Here we go again...
Red Roglic is back. pic.twitter.com/3BBuh8YsvO
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) August 23, 2022
It's that time of the year again. The summer nights are just starting to creep back, multiple football teams are in crisis and Primož Roglič has won an uphill finish to take the lead of the Vuelta...
¡¡Primoz ROGLIC y su historia de amor con la Vuelta a España!! #VueltaRTVE23A#LaVuelta22
Vuelve la carrera a territorio español y el esloveno impone su ley pese a ser duda en la prueba hasta última hora
Victoria y liderato para el de Jumbo-Visma https://t.co/ruL2xgztb6pic.twitter.com/4zqEnKvZyA
— Teledeporte (@teledeporte) August 23, 2022
Apologies for the slightly sparse live blog updates this afternoon...duty called elsewhere...but we'll be back first thing for more...
I'll leave you with the events of today's stage: Roglič and Mads Pedersen did battle for the day (summing up the intriguing showdown of climbers, puncheurs and fast men who went for stage four). Unsurprisingly my pre-stage favourite Ethan Hayter was seventh (sorry), while Julian Alaphilippe was out of contention, leaving Rog and Mads to sprint for the line, the gradient working in the Slovenian's favour. The three-time champ has a 13-second lead over teammate Sepp Kuss and 26 seconds over Ineos pair Pavel Sivakov and Tao Geoghegan Hart.
Bet you never saw a pitstop like this! 😎🇧🇪 Full video 'From Sim To Reality'👉https://t.co/tM9FOmU1LY@Max33Verstappen, @redbullracing& @WoutvanAert#FromSimToReality#madeinBelgium#givesyouwingspic.twitter.com/5rl4Da8Dt8
— Red Bull Belgium (@RedBullBe) August 22, 2022
"My flat tire came at an unfortunate moment," Red Bull athlete Wout van Aert told the energy drink brand's latest ad. By unfortunate we think he means at the exact moment a camera crew and team of Red Bull mechanics were on-site to film a promo...how unfortunate...
Personally, I'd rather see Wout have to ride until he punctures legitimately, all the while with an increasingly fatigued pit crew following in a team car. If only they had a caffeine-packed beverage to keep them sharp...
🚨 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗟𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗩𝗢𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗥! 🚨
We know loads of you have been waiting for this moment – we’re now accepting applications to #volunteer at the 2023 UCI Cycling Worlds in Glasgow and across Scotland!
📝 Help us power the bike ⏩ https://t.co/TKJWbn8twppic.twitter.com/mRgVwAk0W3
— 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships (@CyclingWorlds) August 23, 2022
Today marks the start of the call for volunteers across to Scotland to help make next year's all-discipline UCI Cycling World Championships live up to its title as the "biggest and best cycling event in history".
This morning's launch in Glasgow saw Volunteer Ambassadors Judy Murray and Sean Batty joined by Scottish track cyclist Jack Carlin who won silver and bronze medals for Scotland at Birmingham's Commonwealth Games.
Fancy getting involved?
UPDATE: The preserving pan's getting a scrub https://t.co/OdHRqhQu5H
— Cycling Folkie 🌳 (@VeganCyclist4) August 23, 2022
🇪🇸: @lavuelta Stage 4
🚩 Vitoria - 🏁 Laguardia , 152.5 km.
⏰:13:40- 17:30(CEST)
⚠️: The first stage on Basque soil and we're straight into the hilly terrain with a punchy finish.
📺: @Eurosport#LaVuelta22
#WeAreUAEpic.twitter.com/iI1crEt4VH— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) August 23, 2022
Pro racing is back in the Basque Country...
We've got 152.5km on the menu today from Vitoria to Laguardia finishing with an uphill kicker (900m at 8.4 per cent), a big chance for Ethan Hayter to take his maiden Grand Tour stage victory. Questions remain about Primož Roglič and Julian Alaphilippe's condition on return from injury, giving white jersey holder Hayter a golden opportunity to be Britain's latest big-race winner...
The red jersey looks out of reach, unless the Ineos all-rounder wins and Roglič loses a few seconds, but anyway that's probably getting ahead of ourselves... what odds a Hayter stage win and Roglič in red by 5pm?
Less than 2 miles from where I live, I've used this station, know layout.
40mph (speed limit), driver loses control, it smacks barriers, airbags deploy, hopefully everyone okay.
120mph, it hits Tesla, gets sent 100m into station, passenger dies.
Worst take on RTC I've ever seen. pic.twitter.com/NRuRyDFDEh— Simon MacMichael 💛🇫🇷🚲 (@simonmacmichael) August 22, 2022
Washed out of the drains by flash flooding Pennywise takes to life on two wheels, riding in the road, without a helmet, road tax, licence or registration plate...angering everyone into a rage so furious they forget about the snatching children thing...coming to cinemas autumn 2022...
Bicycles - bringing joy to cities every day pic.twitter.com/3uIfuFWK7K
— Laura Laker (@laura_laker) August 23, 2022
Yes, I am aware the balloons are the wrong colour...
Twitter's quite good sometimes...
A decline in marriages pic.twitter.com/tXJWDoM0wx
— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) August 22, 2022
Paul Fairie put together this thread of the strangest things people have blamed on bicycles... I'm sure we can all add a few more to the list...
Appendicitis pic.twitter.com/NBJZkv5nw6
— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) August 22, 2022
"Yeah, mate. Ever since they all started riding those bicycles nobody comes in for chairs anymore..."
A decline in furniture sales pic.twitter.com/qSblCxBDSn
— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) August 22, 2022
The Telegraph delivering the goods as per...
An increase in the number of women smokers pic.twitter.com/YZmqdBIjju
— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) August 22, 2022
To summarise the rest, it's those two-wheeled menaces' fault for: decline in grain consumption, the closure of Christian society, decline in trans-Atlantic travel, and a condition called 'bicycle face' where the rider feels "the sentimental side of that tired feeling". It is "yearning, anxious, hopeful, fearful, exhausted, incomplete and generally dissatisfied" — maybe there is something in that...
Widening out from bikes to other cycling-related things, there was that Bristol cycle lane the council blamed for causing... flooding, and the 'cycling cause erectile dysfunction' classic.
Any more?
[📷: CC licensed image by Paul Appleyard / Flickr]
The Southern Daily Echo reports a man is due in court accused of riding a bicycle on the M3 near Southampton. He was charged with causing danger to road users following an incident on May 14 this year.
Section 22A of the 1991 Road Traffic Act states:
A person is guilty of an offence if he intentionally and without lawful authority or reasonable cause —
(a) causes anything to be on or over a road, or
(b) interferes with a motor vehicle, trailer or cycle, or
(c) interferes (directly or indirectly) with traffic equipment,
in such circumstances that it would be obvious to a reasonable person that to do so would be dangerous.
Welcome to the procrastination station, designed to keep you distracted at work...
Take eight to watch our vid on the all-new Di2 105, you deserve it...
[📷 Zac Williams/SWpix.com]
Nairo Quintana's lawyer, Andrés Charria, took to Colombia's Blu Radio to defend his client, saying the case against the Arkéa–Samsic climber is "very strange" and has been "concocted" by the UCI.
> Nairo Quintana sanctioned by UCI for Tour de France tramadol infringement
"The truth is, it's a very strange process. What's happening with Nairo is something new, that the UCI has concocted," he said.
"This is not doping, but it appears like doping. It's important to ask what the UCI is looking for, because if it's about health, that's a fundamental pillar of WADA, and if WADA doesn't consider it [tramadol] harmful on health grounds... it's complicated. There is a badly made rule, a strange sample collection, a laboratory that isn't accredited."
Something tells me this one's going to rumble on for a while...
Sod it, the politicians are right, I'm going to get myself a number plate pic.twitter.com/PdVAdBJa7e
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) August 22, 2022
This is exactly the sort of garment a certain Mr Loophole petitioned and trawled the talk radio stations asking for cyclists to be required to wear — a hi-vis "tabard" with identification number (no word if personalisation like Vine's is allowed) — because we all know hi-vis works and nobody with a number plate has ever committed a traffic offence... oh, wait a second...
How have you turned this into a discussion about high viz?
We have cars covered in it and big flashy lights and drivers STILL don’t see us. pic.twitter.com/e4PF8v7uqu
— Roads Policing - Surrey Police - UK (@SurreyRoadCops) June 26, 2020
> Hi-vis police officer close passed by lorry driver
Sorry, no idea how those got there...
Anyway, here are a couple of other designs rolling in...
— 🚴🏻♂️Ralpha (aka Phil)🚴🏻♂️ (@2wheelsnot4) August 22, 2022
Think I might go with this... pic.twitter.com/b9FWYVVuya
— Sven Rufus (@SvenRufus) August 22, 2022
Last week was quite the few days for the Department for Transport, with Grant Shapps first suggesting he supported number plates for cyclists as part of a toughening of the rules, before less than 24 hours later saying he is "not attracted to bureaucracy" of number plates for cyclists.
You could say the damage was done, however, with frothing talk show segments and a newspaper article referring to'red light rats' following on for the rest of the week...