Jonas Vingegaard🏆🚴🇩🇰❤️👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/y707O3eMcZ
— Peter Schmeichel (@Pschmeichel1) July 24, 2022
In November Sa told me I’d finish on the podium at the Tour this year. I found it pretty hard to believe her. But hey, she’s usually right. This is for her and Macs for always believing, & for everyone’s support over the last month. There’s life in these legs yet. Vive Le Tour 👌 pic.twitter.com/XzGIdNUs4m
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) July 24, 2022
It’s easy to forget, ten years on from Bradley Wiggins, in the yellow jersey, leading out world champion Mark Cavendish for the win on the Champs-Élysées, that a Tour de France with a British rider finishing on the podium, another winning a stage on Alpe d’Huez, and a third lighting up the race and placing top ten on the final stage would have once been unthinkable.
But we live in strange times, when British success on cycling’s biggest stage is almost taken for granted.
While the yellow jersey appears, for the time being, beyond reach (thanks to Jonas and Pog), this year’s Tour seemed to pay homage to the past, present and future of British grand tour racing.
First, 36-year-old Geraint Thomas rolled the clock back, putting in a ‘best of the rest’ performance to take third overall, the third Tour podium of his career (ably supported by Adam Yates, who also managed a top ten on GC).
At the other end of the age spectrum (sorry, Geraint), 22-year-old Tom Pidcock gave us a glimpse of what to expect over the next ten years – securing a sensational solo breakaway win atop arguably the Tour’s most famous climb, L’Alpe d’Huez, after one of the finest rides of the race. While Pidcock couldn’t hold onto a top ten overall – he is human after all – the world cyclocross and Olympic mountain bike champion cemented his status as a bona fide star of the road.
Away from Ineos, Owain Doull was a constant presence in breaks, including on the Champs-Élysées, while Connor Swift helped Arkéa Samsic’s Nairo Quintana to sixth overall.
In a word @fred_wright0: Chapeau 🥹 pic.twitter.com/W6fo2SHM3C
— Phil Wright (@philinhernehill) July 24, 2022
But my rider of the Tour – if we just ignore Jumbo-Visma and Pogačar for a moment (easy, I know) – has to go to Fred Wright.
The 23-year-old Londoner built upon his breakthrough seventh place at the Tour of Flanders in April with an assured, exciting ride through France.
While his Bahrain-Victorious teammates generally underperformed, Wright was an ever present in breaks, bunch finishes and even in the final time trial.
After being beaten into second by former world champion Mads Pederson into Saint-Etienne, Wright put in another gutsy ride from the break on stage 19 into Cahors, breaking clear in the final kilometres before being swept up by a rampant Christophe Laporte.
He then backed that up by finishing a remarkable eighth in the TT, and then – just like that – tenth on the most important sprint stage of them all on the Champs-Élysées.
We just love that park. Unfortunately he doesn’t much love the name 😬
— Phil Wright (@philinhernehill) July 24, 2022
Wright, who also possesses one of the most unique middle names in the peloton (Brockwell, named after a local park) then staked his claim for the ‘best off-hand comment of the Tour’ award, quipping to GCN’s team in Paris “where's my make-up” while he was being interviewed…
Chapeau, indeed.
Congratulations! https://t.co/ruMRzU71Fo
— Geraint Thomas (@geraintthomas) July 25, 2022
Hopefully the other Geraint’s Twitter notifications will calm down a for a bit now…
Reunited with my old partner. pic.twitter.com/iQnX8OzaSj
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) July 24, 2022
Now, I wonder what everyone thinks about smoking a cigar while cycling?
Pogačar is definitely a resourceful person. pic.twitter.com/3Z3N2KiwIB
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) July 25, 2022
Also, spare a thought for poor Simon Geschke, forced to look on as a polka-dot mannequin takes his place on the Tour podium…
Now, before we get into that tedious annual debate about the merits of the Tour’s final “processional” stage to Paris (though all I will say is, make sure Tadej Pogačar isn’t a handful of seconds behind you on GC, as he will attack on the Champs-Élysées, tradition be damned)…
Yesterday cycling journalist Peter Flax pointed out, as Jumbo-Visma’s riders and staff soaked up their dominant Tour win by posing for as many photos as possible, the rather questionable optics of team car drivers clinking glasses of champagne.
Podium girls seemed like a fine idea at some point. This is just such a shit look in 2022. pic.twitter.com/4TGFeJjw87
— Peter Flax (@Pflax1) July 24, 2022
Just what people on bikes want. Drink driving.
— Dr. ElSupreme Funk (@_DrFunk) July 24, 2022
Regardless of whether any bubbly was actually consumed by riders or drivers, does the champagne photo op send the wrong message, and should it be consigned – like proper racing before the Champs on the final day – to the annals of cycling history?
Live blog favourite Dan drew the short straw this weekend and was whisked away on a private jet – loaned to him by his mate Kylie, he tells me – to Paris for the final stage of the men’s Tour de France and the first stage of the relaunched Tour Femmes.
By all accounts he had a dreadful time:
Time to take the applause #TDFF opening stage won by Lorena Wiebes pic.twitter.com/c1XlLrFD2x
— road.cc (@roadcc) July 24, 2022
Why aren't all great sporting events preceded by a frozen chicken ad on wheels? #TDF2022pic.twitter.com/hOe9FZPZlL
— road.cc (@roadcc) July 24, 2022
Here we go... #TDF2022pic.twitter.com/gMWabNNLB0
— road.cc (@roadcc) July 24, 2022
The second most popular Dane in Paris, Mads Pedersen, gets the party started ahead of his compatriot's coronation #TDF2022pic.twitter.com/h6frkXMg4X
— road.cc (@roadcc) July 24, 2022
I wonder how he’s feeling this morning…
Back in 2020, you may remember, Greater Manchester’s then-cycling and walking commissioner Chris Boardman told the then-safely secure Prime Minister Boris Johnson (how times change, eh?) that Manchester’s Bee Network could act as a “national blueprint” for active travel, and that the “timing is perfect to wean a nation off its automobile addiction”.
Judging by footage filmed at the weekend, however, it seems that motorists first need to be weaned off driving into the city’s new cycle and pedestrian zones.
Cycling advocate Harry Gray, one of the masterminds behind this year’s Snake Pass protests, posted a video on Twitter on Saturday showing a number of Uber drivers being forced to reverse out of the cycle zone in the city’s Northern Quarter:
Look at the state of Manchester's flagship Bee Network Scheme.
We're being taken for fools pic.twitter.com/36BRlhW0TM
— Harry Gray (@HarryHamishGray) July 23, 2022
Absolutely no enforcement of pedestrian and cycle zone with cars backing up to reverse out pic.twitter.com/gPbUjGTOUQ
— Harry Gray (@HarryHamishGray) July 23, 2022
While some criticised the blasé attitude of the drivers towards cyclists, Gray focused his attention on the “sheer incompetence” of what he called the network’s “awful design”.
Problem is they are being taken down to this point down a one way street! Absolutely awful design. The sheer incompetence is mind boggling
— Harry Gray (@HarryHamishGray) July 23, 2022
Roads giving way to a pedestrianised area?!
No anti terrorism barriers to prevent danger for seating either pic.twitter.com/7l1kkMN9zX
— Harry Gray (@HarryHamishGray) July 23, 2022
He pointed out that the cycle and pedestrian zone is only enforced by a ‘No entry’ sign and a red line on the road (the concrete block that forced the motorists to back up is found further into the zone) and that drivers are being shuttled down a one-way street towards the area, with no other option than to reverse.
> Revamped road condemned as “death trap” after cyclist critically injured
Gray wasn’t the only one pointing out the flaws in that particular section of the Bee Network, as last night infrastructure expert Iain Roberts gave his take on the Thomas Street cycle lanes, which, as he points out, were originally touted as an alternative to the "missed opportunity" for active travel provision on Great Ancoats Street:
I want to say a few things about the new cycle paths in Manchester's Northern Quarter, primarily along Thomas Street. I've heard few negative comments, so let’s take a look. [1/10] pic.twitter.com/RONW6icfau
— Iain Roberts (@slowbikeiain) July 24, 2022
Let’s look at the new infrastructure on Thomas Street. Apart from a small section where loading is allowed in the morning, the road is split between pavement, cycle lanes and outdoor seating. No cars [3/10] pic.twitter.com/xJocYHrlRP
— Iain Roberts (@slowbikeiain) July 24, 2022
A non-standard bike would struggle to make it down the lane, and if people do sit on the blocks, it narrows the lane even further. They are really odd pieces of street furniture for this location. [6/10]
— Iain Roberts (@slowbikeiain) July 24, 2022
On the south side there’s a fair bit of clutter and, for one section, hoardings for a stalled development halves the pavement width. The wholly predictable result: lots of pedestrians in the cycle lanes. [8/10] pic.twitter.com/2IbCNQrfya
— Iain Roberts (@slowbikeiain) July 24, 2022
I was there on a busy Saturday night, so maybe I’m being unfair. Perhaps it will work better when the road is quieter. I have my spies keeping an eye on that one. But at first look, there do seem to be serious issues [10/10] pic.twitter.com/D64djajHXv
— Iain Roberts (@slowbikeiain) July 24, 2022