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As the 2024 road cycling season approaches its conclusion, there’s one name who has been everywhere, done everything and won (almost) everything. First, it was the solo win in Strade Bianche, then he won the Volta a Catalunya with more stage wins than the rest of the peloton combined, and then, exorcising ghosts from past year, he won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège for a second time.
As the spring gave way to summer, and as the classics and monuments gave way to the two Grand Tours, Pogačar simply went and got what he wanted: the first Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998. After deciding to skip the Paris Olympics, allowing himself a break and rejuvenation period of sorts, last month, he repeated what he had just done, ie. get what he wanted — it was the rainbow jersey this time — and with that, the hallowed ‘Triple Crown’ of cycling.
But as cycling fans would know, with wins and success comes intense scrutiny. In a sport which has made legends and seen them torn down by malpractices, it would make sense that admirers and regulators of the sport alike would pay extra attention, having been burnt not once, not twice, but many times.
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Tadej Pogačar wins the 2024 world road race championships, Zurich (Ed Sykes/SWpix.com)
It was Jonas Vingegaard and the Visma-Lease a Bike (Jumbo Visma back then) who was subject to the microscopic lens after his two consecutive Tour de France wins last year, and now the attention seems to have fallen back on Pogačar — this time, it’s the Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme himself who’s aired the questions.
In an interview with La Dépêche du Midi, Christian Prudhomme was asked to share his thoughts on the question of doping question in he sport, and if he’d be surprised to find out in future that Pogačar had, in fact, been using performance-enhancing drugs.
He replied: “Given the past of cycling and not so far, your question is not illegitimate. I do not have an answer. I note that it gives a boost to cycling competitions, by stages or one day, quite impressive. The controls exist, we fought with ASO to have independents, today it is the case with ITA [International Testing Agency]. There you go…”
He ended the question by giving Pogačar his roses still, saying: “We’re back to how it used to be, that is to say champions who are there from the beginning to the end of the season and with this will to win everything, which makes him similar to not only Eddy Merckx, but also to Bernard Hinault...
“For years, I heard Bernard say that these guys have to rediscover their sense of the game again, they have to have fun! That’s exactly what Pogacar is doing.”
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A motorist who was drinking vodka from a 7Up bottle at the wheel when she struck a cyclist from behind on a cycle lane, leaving the rider with concussion and ongoing pain and discomfort, offered him €2,500 as a “token of remorse” before pleading guilty to careless driving.
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Ahead of the second stage of the Simac Ladies Tour, Team Canyon-SRAM has announced that it’s lost three of its riders in a day, with Maike van der Duin and Soraya Paladin suffering from illness, while former American road and time trial champion Chloe Dygert has withdrawn after she broke her nose… apparently after bumping into a door.
It’s as if you Tyche herself came to the earth and decided to curse the team bus of Canyon-SRAM…
#SLT2024
We start stage 2 with @Backstedt_Zoe and Alex Morrice only.@chloedygert30 broke her nose before stage 1 and will stop the tour for a better recovery, while @SorayaPaladin and Maike van der Duin are, unfortunately, unwell. pic.twitter.com/oJ3JCHOscX— CANYON//SRAM Racing & CANYON//SRAM Generation (@WMNcycling) October 9, 2024
Dygert’s situation has left cycling fans confused and baffled — with the 27-year-old not enjoying a lot of luck lately. She suffered a horror injury four years ago, suffering a severe laceration to her left leg. But while she has recovered from that setback, illnesses and other injuries have never really left her side — which Dygert claims has disallowed her from achieving her full potential.
She did manage to win two medals, one each in road and track cycling at the Paris Olympics earlier this year. However, at the individual time trial, she crashed on the wet Parisian roads, losing crucial time in her bid for gold and had to settle for bronze, and then at the road race was the architect of her own downfall when she divebombed her Canyon-SRAM teammate Elise Chabbey and caused a crash.
Canyon SRAM at the Simac Ladies Tour has gone from a pretty big high to a low...
Stage win yesterday and now down to 2 riders after illness hits and Chloe Dygert...*checks notes* bumps into a door #SLT2024https://t.co/vKVAsOnSsxpic.twitter.com/3PLimgkwjX
— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) October 9, 2024
Just weeks ago, Dygert — a self-proclaimed Conservative and ‘not-a-femisinist’ who was the focus of a controversy a few years ago when she liked transphobic and racist posts on Twitter— once again fell just short of claiming the road world championship title in Zürich, getting outsprinted by eventual winner and arguably one of the best sprinters in the peloton, Lotte Kopecky.
“It’s still hard to say that I’m happy… I just could not wait for Paris because I knew it was going to be a course for me. I knew it was going to be flat and I was so excited. So to not have a good day on race day was frustrating,” she told Olympics.com, after her third-place finish at the time trial, having missed silver by a few seconds.
> Chloe Dygert apology for social media conduct “not sufficient” says Rapha
All that aside, situation has gone from a euphoric high to a difficult low for Canyon-SRAM, leaving the team with just two riders for the six-day stage-race in the Netherlands, the British duo of Alex Morrice and Zoe Bäckstedt, who took her first pro win yesterday, winning the first stage, a 10.1km time trial in Gennep.
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One year on from Shimano announcing a voluntary inspection and replacement recall of Hollowtech cranks, a UK-based bike shop has claimed it has been "banned" from the inspection programme after the components giant took issue with its policy of sending all cranks back to the manufacturer due to safety concerns.
Oooh! Big questions coming in from the Twitter user CycleNotts, who’s made good use of the Norman Rockwell painting ‘Freedom of Speech’ meme trend, to say something so brave and so controversial…
I believe people who cycle to work should get Tax relief of 20p per mile. pic.twitter.com/mbVmL1UkCE
— CycleNotts² (@CycleNott) October 8, 2024
Lots of people had lots of different thoughts about this idea, with cyclist going by the username of ‘Real Gaz on a proper bike’ on social media, saying: “I applaud and agree with this. Cycling to work is a positive health intervention which should be rewarded and encouraged.”
Steve Hunt, meanwhile, seemed to be fixated on the feasibilities of how the whole tax relief thing would work: “I like the concept, but how could it be practically administered? How do you prove a distance cycled and not driven?”
CycleNotts, the instigator of this online conversation, noted that the policy does work in other countries. In the Netherlands, for almost two decades businesses have rewarded bike-riding commuters €0.19 per kilometre, a spend the government allows them to deduct from their tax bill.
This mileage allowance was previously only available to drivers who could claim it to cover the cost of fuel. Since bikes don’t require expensive petrol, cyclists can simply pocket the money — which can amount up to €450 a year if someone’s cycling 10 kilometres a day, five days a week!
Even Belgium and France have similar schemes in place. In fact, one in five employees of small and medium-sized Belgian enterprises received a bicycle allowance of €0.24 per cycled kilometre in the first half of 2022. And in France, commuters can claim up to €0.25 per kilometre they cycle to work, up to a yearly cap of around €200.
So back to the big question, do you think the UK should introduce a similar tax relief for those cycling to work — saving the planet and improving mental and physical health at the same time? Let us know in the comments!
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What's that? The sound of our capitalist overlords throwing us some scraps?! I guess we'll take it!
As always, we're only recommending things here that are genuinely the cheapest on the internet right now, and if you see it for less anywhere else (or in a physical bike shop) let us know and we're happy to send people to the better deal instead. Try not to buy stuff you don't need for obvious reasons, and be sure to sign up for an Amazon Prime accountto take advantage of the deals, free delivery etc.
Don't tell the Bezos, but you can just sign up for a one-month trial and stick a reminder in your phone to cancel it when this latest bargain-fest is over and done with.
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In the latest episode of the road.cc Podcast, we dive headfirst into the GOAT debate before going all meta with a chat about the current cycling media landscape, why it’s changed (and changing), and whether we should be worried about the future...
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There’s been a lot of chatter around the suspended prison sentence story for the driver who was found with twice the legal limit for cannabis in his system hit a cyclist while overtaking a stalled car at a red light, sending the rider coming from the opposite direction flying 20 feet into the air and leaving him with serious injuries.
CCTV footage of the incident showed Danial Arshad cause a head-on collision with Nicholas Cooper, who suffered a collapsed lung, fractures to his ribs and spine, and even a risk of paralysis, with the judge himself saying “Mr Cooper was very fortunate not to have died.”
However, the judge also described the incident as a “close call” and said it was clear Arshad being “impatient” and “under the influence to some extent of cannabis” had caused it, ultimately handing him a 10 year suspended prison sentence. He was suspended for driving for three years and is required to undertake 15 days of rehabilitation activity and 300 hours of unpaid work as part of his sentence.
The sentence seems to have caught a lot of backlash from cyclists, who described the decision as “appalling” and “joke of a sentence”.
A cyclist who goes by the name of Orpington Cyclist on Twitter tagged the Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and asked: “What does the below tell you about road safety in the UK?”
Another person replied saying that “the timing of that report coincides perfectly with Louise Haigh’s discussions on road safety” and that “without sentencing that reflects the severity, less people will want to cycle and bad or dangerous drivers will have little to deter them from endangering others in the future.”
Meanwhile, another person replied to road.cc’s tweet about the news criticising the judge describing the incident as a close call, saying: “A close call is when they miss you not when they hit you. What hope do you have with judges like this?”
There were several others who thought the judge’s sentence was too lenient, one even saying: “Judge needs sacking, not competent to take the evidence and create a sentence or needs to fine the driver 50k and ban for ten years.”
Another person wrote: “I know it’s not comparable but a woman was recently jailed for 12 weeks for missing a probation appointment 20 yrs ago, thereby losing her job & her children. What’s worse, missing an appointment, or drug-driving & hitting a cyclist? What’s gone wrong with our legal system?”
Again more compassion given to the offender (showed absolute contempt towards the law) rather than to the victim (received life altering injuries).
“Under the influence to some extent of cannabis” shows diminished view towards what is a serious offence.
— Dj_Caress (@dj_caress) October 8, 2024
On Facebook, Howard Crompton wrote: “That made my stomach turn. The cyclist in question has been let down so badly it’s untrue. I hope he puts in an extensive insurance claim too. How is there any tolerance for drink or drugs I don’t know. I know it won’t stop people doing it, but sentences like this are outrageous.”
Fairley Grist said: “I was initially angry about this and Having seen the video and read the comments from the judge almost excusing the driver and saying it was a “close call” I am absolutely fuming and disgusted at the sentencing.”
However, under the road.cc report, reader alexuk thought that the sentence was harsh on the cyclist but ultimately fair, writing: “May sound harsh, but seems appropriate given the evidence. He didn't see the cyclist hauling ass towards him, if he did, it seems likely he wouldn't have pulled out; clearly intention to do harm could not be proven.
“If he pulled out having seen the cyclist, then dangerous all-day. I'm glad the driver is off the road for the next 3yrs and has to spend the next two years on best behaviour with mandated rehab + 300hrs unpaid.
“Sometimes accidents happen. I hope the rider manages to find himself again and the driver makes a positive change to his life.”
Make of this what you will now...
Some totally out of context Armenian President Pashinyan cycling in rainy Moscow. pic.twitter.com/1MfNeqbFEv
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) October 8, 2024
"There is a very good bicycle path along the Moskva River, and we rode our bikes today," Pashinyanm who travelled to Moscow to participate in the meeting of the CIS Heads of State Council, said.
More about what went down in the horrific conditions in Lombardy yesterday (thankfully, no one was injured): “We couldn’t see where we were going”: Pogačar leads safety charge as Italian classic race cancelled mid-race due to excessive flooding, with “water as high as disc rotors” and “manhole covers getting lifted up off the floor”
In case you missed it, bike-building maestro and just simply a legend in the annals of the cycling world, Irio Tommasini passed away yesterday, aged 91.
And what better way to celebrate the man’s work than road.cc reader and a Tommasini tifoso Mike Curtis’ cave of the beautiful, gorgeous Tommasini bikes. He wrote: “Goodnight, wonderful Signor Irio; sleep well. Thank you for all your wonderful work, and rest assured that your memory will live on forever thanks to your wonderful creations… It was an honour to have met you.”
PS. Thanks for keeping our Stay Awesome stickers in your workshop, Mike!