably humanly impossible!) And - given the UK has hills, lots of coast and (currently) has a temperate climate - get some more of the more dependable renewables and some storage (offshore wind, pumped hydro).
We (as in the government - devolved or national) should have invested far more in to getting Pelamis to work efficiently.
But ... its hard for a politician to point at a half submerged tube that's quietly going its thing in the waves, than at a 60m, gleaming white tower with 30m long spinning blades.
Far better to point at the blot on the landscape and say "behold, what I have done, I've made a better world for everyone" ... wins more votes.
And there is great irony in standing with your back to Torness Nuclear Power Station (generates enough for about 5m homes) and looking at a wind farm ...
Don't worry, nothing will actually happen before the next GE so unless the british people are daft enough to elect another tory government you're safe...on second thoughts worry, worry a lot!
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