Prince of Wheels. Prince Charles climbs on a bike to join representatives of the British Asian Trust and kickstart the charity’s ‘Palaces on Wheels’ cycling event at Highgrove. pic.twitter.com/AQBrQxwaSz
— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) June 10, 2021
After a shaky start Prince Charles got it right second time as he saw off riders on the Palace on Wheels fundraising ride from Highgrove. The event aims to raise £1million for the British Asian Trust, which Prince Charles is the patron of. The Express reports Prince Charles joked about not being fit enough to wear Lycra as he was given one of the charity event kits before wishing the riders good luck...
Prince Charles also told reporters that he had not cycled in a few years but had been practicing ahead of the engagement...Practicing or training? I can't really see Prince Charles nipping out for some hill reps...
🥇He's done it! @TamauPogi rode solo to victory in the stage 2 of the #TourofSlovenia🇸🇮! 🎉#UAETeamEmirates#RideTogetherpic.twitter.com/frhM73rqN0
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) June 10, 2021
It might only be the Tour of Slovenia and the key stages of the Tour de France are still a month away but Tadej Pogačar has shown his early form winning the second stage of his home race. The 2020 Tour de France champion went away on his own and opened a gap of 1:22 by the finish, almost certainly securing the overall race win as well barring any misfortune. British rider James Shaw was in the first group behind the UAE Team Emirates star and earned a respectable sixth place on the stage.
Elsewhere, we've got what looks like a GC day in Switzerland and a TT in Belgium on the menu...
🥇 WORLD CHAMPION 🥇
🌈 #Cascais2021
🇬🇧 #GBCTpic.twitter.com/Qa3230ric3— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) June 10, 2021
Talking of Britain's most successful cyclists...Dame Sarah Storey has won her 24th rainbow jersey today, winning the WC5 time trial at the Para-Cycling World Championships in Cascais in Portugal. It is her 11th on the road to go with 13 from the track, as well as just the nine cycling Paralympic gold medals (plus a few in swimming events too).
It was a one-two for Team GB, with Crystal Lane-Wright taking silver in the first event...11 other GB riders are in with a medal chance this afternoon...
Things we love to see...four-time Olympic gold medallist Laura Kenny getting a lift to 'work' in a cargo bike pulled by six-time gold medallist Jason Kenny...that's a lot of gold medals for one cargo bike...
Remco Evenepoel was back to close to his swashbuckling best on the opening stage of his home tour yesterday. He did not get the stage win that his efforts deserved but he took control of the general classification thanks to his 28-second advantage on the road and 15 bonus seconds...and he expects to go even better in today's time trial...
"I'm very happy, even though I feel that I can still gain a few per cent. It is not quite what it should be, but I am on the right track," Evenepoel said. "I felt in Italy that the decline after the first ten days was serious, every day again. The goal was to gain as much time as possible on the chasers and we can be content with the way it panned out, as it’s a perfect start for us. Tomorrow in the time trial I want to extend my lead."
Is @luke_durbridge1 applying for a role as Hulk?! 😂 @GreenEDGEteam@srfsport@VelonCCpic.twitter.com/qAYdE6J0C5
— Tour de Suisse (@tds) June 10, 2021
Luke Durbridge inconspicuously uploads his rides to Strava under the name 'Buzz Lightyear' and it looks like he's been getting into character over at Tour de Suisse...
I can't say I blame any of the comments rolling in about the helmet safety vid from Denmark...even as well done as it is, I'd say you are well within your rights to have a pop at the underlying message...
Sparrowlegs wrote: "As funny as the vid is (and I thought it was hilarious) it reminds me of one of the last scenes in Blackadder Goes Forth where Lt George says he wouldn't want to face the German's machine guns without his stick. Wearing a helmet does very little if you're hit by some prick in a car. It might if you fall off by your own hand but all this does is allow the "higher ups" to walk away satisfied that if a cyclist is in an accident (whatever accident that may be) and isn't wearing a helmet then it's their own fault."
Kamoshika added: "It may be a funny video but it makes me sad that even in Denmark helmet propaganda is starting to creep in."
Sriracha was more concerned with my description of being impaled by an axe...fair enough.
Peaty's LinkLube all-weather premium chain lube has been designed for those long days in the saddle, especially when you live here in the UK and an unwanted shower is never too far away. It uses the same formula as the brand's standard all-weather lube but is claimed to last 30 per cent longer. The test for that was done at home during the pandemic with the help of Paralympic gold medallist Steve Bate.
Bate was given the standard LinkLube and compared it to the premium while riding an epic 1,000-mile turbo trainer ride over ten days...in those very specific conditions, Peaty's found that the new product lasted 500 miles before wearing out, compared to 380 miles in the same conditions...a 31.5 per cent increase in durability. Not the most scientific test I hear some of you say, but hey, what are you going to do during a lockdown? It is expensive though...priced at £9.99 for 60ml or £15.99 for 120ml, so you would hope that 500-mile figure still applies when riding out on the road...
Wout van Aert has been ordered to pay €662,000 to Nick Nuyens, the owner of Sniper Cycling, after being found to have breached his contract by an Antwerp Court. Van Aert left Verandas Willems-Crelan in 2018 after terminating his contract to join Jumbo-Visma. The long-running legal battle continued on Wednesday with the labour court's original decision to exonerate Van Aert being overturned at appeal. Van Aert can appeal the latest decision in a court of cassation.
Nuyens' lawyer had originally demanded damages of €1.2 million when his star rider walked away from the team before joining WorldTour Jumbo-Visma shortly after. Nuyens' lawyer Rudi Desmet was unsurprisingly content with the latest verdict: "They went back to the essence of this file and asked whether Nick Nuyens actually made a mistake and there was therefore an urgent reason for Van Aert to end the collaboration. Today we know that Nuyens did not make that mistake."
Van Aert's lawyer Walter Van Steenbrugge told Het Laatste Nieuws: "The interpretation of the court deviates 180 degrees from the judgment of the labour court. It is not nice for us to see that the position of the labour court in Mechelen that was very favourable to us and that was put on paper very clearly, is now completely nullified."
Van Aert terminated his deal with Sniper Cycling, formerly the Verandas Willems-Crelan team, at the end of 2018 before riding independently during that cyclo-cross season. Shortly after joining Jumbo-Visma in March, Nuyens took legal action. Van Aert's defence was that he had an "urgent reason" to terminate his contract and he accused Nuyens of coercing the coach Niels Albert to sign an incriminating statement about him.
Don't worry, we're not planning on having this descend into another tedious helmet debate...forget the message if you can, we're just here for pure entertainment value. As far as road safety public service announcements go, this one is up there...
"Svend, shouldn't you be wearing your helmet?"..."No, it's annoying it makes my scalp itch"...
The Danish Road Safety Council are responsible for this comedy that is surely worthy of a sequel...does Svend stick to his promise and wear his helmet in England? Does it save him from being impaled by an Anglo-Saxon axe? So many questions...
We are just happy to see cycling safety issues being addressed in a way that does not involve a major traffic monitoring group telling cyclists to not ride at night...visuals straight off the big screen and some Viking comedy are an added bonus...
And the Danes' effort has certainly got people laughing...unlike UAE-based airline Emirates' 2016 advert featuring a cyclist riding through Amsterdam...with a helmet photoshopped on...
Give the people what they want...more Vikings, less photoshop...