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Councillor blames fall in Brighton’s tourism since 2020 on parking prices… conveniently forgets Covid lockdowns; Wout van Aert gets flagged on Strava; Peter Sagan “deeply sorry for screwing up”; London's most useless bike lane? + more on the live blog

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Did you hear about that thing in Bilbao this weekend? Anyway, Adwitiya is here this Thursday to bring you all the unbelievable (and a few believable) stories from the cycling world
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10:11
In the latest episode of "War on cars": Brighton's fall in tourism since 2020 is due to increased parking prices, definitely not the Covid lockdowns

Let's see if I get this right.

Bella Sankley, a Labour councillor in Brighton has accused the Green Party's increase in parking fee for drivers for causing the popular tourist destination to supposedly see fewer people come in the last three years and suffer a £1.2m fall in parking revenue.

Am I forgetting any particular global event which might have put off the said people to go and have fun at the beaches?

As much as I'd like to, I just can't seem to get around and do this trick of forgetting. But seems like someone has figured out a way to erase those wretched memories of being stuck in your home in your PJs, watching too much YouTube and Netflix, and eating an ungodly amount of Skittles. Erm, the last one might be just specific to me.

The Telegraph reports that Sankley blamed "incompetence" of the Green Party council, which after increasing the parking fee seems to have "scared off" the drivers, leaving a "black hole" in the city's finances.

The Greens were running a minority administration since 2020 until earlier this year, until the Labour won back majority of the Brighton and Hove City Council, and during that time, the former party presided over a string of increases in the cost of parking in the city for visitors and permit-holding residents.

> Cars to be banned from road along Brighton seafront to allow people to exercise safely

In April 2020, the council had also closed a major road along the south coast resort's seafront to motor traffic to give locals more space to take their outdoor exercise while maintaining social distance during the coronavirus pandemic.

But the convenient rewriting of the last three years and somehow blaming the increased parking fee for people for not leaving their houses as much to go to the beach has left people on social media baffled.

Did anyone also forget the cost of living crisis?

Or maybe, people still went to Brighton, but just not by cars?

11:58
Peter Sagan "deeply sorry for screwing up during a moment of weakness", after getting caught drunk driving
Peter Sagan's Paris-Roubaix-winning Specialized s-Works Roubaix (picture credit Specialized and Brakethrough Media)

Peter Sagan's Paris-Roubaix-winning Specialized s-Works Roubaix (picture credit Specialized and Brakethrough Media)

Another wild night out Pete? Wait, a wild morning out?!

The three-time world champion was handed a three-month suspended prison sentence, and banned from driving for the same period yesterday, after he was caught drink driving on a motorised bike through the streets of Monaco on 12 May... at 11:35 AM.

> Peter Sagan handed three-month suspended prison sentence for drink driving

Credit where credit's due, at least he wasn't behind the wheel of a car. I'm guessing it's also significantly more difficult to perform wheelies on a four-wheeled vehicle than a two-wheeled one.

The TotalEnergies rider has now posted a supremely awkward apology video on Instagram, and he looks absolutely devastated. Or I think, that's what I'm trying to believe.

He says in the video: "I am reaching out to tell you I'm deeply sorry for screwing up after a moment of weakness. I would like to apologise to my family, my friends, my team, our sponsors and everybody that supported me. I'm committed to learn from this mistake and becoming a better person in the future."

Not the best thing to tackle when you'll be starting your last Tour de France in under 50 hours. But hey, can't be worse than Lotto-Dstny.

11:53
Lotto Dstny sports director Allan Davis won’t travel to Tour de France following accusations of inappropriate behaviour online
Allan Davis (Lotto-Dstny)

The Australian DS, a former pro rider himself, has been accused of sending inappropriate messages and photos to "at least 30 women" on social media, with Lotto Dstny claiming that the matter "has nothing to do" with the team.

Well, this would go down well for a team heading into the Tour de France on a wildcard.

> Lotto Dstny sports director Allan Davis won’t travel to Tour de France following accusations of inappropriate behaviour online

11:21
Is this London's, and perhaps the world's most useless bike lane?

You have been merrily pedalling your way from Peckham for a nice Chacago-style pizza in Soho (and a couple of pints, of course), when just a few minutes into your ride, you are reminded that you will have to cross the dreaded Westminster bridge.

Has that ever happened to you? If not, you're lucky and I hope it never does.

But I'll spare a thought for all those who've had to endure the trials and tribulations of this bike lane. Sometimes I think if it didn't exist, how would all the people take pictures of the Big Ben or the House of Commons?

Although I personally don't have anything against the ice-cream van — it's a landmark in itself, probably more iconic than all the other towering monuments around it — but the queues for a cone of indecently overpriced ice-cream do get a bit much.

Jeremy Vine has a solution.

But this one's my favourite:

10:52
Why you should read this blog for prepping for the next pub quiz: Evidence #4,192

Not cycling related per se, but with the Tour making its way from the Basque city on Saturday, it qualifies. Also, just a really good trivia worthy of a blog mention.

09:14
Cheating? In cycling? Never heard of that before...
Jacques Anquetil at the 1963 Tour de France (picture via Dutch State Archives)

Okay this one's a bit different. Everyone talks about doping, we know cycling went through that. But there's a time and place for other, non-substance reliant cheeky and sometimes eye-gouging ways to get yourself over the finish line. And that's what we take a look at here...

> Cheating at the Tour de France — a rich history dating back 120 years

08:37
Too fast for you? Wout van Aert gets flagged on Strava

Flat 100-km ride, how quick do you think you can do it?

Now, how quick do you think a certain Wout van Aert can do it?

 

After demolishing a 104.2km ride in 2 hours and 18 minutes, with an average speed of 45.2 km/h and max speed of 63.8 km/h, the Belgian rider's activity has been flagged on Strava.

This comes just a couple of weeks after we reported that the activity-sharing app is updating its algorithm to flag suspicious activities, after a host of nefarious Strava fanatics started using motorbikes to cover segments and steal cyclists' prized possessions of KOMs/QOMs.

All his segment records have been excluded as of now. So the locals are probably safe from waking up to the dreaded "Uh oh" message, only to find that they have lost their crown to a three-time cyclo-cross world champion.

> Wout van Aert takes time trial bike to Scotland for World Championships recon —then rides an OVO bike on Glasgow’s “risky” streets

But if you would anyone to expect to be putting up those numbers in the world, Van Aert is probably going to be in the top three or top five, at least. And with a little cycling get-together due to begin this weekend, maybe he was doing final training runs?

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