Welcome to Yorkshire! Frightening moment Tour of Britain pros narrowly avoid crash with sheep on fast descent; Puncturegate: Adam Blythe denies "insinuating Remco was cheating"; New Transport Secretary; Roglič abandons injured + more on the live blog

Attack from @tompidcock!

The @INEOSGrenadiers rider has split the race up on Carlton Bank. #TourOfBritain🔴🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/MHVcAaqRwO

— AJ Bell Tour of Britain 🇬🇧 (@TourofBritain) September 7, 2022

Well, that looked disgusting...

We have three leaders over the top of the @SKODAUK King of the Mountains climb at Carlton Bank (KM123.6).

🥇 @dylan_teuns (IPT)
🥈 @tompidcock (IGD)
🥉 @OscarOnley (DSM)#TourOfBritain🔴🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/YHc6SmjOi2

— AJ Bell Tour of Britain 🇬🇧 (@TourofBritain) September 7, 2022

If you want your legs to hurt without riding a bike, go check out Omar Fraile's lead-out and multiple accelerations on the 10 per cent lower slopes. 

How hard is the Tour of Britain, by the way? When the riders aren't smashing up the grippiest of grippy roads, being battered by headwinds and torrential downpours, they have to keep their wits about them to avoid any unwanted streakers...or should I say sheepers? Nah, that's terrible...I apologise...

How to say you’re in Yorkshire without saying you’re in Yorkshire… 🐑 #TourOfBritain🔴🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/4T0okirgF9

— AJ Bell Tour of Britain 🇬🇧 (@TourofBritain) September 7, 2022

Thankfully, Matt Stephens on commentary left the horrendous puns (not sure that even qualifies as a pun to be honest) to me, saying: "Oh that was a close one, that's one of the hazards of riding in the North Yorkshire Moors".

> "Giving it the absolute beans!": Kid smashes up climb with Tour of Britain breakaway

Another of the hazards is leg-breaking savage climbs, talking of which it's not long until the riders to tackle Carlton Bank (2km at 10 per cent, with a 30 per cent ramp near the top)...get your sneaky ITV player/GCN+ on at work for this one...

.@Chris_Boardman says it was "unfortunate" that the latest DfT data showed a decrease in cycling because it was shown in isolation.

Car usage was down 23% and train use 47%; in fact, active travel was the most robust of all modes in that period. @activetraveleng@TransportCtteepic.twitter.com/oP4wsEKkuI

— APPGCW (@allpartycycling) September 7, 2022

> Cycling levels dropped in England because "short-sighted councils pulled out protected lanes", Cycling UK says 

Chris Boardman appeared at the Transport Committee to talk all things active travel, including addressing last week's announcement of figures from the Department for Transport as part of its National Travel Survey, which showed the average person in England made only two percent of all their trips by bike between November 2020 and November 2021, while the average number of trips made by bike dropped to 15, down from a high of 20 the previous year.

Boardman offered some context, seen in the video above, to the figures which, when viewed alone, offered a different picture to when they were viewed in isolation...

While the Vuelta peloton cooked in the sun of a post-rest day jaunt though the south of Spain, the poor Tour of Britain riders got a most British welcome to the north of England...

WELCOME TO BRITAIN IT'S REALLY GREAT HERE 😳🌧️ #TourOfBritainpic.twitter.com/aKwQtQbAmy

— Scribe Katy of Watford (@writebikerepeat) September 6, 2022

I bet Richie Porte can't wait to get back to sunny Tassie with his feet up...

Are you completely sure you want to stop @richie_porte? 🤣🥶 #TourofBritainpic.twitter.com/KypojJzJqH

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) September 6, 2022

The worst time for a car to overtake the peloton ☔️ https://t.co/oRcOfxY67G

— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) September 6, 2022

If you missed yesterday's big news in the world of indoor training...

> Zwift launches its own Hub smart trainer for £449

Some of your reaction from Facebook: "Direct drive trainer for £449. Either it's not that great, or it could be great and shows how much the likes of Wahoo etc are over charging as it's the same price as their wheel-on trainer. Fingers crossed it is and makes Zwift more accessible," Anthony Walstow commented.

🇪🇸 #LaVuelta22

Unfortunately, @rogla will not be at the start of stage 17 as a consequence of yesterday’s crash.

Get well soon, champion! Thank you for all the beautiful moments in this Vuelta. You had ambitious plans for the final days, but sadly it isn’t meant to be. 😔🍀 pic.twitter.com/C3Vnc8P9EO

— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) September 7, 2022

There it is. Confirmation that Primož Roglič's rotten luck continues. Second on GC, 1:26 behind Remco Evenepoel and the Slovenian abandons. Juan Ayuso jumps up to third place, giving Spain a decent chance of two podium places, unless something quite ridiculous happens and they nab all three. Enric Mas is the race's new second-placed rider, Ayuso third, Ineos Grenadiers' Carlos Rodríguez is fourth.

Funny how when you're literally paid to tell a TV audience your opinion on a professional bike race people will almost certainly still have a go at you for doing so...

Opschudding! Roglic verrast Evenepoel met late uitval, die stilstaat met pech #LaVuelta22pic.twitter.com/KN6YdRUnZA

— Sporza 🚴 (@sporza_koers) September 6, 2022

Ex-pro and GCN presenter Adam Blythe risked the wrath of Belgium yesterday evening after questioning the mechanical which prompted race leader Remco Evenepoel to pull over, just as Primož Roglič launched a stinging attack and raced off into the distance. The red jersey was within 3km to go so got the same time as the group he was in at the time of the mechanical, leaving Blythe to question — based purely on the less-than-obvious TV pictures — what exactly the problem was?

> Adam Blythe clocks 136km/h

The handy clip from the show, posted on Twitter before everything blew up, has since been deleted... so here's a quick run-down of what Blythe said: "I really want to see that bike of Remco's to see what the problem was. He's not crashed, both wheels to me look like they were pumped up, if his gears [chain] have gone into his spokes or derailleur and he can't pedal, yes it's a mechanical, but that's something you can help... I would like to see that bike to see what the problem was..."

Pushed further by host Orla Chennaoui on whether Remco was out to "limit his losses" by "claiming a mechanical", Blythe clarified "I'm not suggesting that [...] it's just all a little bit too convenient." Seeing the footage back, he continued: "Both wheels are pumped up [which, in fairness, did look to be the case on the TV images] he's pedalling the bike fine, so what is the problem with it?"

Remco's post-race interview followed, with the explanation that he'd punctured, but by now it wasn't just Blythe questioning the claim, and cycling fans globally took to social media to search for evidence of this phantom puncture...

As it turned out it wasn't phantom after all. A short while later, this video appeared, seeming to show a slow rear flat...

Evenepoel rear puncture inside 3km much clearer from this perspective. Slow leak, not flat but not really rideable either. #LaVuelta22pic.twitter.com/yK0LYLdlNl

— Neal Rogers 🇺🇦 (@nealrogers) September 6, 2022

Presumably now on his evening commute, Blythe posted a video message clearing up the post-stage events, saying he'd now seen the footage showing the flat (much clearer than on the original TV pictures)..."That back tyre, clear enough for me to say that it was a flat tyre, so anyone trying to tell me that I was insinuating Remco's cheating... I am not [...] I was saying what I could see, and it didn't look like a flat tyre."

… ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/jmcN2dMadn

— Adam Blythe (@AdamBlythe89) September 6, 2022

Phew... more drama after stage 16 than pretty much the entire 189km day out... lesson learnt, eh Adam? Don't go giving opinions when analysing bike races...(sorry, if you heard that it was just the live blog sarcasm alarm going off again, I must work out how to switch that off)...