"This has UK written all over it": Another why cyclists don't use the cycle lane classic; Local wearing builder's hat drops Israel – Premier Tech pros in Rwanda; Wiggo predicts "amazing" Pidcock success; Britain's best LTN + more on the live blog

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! Seems like a good day to confirm I’ll hopefully be competing at the Commonwealth Games again this year. Winning the road race in 2014 is up there with the best days of my career 👌 It’s gonna be very special competing in the Welsh jersey again #StDavidsDay pic.twitter.com/61dY6z0zKD

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) March 1, 2022

Happy St David's Day! 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bike for Good Glasgow (@bikeforgoodglasgow)

 Glasgow Live were the first to report the news that the city's largest cycling charity Bike For Good has launched an emergency crowdfunder to help fund its work refeurbishing and selling donated bikes, repairing bicycles and enabling people to make cycling their main transport method.

The charity has pointed to inflation and rent and utility increases for its struggles, saying its property costs (rent and utilities) are up 51 per cent, while admin and overhead costs are up 22 per cent.

Bike For Good hopes to raise £10,000 through a crowdfunding campaign and has so far received £3,981 from 117 backers.

Here's the link to the crowdfunder on Local Giving...

Uno-X driving the peloton, a tractor driving in the opposite direction #LeSamyn pic.twitter.com/yTyu484i6n

— Katy M (@writebikerepeat) March 1, 2022

Tim Declercq may have missed the Opening Weekend, but at least one tractor sighting has made it onto our TV screens this week. We'd rather it was the breakaway-munching Quick-Step pro too, but this will have to do. This incident passed without any riders crashing or tanks being stolen... 

Ukrainian tractor driver steals Russian tank. Iconic. pic.twitter.com/i9Uk3efZMf

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) February 27, 2022

You couldn’t make it up #cycling https://t.co/QyLv4o1lPf

— VeloVoice (@velo_voice) March 1, 2022

Reaction time...

Do we have a higher bid in the crap cycle lane auction?

Reminds me of this belter in Greenwich pic.twitter.com/CqWuglrlcv

— Sam Hodges (@SamHodges) March 1, 2022

Looks like bring your kid to work day went well...

Luke Edwards had some local knowledge: "That's a virgin media box, the council can't remove it so build around then fix after virgin remove it, it's quicker and cheaper to do that than to wait for its removal first. (Pic is from the Chingford Road side of the Bell junction in Walthamstow)" In the meantime, get bunny hopping...

Ali Dow couldn't help but point out there's a "perfectly good bike lane to the right of box".

Tony Carroll's after a job at the council...he suggested this edit...

 While Alex Hemmingway reckons Danny MacAskill pulling off some of his famous stunts on Britain's worst infra would be a decent video idea...good luck to whichever producer would have to compile the list of potential sites...

Greetings from #LeSamyn, the 209km one-day race featuring cobbles, hills and narrow roads that kicks-off the month of March. pic.twitter.com/mjKHabZcdd

— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) March 1, 2022

You'll need to go through to the tweet to see the full photos, thanks to the way embedded tweets crop the photo, but Liam reckons he's spotted some interesting details on the Quick-Step boys' bikes before the start of today's one-day race, Le Samyn.

Firstly, those are definitely some new S-Works tyres which interestingly, with the painted sidewall, we can assume are tubeless. Meaning that, well, so are the wheels...a new tubeless offering from Roval? 

As far as safe bets go, predicting Tom Pidcock will be successful in 2022 seems sensible. The 22-year-old is making his return to the road after a rainbow jersey-winning winter in cyclocross, and was prominent if not podium-threatening at the Opening Weekend of the Classics.

18th at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad having made the front group and visibly animating the race at Kuurne-Brussells-Kuurne on Sunday, Sir Bradley Wiggins is predicting big things for Pidcock once again this year.

"He is amazing, isn't he," Wiggins said on his Eurosport podcast. "Obviously he has moved on now from his Olympic title and the Vuelta a España he rode. He is going to be a force to be reckoned with this year. He has got a very old head on his shoulders, hasn't he."

Wiggo also spoke about Mark Cavendish's early season form, saying you "would not put it past him" to get Tour de France win number 35...

"Another superstar, Mark Cavendish, he is already winning this year," Wiggo continued.

> Mark Cavendish will race Tour de France if he's better than Fabio Jakobsen, says Patrick Lefevere

"He has picked up where he left off last year, which is fantastic for us, and he has hit the deck again. If Cav does do the Giro — which starts in Budapest — or the Tour — which starts in Copenhagen, which will be great for Mark because he loves Copenhagen — you would not put it past him to go one better than Eddy Merckx and beat that record."

Respect!#RacingforChange #Rwanda 🇷🇼 pic.twitter.com/NcC3iMuNPQ

— Israel – Premier Tech / Israel Cycling Academy (@IsraelPremTech) February 28, 2022

It's the long-awaited sequel to Rigoberto Urán drafted by backpack-wearing local at 45km/h. Different continent, different team, different outcome. Not content to just sit on the wheel of the flash pros visiting Rwanda for the country's premier bike race, this local took an attack, winding up the watts before flying past the three-man group. Sign. Him. Up...

Sporting a fetching yellow builder's hat the rider powered his mudguards past the group in full team-issue kit aboard their sparkly Factor machines. It's all about the rider, eh? Shades of Ian Stannard mugging three Quick-Step riders to Omloop in 2015.

Back in June 2020, Urán's impromptu training partner, a man in khakis, work boots and carrying a backpack, grabbed a tow with the WorldTour pro at 45kph. No amount of Cannondale SuperSlice TT aero tech could budge the plucky punter from his wheel.

> "The real competition is out on the road": Rigoberto Urán drafted by man with khakis, work boots and a backpack at 45km/h

Sign him up and he can race for the yellow jersey to match his helmet.

— Blank (@justsnooping74) February 28, 2022

The question is: backpack-wearing local vs builder's hat-wearing local? Individual pursuit. Who wins?