“It’s the third day in a row and it’s breaking my balls a bit now”: Remco Evenepoel rages against Vuelta safety chaos; Elderly couple kicked off train because of e-bike; Jumbo-Visma pro’s home searched by police in doping raid + more on the live blog

The first relatively normal, calm day at this year’s Vuelta a España rather inevitably culminated in a hectic, crash-marred finale, as pre-stage favourite Kaden Groves summoned the strength to overhaul Juan Sebastian Molano on the long drag to the line in Tarragona to take his second career win at the Spanish grand tour.

After the small, doomed breakaway, consisting of Eduardo Sepúlveda, Ander Okamika, and David González, was reeled in, the dangers inherent in even the sleepiest of stages loomed large once again in the finale, as a crash near the front with four kilometres to go brought down Bryan Coquard – who would most certainly have been eyeing up the grippy finishing straight – and Bahrain Victorious’ Santiago Buitrago, who was sitting eight on GC after the first three days.

Despite looking in serious pain immediately after the crash, Buitrago has crossed the line, though his GC hopes have taken a potentially fatal blow. Coquard, meanwhile, appears to have suffered a broken collarbone, ending his hopes of a long-awaited maiden grand tour stage win.

Kaden Groves wins a chaotic Stage 4 in Spain 🍾🇪🇸#LaVuelta23 pic.twitter.com/inr2h7Vo8G

— Eurosport (@eurosport) August 29, 2023

Then, in the chaotic final few hundred metres, EF Education-EasyPost’s Marijn van den Berg – surging forward to steal a march before the road kicked up – misjudged the final left hander (one distorted, it must be said, by some questionable barrier placement by the race organisers), taking himself and Groves’ Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Robbe Ghys out.

One rider able to navigate their past the carnage was UAE Team Emirates’ Juan Sebastian Molano, who accelerated hard out of the corner and looked for a moment to have sealed the win, as Groves appeared to be labouring behind (notwithstanding Molano having to avoid hitting the phone of an outstretched ‘fan’ at the barriers).

But in the final hundred metres as the road flattened, the 24-year-old Australian – already a grand tour stage winner at the Giro this year – took a deep breath and mustered enough strength to drag himself past the Colombian and cement his status as the fastest rider at the Vuelta especially unkind to its fast men.

Meanwhile, Remco Evenepoel highlighted his desire to stay out of the melee by finishing 12th in the sprint, ensuring that – at least for today – the Vuelta avoided yet another post-stage Remco rant.

But there’s always tomorrow, I suppose.

After months of debate, legal proceedings, and lots of misinformation, London’s expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone finally, finally came into effect this morning.

So, along with the meltdowns, riots, and subsequent freefall into anarchy that inevitably occurred around lunchtime due to a very small percentage of car-owners being unable to drive into the city without paying £12.50, how has the expanded ULEZ affected London and its people?

Well, let’s have a look…

ULEZ day! Cycling to work via Elephant & Castle, met Toby who cycles in from Sutton. At a traffic signals near his home, there were 5 people cycling, usually only him at that time in the morning. Its working! People who don't have to drive using alternative transport modes.

— clare neely (@ClareNeely34) August 29, 2023

Just saw a BBC reporter doing a piece to camera, there's a car parked 1/2 blocking the pavement on double yellows and yellow police tape from a collision hanging off a lamp-post, motoring issue being discussed, ULEZ because nothing else matters

— ReCyclingDave (@cycling_dave) August 29, 2023

Classic. 

Clean air is important and ULEZ barely touches the surface. Much more must be done to cut private vehicle use.

The Silvertown tunnel project runs contrary to this.

Build better cycling infrastructure. Cut the price of public transport and create more and faster bus routes.

— Climate Action Lewisham (@ActionLewisham) August 29, 2023

I'm just about to ride out on my bike to test London after the #ULEZ expansion. The bike is Dutch and reminds me that it's possible to organise a country & create a healthier, happier & wealthier place than the UK. @annaholligan pic.twitter.com/JwwwtjGkTz

— Stephen Feber Ltd (@StephenFeberLtd) August 29, 2023

Of course, there’s a whole other side to this particular debate, evidently, but I feel it’s a bit too soon after a long bank holiday weekend to dive into that particular section of the internet… 

Many thousands of hours has gone into trying to improve on the humble Sheffield Stand.

After trying to park my bike recently using a “wheel bender” rack, I’m reminded that no one has - and likely never will - come close to beating the simplicity of its design. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/bxpcLYBDit

— Adam Tranter (@adamtranter) August 29, 2023

This morning, Adam Tranter, the West Midlands’ walking and cycling commissioner, put together a stirring defence of the humble Sheffield Stand, and how to ensure their simple but effective design is utilised to its full capacity – by, for example, covering them, keeping them in plain sight and within reach of CCTV cameras, making them accessible for all types of cycles, and making sure they’re cemented into the ground, and not just bolted in (Looking at you there, Edinburgh…).

That last point in particular prompted some cyclists to share some images of bike stands that don’t quite live up to their ‘secure parking’ billing…

Are you maybe suggesting this isn't the most secure way to fix one down? 😅 pic.twitter.com/ydmwDBsrRR

— Chris Hilliard (@badspyro) August 29, 2023

Ooh, you're lucky, these ones aren't even bolted down! pic.twitter.com/CZ1lXKTfkJ

— TallBikeGuy (@theTallBikeGuy) August 29, 2023

 

 

 

 

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Please someone make this happen, I would happily jump on the pre-orders if the jerseys actually existed. Hint, hint, Rapha and Vaughters… (and don’t lie, you would too!)

Though I do think they missed a trick by not going for Team Barbieani-CSF, a plucky second-tier outfit Barbie and Ken founded while on holiday in Florence. Alright, I’ll stop now…

Lotto Dstny will be riding Orbeas from January, bringing an end to the Belgian team’s 12-year association with Ridley.

According to Het Laatste Nieuws, Lotto’s decision to jump ship to the Basque manufacturer – who most famously supplied its home Euskaltel Euskadi team for two decades between 1994 and 2013, along with more recent short-lived partnerships with Cofidis and B&B Hotels – means that they will be forced to break their contract with Ridley, which currently runs to the end of 2025.

(Unipublic:Graham Watson)

According to the Belgian newspaper, several of the team’s riders tested different bikes with a view to changing brands, while hot sprinting prospect Arnaud De Lie was reportedly hesitant about signing a new contract until a decision on a bike sponsor had been made.

“Our collaboration with Ridley will indeed end at the end of this year,” Lotto Dstny CEO Stéphane Heulot told Het Laatste Nieuws, confirming that the decision was made to increase the financial contributions made to the team by its bike sponsor (Ridley’s existing contract kept those contributions low, but allowed the team to sell on the bikes itself to raise additional funds).

“We are switching to a new bicycle brand. Not so much because we are not satisfied with the quality of the Ridley bike. We have had 12 great years with numerous victories. We choose another brand because we want to improve ourselves financially. That is necessary to be able to keep our current core.”

As a nostalgia merchant for the late noughties, this writer will certainly be glad to see Orbea’s bikes back in cycling’s biggest races – though today also marks the end of a 12-year-long partnership that brought us, in my humble opinion, the coolest Tour de France bike of the modern era…

What a beauty…

(Rafa Gomez/SprintCyclingAgency)

It’s just dawned on me…  A brash, confrontational personality, Robert De Niro impressions as he celebrates gauntlet-throwing grand tour stage wins, and ranting about breaking balls… Are we sure Remco Evenepoel isn’t already plotting his next post-cycling career move? (Aside from all the never-ending Ineos rumours, of course…)

Teenage football prospect to champion cyclist to the star of Martin Scorsese’s next three-hour gangster epic?

Though perhaps we shouldn’t focus too closely on the parallels between pro cycling and the mob world, it is a Tuesday morning after all…

He may be a double world champion and a monument and grand tour winner, and all, but Evenepoel’s still got a long way to go before he matches the levels of sheer ridiculousness reached by ex-Garmin pro Phil Gaimon, achieved when the American KOM hunter crashed into – yes, into – the finish line at last year’s Mount Washington Hill Climb:

Remco’s got nothing on me pic.twitter.com/wqJiUVYC2O

— Phil Gaimon (@philgaimon) August 28, 2023

Come on, Remco, up your game, son…

Despite a pitch-black, waterlogged team time trial in Barcelona, a row with other teams over the pressure exerted on the front of the bunch in the rain the following day, a crash for Primož Roglič (who else?), and Remco Evenepoel adding yet another layer of explosivity to his seemingly unending list of powers, Jumbo-Visma have emerged from a rough and rowdy opening few days at the Vuelta a España relatively unscathed.

After yesterday’s mountain top sprint in Andorra (more on that in a bit), the Dutch team boast four riders in the top 15 on GC, with their two big hitters, Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard, appearing serenely within touching distance of the non-brake applying Belgian champion Evenepoel.

However, there’s another storm Jumbo-Visma will be hoping they can weather just as easily as the one in northern Spain over the past three days.

Yesterday, it was confirmed that German authorities have opened a criminal investigation into Michel Hessmann, the 22-year-old Jumbo-Visma rider who tested positive for a banned diuretic earlier this month, leading to his immediate suspension by the team until further notice.

> Jumbo-Visma rider Michel Hessmann suspended after positive anti-doping test

Dutch TV station NOS have reported that the investigation included a raid on Hessmann’s Freiburg home, a throwback for those who remember the myriad doping scandals that emerged from Germany in the 2000s, a legacy from which cycling’s reputation in the country is only beginning to recover in recent years.

No doping substances were found during the search as Hessmann’s home, though police said they seized a number of data storage devices, such as phones and computers.

(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

“On August 16, Hessmann called us after the police raided his home,” a Jumbo-Visma spokesperson said.

“Shortly afterwards, we posted what we know about the matter on X [formerly Twitter]. We do not know any more than we did then and are awaiting the outcome. Neither the German judiciary nor the German doping authority has contacted us for information or questions.”

German prosecutors, who say the investigation is solely centred on Hessmann, added: “Whether this will lead to a criminal prosecution is still open and depends on the results of the investigation. The suspect will be heard before a final judgment follows. It is up to him to prove his innocence.”

Earlier this month, Jumbo-Visma sports director Merijn Zeeman said the team would support Hessmann – who finished third at last year’s Tour de l’Avenir and helped teammate Roglič win the Giro d’Italia this year – in the wake of his positive test.

“As a human being, he deserves our support,” Zeemann said. “Make no mistake, this is about a 22-year-old athlete whose whole world has completely collapsed. We’re also keeping an eye on that mental part.”