Live blog: Trump motorcade sees cyclists (but not drivers) kettled on NYC bridge bike path, some hop barrier to use roadway; Wiggins: Team Sky mechanic would have been sacked over Campenaerts TT bike-swap (+ remember his 2009 Worlds TT woes?) + more

So here’s a question for the twittersphere...

Now that every rider seems to be riding imaginary tribars in everything from a gravel race to a crit, would re-introducing these make things safer? pic.twitter.com/6hJ6DnLdlH

— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) May 19, 2019

Mr Dowsett has a fair point, since it's a common sight to see riders with their hands out in front as if they have clip-ons bolted on anyway... should they just be reintroduced à la draft-legal triathlon?

Sir Bradley Wiggins has chipped in on the discussion of the botched bike change yesterday that almost certainly cost Lotto-Soudal’s Victor Campenaerts victory at the Stage 9 time trial at the Giro d’Italia, saying on his Eurosport podcast that if it had happened to a Team Sky rider, it would have cost the mechanic his job.

Wiggins is eminently qualified to comment on yesterday’s misfortune for the Belgian, who last month broke his UCI Hour record – you may recall that riding in the colours of Great Britain, he had his own bike change disaster in a high-profile time trial a decade ago.

Still in the hunt for the bronze medal at the 2009 UCI Road World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, where Fabian Cancellara powered to victory on home roads, Wiggins fell victim to a mechanical on the final lap.

In his report for the Guardian at the time, William Fotheringham described how the British rider, who would finish 21st, “was unable to get a rapid bike change because his car had been held up behind riders who were following him on the course.

“Clearly livid, he threw his bike down in disgust and was left standing by the roadside, with one sympathetic Swiss fan tapping him on the shoulder,” Fotheringham added. “It cannot have cheered him up in the slightest: his race was over in the cruellest possible way.”

The riders had to dig pretty deep on the tough 34.7km course, having to deal with a 5.2km section at an average gradient of 7% after the opening 22km. Thomas de Gendt's Strava file shown he put out a massive 419 watts for the course, topping out at 773 watts... And that was only good enough for 18th place. 

The highest-placing rider we could find who made a Strava upload was Ben O'Connor of Team Dimension Data, who finished 17th. He rode the 5km climb section at an average of 423 watts, and averaged 397 watts overall. 

An urban cloaking device for bicycles

That time we reclaimed road space to create guerrilla cycle parking...disguised as a skip pic.twitter.com/oLDCQtmil3

— ETA Services Ltd (@ETAservicesltd) May 17, 2019

For some reason no one seems to question it when a skip appears at the side of the road... so these cunnings chaps have covertly turned one into a bike storage facility. Of course when some people found out what the skip was they couldn't get their head around this break with societal norms, apparently.

When people found out what it actually was, we had drivers threatening to crash into it! Go figure.

— ETA Services Ltd (@ETAservicesltd) May 17, 2019

Feather Cycles has been producing some of the finest and most beautifully crafted bikes for the last 10 years and to mark this milestone the York-based company is having a day of celebration on 27th July. “The first ten years of Feather Cycles has been amazing. I’ve been lucky to be supported by some fantastic customers who have been super fun to work with on some really interesting projects.” Ricky further added, “These celebrations are an opportunity for me to say thank you to those who have supported me as well to show how far the business has come in 10 years,” says founder Ricky Feather. There’ll be a nice 40 mile ride followed by pizza and drinks, and the celebrations includes workshop tours and screening of short films featuring bikes made by Feather. Rapha will be producing a special 10th anniversary jersey and shorts available to pre-order at the event as well as t-shirts. “I really cannot wait to see all the Feather bikes together in one place and see so many old and new friends,” adds Ricky, “This promises to be a really fun filled day which I’m really excited about.”

If you ever find yourself in a position where you need to switch bikes on a time trial, however rare a situation that is, this is exactly not how to do it. The new hour record holder estimated that the bike change fiasco cost him at least 30 seconds, and surely would have won the stage if the catalogue of errors hadn't had occurred. Following a mechanical he swapped to a road bike for the climb, and his team mechanic attempted to give him a helpful shove before he’d managed to swing his leg over the top tube and get in the saddle. The mechanic's push wasn't exactly effective, and a fan then took over to give Campenaerts an extra bit of momentum. 

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