£100 to rent a bike hangar...but £30 to park your car?; Could Pogačar miss Liège?; Oleg Tinkov lambasts Russian "massacre"; Roubaix behind the scenes; Cargobikes for Ukraine; No room for infra?; Changes to deadly junction + more on the live blog

This year's Transcontinental Race will be the first edition in 2020, but has been shelved during the pandemic. Now, with the race making a glorious return this summer, it is back on the table, and will offer three riders the chance to enter for free and have certain costs covered during the race.

In memory of Transcontinental Race founder Mike Hall, the bursary "reflects Mike's commitment to equality and Lost Dot's ambition to lead on improving diversity, equality and inclusion".

Three recipients will each recive free entry to the race, which starts in Geraardsbergen in Belgium, on 24 July. They will also have their costs (€1,500) covered: for travel to and from the race, accomodation and all food during the event.

"The values of inclusivity, equality and respect underpin all our work, as well as courage: be that the courage to take on the challenge of one of our races, or the courage to stand up for what we believe in," race coordinator David Ayre said. 

"We’re really excited to have Hashim, Becky and Amrei ride with us this year. Opening up the race to people who are passionate about cycling but who, in the past, have been unable to compete due to the cost is really important to us. The bursary is an important part of us nurturing Mike Hall’s legacy, ensuring that you do not need deep pockets when you have passion, determination and man’s greatest invention at your disposal."

Defending champion Tadej Pogačar should be on the startline for the third Monument of the season, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, despite Belgian media reporting the Slovenian has returned to his home country with his fiancé due to a family emergency.

Nieuwsblad is reporting the UAE Team Emirates rider returned home with Urska Zigart, who rides for Team BikeExchange, and both their teams are saying it is due to a family emergency.

The news outlet reports Pogačar will not be at the team's recon ride tomorrow but is, for now, still going to race on Sunday.

pic.twitter.com/YoLZeLz23h

— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) April 21, 2022

We have no further comment about whether or not this is Liam making the most of his Paris-Roubaix trip after a few beers...

> What is it actually like to ride the Paris-Roubaix cobbles?

Former Tinkoff-Saxo team owner and one of Russia's highest-profile tycoons has spoken out against the country's "massacre" in Ukraine. Oleg Tinkov called for the end of the "crazy war" which has not "any beneficiary".

Tinkov's comments came in an Instagram post, making him one of the most high-profile Russians to speak out against Vladimir Putin. "I don't see a SINGLE beneficiary of this insane war! Innocent people and soldiers are dying," he wrote.

"Waking up with a hangover, the generals realised that they have a shit army. And how will the army be good, if everything else in the country is shitty and mired in nepotism, sycophancy and servility?"

The businessman formerly worth $4.4bn (£3.4bn) has lost his billionaire status, according to Forbes, since the invasion and was sanctioned by the UK government. Tinkov has previously denied having a close relationship with Putin and said 90 per cent of Russians are against the war, while the remaining 10 per cent are "morons".

In 2012, Tinkov bought a cycling team formerly owned by Bjarne Riis, and sponsored the team from until 2016, during which time he oversaw Alberto Contador winning the 2015 Giro d'Italia, and offered his star rider, Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali (the three biggest GC riders at the time) 1 million euros to ride all three Grand Tours.

pic.twitter.com/0z0EcWybU1

— La Grosse Boucle (@LaGrosseBoucle) April 20, 2022

The internet really is the gift that keeps on giving... 

Drivers in Spain who stop in cycle lanes can now be fined €200 under new traffic laws, which came into effect on March 21. According to Spanish news reports the DGT (General Directorate of Traffic) has been cracking down on the behaviour, along with other distractions behind the wheel, including mobile phone usage. €200 close pass punishments have also been brought in since January.

Here's an email from a reader hoping to raise funds to support Ukrainian people with cargo bikes...

So I’ve had a cargo bike for over five years now and during the first lockdown bought another a Larry vs Harry Bullitt which was a real step up from the original. I’ve always being a keen cyclist and along with cycling got more and more interested in environmental aspects and I guess more radicalised by the people in tin boxes appearing to want to hurt us. Anyway, the war in Ukraine inspired me to think about cargo bikes as a method of transporting food and medical supplies across the towns and cities in Ukraine when obviously they may have the advantage over cars not having to rely on petrol.

I also thought if we could embed the cargo bike culture within Ukraine so when the war is over they’d be a great take up so I came up with the name Bullitts For Ukraine (ahem). I stuck my idea out over social media and immediately got my head blown off for the name, people thought it offensive etc. anyway I relented and ended up setting up a group on FB called Cargobikes for Ukraine and started to recruit people to the group.

I then found out that several of the members of this new group are Ukrainian and have a cargo bike business is Kyiv and are already operating in a similar way to what I was thinking about, so now there’s extra emphasis for me and others to try and support these and other people in Ukraine by trying to obtain funds to source second-hand or new cargo bikes potentially in all Ukrainian colours to send onto to help set up delivery business out there.

Join the Cargobikes for Ukraine Facebook group here... 

The Oxford Mail is reporting the county council has installed temporary measures aimed at reducing the speed of vehicles turning left towards the station at Oxford Parkway junction. Ellen Moilanen was killed in a collision with a lorry being driven at the Oxford Road junction on February 8.

> "One month, two dead cyclists": Oxford's cycling city sign defaced after second death

The changes involve traffic cones and signs, which are to be replaced with water-filled barriers pending decisions about what permanent changes should be made to the road layout.

"We are very supportive," Dr Alison Hill of campaign group Cyclox said. "This is something we asked for. We asked for a shortening of that junction so it would cease to be used by people speeding along up to the junction and keeping their speed up.

"Some people watched it in operation yesterday and there appeared to be some slowing down. I think it’s doing the right thing."

Oliver Lord is the head of the Clean Cities Campaign, a European coalition of organisations encouraging cities to transition to zero-emission mobility by 2030. If you start to see more #ThisIsAwkward campaign material, now you know where it's come from...

...so why is it so cheap for cars to park and those with bikes have to pay all the necessary costs, sometimes 4-5 times as much? If we want a healthier city then cycle parking should never cost more than car parking. 2/3 #ThisIsAwkwardpic.twitter.com/ubZmUoTwDg

— Oliver Lord (@0jhl) April 20, 2022

 Sharing data from Fare City, another cycle parking disparity was shown, with no London borough, as of October 2021 to March 2022, having more than 600 hangars. Per the report, some of London's most densely populated areas have an "urgent need to provide greater levels of secure residential cycle parking", with waiting list times nearly three times greater than provision.

Ah don't worry, we've got that covered too! Here's our latest billboard in Southwark. It's more than 60,000+ Londoners waiting for a space... 😑 https://t.co/siumPkxI5Dpic.twitter.com/op1xCrFNqD

— Oliver Lord (@0jhl) April 20, 2022

 Oliver concluded: "Agree, they have to be paid for and therefore cant be free. I'd argue they could be subsidised given the financial gain to NHS and social care from people cycling more. But ultimately there's something wrong when car parking is way cheaper (ie subsidised)".

It’s time for @IslingtonBC to charge properly for car parking space. It’s a huge public resource being rented out cheap. It’s shocking it costs about 50p a week to park an electric car and more than £2 per week to park one bicycle (6 bikes per bike hangar in one car space). https://t.co/NKdev48RbB

— Caroline Russell (@CarolineRussell) April 20, 2022

Maybe, just maybe, it's time to make this April Fool's gag a reality...

Don't want to disrupt our car dominated landscape with cycle storage?

Try the all-new CAMO-HANGAR©️ from Possible!

✅Blends in with all other SUVs
✅Won't trigger anti-cycling sentiment
✅Only pay for parking 1 car a year instead of 5 bikes pic.twitter.com/TYQKHdQ3vT

— Possible (@_wearepossible) April 1, 2022