Pierre Latour, Sean Bennett and Omer Goldstein have made the breakaway and have four minutes on the peloton led by Mark Cavendish's entire Deceuninck-Quick-Step team...I think we can guess which way this one's going.
It's looking like a classic Tour sprint stage, but will Cav win? get voting in the poll we posted earlier...It's pretty tight...57 per cent say he's going to do it.
Away from the Tour, Quick-Step have announced Fabio Jakobsen has signed a new contract to keep him with the team until at least the end of 2023. Jakobsen has made his return to racing this year, helping Cavendish win four stages in Turkey and taking his best result of the year at the Dutch national championships.
Veteran Iljo Keisse has also extended his deal for another year and announced the news with a very, very bizarre video. I guess Patrick Lefevere has to get his money's worth out of Remco somehow...
Happy and proud to sign my 13th and last contract with @deceuninck_qst !
Thanks @PatLefevere to give me the opportunity to end my career with my beloved Wolfpack 💙🐺 pic.twitter.com/uQ5GvQmGMc— Iljo Keisse (@IljoKeisse) July 8, 2021
So we limit e-scooters to 8mph and ebikes to 15mph because SaFeTy.
But cars? 140MPH in a few seconds, no worries.
…I mean, it’s not like they’ve ever actually hurt anyone? Car drivers are really responsible. https://t.co/su7xiCD7fJ
— Mike Stead (@tweetymike) July 9, 2021
📢New data shows Cycleway 9 in Chiswick success:
🚲 Cycle numbers up 72%, with bikes now 20% of all vehicles
🚑 Collisions down by half
💚 Improved air quality, with consistently lower levels of NO2, NO & PMs@MayorofLondon& @LBofHounslow - greener, cleaner and healthier pic.twitter.com/CGFCPF87fV— Will Norman (@willnorman) July 9, 2021
The data is in from a trial cycle lane in Chiswick. Figures from Transport for London shows it led to a significant increase in the number of people cycling in the area, while also leading to a reduction in the number of people being hurt while cycling. The temporary protected cycle lane on Chiswick High Road has been in place since December 2020 and is an amended version of earlier designs for Cycleway 9.
Cycling on the route increased by 72 per cent on weekdays between February and April 202, with up to 2,700 people a day using the lane. A total of 20 per cent of 'vehicles' now using the road during the day are bikes.
Provisional Metropolitan Police data also suggests the route is safer than before with the eight collisions involving a cyclist in the 12 months before the lane's construction falling to two such collisions in the six months afterwards. Data from an air quality monitoring station has also shown an improvement in air quality, with nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter levels all showing consistently lower levels than before the cycle lane was installed.
If you haven't heard, football might be coming home...and you've got Wattbike to thank for it. The brand's CEO, Richard Baker has proudly pointed out that the bikes have a "fundamental role in the coming days to help England seal the victory on home soil".
No, Gareth isn't so confident that he plans to replace Jordan Pickford with a static bike for the final. Although a Wattbike might have got closer to that free kick...Baker's link is that the squad uses the bikes in training...
"It fills me with immense pride to know that Wattbikes have been selected and utilised as a trusted training tool so far," he said. "The training that goes into preparing for the Euros tournament is intense. It requires equipment that provides data insights to improve individual players’ fitness levels.
"The unrivalled data and accuracy that a Wattbike can provide is priceless. It’s also typical for players to use the bikes for low-impact off-feet conditioning in between games, as well as injury rehabilitation."
So remember Wattbike when you're ripping out bike lane wands in celebration on Sunday evening...
As you can see on the interactive map for today, it's another stage where the threat of crosswinds can't be ignored. Without the wind or 12 gruelling stages already in the legs, you'd say stage 13 is a nailed on sprint.
Will Deceuninck-Quick-Step try and control it for Cav? Or will we see a repeat of yesterday with the Belgians happy to let a breakaway sweep up the green jersey points? It's an interesting dilemma, but with five tough mountain stages in a row after today you'd think they would want to give Cav a chance now and worry about the green jersey later...
Today's all about Cav, but yesterday should be all about Marianne Vos. The Dutch cycling legend won stage seven of Giro d'Italia Donne, the biggest women's stage race and closest thing to a women's Grand Tour, to take her tally to 30 stage wins. On Instagram, Cav called Vos the "GOAT" (greatest of all time) and said her achievements continue to inspire him.
Vos is in her 16th season as a professional and has racked up 12 world championship victories in that time across three disciplines - road, track and cyclo-cross. Next year she should get the chance to race the long-awaited women's Tour de France, which will launch in 2022.
A female equivalent of the biggest race in the world has been missing since 1989 and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will begin on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on the same day the men's race finishes. It will run from July 24-31 and will consist of eight stages.
Una ciclista repartidora de DIDI pasó por encima de un vehículo, debido a que el automovilista no respetó la ciclovía en el centro histórico de #Querétaro; el auto resulto dañado. pic.twitter.com/sM9EMUzttL
— Qué Poca Madre (@QuePocaMadre_Mx) July 2, 2021
A delivery rider in Querétaro, Mexico, was filmed stomping over a car parked in a bike lane during a march demanding safer conditions for cyclists. The protest was organised by the Union of Cyclists in Querétaro (UCIQ) to raise awareness of the dangers cyclists experience every day to hopefully prevent further deaths on the road.
The protestor, wearing a food delivery backpack, was filmed walking straight over the obstruction as fellow protesters can be heard shouting: "It's a bike path, don't you understand?"
UCIQ member José Antonio Morán told Mexico News Daily: "When there is a lack of road culture and authorities stay silent and speeding, recklessness and non-compliance with traffic rules are not adequately sanctioned we fall into the chaos."
According to Infobae, there have been 43 collisions involving drivers and cyclists in the Mexican city this year, resulting in three deaths. In the city's defence, transport director Saúl Obregón said 43 million pesos (£1.5 million) had been invested building 80,000 square metres of bike lanes.
It's not the first time we've covered Mexican cyclists taking the no-nonsense approach...Back in 2011, activists in Mexico City painted a 5km guerilla cycle lane after progress on building a new network stalled...