Anonymous pro cyclist claims Tom Pidcock "a bit of a loner" at Ineos Grenadiers and caused friction in "bizarre" transfer saga (also claims double Olympic champ's buyout would cost new team €12 million) + more on the live blog

It's probably not surprising to hear the saga surrounding Tom Pidcock's likely premature departure from the Ineos Grenadiers this winter "is also raising eyebrows in the peloton". That's the account of a 'secret cyclist' in the Belgian press who has a regular column with Sporza where they divulge all the gossip and secrets (well, some of them) from the peloton.

According to the 'spy in the peloton', presumably known as 007-speed or something equally bad, the riders on other teams have had their heads turned by the "bizarre" Pidcock saga too.

"Pidcock is a bit of a loner within Ineos," the anonymous pro claimed. 

And while we'd argue there's probably a bit of a difference between a maverick doing their own thing, perhaps hard to pin down away from races and with some differing training opinions, to a super-talented multi-discipline specialist ditching the road to rack up world-class wins in mountain biking and cyclo-cross every so often, it appears this has all caused friction with Ineos management, the spy claims.

"With his own doctor and his own staff. He wants to do his own thing a bit," the secret pro continued. "For example, the team didn't want Pidcock to go mountain biking in Canada at the end of last season. But he crossed the pond anyway. Since then, the water between the two parties has become deeper and deeper."

But where will he go? The mystery rider claims whichever team wants Pidcock will have to stump up €12 million to get him out of his Ineos contract that still has three more years to run.

"Which team can put 12 million euros on the table?" the spy asked. "Because that is Pidcock's buyout fee. Unless there is a back door in the contract. Q36.5 and Visma-Lease a Bike in particular would be interested in prying him away from Ineos. Pidcock at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe seems less likely."

It's been a wild seven days in the autumn's biggest transfer saga, Pidcock "deselected" by Ineos management from Il Lombardia the night before. The 25-year-old wrote on Instagram: "Just as things were on the up after a turbulent end to the year I am deselected for Lombardia tomorrow. I am in great shape and was really looking forwarded to it! Good luck to the boys, I guess off season starts early. Thanks for everyone’s support even in the tough times".

Sports director Zak Dempster confirmed the decision had come from the top, not him, and was not performance based, admitting it "does look strange".

Then, on Monday, Geraint Thomas addressed "the elephant in the room", calling it a "really crap situation" and saying it's "just messed up".

"I don't actually know what has gone on, but all I know is, when you're the highest-paid rider in your team, and it's obviously a really crap situation. He's not happy, the team's not happy. How has it got to this point? I don't know," Thomas said.

"People who are around Tom, I don't think help. I don't know how… The fact is that he had a great chance of performing today [at Il Lombardia]. I saw that Zak had said it's a management call, it's not a performance call. I certainly don't know anything about that. We're just riders, eh? What do we know about management?

"It's just not good, is it? All the bull**** aside, he's a great talent. He's a good guy, when I'm around him we have a nice time, so it's not good to see that situation. We'll see what happens..."

Alpecin-Deceuninck wrote on social media this morning: "Today, on 'Stand Up to Cancer Day', we want to share that €149.000 was raised through the auction of MVDP’s bike, in collaboration with Vive Le Vélo during the Tour de France."

I've got to admit I read that as €14,900 at first, the €149,000 incredibly impressive. The team is also giving 10 charities limited-edition Merci Poupou shirts to support their own fundraising efforts.

Four weeks ago AG Insurance - Soudal announced that Alana Castrique would be joining their ranks next season... 

 

 

 

 

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Somewhat late to the party, Cofidis, the team Castrique has spent the past three years with, yesterday said they were terminating her contract with immediate effect "for disloyal behaviour that has damaged the image and integrity of the team".

You didn't dump me, I'm dumping you!

> 90% scared of cycling in UK cities — new research suggests fear of collisions, road rage and theft putting people off

Some of your thoughts:

the little onion: "The solutions are either: build high quality infrastructure, build infrastructure that is of high quality, build infrastructure, and make sure the quality is high."

Daveyraveygravey: "It's not just urban cycling, it's any road in the UK! And it isn't just the risk of being hit, the risk of being nearly-hit is off the scale. Solutions? Make the driving test harder. Make people re-do it every 10 years, if not five. Make cycling part of the driving test, make it a road user test. Have some actual traffic police, not just cameras on every corner. Have a justice system that actually punishes people, when they actually get as far as court. Link car ignitions to the DVLA, so your bloody car won't start if you haven't passed your test, or currently banned.

"But no-one else gives a s**t. Which is why we have ended up with 85 deaths and serious injuries every day."

eburtthebike: "Anyone familiar with the history of cycling in this country will be wondering why the company wasted its money on yet another survey to find out exactly what all the other surveys have said.  Why people don't cycle has had the same reasons for decades, the problem is that successive governments haven't given a flying flamingo, quite happy to announce massive spending on cycling, and having got the headlines, withdraw the funding.

"It is to be hoped that Louise Haigh's promise of unprecedented funding will break the mould and actually be realised: it's certainly way, way overdue."

Another way of making the first part of that point, Car Delenda Est asked if "the report made any mention of the Pope defecating in the woods?"

No, but it did suggest the bear in question is indeed a Catholic...