An intrepid bargain-hunting cyclist spotted a Cervélo P2 on Facebook Marketplace for €990 (£820). Intrigued they took a closer look and were so amused by what they found they did what any sensible person of the internet would — head straight to Reddit to share. It was posted in the 'Delusional Craigslist' subreddit, a group for "the most ridiculous posts from Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and anywhere else idiots try to sell things for WAY more than what they're actually worth", which sounds like somewhere we might spend some more time scrolling in future.
Anyway, back to the Cervélo. "Switching hobby," the seller told potential buyers. "Lower frame has one-inch crack. Been using it for years without problem."
Okay, let's fire up the pic of the crack that hasn't stopped it being ridden for years... ah, right...
What's worse? The thought of someone riding this "for years" with that or claiming you had to try to get someone else to pay nearly £1,000 for it? We'll leave that up to the cycling High Court... (our comments section).
Like that heartbreakingly cracked Kuota we shared on the blog last week, there was brief back-and-forth in the comments over whether the crack could be fixed and, more to the point, if it was financially worth it. Yes, duct tape got mentioned again, we hope as a joke.
Someone claimed to be happy to ride it in that condition: "I'd ride that. Then it goes up on the wall. I love pushing bikes to catastrophic failure. Feels like I got my money's worth. Haven't lost any teeth yet, but my shins tell a tale." Almost want to start a whip-round to check that one out.
Anyway, we'll crack on with the rest of the day and just leave this here...
Treated to echelons on a Thursday morning, the UAE Tour is good for some things at least, even if the route's almost totally flat, boring and almost entirely unwatched by anyone at the roadside. Tadej Pogačar and his home favourites, UAE Team Emirates, led the charge as the wind blowed, optimal cross tailwind conditions seeing speeds of close to 70km/h and the peloton split into multiple groups.
Those behind got the chase sorted fairly quick however and the threat of total carnage was cooled. It all meant we got the sprint that was expected on stage four, Jonathan Milan pipping Tim Merlier and Jasper Philipsen in a photo finish.
All three are expected to head to the Tour de France this summer, setting up the prospect of some mouth-watering sprint clashes, especially when you add in Biniam Girmay, Wout van Aert, Fabio Jakobsen, Dylan Groenewegen, Arnaud de Lie and anyone else who fancies it. Shout out to British rider Dan McLay, now part of Visma-Lease a Bike's lead-out team, who got up for fourth on the stage. No changes on GC, let's see if the afternoon's action in Andalusia and the Algarve is quite so barmy as yesterday.
It's Home Mechanics' Week here on road.cc, so keep you eyes peeled for more stuff like this that might just save you a trip to a bike shop.
The famous French sport newspaper L'Équipe this week published a piece asking if "Tadej Pogacar's dominance could tire the public?"
Fabian Cancellara, the legendary pro cyclist-turned-team boss with Tudor Pro Cycling, was one of those asked for his opinion, Spartacus answering: "Pogačar is not going to kill cycling. I don't like the term. But obviously if someone dominates so much, it's like Max Verstappen in Formula 1. I don't know about you, but for me, it becomes less interesting, I follow the races a little less. In cycling, we could see the same thing, but when Eddy Merckx also dominated everything or when Tom (Boonen) and I won the Flemish races, then there were new riders, new names."
Pogačar's former teammate Marc Hirschi, who now rides under Cancellara's tutelage for his Swiss team, looked at the question in a different way... "Some will start to get bored, but at the same time, most know cycling thanks to Tadej, who is recognised throughout the world [...] It goes so fast in cycling today. You can get sick, be unwell, other riders can emerge too. Maybe next season will be Remco's?"
What do we reckon? Would you find another year of Pogačar dominance like 2024 boring?
A seven-year-old from Northampton has raised £1,000 for a homeless centre in the town by cycling 100km over several rides after being inspired by Paddy McGuinness's Children in Need 300-mile Chopper charity cycle.
Albie's mum Katy told the Banbury Guardian: "He has also shown great perseverance and determination to complete the challenge even in the cold and miserable weather. There were many times he could have stayed inside watching television or films but he knew he had to get it done and that's what he did."
He raised more than 400% of his original £250 target, so far raising £1,010 for Northampton Hope Centre.
While the Ineos Grenadiers were philosophical in defeat, Visma-Lease a Bike and Wout van Aert went on the attack, calling out the race organisers and UCI for yet another "embarrassing" incident that risked rider safety.
In a lengthy post on the team's website, Visma-Lease a Bike explained how it had been excited to see Jonas Vingegaard's return to the peloton following the off-season, the two-time Tour de France champion joined by Van Aert, Sepp Kuss, Tiesj Benoot, Wilco Kelderman, Ben Tulett and Loe van Belle at the 2.Pro race, one of the many week-long stage races that punctuate the opening couple of months of the racing calendar. That excitement quickly turned to anger as Van Aert explained.
"This was undoubtedly a human mistake. The final roundabout was not closed off, creating a ridiculous situation. When I saw the barriers on the other side, I realised something was wrong. Some people even signalled that we should be careful. Situations like this simply cannot happen."
Sports director Arthur van Dongen called the episode "embarrassing" and suggested the sport had "once again lost credibility".
"The riders' safety must be the top priority, but the organisers fell short in that regard," he said. "Fortunately, there were no serious accidents, because this could have ended very badly. Safety in cycling remains a major issue. I hope the UCI wakes up soon."
The incident on yesterday's Algarve stage came just two weeks after Ineos Grenadiers, Lidl-Trek, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, EF Education-EasyPost, and several other teams all refused to race and headed back to their team buses during Étoile de Bessèges, that after multiple incidents of motorists on the course, in one case causing a crash.
Things escalated quite quickly for everyone yesterday at Algarve, but perhaps quickest for Filippo Ganna and the Ineos Grenadiers. First, there was jubilation and a funny social media post...
And then disappointment, frustration and a less gleeful follow-up that tried to take a more philosophical view of events. The team wrote last night: "Following the finish, the decision was made to cancel stage one of the Volta ao Algarve without a result.
"Cycling is tough. Some days you win but most you lose. We want to pay tribute to the incredible love and dedication that organisers and volunteers put into our sport, as well as its amazing fans. We're thankful that today everyone finished safely, but let's use this opportunity to continue to shine a light on making the best sport in the world a safer one."
Yesterday evening the organisation of the Volta ao Algarve, the stage race hit by "total chaos" and farcical scenes on its opening stage when almost the entire peloton went the wrong way at a roundabout before the sprint, has released a longer statement on the incident. It confirmed the brief social media statement we reported last night, explaining that there would be no winner and the stage result had been cancelled.
"The College of Commissaires interpreted the regulations and, given what happened, decided to cancel the stage because they considered that sporting truth did not prevail in the end. All the technical information was clear that the riders should go left at the last roundabout. The fact is that some of them took the right, in a lane parallel to the finish line. It was a wrong decision by the peloton but it's clear that we didn't do enough to avoid this outcome, which we very much regret," explained Sérgio Sousa, director of the Volta ao Algarve.