Mark Cavendish not selected for #TDF2022
Patrick Lefevere and Cycling Twitter : pic.twitter.com/U5EC5i9jso
— Cycling What Ifs ❓ (@cyclingwhatifs) June 27, 2022
Cheers to the reader who spotted this in Burton upon Trent this morning and sent it in...
Not quite on the level of pothole campaigner — 'Wanksy' — who made headlines with his penis paintings in 2015...
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl's tweet announcing the Tour squad is under siege from disappointed fans of the Manx Missile in scenes more closely resembling a Premier League football team's social media page than a WorldTour cycling outfit...
Here's some of the reaction...
Some boy @MarkCavendish. Congrats on British title number two mate 🙌 Massive shame we won’t see you and the stripes in the Tour 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/cpFWQeL3YU
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) June 27, 2022
Is a mid-season transfer 3 days before #TDF22 possible? Asking for a friend
— Robbie McEwen AM (@mcewenrobbie) June 27, 2022
There are more than 300 replies and 200 quote tweets to Quick-Step's announcement at the time of writing... translation: it's pissed off a lot of people...
Funny how the #TDF2022 selection was hidden in an article instead of the usual GIF presentation of the squad.
It’s as if the social media manager knew there would be Cav-related backlash. 😝 https://t.co/xKEdKvsu5r
— Benji Naesen (@BenjiNaesen) June 27, 2022
What have you been saying?
peted76 said: "Taking 'debutant' Fabio instead of the greatest sprinter ever who happens to be in form. I'm miffed because it leaves me less 'invested' in the tour and the Tour, for me, is all about the side story arcs and less so about who wins it overall, (up until the final week obvs)."
quiff agreed: "I think I got about 10 excitable mins between catching up on Cav's nationals win (yay!), and reading that he's still not going to the tour (boo!)"
captain_slog commented: "I'd love to see Cav at the Tour but can understand the dilemma faced by Patrick Lefevere — he's got to balance risk and reward. Cav wins: massive coverage, particularly in the UK. Jakobsen wins: normal coverage but possibly in territories the sponsor cares about more."
That absolutely sucks
— Mr. K (@Blindside007) June 27, 2022
Fabio Jakobsen has hardly put a cleat wrong this year, winning 10 races...but despite being arguably the best sprinter in the world at the minute will line up for his first Tour de France under enormous pressure. Petition for Patrick Lefevere cam to be part of GCN's coverage...
Main image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
So there we have it, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl have confirmed their Tour de France line-up...the headlines? No Cav OR Julian Alaphilippe. Full story coming on that shortly...
One Brit who will be in Copenhagen is Team Arkéa Samsic's Connor Swift who has made the cut to support Nairo Quintana. Movistar, Trek-Segafredo, Astana-Qazaqstan, B&B Hotels - KTM and UAE Team Emirates have also joined the party since Friday's blog...so let's dive in...
UAE Team Emirates: Tadej Pogačar, George Bennett, Marc Soler, Rafał Majka, Brandon McNulty, Matteo Trentin, Mikkel Bjerg, Vegard Stake Laengen
Team Arkéa Samsic: Nairo Quintana, Warren Barguil, Connor Swift, Maxime Bouet, Amaury Capiot, Hugo Hofstetter, Matis Louvel, Łukasz Owsian
Trek - Segafredo: Mads Pedersen, Jasper Stuyven, Bauke Mollema, Giulio Ciccone, Tony Gallopin, Quinn Simmons, Toms Skujiņš, Alex Kirsch
Astana Qazaqstan: Alexey Lutsenko, Gianni Moscon, Joe Dombrowski, Fabio Felline, Andrey Zeits, Samuele Battistella, Simone Velasco, Dmitriy Gruzdev
Movistar: Enric Mas, Gorka Izagirre, Carlos Verona, Imanol Erviti, Iván García Cortina, Matteo Jorgenson, Nelson Oliveira, Gregor Mühlberger
B&B Hotels - KTM: Pierre Rolland, Alexis Gougeard, Franck Bonnamour, Cyril Barthe, Jérémy Lecroq, Sebastian Schönberger, Cyril Lemoine, Luca Mozzato
Oxfordshire County Council has set targets of a 25 per cent cut in casualties by 2026, 50 per cent by 2030, and eliminating all road deaths and serious injuries by 2050. A spokesperson said "a commitment to minimising deaths on our roads has been long overdue".
> "One month, two dead cyclists": Oxford's cycling city sign defaced after second death
"Recent tragic incidents on our roads have focused everyone's minds on the vital importance on making our roads and streets safer for all users — especially the most vulnerable," Andrew Gant, cabinet member for highways management told the BBC.
The council will commit an initial £250,000 to improving road infrastructure and comes after three cyclists were killed in the city since the start of 2022.
Training transport is sorted. 😂 pic.twitter.com/PpYR1X5W2z
— Bristol City FC (@BristolCity) June 27, 2022
If their gaffer doesn't ride a Pearson I'll be very disappointed...
So, you were busy all weekend and missed the results from across the world. Don't fear, here's your one-stop live blog shop for national champions...
Here at home, Alice Towers won the women's title, you probably already know who won the men's race...
Tim Merlier is Belgian champion once again, while there was something of an upset in the women's race as Kim de Baat took her second pro win, ten years after her first. What a time to do it. Over the border bidon-sharing Pascal Eenkhoorn took a popular Dutch title and Riejanne Markus won the women's title.
World champion Elisa Balsamo has a fresh non-team-issue kit for January (assuming she doesn't defend the rainbow bands, that is), winning Italy's Tricolore. Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè rider Filippo Zana took a surprise men's title.
CAMPIONESSA ITALIANA 🇮🇹🌈🦄
Grazie alla @TrekSegafredo e a tutte le persone che sono venute a supportarmi 🤩
📸 @twilchampic.twitter.com/kNepR94pe2
— Elisa Balsamo (@Elisa_balsamo) June 27, 2022
Ineos Grenadiers' Carlos Rodríguez and UAE Team ADQ's Mavi Garcia are Spain's champions, the latter winning the TT champs and road race...for the THIRD YEAR RUNNING...domination.
Bora-Hansgrohe finished first, second, third, fourth and fifth at the men's Austrian race...Felix Grosschartner was the chosen son to cross the line first. What a photo...
Hoy en Austria, Bora Hansgrohe hizo el 1-2-3-4-5 para ganar con Felix Grossschartner. pic.twitter.com/fXa4J9dIJI
— Pasión Ciclismo 🚴🏻 (@pasiociclismo) June 26, 2022
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was a popular winner in Denmark and will be lighting up the peloton with her red jersey (and entertaining interviews) for the foreseeable. Trek-Segafredo's Alexander Kamp won the men's race.
This one means so much to me!!🥺😭
Finally I get to wear this beautiful jersey‼️ Showing it proudly around the world🌎🇩🇰✨😍🤩🥳 WUHUUUUUU!!! How good!!🙌🏻🍾🥂😄
Thank you for all the ❤️-warming messages🙏🏻
📸: Dorte Adelfred & @SigneKochpic.twitter.com/vlr6kCNttA— Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (@CUttrupLudwig) June 27, 2022
In France, Audrey Cordon-Ragot did the double, adding the road race title to her sixth TT championship...Cav's teammate Florian Sénéchal showed his speed to sprint into the men's jersey.
Nils Politt and João Almeida are Germany and Portugal's men's champions respectively, while Kristjan Koren can claim to be Slovenia's best male cyclist (although two lads at the Tour de France might have something to say about that)...
WiV SunGod's Rory Townsend won the Irish men's title. Further afield, Merhawi Kudus won Eritrea's road title, Yukiya Arashiro Japan's, and Teniel Campbell Trinidad and Tobago's women's crown.
Something in my eye 🥲 https://t.co/T7e2SpLHtf
— Rory Townsend (@Rory_Townsend1) June 26, 2022
Oh, Peter Sagan's Slovakian national champ too...water's wet etc. And breathe...
British Champion again!🤩 The National Championships is always a special race with a unique style. 9 years after my last title in Glasgow, it seems Scotland’s been good to me again ☺️
200km, wind, rain, heavy roads =❤️ for me and tough, real racing. Thanks for all the messages 😘 pic.twitter.com/XFxp1HEKqW— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) June 27, 2022
Police in Texas say they have found the vehicle belonging to on-the-run murder suspect Kaitlin Armstrong, who is the prime suspect in the investigation into the shooting of gravel cyclist Moriah Wilson.
The black Jeep Cherokee was sold to a dealership on May 13, the day after Armstrong was questioned by Austin Police Department, and the day before she was spotted at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (above). Investigators believe she may have used her sister's name to board a flight out of the state.
An anonymous donor has added $15,000 to the $6,000 reward for information leading to Armstrong's arrest.
Wow! @MarkCavendish told me he was flying on the phone last Thursday. No kidding!
Come on @qst_alphavinyl please make #35 a possibility!
— Mark Renshaw (@Mark_Renshaw) June 26, 2022
A couple more...
Cavs ride today was flawless. Didn’t put a single foot wrong. Great to see him properly race like that… 70-100 watt less in threshold than the big boys but schooling the F#*k out of them. Proper bike racer!! Well done mate!! @MarkCavendishpic.twitter.com/emAYS8T7Ef
— Adam Blythe (@AdamBlythe89) June 26, 2022
Moments after winning his second British National Road Race Championship, Mark Cavendish asked the TV cameras: "Can you imagine winning your 35th Tour de France stage in the British champion's jersey? It would be pretty beautiful".
It would indeed...BUT (there's always a but), Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl and Patrick Lefevere have well-documented other ideas about how to win stages at next month's Grand Tour.
Who’d have thought, eh?
Cav never ceases to amaze 🇬🇧 🥇 pic.twitter.com/9ftmFBhbun
— The TT Podcast 🚴♂️ (@ttpdcst) June 26, 2022
To the backdrop of his team boss making it clear Fabio Jakobsen is no.1 sprinter at the Belgian outfit, Cav promised to be ready if he's required...and boy is he ready...
And it’s always great to see Cav on a gritty day out, pigeonholed as a pure sprinter but today showed again so much more, and lastly Sam Watson. A name we’ll be hearing a lot more of.
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) June 26, 2022
No sitting behind Michael Mørkøv today...Cav was in the breaks, pushing the pace, shutting down attacks, leading from the front...not bad for just a 'sprinter'...
Regardless of the result today at the GB national champs… bloody LOVE seeing Mark RACE… proper race. From the very first break.
— Peta Cavendish (@petatodd) June 26, 2022
Mark Cavendish you are one of the greatest sprinters of all time. BUT, shit you can race a bike all day long.
200km in the attack.
You really are a TRUE CHAMPION
❤️🤍💙— Dean Downing® (@dean0downing) June 26, 2022
It's fair to say the performance has sparked a few calls for the Manx Missile to make a last-minute appearance in Copenhagen this Friday, not least from retired racer David Millar who called the idea of his former teammate not racing the Tour "absolute insanity".
> Wiggins: "Any other team would be crazy" not to take Cav to the Tour de France
Absolute INSANITY if @MarkCavendish is not selected for the Tour de France 🤯
— David Millar (@millarmind) June 26, 2022
With @MarkCavendish now in the stripes, I think it would be silly for them not to select him for @LeTour. Imagine seeing him break Merckx’s stage win record in the red white and blue? Marketing Gold. And he’s clearly in form.
— Tom Staniford (@tomstaniford) June 26, 2022
Patrick Lefevere, the people have spoken...
Should Cav go to the #TDF22
— CycleNotts. (@CycleNott) June 26, 2022
I mean, if the Giro can decide the combativity prize via a Twitter poll, the natural next step is team selection for the most important race of the season.
So what did the main man have to say?
The man. The myth. The legend.
Ladies and gentlemen, @MarkCavendish! pic.twitter.com/Jy3cKhmCZk
— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) June 26, 2022
"I felt incredible. I know I've got better form than last year. I'm going so much better than I was this time last year"...
Main image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com