"Are you happy to lose customers?": Dismay as Co-op replaces popular bike parking with "two useless wheel benders"; Pro cycling bullying accusations as Uijtdebroeks transfer saga rumbles on; Cycling Santas target world record + more on the live blog

The Norwich Cycling Campaign was alerted to the situation at the Hall Road store by a member concerned about the removal of four popular, and perfectly practical, Sheffield Stand bike racks to make way for a postage locker. In return the supermarket's cycling customers got... *checks notes*... two dodgy wheel-bender parking spots instead...

.@EoECoop you've removed the cycle parking from your Hall Road store (which had space for 8 bikes) and replaced it with 2 useless "wheel benders".

Are you happy to lose customers? pic.twitter.com/6j8K5eclnI

— Norwich Cycling Campaign (@NorwichCycling) December 11, 2023

"Are you happy to lose customers?" was the question Co-op was asked, after all how are people meant to visit if their dedicated, secure parking provision has been replaced by something much less practical?

Peter Silburn from the Norwich Cycling Campaign told us this isn't the first time he's seen this, the Sainsbury's at Longwater doing similar...

"The bike racks were popular," he explained. "One of our members alerted us to this. She says they were very popular, especially with families who could lock several bikes up at once. She says that although she used to shop regularly at the store on her way home from work she will now shop at the nearby Tesco Express instead which has plenty of cycle parking.

"There's plenty of space down the side of the store which would seem to be a suitable location for the locker."

We've contacted the Co-op, as the cycling campaign group has also, but neither of us have heard back. Another local rider said they'd raised the issue and been told "they 'thought' that they would be reinstated around the corner in the car parking area. We'll see..."

Someone else reported: "They have also removed the Sheffield stands at the Ashbourne Road branch in Derby and replaced them with nothing."

Wheel benders or nothing? Pick your poison...

How frustrating. Those were just about the only locks on that block of shops. Clearly a decision made by someone who had never used one

— Paul (@No_pun_in_10did) December 11, 2023

> Council set to scrap £100k leisure cycling route – after bike riders branded it a "waste of money"

The moment we've all been waiting for... 

> All I want for Christmas is... not this. Gifts not to buy for cyclists to avoid a festive faux pas

You might have seen this on road.cc (or elsewhere) last week...

> Quick-thinking police officer borrows bike off passer-by to chase down and arrest fleeing drug dealer

PC Lewis Marks went viral when his force shared a video of him borrowing a bike from a member of the public to chase down and arrest a fleeing drug dealer. Speaking to BBC Radio Northampton he said despite the attention, "I don't see it as I've done anything special".

"I wouldn't say it's run-of-the-mill, borrowing somebody's bicycle is a bit out of the ordinary, but, my colleagues, every other day they are having a foot chase with somebody," he said.

"They're catching people every day, so I don't see it as I've done anything special, as my colleagues do just as many extraordinary things on a daily basis. I was surprised by how widely it's been picked up — I was expecting it to be more of a local news story. It's a bit of a strange feeling, really."

[Zac Williams/SWpix.com]

The Cian Uijtdebroeks transfer saga has taken another twist this morning, the podcast In Het Wiel of Dutch newspaper AD hearing accounts from a source who said the Belgian rider was seen as "something of an outsider" at Bora Hansgrohe and allegedly was bullied.

"Various sources say that Uijtdebroeks was something of an outsider at Bora," Thijs Zonneveld told the podcast. "He was treated like a kind of nerd by other riders, but also by team leaders. That was because he was very fanatical about certain things. He was weighing his diet, he didn't think his time trial bike was aerodynamic enough, he didn't think his clothing was good enough, so he bought different socks himself.

"They thought he was too fanatical. He was like someone in high school who got an A because he studied well, only to be told, 'Oh, you got an A again?!' He was bullied. For example, during the Vuelta there was also an 'Anti-Cian' app group, without himself in it, so they could gossip about him. It's really too childish. He didn't feel at home in that team at all."

In October, Uijtdebroeks made headlines by speaking out about Bora's TT set-up, slamming the team for multiple mechanicals at Chrono des Nations. The 20-year-old Grand Tour prospect raised eyebrows by criticising his team for "out of order" Specialized Shiv TT bikes, the same model used by the discipline's world champion Remco Evenepoel.

The transfer saga erupted on Saturday when Jumbo-Visma, soon to be known as Visma-Lease a Bike, announced the signing of Uijtdebroeks. Bora immediately responded, denying the transfer and pointing out the rider is contracted with them until the end of 2024.

Uijtdebroeks' agent then claimed that the rider's Bora contract had been terminated on 1 December, before he signed with Jumbo-Visma, and that "legal proceedings" had been initiated. It has also been reported that Bora are seeking around €1 million from the Dutch team to buy out the Belgian rider's contract. Messy. 

Anyway, amid the noise, Chris Froome undertook some exemplary stirring of the pot...

> Chris Froome, Master Troll: Four-time Tour winner joins in on the fun with timely training photo with Cian Uijtdebroeks while cycling world descends into meltdown over Belgian rider's transfer saga – as Patrick Lefevere tells Bora boss "don’t cry now"