🇧🇪 Wout van Aert wins the time trial in the 🇮🇹 Tirreno-Adriatico by beating Stefan Küng and Filippo Ganna. What a machine. Two stage wins and 2nd in GC behind the Tour de France winner. GC test more than succesfull. 👏 #TirrenoAdriaticopic.twitter.com/A9AtKSTPD5
— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) March 16, 2021
Is Wout van Aert winning anything a surprise?Probably not, but the Belgian marked the end of the race with an upset of sorts, bagging another stage win to go with his opening day victory by beating heavy pre-stage favourite Filippo Ganna. That was the big story of the day, Ganna has looked imperious against the clock for over a year and was gunning for his ninth consecutive TT win.
Van Aert foiled that, so did Stefan Küng of FDJ, meaning Ganna had to settle for third. Van Aert's win wasn't enough to overhaul Tadej Pogačar's handsome advantage as the Slovenian wins the race by 1:03. Mikel Landa held on to his podium place too.
All that's left is for Tadej to raise the greatest trophy in the sport...
Game over, I’ve found the greatest trophy in sport. Neptune’s trident is awarded to the overall winner of the Tirreno Adriatico road race. pic.twitter.com/7asgsfqED0
— Gavin Price (@pilliarscreatio) March 16, 2021
About yesterday 🥶 https://t.co/ZVSQMb9BHK
— Mathieu Van der Poel (@mathieuvdpoel) March 15, 2021
Mathieu van der Poel said he went for a ridiculous 50km solo victory at Tirreno-Adriatico on Sunday because he was cold. It was another incredible performance from the great man, and according to somebody who should know, it was his best ever ride. Mathieu's father, Adrie van der Poel told Het Nieuwsblad his son is still finding ways to surprise him.
"What Mathieu did at Tirreno is by far his best ride ever. In this field, with this weather, on that course, with such a final and then standing against the best riders in the world – he can still surprise me," Adrie explained.
Van der Poel took his second win of the week by attacking with 50km to go, building his advantage to three minutes, before holding off a charging Tadej Pogačar on a punchy finishing circuit packed with steep climbs. Today at Tirreno, the final riders are off the start ramp for the individual time trial. Stefan Küng is currently in the hot seat.
A cyclist was chased off the road near Thunder Bay in Canada by a ram whose owner says it just really likes people...The black ram called Ozzy chased after Keith Ailey after he rode past. Here's what happened in Keith's own words..."I'm coming down from the north end and I see something black across the road, you know, maybe 300 metres in front of me. And it was pretty big for a dog and really hairy … It was too small for a bear.
"As soon as I went past him, he did a full-on sprint. He was kind of charging and making some, some grunts, or pretty deep baas at the very least. I looked back and he was there. He was running after me and if I slowed down, he would speed up. And I thought, I wonder if he's going to give me a good shot here."
The ram followed the cyclist for more than a kilometre before Ailey waved down an oncoming truck, fearing it would hit the animal. Luckily for him, the truck distracted the ram for long enough to let him to pedal away. Ozzy returned to his farm where his owners told CBC that he's in fact the "sweetest creature on earth" who just loves people. Funny way of showing it...Although, I'd take bumping into Ozzy over a bear any day...
A drunk cyclist refused to leave his bike and walk home despite falling over twice in front of a garda outside the Dáil Éireann. When Val Pusanov tried to ride away for a third time he was arrested after falling off again. Judge Brian O'Shea found the 51-year-old guilty of drunk-cycling and fined him €400.
Pusanov pleaded not guilty to the charge and claimed he had four beers at lunchtime which had worn off and that he had trouble balancing because of an arm injury. The Irish Independent reports that a garda told Dublin District Court he was on duty when he saw the man fall off twice.
When he went to check he was alright he noticed the man was slurring his words and smelt of alcohol so told him to lock his bike and walk home. Pusanov became "very argumentative" and was "stubborn" so tried to ride away again before falling off for a third time and being arrested.
We shared the news on the blog a few weeks ago that cyclists in Melbourne face £900 fines if caught riding faster than the 10km/h speed limit on the Southbank Promenade. 3AW now reports that more than 100 cyclists, e-bike riders and scooter riders were caught speeding during the three-week crackdown.
A total of 45 people were charged for travelling at more than 23km/h, while 33 people were fined for not wearing a helmet. Nine people were fined for using unregistered scooters or skateboards.
Another seven people were caught using their phones while cycling or riding a scooter and more than 500 people received warnings...Cyclists who have been charged on summons can be prosecuted with a maximum penalty of $1652.20 (£900). This has been widely criticised with many people on social media saying it is ridiculous that the fine is double the state of Victoria's maximum penalty for speeding drivers.
However, Southbank Acting Senior Sergeant Brett Sidebottom disagrees: "We know the majority of people using the space are trying to do so safely, however there were a small amount of people blatantly doing the wrong thing who were penalised or now face charges to be heard at court," he said in a statement.
"Given the overwhelming and positive feedback we received as part of the operation we will continue to conduct regular patrols and activities in the area to ensure both pedestrians and cyclists remain safe."
🚨 STAGE ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨
We're excited to announce that Walsall will welcome the Women's Tour for the first time when it hosts the start and finish of stage two on Tuesday 5 October.@WalsallCouncil#WomensTour#UCIWWT
— The Women's Tour (@thewomenstour) March 16, 2021
The latest stage of the rearranged Women's Tour will be held in Walsall, with the West Midlands town hosting the start and finish of the stage on Tuesday 5 October. Last week the race's organisers announced the penultimate stage of the week would run from Colchester to Clacton. The race will start in Bicester and finish in Felixstowe six days later. Race director Mick Bennett said the Walsall stage is close to his heart having grown up in the area. The remaining host towns and cities as well as the routes are expected to be announced this summer.
SweetSpot postponed the race from its original June slot in the calendar due to the pandemic, believing October gives them the best chance of running the event.
No helmet... no hi-viz... pic.twitter.com/lIIYQBnS2F
— BootsOnABike (@boots_bike) March 14, 2021
We've long been on the case of Shimano's new Dura-Ace groupset. In October, we thought we spotted a new wireless groupset on Remco Evenepoel's bike in an Instagram video. Now, one of our readers has got in touch to point out another possible clue. Over the weekend on BMC's website the spec for the Roadmachine ONE was listed with unreleased Shimano Dura-Ace 12-speed...that's until it was removed from the site.
From the silhouette of the bike we can't see anything about the components that look any different to the current generation of Dura-Ace, which suggests only the text has been updated to say that the new Roadmachine 01 will feature 12-speed shifting.
12-speed was at the top of our wishlist for things we wanted to see from Shimano's new Dura-Ace groupset. If the information given on the screenshots turn out to be true, then our tech team should be happy to see that it looks like there won't be a 10T cog à la Sram. What about wireless shifting? From the evidence presented here, we're still not sure...
Check out our full piece speculating what Shimano's new Dura-Ace Groupset could look like...
Another day at #HammersmithBridge. Flooded paths again - no other way to get home from school. Children here are 11 and 12, they are traumatised by their daily school run. How can this be happening in 21st-century London? @grantshapps@charlottev@Heidi_LDNpic.twitter.com/zcE2Kr3HvC
— Julia LlewellynSmith (@JuLlewellyn) March 15, 2021
Flooding on this stretch of the Thames is nothing new. At high tide the water levels often cover Putney Embankment forcing people to go by other routes and drivers scramble to move their now damp motors. However, with Hammersmith Bridge closed, it has become one of the most important routes away from Putney towards the south west for active travel.
The next road up is busy and has no cycling infrastructure meaning that the embankment is the best choice for families cycling...That's some context to why The Times newspaper journalist Julia Llewellyn Smith called on Grant Shapps to offer kids a safer route by bike. The writer said her children "are traumatised by their daily school run" of having to negotiate the flooded path.
Terrible!
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) March 16, 2021
Point is there has not been a way to cross the Thames for seven months because #HammersmithBridge is fully closed. So what was once a 10 minute walk is now a 45 minute bike ride, involving flooded paths and navigating an unlit park famous for dogging
— Julia LlewellynSmith (@JuLlewellyn) March 16, 2021
Try driving a bin wagon and you’ll soon realise it’s not just cyclists they have an issue with. 20 seconds is the average time before they get stupid ideas.
— Part of the Problem (@brucethebruce) March 15, 2021
We asked and you lot delivered. There were so many replies about what causes road rage that it's worth collecting some more for this morning's blog...Richard Chaplin suggested: "'I hate cyclists' translates roughly as 'I don't know how to drive properly when I encounter them.'"
It's largely about territory and control.
Obvs not all drivers hate cyclists, but the ones that do want and need to be in charge of their little empires. Ppl on bikes take a bit of that away from them. And they generally hate caravanners, horse riders, and escooterists too. https://t.co/NGgh8KhY9N— Real Gaz on a proper bike #fbpe (@gazza_d) March 15, 2021
A well-considered Facebook reply from Benson Blackmore said: "It's a real conundrum as a high proportion of cyclists are also drivers. I can safely drive my vehicle around cyclists without endangering them so why can't so many do the same? Does there need to be more attention given when learning and being tested re the safety of vulnerable road users? We can all share the road safely if more patience and consideration is used, we all want to get from A to B as quickly and safely as possible."
Look, if I'm being honest, I just think it's jealousy.
In cities, bicycles are quicker than cars, don't don't sit in traffic, get away from signals quicker, have cycle boxes, and keeps people fit.
Drivers despise this. They feel they should be the faster ones.
Well, tough luck
— All Brompton, No Lycra 💚 (@cyclingheavy) March 15, 2021
It's partly because they have to switch off the autopilot and actually concentrate on what they're doing when they encounter us.
— Graham Brant (@GrahamBrant6) March 15, 2021