Kids at Aberdeenshire schools are "gearing up" for the Tour of Britain 2022 start. Like these pupils from Braemar. https://t.co/XUqZF3Y9BP#ToBABDN@TourofBritainpic.twitter.com/7mDZdr7SwI
— Tour of Britain ABDN (@ToBABDN) May 18, 2022
PE's changed...
The tweet is still up. Fair play if you had nine hours plus on your betslip...and it's attracting even more heat...
Breaking speed limits on a bike? Are you kidding?
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) May 18, 2022
Cyclists breaking speed limits? We think what Jeremy is getting at is that as per the speed limits listed in Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and also Rule 124 of the Highway Code, cyclists are not required to adhere to the same limits which apply to motorists. Local bylaws aside, therefore, speed limits do not apply to those on bicycles.
Rule 124 outlines a table of speed limits for different vehicles, but cyclists are not included. Of course, careless and dangerous cycling charges do apply if riders are deemed to meet the criteria, but Merseyside Police knew that already, of course...
The same Merseyside Roads Policing Unit that presides over the worst rate of serious road casualties in the country is encouraging people to "cycle like you drive".
Wow. https://t.co/393xaUeF21pic.twitter.com/e2bqIhyQ2d
— Jon Burke FRSA 🌍 (@jonburkeUK) May 18, 2022
Who knows? What we do know is exactly how many hours kip the Dutchman got, thanks to Whoop...
🔥 First victory at the Giro for @alberto_dainese.
He has just ended a 10-stage fast of Italian victories!🔥 Prima vittoria al Giro per @alberto_dainese: pone fine ad un digiuno di vittorie italiane lungo 10 tappe.#Giropic.twitter.com/MsBeshn2uN
— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 18, 2022
Alberto Dainese from nowhere to the front of the sprint in about five seconds...
The Italian gave his country its first win of the year at its home Grand Tour, flying past Fernando Gaviria and Simone Consonni in the final metres. The left side of the road seemed fastest, with Mark Cavendish, Caleb Ewan and Arnaud Démare pulling up short on the right.
Gaviria went first before Consonni and Dainese jumped to his left, the latter pipping him on the line in another sprint, characteristically tight for this year's race. Pre-stage favourites Démare, Ewan and Cav rolled home in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
🇮🇹 It's a first Giro d'Italia 2022 Stage win for Italy
🥇 Alberto Dainese 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨 on home soil𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙯𝙖 Dainese! 👏#Giro | @alberto_dainese | @TeamDSMpic.twitter.com/Bfx9wQjGyE
— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 18, 2022
Now don't do what Biniam did, Alberto...
Richard Carapaz is now just 12 seconds behind Juan Pedro López after crossing the line first at the intermediate sprint on stage 11. Clever work from Ben Swift and the rest of the Ineos Grenadiers who strung it out, smashed out some watts, and left their Ecuadorian unchallenged...
Great awareness and teamwork from the Grenadiers sees @RichardCarapazM earn three bonus seconds 👊
📽️ @giroditaliapic.twitter.com/8x81WXrzpx
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) May 18, 2022
Excuse my venting breaking up your live blog on this sunny Wednesday afternoon but, inspired by James May telling us on Friday that he would cast flashing front lights into Room 101 forever, I've got a cycling pet peeve of my own.
Inward facing stem bolts...impossible to torque correctly as...well, the stem's in the way. Absolute pain in the...to adjust mid-ride with a multitool. Oh, and to top it all off, the prime adjusting real estate for the lower bolts just so happens to be slap bang in the inaccessible triangle of: stem, headset, cables...never again...
What would be your cycling Room 101?
Earlier today we heard Harry Tanfield is part of Alistair Brownlee's crack-team of aero assassins heading over to Germany to help him break the Ironman sub-7-hour record (hopefully)...
So how does a pro rider like Harry warm up for big races?
Trampolining of course...
Fasted trampolining sessions, eh? So that's the secret...
As flat as a pancake...
GIRO NEWS EXCLUSIVE!
You have to look very closely, but it’s another one for the climbers today. #Giropic.twitter.com/FvdTi60aNl— Rob Whittle (@PolkaDotRob) May 18, 2022
But not everyone reckons it'll be a snooze fest...
In for an exciting day at the #Giro despite the flat profile. Wind between 20 and 25 kph all day with plenty of crosswinds (shown in red above profile & on the map) for the initial 20 km and after they turn northwards with 92km remaining. Lots of open roads as well.#notarestdaypic.twitter.com/qPGsTwhyg0
— VeloViewer (@VeloViewer) May 18, 2022
We'll keep you up-to-date here on the live blog...
Introducing the latest police Twitter account to put their foot in it in three, two, one...
Many cyclists can exceed urban speed limits, yet brakes on pedal cycles can be weak. Think, if a child or elderly person were to unexpectedly step into your path, could you stop in time? Cycle like you drive, with curtesy, care and within the law #FatalFourpic.twitter.com/WdELsk9xpn
— Roads Policing Unit (@MerPolTraffic) May 18, 2022
Where to begin? Can many cyclists exceed urban speed limits? Are brakes on bikes weak? (The last thing we need is the cops wading into the disc vs rim debate) Cycle like you drive? 'Curtesy'? There's no shortage of ammunition here...but just remember to always offer a curtsy to pedestrians when you stop at red lights...
Or are we talking about this?
Anyway, nitpicking aside, there are more important issues to address in the tweet which still survives on Merseyside Police's account four hours on. How much longer remains to be seen...
That’s not the law, and you know it. Few cyclists can break urban speed limits, not many. Drivers are far more law breaking and dangerous and careless than cyclists. So no, I won’t be cycling like drivers drive. Your tweet is almost all wrong.
— CyclingMikey along the Rhine 🇳🇱🇪🇺🇿🇼🇺🇦 (@MikeyCycling) May 18, 2022
In 2018, drivers in the UK killed 555 pedestrians and cyclists.
In the same year, three people died after collisions with cyclists (not clear who was responsible for the collision) in 765 million cycle trips in England.
Tweet like you police dangerous drivers. With courtesy.
— Jon Burke FRSA 🌍 (@jonburkeUK) May 18, 2022
🚫 81% of drivers exceed the speed limit in 20mph zones.
🚫 53% exceed the speed limit in 30mph zones.
🚫 In 2019, 570 pedestrians & cyclists were killed by motor vehicles.Not sure "cYcLE LikE yOu dRiVe" is the advice you should be handing out, to be honest.
— Jon Burke FRSA 🌍 (@jonburkeUK) May 18, 2022
Cycle like you drive, eh?
Haha... an hour or two apart...
"Cycle like you drive"https://t.co/9bSgLFpV3P
— Mounsey. (@rosemeyer1939) May 18, 2022
Who knows how long this will still be up for? But don't worry...here's a screenshot if/when it's deleted...
An early one for the @roadcc live blog. And a screenshot in case it gets deleted.
"Cycle like you drive" hahahahaha.
They must be the safest roads in the country then. https://t.co/7F9BsrQayqpic.twitter.com/z2R5GZpUvp— Real Gaz on a proper bike #fbpe (@gazza_d) May 18, 2022
After his lead-out heroics yesterday, was Giacomo Nizzolo making a sneaky bid for his compatriot's services now Biniam Girmay has unfortunately left the race?
“Five big bottles, sitting on a wall…” pic.twitter.com/gB7CZS8hhL
— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) May 18, 2022
Eritrea people in Cairo egypt yesterday @GrmayeBiniam🦁win@IntermarcheWG😂🇪🇷❤😂🇪🇷❤😂🇪🇷❤😂🇪🇷❤🇪🇷😂❤🚀😂 @giroditalia❤ pic.twitter.com/THIF0ZtE50
— Eritrea cycling fan🇪🇷 (@Eri_Cycling_fan) May 18, 2022
The news this morning is not so good...
More on that in the next few minutes...
As far as pace setters go, time trial wizards Alex Dowsett and Dan Bigham are a pretty strong duo...
Two-time Olympic champion Alastair Brownlee has called on the pair to pace set his record attempt where he will try to record a sub-7-hour Ironman triathlon.
Kristian Blummenfelt, whose quite-ridiculous looking Cadex prototype bike we reported on a couple of weeks back, holds the current world record (7:21:12) and will compete against Brownlee at the Zwift-sponsored event in Germany on June 5 or 6 (depending on the weather)...
Bownlee's eight pace setters, who will need to maintain 45kp/h+ for 180km are mainly from the Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling Team, and include GB team pursuit rider Charlie Tanfield, brother Harry, Ollie Peckover and Zeb Kyfinn.
"These athletes have specialised in team time trialling and their performance coach and rider Jacob Tipper has brought these riders together," said Nigel Mitchell, Brownlee's technical manager.
"We've been very fortunate that we've got what we think are some of the best riders in the world for this type of event."
UPDATE: RideLondon safety car WON'T set 22mph speed limit — organisers admit race guide was "incorrect"...
"We apologise for the error. It will travel at a pace determined by the conditions and what is happening on the road"https://t.co/cydykwQAKO#cyclingpic.twitter.com/nnb8Ji3OJQ— road.cc (@roadcc) May 17, 2022
The last 48 hours must have been quite quiet over at London Marathon Events...not. The team behind the running thing also organise RideLondon and have received something of a backlash from disgruntled entrants who received their race guide over the weekend...only to read there would be a 22mph safety car implemented at the head of the event.
Following half a day of complaints from riders (and emails from road.cc) a quiet reply was added to one complaint, saying the decision had been made to ensure the safety of participants. Alas, that didn't go down well, but was soon deleted when yesterday RideLondon put out a statement saying it had all been one big mistake...
At least everyone who has paid £90 to enter was understanding...
Leah JoPerry wrote on Facebook: "Ha error, my... They walked in, dropped a bombshell and then read the room and quickly tried to cover it up saying they’d ‘made an error’."
Zac Nicholson joked at least there's no need to "pin a real number on now" in reference to the hundreds of 'it's not a race, go to a real race if you want to ride fast' comments of the past 48 hours...adding: "Time to tear this ra—I mean sportive up!"
Joe Chapman couldn't help but spot some irony in the backPEDALLING...
Common sense prevails, well done for listening and changing your approach.
— A James (@AEWJ) May 17, 2022
When you accidentally type '22mph' instead of 'at a pace determined by the conditions'. Seriously though, 100% the right decision.
— Sam Massey (@Phordeaux) May 17, 2022
🤣🤣🤣
This you bro? pic.twitter.com/rPr9jjkei4
— Bang Average 3rd Cat (@BangAverageCat3) May 17, 2022