Joe Biden's secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg wants to build "culture of cycling"; Oprah interview déjà vu; Dunkin' Donuts' bike-thru for mid-ride carbs; Should Strade Bianche be a Monument?; Calls for bike hangars + more on the live blog

A comprehensive victory for those who think Strade Bianche should be the sixth Monument. The teams have been out reccying the route ahead of tomorrow's race and giving us an excuse to share some more blog-friendly clips from the white roads of Tuscany...

🇮🇹🔎 Enjoy some shots from @AvVleuten, Leah Thomas, @KatrineAalerud and @Glo__Rodriguez at our #StradeBianche recon! 👊 #RodamosJuntos

📺 Watch @StradeBianche live on @Eurosport_ES and @gcntweet at 12.30 CET on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/CumGt6BlEP

— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) March 5, 2021

Turn the sound on for this one...Beautiful. 

The gravel is coming...👀#StradeBianche pic.twitter.com/HDlpZoWXuo

— Team DSM (@TeamDSM) March 5, 2021

Different year, different date, different conditions, different jersey 🇩🇰 but same beautiful roads, same beautiful race!
Full gas ahead of @strade_bianche tomorrow 💥🤘🏻
📸 @woutbeel
@deceuninck_quickstep pic.twitter.com/7nMbbDYIwO

— Kasper Asgreen (@k_asgreen) March 5, 2021

Fabio Jakobsen is feeling positive about his return to the sport, seven months on from the horror crash at the Tour of Poland that put his career in jeopardy. Jakobsen said he is hoping that in another four or five months the implants and screws used to treat his facial injuries will have healed completely.

"On Monday the stitches will be removed and I hope to get back to training! In this way I would like to thank everybody that helped me get this far in my recovery process. There is light at the end of the tunnel and I’m going for it!" he wrote on Facebook.

Detectives have released a picture of a man they want to speak to over a bike theft from a McDonald's branch in Northampton. The Northampton Chronicle and Echo reports the bike had its lock cut and was taken while it was parked outside the  Weston Favell fast food outlet. Police believe the man may have information which could help track down the offender.

A spokesperson for Northampton Police said: "We would like this man to come forward or, anyone who recognises him or has information about the theft, please call 101 using incident number 21000109046."

The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games road race will be hosted by St Nicholas' Park in Warwick where the race will start and finish. The race is scheduled to take place on Sunday August 7 and will decide who will succeed Australian sprinter Steele Von Hoff, who won the event at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games three years ago. Geraint Thomas, Stuart O'Grady and Matthew Haymen are all former winners of Commonwealth road race gold.

Autosport reports that Fernando Alonso is "completely fit" for the upcoming F1 season having recovered from injuries sustained when he was hit by a driver while cycling in Switzerland. The Spaniard needed surgery on an upper jaw fracture but has now returned to training, leaving Alpine F1's CEO Laurent Rossi confident he will be fit for the start of the season. 

"Fernando is doing very well," Rossi said. "He had a bad accident. A bike accident is rarely something that goes easy, but he was lucky, and he ended up only suffering from his jaw. So besides the necessary surgery and care on his jaw, the rest is totally fine. Fernando is completely fit. He is totally operational."

The two-time F1 world champion's former team boss Flavio Briatore has urged Alonso to give up cycling, saying "if you don't stop, I'll lock you in the garage."

It's one of our favourite races on the calendar tomorrow as the pros take on the white roads of Tuscany at Strade Bianche. World champion Julian Alaphilippe made the case for it being the sixth Monument and joining the pantheon of the sport's most prestigious one-day races. "It's a really beautiful race, always spectacular. It's maybe not a Monument but it deserves to be," Alaphilippe told reporters ahead of Saturday.

As for the other favourites for the win, Alaphilippe said he was looking forward to renewing his rivalry with Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel. The last time the three competed against each other was at the Tour of Flanders last autumn when the Frenchman crashed after colliding with a race motorbike.

"They are two of the big favourites, that's clear," Alaphilippe continued. "You can see the shape of Van der Poel from the last couple of races. And with Van Aert, he won last year and he's really strong. Even if this is his first race, he can still win. From my side, I'm just happy to take the start on Saturday with a big motivation. We have to be smart. It's a really hard race and the legs will talk. I'm happy to have good sensations, but I can't wait to win."

Picture the scene. You're in the final stretch of a big weekend ride and haven't eaten since you scranned that last snack well over an hour ago. That all too familiar feeling of pedalling squares descends and all you can think about is food: Jelly Babies, Haribo, an entire packet of Jaffa Cakes...Anything, 'just give me sugar' your body screams...You grind over the crest of the next hill, and what meets your eye? A Dunkin' Donuts bike-thru...Is it a mirage? No, it's real. You're saved. You can gorge your bodyweight in carbs and roll home as a champion...

That's the good news, Dunkin' Donuts now has a bike-thru for cyclists to pick up on the go. The bad news is you'll need to ride to the other side of the world to use it because this game-changing service is only available at Dunkin' Donuts Philippines' Quezon City branch...

Hopefully it's a sign of things to come and the next time you bonk and crave all the donuts in the world, you won't have to slink out of a petrol station holding a box of 12 Krispy Kremes...Give the people what they want...