"Behold, the UK's largest bike retailer... you really are spoiling us": Customers unimpressed by 'wheel-bender' bike racks at major Halfords store; Pro cycling's new dominant sprinter?; Plapp taps out due to horrific road rash + more on the live blog

Behold, the UKs largest bike retailer

You really are spoiling us pic.twitter.com/USBKneVOn8

— Bike Rogers (@bike_rogers) January 18, 2024

For the uninitiated, this type of bike rack is commonly dubbed the 'wheel-bender' because... well... I'm sure you can work that part out. No support for the frame, hard to lock to, potentially the easiest rack to be removed? I'm willing to die on the 'just give us nice, practical, well-fitted Sheffield Stands' hill.

Unsurprisingly the introduction of a 'wheel-bender' does not go down well...

> "Are you happy to lose customers?": Dismay as Co-op replaces popular bike parking with "two useless wheel benders"

But outside a branch of the UK's largest cycling retailer? You'd be forgiven for expecting something a little bit more inspiring. 

That wouldn't be @Halfords_uk in Norwich by any chance? pic.twitter.com/A3UP6suG9L

— TallBikeGuy (@theTallBikeGuy) January 18, 2024

And no, apparently it's not even a leftover relic from past decades that has never been upgraded and everyone's forgotten about it, but a relatively recent addition...

I can see your wheels scream in pain!

— Bike Rogers (@bike_rogers) January 18, 2024

One wheel torture device replaced by another. As Bike Rogers explained in another post "it strikes of doing the bare minimum". Anyway, not Halfords' only live blog appearance in recent times, click here for another cracker...

> "All the right parts, but not necessarily in the right places": Halfords' questionable bike set-up ridiculed 

Or, if you're craving your next dodgy bike rack fix...

> Worst bike racks — from the useless to utterly unusable places to park your bicycle

An undercover vigilante, dubbed 'Batman', is re-stealing stolen bike share bicycles and returning them to docking stations in Toronto, blogTo reports.

The "ethical bike thief" is fed up with spotting stolen hire bikes all over the city, key signs being the lights not flashing, a "chewed up" appearance, and it being stashed in a strange place, such as one he spotted in some bushes, swooping in and returning it to a docking station.

"I can't save them all because they're either in use or locked up," the ethical bike thief said. "Like anything, once you keep an eye out for it, you'll start to notice them."

Thoughts? 

Yet another blow for British-based pro races as the owner of the Women's Tour and organiser of the Tour of Britain, SweetSpot, has entered liquidation. The news reported in the Guardian by Jeremy Whittle via an interview with chief executive Hugh Roberts is that the promoter has appointed KRE corporate recovery to deal with its creditors after entering voluntary liquidation, with liabilities likely to extend significantly past £1m.

[Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com]

British Cycling had rescinded the group's naming rights to the Tour of Britain due to a dispute over unpaid fees, claimed to be in the region of £750,000, while there has also been a suggestion of legal action from the Isle of Wight's council following the cancellation of the final stages in 2022 due to the death of the Queen.

Chief exec Roberts also admitted the estimated £1m outstanding debt could be higher, with a creditors list including local police forces and in-race service suppliers.

[Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com]

"Liquidation started to become a possibility back in July," Roberts said, suggesting that spiralling costs, the impact of Covid cancelling races, the Queen's death cancelling stages, and British Cycling's stance on the fees dispute had all contributed.

"Because we were already under a lot of pressure financially with the Tour of Britain. There was a potential title sponsor keen to be involved, with the men's Tour and the women's Tour, so we went ahead with the race, because that encouraged other sponsors to get involved."

Nothing came from those negotiations, creating a "real struggle".

"The reality of us having to decide to do what has actually ­happened came into focus," he said. "It's the end of an era. It's 20 years of hard work that have come to this. We have been fighting so many headwinds for the last three or four years, that it's come to the point where we really can't carry on in the current climate and the current business environment that we find ourselves in.

"The conditions that were set for us to extract ourselves from the position with British Cycling were too onerous. British Cycling wanted to still receive the full licence fee that they felt they were due in 2022. Despite the Queen dying in the middle of the race and all our other partners showing a little bit of financial sympathy to us they were insisting that the fee they felt they were owed should be paid in full.

"That, along with Covid, with not having a race from September 2019 to September 2021, the debt taken on board to keep the whole thing afloat. Local council bankruptcies, belt-tightening all over the place – that does not augur well for events that rely on government support.

"British Cycling say they have a plan [for the men's Tour of Britain] but I don’t know what it is. There was no room to negotiate. We were not even given the grounds to appeal."

British Cycling said it is "making every possible effort to  ensure that the Tour of Britain and a UCI Women's World Tour stage race take place in 2024 and beyond, and will be in a position to provide further details in the coming weeks". 

Before the stage Luke Plapp's team put out this update...

🚨 UPDATE:

After monitoring Luke Plapp overnight, unfortunately he will not start today’s fourth stage of the Tour Down Under due to discomfort & ongoing pain from a large amount of wounds.

Rest up Luke 🤕 pic.twitter.com/Uc1Iupi5oo

— GreenEDGE Cycling (@GreenEDGEteam) January 18, 2024

Translation: It f-ing hurts and have you tried sleeping in Australia during summer missing half the skin off your back? Can feel those sheets sticking from here, Luke, rest up... 

> "That's going to sting for a while": Jayco-AlUla's Luke Plapp with some of the worst road rash we've seen... but still manages to complete stage three of Tour Down Under