🎼 Astana Is My Team - Cycling Rap Music Video!
The path to big goals is best started by rallying together as united and motivated team!
Today we are setting the tone for the whole season, which, we are sure, will be successful!#AstanaQazaqstanTeampic.twitter.com/B13l6JA4gr— Astana Qazaqstan Team (@AstanaQazTeam) February 1, 2022
My most sincere apologies for what you are about to hear...
Astana, Vincenzo and Vino decided the best way to hype up their new season was dropping...a rap track. Thoughts...
Vinokourov has to be the next Bond villain. End of discussion. From Kazakhstan with Love, Cat 2 Licence to Kill, Team Skyfall, The World Championships Is Not Enough etc etc...
Joe Dombrowski definitely spent his 90s/00s childhood learning all the words to Eminem verses...
As far as bars go..."Our job is to win, Astana is my team, we're riding to win and it will be done"...is right down there fighting relegation...rhymning team with Kazakhstan seems dubious too...
If only it was a Miguel Ángel López Movistar diss track...
Former European champion Matteo Trentin believes the roads are getting more dangerous for cyclists. In an interview with Cycling Weekly off the back of Egan Bernal and Imogen Cotter's crashes last week, Trentin said cyclists are forced to "take more and more care on the roads" due to the dangers.
"It's more of a jungle than a proper training environment. That's what we have to deal with every single day, everybody knows it," Trentin suggested.
"Every time you step out your door going for training in the morning you never know which side you're going to come back on. Whether it's upright, or laid down in some kind of ambulance. We have to take more and more care on the roads.
"There's more traffic, people are getting more nervous. I cannot even count how many times a car passed me and then straight away turned right. Or a car has passed me and then stopped on a speed bump ten metres after. It happened already today. People get stressed for nothing. Then you put someone who's cycling in danger."
After a two year hiatus the Urban Hill Climb, organised by the London Cycling Campaign is back. The charity and membership organisation working to make cycling in London safe, accessible and enjoyable for everyone runs the popular hill climb up Swain's Lane, a short but steep climb in Highgate averaging 8 per cent, with a 20 per cent maximum.
We'll bring you all the details closer to the time...
"Two cyclists are pictured taking up less than 25% of the road width by someone in a car that takes up 50% of the road width.
— Simon (@BarryShawkins) February 1, 2022
A reminder of how one Mail columnist, living in Florida, interpreted last week's Highway Code changes...
🇧🇪 Vincent Baestaens has a concussion as a result of his early crash in CX Worlds. He continued his race and finished 32nd. "I didn't even know that the race was over. I thought that I still had to do five more laps. Apparently I've ridden on autopilot."https://t.co/nB5bWeaLmS
— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) January 31, 2022
Contrary to the tweet above Belgian rider Vincent Baestaens finished 31st at Sunday's 'cross worlds after crashing on the opening lap. But worryingly, the 32-year-old did so without realising he was racing.
"I didn't even know the race was over," he told Wielerflits. "I thought it was about five more laps. They had to get me off the bike. But apparently I rode the World Championships on autopilot, without realising much of it. I don't remember anything about my fall either.
"Unfortunately, the doctor Kris Van Der Mieren only saw the images of my fall later and said that he should never have allowed me to continue."
Baestaens was taken to hospital post-race and was diagnosed with a serious concussion.
"It turns out I did not make the right decision to continue racing," he concluded.
.@CalebEwan venceu a etapa 01 do #SaudiTourpic.twitter.com/CfH9xKuD4g
— País do Ciclismo (@DoCiclismo) February 1, 2022
This could be a very familiar sight in 2022 — Caleb Ewan's Lotto Soudal sprint train setting the Australian sprinter up for victory.
It turns out the plane necessary for the TV pictures to be broadcast (don't ask me how it works) wasn't allowed to take off, so all we got were finish line shots. When the kids cleared off and the peloton rounded the final bend Ewan, led by Jasper De Buyst was well in control, winning easily on the first day of term.
Brit Dan McLay just missed out on the top 10. To think by the end of the year, if all goes exactly to plan, Ewan may well have won Milan-San Remo, Giro stages, Tour stages, and a rainbow jersey at a home world championships...
Something tells me a January win in Saudi Arabia wasn't too high on his wishlist in the grand scheme of things, but hey, no win's a bad win...
There's an actual bike race happening today (remember them)...stage one of the Saudi Tour is underway...
Although you wouldn't know it from the TV pictures, which have been...well, non-existent so far...
All's good though. They've wheeled out a peloton of the local kids for a finish line crit. Who's your money on?
Which reminds us, L'Équipe has won the best headline of 2022 prize already...
Hors catégorie headline from @lequipepic.twitter.com/5bdVvLKclW
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) February 1, 2022
After all the hysteria of last week's Highway Code columns in the Mail, Telegraph and Spectator, Autoexpresses' longest-serving reporter Mike Rutherford has penned an opinion piece titled 'Learn the new Highway Code and you could save lives'...
In the piece, Rutherford urges motorists to buy a physical copy of the 2022 Highway Code and afterwards invest £25 in a one-hour session with a driving instructor to "appraise your driving"..."you’ll learn an awful lot about your good and bad habits."
For the overwhelming majority of us, the most dangerous thing we’ll do today is drive a car, walk on or cross a road, or ride a bike on a public highway.
A driver can invest a paltry £50 right now to significantly reduce his or her chances of being involved in a prang at this most risky time of year. Read what follows and you might just save a life – possibly your own.
All his other top tips can read here...
Yesterday's Near Miss of the Day happened on Wiggins Lane in Lancashire where another road.cc reader had a memorable encounter of their own...
No dangerous driving, just a Wiggins on Wiggins...
We received this in our inbox this morning... nice of them to think of us...
There's a 38 Degrees petition asking for it to be mandatory for cyclists to use cycle lanes...and it has a whopping 11 signatures on it...
The whole point of the new Highway Code is to make it safer for cyclist's (sic). Surely its safer if they have there own cycling path to use then ride on the road. That's why it should be mandatory to use one if it's been provided.
Why is this important?
The amount of tax payers' money that has been spent to create safe cycling lanes. It should be mandatory to use them instead of cycling on the road
Pfff. Raise you pic.twitter.com/bdfB9Pi1Ev
— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) February 1, 2022
Anyone managed to take a pair of disc pads further than this? (Not that we'd recommend it)...
Egan Bernal has thanked the specialists at Clínica Universidad de La Sabana hospital in Bogotá, revealing he had a 95 per cent chance of becoming a paraplegic after crashing while training in Colombia.
He wrote on Instagram: "Having had a 95 per cent chance of becoming a paraplegic and nearly losing my life doing what I love to do most. Today I want to thank God, and all the specialists at Clínica Universidad de La Sabana for doing the impossible, my family, my partner, friends and all of you for your wishes.
"I'm still in the ICU waiting for more surgeries but trusting in God everything will be fine. With the unconditional support of Ineos Grenadiers and Xabier Artetxe [Bernal's coach]."
Silca has launched a bigger version of its Mattone seat bag with a BOA Closure system which is claimed to be 15 times stronger than velcro options. The brand says that this ensures the new Mattone Grande (priced at £55) "remains ‘high and tight’ under your saddle until you need to access it… no swinging, swaying or rattling… ever!"
According to Silca, the bag can carry up to three road tubes along with two CO2 cartridges, two tyre levers and a multi-tool. An internal pocket can also be used for storing a credit card or cash.
The pack has a water resistant exterior and is closed with a water resistant YKK zipper.
Getting half wheeled by Cam… so I dropped him 👌 Lovely day out in Tenby pic.twitter.com/fxPWnDbaLi
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) January 31, 2022
Okay, G. We've finally worked it out the joke...
You're not actually training in Wales. Very good. At least it snared a few more of his followers, eager to get out and meet their hero on local roads. 'Strange, they must have repainted the road lines yellow'...
Syncros has revealed its new iS storage line-up which is designed to provide a safe, sleek and integrated way of carrying ride essentials.
"Our integrated Storage concept considers ride essentials as, well, essential," Syncros says. "Meaning you should have them on every ride, long or short, whether you need them or not."
The iS Coupe Cage is the version for road riders. The 10 function multi-tool is housed behind the bottle and Syncros says it features a special finish for higher resistance to corrosion.
A CO2 inflator or a high-pressure mini-pump can also be added. "The valve is protected to avoid accidental engagement and our design allows you to easily control the rate and flow of CO2."
Not really going the way Susan wanted it to eh? pic.twitter.com/nEkAfD8yBn
— CyclingInASkirt (@CyclingInASkirt) January 31, 2022
Road tax, eh. I imagine we'll still be talking about it on the live blog in 2050...
By that point technology will probably be so advanced we'll upload the blog directly to your minds (it'll save you having to read my ramblings) and yet someone out there will almost certainly still be spouting about cyclists paying road tax...
Today's instance is more amusing than the usual angry keyboard warrior replying to an outrageous police tweet telling them to look out for cyclists. It involves a poll, because if there's one thing Britain loves, it's a yes/no vote...
Susan reckoned she'd put it to the people — 'As cyclists are given more of a priority on the roads. I'm asking, should they pay a road tax or at least some sort insurance? (This would be for public roads only, not country parks or similar).'
Now, you've probably already seen the result of said poll above, but for some reason we don't think it quite went the way Susan was expecting. I say that because it has now been deleted and her account set to private...
The result? 7 per cent in favour of a road tax for cyclists or some sort of insurance, 92 per cent against it, and 1 per cent for only a road tax or unsure.
Maybe there'll be a second vote...
Time for some reaction...Tim gets us underway with an old favourite...
Road damage is 4th power of wheel load. If I pay £2 a year road levy for my bike, proportional levy for a small hatchback is £20,000. Bring it on.
— Tim Altham 🇪🇺 💙 (@TimAltham) January 31, 2022
— Adam Fry (@Adski11892) January 31, 2022