Rishi Sunak's police escort now involves bicycle-riding officers pushing people out the road; Remco Evenepoel uploads Liège-Bastogne-Liège win to Strava; Alex Dowsett completes London Marathon to ease into retirement + more on the live blog

Roll up, roll up, obligatory Monday gawping at Monument winner's Strava activity...

And while Remco's pretty keen to keep those power numbers secret (like almost all the top riders, in fairness) the world champion's upload does at least give us mortals a glimpse at what it would be like to win one of the hardest one-day races in the sport.

> Remco Evenepoel stuns Strava with huge time trial victory at Volta ao Algarve... before swiftly hiding his power numbers

Climbing 4,471m in 256.76km, Remco averaged 41.3km/h and hit a top speed of a whisker under 90km/h, his max speed for a full kilometre 82.7km/h, for five kilometres 71.9km/h and ten kilometres 59.6km/h. 

On the climbs, Evenepoel went 13 seconds slower up Roche aux Faucons than last year and 25 seconds slower than Tadej Pogačar's KOM from the 2020 edition. He did however go faster on Thier des Forges — setting the sixth fastest time — took various hilly KOMs in the miles immediately after his race-winning attack and matched his 4:12 personal best up the Redoute from last year.

The world champ's 22km/h average pace up the infamous Liège climb remain the fastest Strava times set by a rider in the race. By the finish, Remco could relax and enjoy his victory, rolling across the segment dedicated to the race's sprint finish well slower than the times of those riders who still had something to push for at that point in their respective editions. One such time, Demi Vollering's 2021 sprint to the first of her now two Liège titles still the joint fifth fastest time. 

No word on this year's, however, Vollering is yet to upload her race-winning ride. Shocking, I know... it's almost like professional cyclists have better things to be doing...

While most people take up a hobby, spend more time with the people they love, perhaps see more of the world and generally chilling out, retirement for a pro cyclist seems to involve finding new ways to torture yourself. In Alex Dowsett's case that meant the London Marathon.

The twice Giro d'Italia stage winner completed the 26.2-mile iconic event in a very respectable official time of 03:23:02, admitting he's "very broken" and it's "fair to say I'm a better cyclist than I am a runner". Most importantly, Dowsett and fianceé Chanel raised more than £6,000 for Alex's Little Bleeders charity and the Haemophilia Society.

Dowsett called the event "phenomenal" and said he was smiling all the way around...

"Enjoyed being not competitive at all more than I thought, enjoyed being one of thousands and getting a finishers medal. Enjoyed my nutrition strategy working out and not hitting any kind of wall. Enjoyed being on the same start line as my fiancée and doing the same 'race' (we ran together for 300 metres). Enjoyed being a part of something that showed the best of humanity, and enjoyed racing a dinosaur.

"I am very broken right now, enjoyably broken. Not sure how I feel about another (let alone getting to 151 marathons like a guy we got chatting to) I think I’ll be a bike rider again for a good while.

> Drink At Your Desk Live! With special guest Alex Dowsett

"My body doesn’t like me at the moment, had to have a good hard conversation with an ankle two thirds through. I think I'll be a cyclist again for a while. Lastly, I miss my team bus and masseur." 

> The coolest bikes from the Cycle Show 2023: Cannondale, Bianchi, Wilier, BMC, Enigma, Reilly, Cinelli & more

More on this soon, but Suvi was out riding Dirty Reiver this weekend and spotted this eye-catching Boardman...

Stay tuned for more shortly...

Alex isn't the only pro cyclist to dabble in the running world, back in the autumn of 2021 Adam Yates smashed the Barcelona Marathon, going sub-three, completing the event in 2:58:44.

Then there was, of course, the great 5km controversy of February 2021, Tom Pidcock posting a run on Strava suggesting he'd casually gone five seconds slower than the British record for the distance... on the backstreets of Leeds...

> "Maybe he forgot to get off his bike": Tom Pidcock challenged over 13:25 5km run claim

It seemed to rattle the entire running community and Pidcock later admitted there had probably just been some dodgy GPS. How quick the rising star of British cycling is will have to wait, but he has promised to give the 5km time a proper crack at some point.

Shortly after Yates' marathon escapades, Tom Dumoulin then raised the bar once again, finishing second at the Groene Loper Run, setting an incredibly impressive 10km time of 32:38, just 17 seconds off the winning time.

If Adam Yates running the Barcelona Marathon in 2:58:06 wasn't amazing enough, Tom Dumoulin did a 32:38 10K #procycling https://t.co/Cy2zZKEcPh

— Stephen Royle @clathrin [at] mastodon.social (@clathrin) November 14, 2021

Even as recently as this morning one of the peloton's biggest names swapped the saddle for trainers...

Where do you start cleaning this….#dirtyriever #boardmanbikes pic.twitter.com/aqVYWoSCvi

— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) April 23, 2023

Or as Jo pointed out how your bike looks after any British 'gravel' ride...

 > "It's about time that I got on my bike": Chris Boardman joins 1,600 cyclists in taking on Dirty Reiver

If like me you're emerging from a slightly groggy wedding weekend (not mine) and the past two days flashed by without giving you a second to even think about cycling, here's what you might have missed...

> Road safety group draws ire after advising cyclists to "stop and allow drivers to overtake"

There was also the news that not everyone in the Netherlands pootles to the shops on their city bike...

> From cobbles to asphalt? Van der Poel becomes Lamborghini ambassador (and gets one himself)

There was racing drama...

> Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2023: Remco Evenepoel wins for a second year, after Demi Vollering completes the Ardennes Triple

> Tadej Pogačar forced to abandon Liège-Bastogne-Liège after early crash, suffers fractures

Oh, I almost forgot the bikes...

> REVIEW: Pearson Minegoestoeleven

> Bike at Bedtime: Check out this loud and limited Vielo x WTB collaboration V+1 gravel bike