That. Was. Class. #kingmagnus
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) February 17, 2023
Too kind, Jonathan, I thought it was just another standard live blog, but if you insist...
We'll see you all on Monday, have a great weekend everyone!
Remember the good ol' days when it was just LTNs getting shouty people on the internet worked up? It has been some week for the 15-minute city 'debate', starting with Conservative MP Nick Fletcher raising a known conspiracy theory in Parliament, sparking the inevitable GB News reaction, but now we've even got an Olympic swimmer wading in at the deep end...
Yeap & Meantime we’re going to get fined for travelling 15 mins from our house! pic.twitter.com/Br5kvp1c4f
— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) February 16, 2023
Did I say 'wading in'? Maybe cannonballing would be more accurate. And admittedly it's a bit of a two for the price of one situation, with Davies' initial Bath-based complaint being about the Clean Air Zone, but also mentioning Oxford where 15-minute city plans seem to be the issue.
Anyway, the 1980 Moscow Olympics silver medallist, who has also been outspoken about trans issues in sport, did not see the comments go unnoticed...
I know what it’s going to cost me ( & others) to see friends & pick my son up from school in Bath. I know all shop keepers are hugely anti. I know 90% of those consulted in Oxford are also anti! This should not be put in place stealth. It’s nothing more than another tax
— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) February 16, 2023
[click on the photo to see the full info below]
How is it going to cost anything extra than it does right now? pic.twitter.com/gYYo6UHo21
— Rich (@531Forever) February 16, 2023
Oxford resident here, 90% are not against it, we would like to be able to freely move about our city without it being clogged up with cars. We also know that it is faster to use the ring road rather than trying to drive across it on medieval streets
— Peter Kimsey (@KimseyPeter) February 16, 2023
You don’t get the irony. Driving into Bath is what’s causing the jams, that and driving from one side of the city to the other, driving round & round looking for a parking spot.
— Sir Gordon & the Vaccines (@thegordonkerr) February 16, 2023
Incidentally, here's Oliver Wainwright's piece in The Guardian yesterday, 'In praise of the ‘15-minute city’ – the mundane planning theory terrifying conspiracists'... sorry, not sure how that ended up there...
Four races for the round-up today, two won by the same person who won yesterday and one by the same rider who's won that stage twice before. Let's start in Spain where Elisa Balsamo made it two from two...
💨💨💨💨
Etapa 2 ⚡️ @Elisa_balsamo🧡 #SetmanaCiclista23pic.twitter.com/UdDsF6Cit0
— Setmana Ciclista - Volta Femenina de la CV (@SetmanaCiclista) February 17, 2023
Meanwhile, Tadej Pogačar had a day off dominating the entire peloton into submission, but just so teammate Tim Wellens could take his third career win in Alcalá de los Gazules.
The UAE Team Emirates domination continues 👊💥
Tim Wellens attacks on a 𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐀𝐋 final climb to solo to a Stage 3 victory in Andalucia 🥵⛰@Tim_Wellens | @TeamEmiratesUAEpic.twitter.com/nVnQ1Pp4sI
— Eurosport (@eurosport) February 17, 2023
All the watts...
A perfect day at the 69RdS 🇪🇸.@Tim_Wellens with the stage win. @TamauPogi retains his overall lead. 👌👏👍#UAETeamEmirates#WeAreUAEpic.twitter.com/AxYqrHj7FW
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) February 17, 2023
Talking of all the watts, how about this sprint from Magnus Cort, distancing the rest of the Volta ao Algarve startlist...
Senhora vitória de @MagnusCort na etapa 3 da #VAlgarve23pic.twitter.com/5pW9nkaJvI
— País do Ciclismo (@opaisdociclismo) February 17, 2023
What's that? It wasn't a bunch sprint? Nope, King Cort was in an attack group that took off at the intermediate sprint at 24km to go... some big engines in there — Filippo Ganna, Tom Pidcock, Rui Costa, TT world champ Tobias Foss, Valentin Madouas — and yet the answer was perhaps the most obvious... yesterday's winner taking another victory today...
That. 👏🏻 Was. 👏🏻Thrilling
Thank you @MagnusCort! #VAlgarve23pic.twitter.com/NAck0ZgrLj
— Anna Mac 🌈 (@AnnamacB) February 17, 2023
Oh, and before I forget, Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var stage one was won by Kévin Vauquelin. And breathe...
Clik here to view.
Back in November we had Carla Francombe on the road.cc Podcast to discuss staying calm in the face of online abuse. You can catch that episode here, by the way... anyway, back to today's story — 15-minute cities...
Clearly her appearance on the road.cc little leagues was impressive enough to earn a call-up to the big time and Radio 4's AntiSocial programme. Joining Adam Flemming live alongside Alan Miller of Together Declaration, the anti-lockdown group that objected to vaccine passports and other issues during the Covid pandemic, Francombe represented the pro-15-minute city voice, championing active travel policy.
"For me, it's just a lot about having safe streets and people-friendly streets," she told the show. "The reason it came to me was we went to Guernsey, I took my little kids and we went to St Peter Port and the whole of the town centre had no cars.
"And it was just like this complete epiphany of I just haven't realised how much I was scared, all the time, walking the streets with my kids."
You can listen to the full hour-long episode here...
I had fun yesterday testing out my trials skills on an old pier. This line didn’t quite go to plan, but I hope you enjoy coming along for the ride 😉@GoPro 11 hero mini #failfriday#trials#streettrials#balancepic.twitter.com/GLl0yPYJfb
— Danny MacAskill (@danny_macaskill) February 17, 2023
Esteban Chaves is the new Colombian national champion, sparking a great deal of excitment about how EF Education–EasyPost, the team behind several eye-catchingly radical kits over the years, would celebrate their rider's success. The answer?
No!!! Wtf is that?! pic.twitter.com/cqwbCzoSbd
— Tim Bonville-Ginn (@TimBonvilleGinn) February 17, 2023
What do we reckon? A tad undersold? Maybe it's the curse of too much expectation, but to our eye that does look a little bit too UAE Team Emirates-y...
I'm so disappointed pic.twitter.com/3Ts9w3iLNj
— Tim Bonville-Ginn (@TimBonvilleGinn) February 17, 2023
That is the Venezuelan champion but yes the design is better...
I was expecting this! 👇 pic.twitter.com/oxgr8hB5Yu
— Tim Bonville-Ginn (@TimBonvilleGinn) February 17, 2023
Our only hope?
I doubt it, but we shall see 🙃
— Tim Bonville-Ginn (@TimBonvilleGinn) February 17, 2023
Come on Vaughters, the people want an explosion in a yellow paint factory... step it up...
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Figures published by the Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Crédible (MPCC) show that there were 29 cases of alleged doping in cycling in 2022, ten more than in 2021.
Using data from anti-doping agencies, courts, federations and news reports the MPCC puts together its annual report into doping at a professional level in cycling and found last year's figure was the second highest since 2015.
While the numbers seem high the MPCC was quick to point out there were just two cases in the sport's top two tiers (WorldTour and ProTour), the lowest number recorded since before the Festina affair of 1998.
"In 2022, the large majority of doping proceedings in top-level cycling concerned semi-professional men riders from continental road teams (12 cases)," the MPCC explained.
Some of your thoughts on Davies' dip into active travel...
Clik here to view.
ubercurmudgeon: "As a general rule, anyone who includes in their Twitter name or handle a three-letter-acronym for some gong they received for letting the royal family associate themselves with their modest achievements, isn't worth listening to."
Patrick9-32: "Car drivers: Take up 95 per cent of infrastructure space and budget. Also car drivers: 'Can't we just make public transport, walking and cycling better without doing anything that makes driving even one per cent less convenient???? why is there a war on cars?"
billymansell: "As the saying goes, 'when you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression'."
Clik here to view.
[📷: SD Worx]
Providing an update on Amy Pieters' recovery from the December 2021 crash which left the three-time rainbow jersey wearer in a coma for months, SD Worx admitted their rider is experiencing a "difficult period". In a post on the team's website...
It‘s been quiet around Amy Pieters for a while and there are reasons for that. Her rehabilitation can sometimes go less good. This is mainly due to a number of setbacks that she had to deal with. Pieters has had several epileptic seizures in a short period of time that slowed down her recovery.
As a result, she has suffered a relapse in her mobility and her motivation to recover is also somewhat difficult due to the adjusted medication. This is a difficult period for her, but also for everyone who works and interacts with her.
Pieters can now answer with a clear yes and no, but unfortunately it is not yet possible to really have a conversation in sentences. She mainly communicates with facial expressions. Now there will be waited until the medication to be adjusted in such a way that she regains the energy and motivation so that she can work on the next steps of her rehabilitation.
Pieters still prefers to get on her bicycle and go for a ride outside, rather than sitting on an indoor bike in the gym. The Amy Pieters foundation has purchased an adapted bicycle for her, as well as a system to warn in the event of an epileptic attack. This so that she can also do cycling as an exercise at home during the weekends.
Approaching our 15th birthday it remains the proudest moment of this website's existence the day No Context Brits shared our story about the round-the-world cyclist whose bike got stolen outside a Wetherspoons in Reading. The peak of any journalist's career...
Well, the popular Twitter account with 1.6 million followers is back on our patch...
— No Context Brits (@NoContextBrits) February 16, 2023
Less cycling-related, but fun for a Friday morning...
— Chris™ (@Chrisw_1) February 16, 2023
With the helmet debate done to death, perhaps this is the next frontier...
I just met a very sweet Pomeranian near St Paul's and the owners did not believe I'd seen one last year in Naples with a bike helmet, so here's the proof 😂 pic.twitter.com/NfodraLpPl
— Simon MacMichael 🏴🇮🇹🇪🇺❤️💙🚲 (@simonmacmichael) February 16, 2023