Have @Rossobus warned drivers to look out for lanky blokes with camera signs on their bikes? I moaned about a #ClosePass last week and they promised to do something… Look at this from this morning. Waited behind until it was safe to pass. Driver got a big thumbs up and a wave pic.twitter.com/XmLYEwVi2X
— PassPixi (@PassPixi) July 14, 2021
Italian clothing brand La Passione has raised €7 million from a group of investors, to be funded over four years. "We have climbed many positions in the market in terms of sales, becoming a relevant brand in the industry. Now we want to increase our brand awareness, exploring new territories where online and offline marketing are integrated. The round will grant the development of these new projects," said company co-founder and CEO Giuliano Ragazzi.
Former pro rider Andrea Tonti is one of the investors in the brand, which expects revenues exceeding €10 million in 2021 with 35 per cent of custom coming from the US and UK.
1/ Today's Tour de France stage is a mountain-top finish at Col de Portet. At 2215 metres it's 100 metres higher than nearby Col du Tourmalet. This it's 2nd Tour appearance. It was paved for its 2018 Tour debut. It was gravel when I visited. #TDF2021pic.twitter.com/SYfLaSPLVG
— cyclingchallenge (@cyclingalps) July 14, 2021
The road may now be paved but it's still an epic climb to finish stage 17. Chris Froome is one rider who will have bad memories of Col du Portet. This was the climb where, in 2018, he dropped 48 seconds to teammate Geraint Thomas, fell to third on GC and pledged his support to G. Nairo Quintana was the winner that day, while Dan Martin took second.
Today's stage got underway half an hour ago...Lukas Pöstlberger, Anthony Perez, Danny van Poppel and Dorian Godon are at the head of the race. As it's Bastille Day and with the words of their sports directors probably still ringing in their ears, Anthony Turgis, Maxime Chevalier and Julien Bernard are giving chase behind.
Over on our forum there was a fair bit of debate about Mark Cavendish and whether the Manxman deserves a knighthood? We brought it to you guys, the good people of the live blog, for a classic bit of democracy...79 per cent agree Cav's done enough for an honour, while nine per cent agreed but think it should be something other than a knighthood. Only 12 per cent thought he shouldn't...
That's as scientific as it gets...go on Queen 'Liz, make it Sir Cav.
It’s a beautiful day to go to space. We’ve arrived at @Spaceport_NM. Get ready to watch LIVE at 7:30 am PT | 10:30 am ET | 3:30 pm BST https://t.co/PcvGTmA661#Unity22pic.twitter.com/4KjGPpjz0M
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 11, 2021
Virgin Galactic has admitted Richard Branson's pre-flight spin to the space flight launch site, which was shown in a widely-shared video on the company's stream of the event, didn't happen. The video showed Branson riding a bike to the Spaceport America launch site, taking off his helmet on arrival before greeting crewmates.
Virgin Galactic yesterday admitted to Reuters that the video was actually filmed on Monday 5 July and that Branson did not ride his bike to the launch. "The footage of Sir Richard Branson shown during the event on Sunday was prerecorded and misidentified in the broadcast. We regret the error and any confusion it may have caused," a Virgin Galactic official confirmed to Reuters.
Trek Bicycles claimed Branson rode one of its custom-made bikes on launch day, but it turns out the clip, which Branson shared to Twitter and was published by Virgin with the line 'earlier today', was actually from a week earlier. After the flight, Branson said, "It's so awesome to arrive on a bicycle, across this beautiful New Mexico countryside."
The most expensive fan in cycling ?#TissotNationsCuppic.twitter.com/yrCp1EnEwe
— UCI Track Cycling (@UCI_Track) July 12, 2021
Does the price include someone to wave it or is that extra?
The next two stages are the final days of this year's Tour de France in the mountains and the race organisers might just have saved the best until last. Stage 17 takes the peloton from Muret to the Hors Catégorie Col du Portet via two 1st Category mountains - the Peyresourde and Col de Val Louron-Azet.
The first 110km are flat and easy as the riders ease their way towards the high mountains. Kilometre 113 is going to be key as the intermediate sprint comes before the main climbs in Bagnères-de-Luchon, so Cav should not be dropped and will hope to re-establish his lead in the green jersey competition which has been cut in recent days. Michael Matthews' superior climbing has allowed the Aussie to rack up the points while Cav has been in the grupetto, reducing the deficit to 38 points.
After the sprint it's time for the Peyresourde, a stalwart of the Tour de France route. A short descent leads to Col de Val Louron-Azet, before another short descent takes the peloton to the foot of the final climb - Col du Portet.
At 2,200m, it is huge by the Pyrenees' usually shorter, steeper standards. It's an Alpine-sized climb with Pyrenean roughness and averages 8.7 per cent for 16km, rarely dropping below 10 per cent for the first six...Can anyone crack Tadej Pogačar?
This is bad. This is always bad. If ever you see this, remember that it is bad. https://t.co/FaH0PLixYW
— Gareth Dennis (@GarethDennis) July 13, 2021
The government is currently investing £9 million in projects to improve rail journeys by running a competition where winning designs receive funding to continue to develop their plans. One such winner is PriestmanGoode whose 'Proteus' scheme provides a flexible seating layout that can be rearranged quickly to react to demand. That is how we come to this bike storage 'solution', which is one part of the design...
Unsurprisingly the reaction has been coming thick and fast...
No accommodation for full length guards or panniers.
Having to move the bike in the aisle BEFORE you can move the one near the window will be fun.
2 seats taken up by every bike to hack off the non-cyclists too, so everyone's a winner...
— Jon Vernon (@OnlyInDevon) July 13, 2021
Now try it with a proper bike with mud guards, lights, and panniers. Try it with a trike. Try it with more than two bikes. Try it with passengers standing all around because there are no seats and the previous train was cancelled at no notice. Try it when there's a pram there.
— Oscar Do Gooder Franklin (@OscarNMFranklin) July 12, 2021
Lockdown Cyclist said: "Who wants to lift up my dirty single speed bike and have it drip filth all over the seat for the next person to sit on? And imagine how pleased the next person will be who sits on a filthy seat. What happens when a passenger wants a seat and there’s a bike in the way. Garbage."
I don't understand why it needs to be made more complex than something like this: https://t.co/RdgcwOmsFN
— Sam Clifford (@samclifford) July 12, 2021
Speaking about the winning projects, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps commented: "These winners will hopefully play a role in putting passengers at the centre of our railways as we build back better from COVID-19. The competition always throws up surprises and the ideas shown today could transform how we travel in future." Right, Grant...You might want to listen to some of the reaction first...
Back in 2019, Cycling UK slammed the"awful" cycle storage on GWR's high-speed trains...And we've had our own terrible train experiences too...road.cc editor Jack took to the live blog to detail exactly what it's like trying to take a very expensive bike across the country by train. Spoiler alert: it's not fun...