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news
Live blog
"People think it's a joke but I'm serious": Top snooker pro to swap century breaks for disc brakes, wants to compete in Ironman by 2028... and he's jetting back to Mallorca during tournaments to train on his bike + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Luca Brecel wants to swap snooker for Ironman (Instagram/Eurosport)08:07
"People think it's a joke but I'm serious": Top snooker pro to swap century breaks for disc brakes, wants to compete in Ironman by 2028... and he's jetting back to Mallorca during tournaments to train on his bike
Snooker and Ironman triathlon, now that's a combination you don't hear about very often. Perhaps if this takes off we could ditch the swim for good and just require skinsuit-wearing superathletes to knock out a century break before proceeding to the bike leg?
Snooker's world number six, the 2023 world champion Luca Brecel has got everybody's attention by revealing he's spent not one hour on the practice table this month ahead of the Northern Ireland Open (where he beat He Guoqiang yesterday) because he has "different priorities" and is "really serious" about competing in Ironman by 2028. No, really. In fact, he's jetting into his ongoing snooker tournament on the day of matches, returning to Mallorca in between so he can keep up his training on a lovely looking Canyon...
"It's [Ironman] a really big ambition of mine," Brecel told the BBC. "Some people think it's a joke but I'm really serious about it. That's the main focus and Mallorca is a good environment to train, a lot of the pro cyclists go out there. I'm going to focus on cycling and running for the next two years and then I'll pick up swimming.
"A Belgian, Frederik van Lierde, won the Ironman World Championship in 2013 so I might ask him to coach me a little bit. That's on the cards. For me being in Mallorca is not really about the sunshine, it's about the temperature and it's a good environment to train.
"It's not about lying on the beach, I haven't seen the beach yet, it's all about training. I wouldn't have practised anyway if I had stayed here in Belfast but it's not always like this. Normally I'd just be at home, practise my hours every day, but I prefer it like this sometimes during the season, so it's not always the same."
Brecel also said that completing the Ironman in 2028 (with its 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile cycle ride, and 26.2-mile run) "would give me much more of a buzz than winning the World Championship" in snooker.
"No disrespect to winning at the Crucible because that was amazing as well. Just to complete it would feel like a win. I would love to do it in Hawaii, but I don't mind where it is," he told Eurosport after yesterday's victory, before going on to explain his unconventional commute to the venue.
"The early flight this morning from Mallorca didn't help," he said. "Three hours, quite early, it was a rough flight as well. No excuses, but that's why I wasn't that sharp today.
"I need four to five years to be sharp for it [Ironman] and my whole life is built around that now. It's my goal and I will definitely make it one day. Ian Burns did it recently, not the full one but he inspired me. I have always loved running, I used to be a good runner so now I need to build it up again. Then my best friend got me into cycling, I have been doing a lot of time on the bike. I want to get good at those first and then perhaps in two years I will start the swimming training.
"I needed to lose weight – I have lost 11 kilos so far and I need to lose ten to 15 more. It would be good to be the first Ironman snooker player."
Watch out Kristian Blummenfelt, he's coming for you. Blummenfelt has backtracked on his plan to swap triathlon for a tilt at the Tour de France, which is just as well because, with Brecel swapping snooker for triathlon we would have had to find a pro cyclist to take up snooker to complete the sport-swap triangle... you've got more time on your hands now, Cav?
10:53
I've got an hour to train. How much cycling can I do?
> I've got an hour to train. How much cycling can I do?
Thought I'd chuck this out just as I'm about to head off for a lunch spin, it's too nice not to out there today. 45 minutes + change + shower = my hour. Worst comes to worst, going for a bike ride is a pretty good excuse for not being at back at your desk when you work for a cycling website. Sorry.
09:59
A brilliant cycling-related tribute to Geoff Capes
The family of Geoff Capes yesterday announced the sad news of his passing, the twice world's strongest man and British shot put record holder enjoying an illustrious sporting life that involved three Olympic Games, two Commonwealth Games golds and a European Indoor Championship.
"A true legend of strength," fellow World's Strongest Man winner Eddie Hall summed up his legacy.
Well, Rouleur editor Edward Pickering joined the tributes and shared a link to one of Capes's lesser known sporting achievements... when he "belied his terrible CdA to tuck away Everton goalie George Wood on a classy red Raleigh in the 1979 Superteams bike race".
Brilliant.
09:53
Court of Appeal to reconsider ruling on cycle funding cuts in England, with judge citing "real prospect of success"
09:44
Six-pocket jerseys and Shimano Cues... the live blog comments section is on fire
I knew we'd have some fun with the Luca Brecel stuff...
Rendel Harris: "Well Mr Brecel certainly knows his way around the red zone and how to get into the break; presumably his bike will be equipped with a Shimano Cues groupset? Apologies."
No need to apologise, that's 90 per cent of what the road.cc comments section is for...
mark1a: "I certainly hope he's able to chalk up some decent results."
Clem Fandango: "I look forward to seeing him bridge across some gaps. Something something successful break."
the little onion: "He has a special range of cycling jerseys, with six pockets. Though it can be quite tricky to put things into them."
That's right, every time he wants to put his blue Park Tool tyre levers back in he has to get a red gel wrapper in first... okay, now it's me that's apologising...
09:28
Opening of new Dutch-style roundabout in Sheffield delayed until mid-November
Sheffield will soon have a Dutch-style roundabout, although its completion has been delayed by a month until mid-November, the BBC reports. The infrastructure is being built at West Bar roundabout, the new layout giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (could do with renaming to collisions *EDIT* it's since been pointed out that's not road-specific 'accidents' but also home safety, health and safety courses, workplace health and safety etc.) but suggested similar roundabout design in the Netherlands had reduced serious incidents by around 46 per cent.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. Having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for the Non-League Paper, Dan joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.
Latest Comments
- NotNigel 0 sec ago
Rolf Harris will be pleased your carrying on the wobble board legacy.
- Roger Geffen 16 min 5 sec ago
No, that's not correct!...
- hawkinspeter 1 hour 8 min ago
The problem with special cyclist-only green lights is that it makes me feel guilty if I decide to RLJ.
- brooksby 1 hour 33 min ago
<slaps forehead> Of course! Cllr Stops was right after all…
- mark1a 1 hour 44 min ago
Have you checked the wear on the cassette & chainrings? These will wear to fit the worn chain, and then putting on a new chain will be noisy....
- FionaJJ 1 hour 48 min ago
Councils should have the powers to use compulsory purchase orders for expanding and improving the cycle network. I know elsewhere in Fife the...
- Creakingcrank 1 hour 52 min ago
Hi, I don't think this will work. The Cannondale RDU connects to the Cannondale version of the radar via a wired (CANbus) connection. The Garmin...
- slc 2 hours 42 min ago
I chalk it up to cognitive bias. ...
- EraserBike 3 hours 48 min ago
It's a real connundrum for twitter users this one. Which wins? Cyclist-hate or racism... looks like the latter just pips it in this case.
- Rendel Harris 4 hours 19 min ago
Not my experience I must say, the mates I have who wear Rapha are fairly middle income types who certainly don't own Range Rovers, cycling just...
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22 comments
Look, I don't know one end of a snooker bat from the other, but if he's new to cycling, he's going to need padded shorts: he'll hurt himself without a bottom cushion.
From the local rag comments
"cycling is very unhealthy for the pelvic floor and nervous system."
Not really sure what it is supposed to do to your nervous system or what studies have been undertaken.
"cycling is very unhealthy for the pelvic floor and nervous system."
I notice some light balance issues sometimes, after staying for hours on the bike.
Probably related to different body dymanics required to stay up, the same phenomenon is well known after spending time on a small boat, then returning to land. In French I heard the word "landsickness". You just need some time to adapt... I have a wobble board at home and don't notice more difficulties with it after biking, so nothing serious...
Rolf Harris will be pleased your carrying on the wobble board legacy.
One of the local Shefield cycling groups I'm in has noted that at present the new West Bar dutch-style roundabout doesn't have the continuous red loop around - the red bits stop when crossing the car lanes.
It's currently unclear if this is going to be resolved before the opening, but if it's left as-is it seems like it will undermine the attempts to indicate priority.
I don't understand how we always seem to have difficulty just copying other places. It's like there's some discussion about it and then a petrol-head will raise an objection about how it's impossible to drive at 20mph or stop before a junction and then the design gets compromised.
1) People don't understand "who this is for" (as some posters here demonstrate). People feel it's for the cyclists of today - and who are they? There are hardly any, and why do they need anything new if they're already cycling? (The few "I'm a cyclist myself" types tend to reinforce this - "it's for nervous / incompetent cyclists, I go fast so I'll continue to use the roads...")
2) People apply a "democracy of the status quo". As mentioned above - there are barely any cyclists. Why should they get more money / space / protection - what about everyone else - we drivers and pedestrians?
As for those implementing the changes - Chris Boardman touched on this in his recent talks [1] [2] (did I mention them?) - it's about:
a) The goals of the system - the questions we ask and what we measure. Currently our "system" measures success in terms of motor traffic - and that's pretty much it. So if the changes e.g. lead to a slight increase in measured driving times / capacity * then this is categorised as a fail!
* Initially - traffic evaporation is a thing - but it takes a little time.
b) "belief" (because the facts and stats are all there, examples exist in reality which you can easily visit).
Belief applies from bottom to top: as mentioned local people often don't trust the authorities (with reason...). They just can't visualise the end result without that being terribly negative. They can't believe they'll be able to make those small changes and after they have that things will be better overall. Or they are sort of in favour but just can't believe it will work here.
Councillors / politicians can't believe that people will come with them on this. Perhaps they feel that it just won't help enough to be worth what they see as an unnecessary fight. ( Unnecessary as few are calling for this directly, no big companies are lobbying them for it...). They either believe they'll fail so don't bother OR (in a few cases) they are overoptimistic and believe this will be easier to do than it is / will work if it's done for peanuts.
Plus all our planning / transport officers / road workers have been raised on providing for motor traffic alone. If your organisation's culture (for generations) has been "success = making more space for motor vehicles" that is quite a change to adapt to...
There are apparently a few rules / laws which do get in the way of some kinds of infra being directly copied. Although expert folks like the Ranty Highwayman have identified possible workarounds. I think it's more the case that people simply don't understand some of the subtleties and just don't believe that UK cyclists, drivers and pedestrians will be able to cope.
We tend to come up with rubbish in the UK because there are additional constraints (like "do it for 1/10th of the cost!" and "you mustn't have any affect on motor traffic capacity") - plus of course people want to put their own stamp on things - to say "I came up with that!" rather than "I followed all the specifications exactly!"
It's not the Royal Society for the Prevention of ROAD Accidents, it's ALL accidents: people falling off ladders, people burning themselves in the kitchen. people injured in a variety of ways at work. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Collisions doesn't really cover what they do. Anyway, the vast majority of road collisions ARE accidents.
I've got a feeling we will be seeing some definition-sparring ... I do note that the (historic) safety bodies for the various areas of transport use "accident" in their names:
Marine Accident Investigation Branch, Rail Accident Investigation Branch, Air Accidents Investigation Branch
...BUT the more recent * Road Safety Investigation Branch gets a slightly different name.
TBH I think that we should just stick to calling incidents on the road "crashes" (including where it's just one vehicle). FWIW we should look even beyond "vision zero" (more of a slogan) towards a far more radical and holistic approach to safe (and convenient) travel like the Dutch "Sustainable Safety" vision.
* So recent, that several years after being announced it doesn't exist. Something something plan for drivers...
Predictable and entirely preventable accidents...
An accident is something that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally. People driving on the road have a set of rules and laws set out in the RTA and the Highway Code to follow. The vast majority of incidents are caused by one or both parties not following those rules and laws, in fact I don't think I've ever seen one that wasn't. In the vast majority of cases one or both parties have chosen to ignore the rules/laws, so it's not unintentional, and it may fairly be said that if people ignore said rules/laws incidents are to be expected, so it's not unexpected either. So no, the vast majority of incidents are not accidents.
Well Mr Brecel certainly knows his way around the red zone and how to get into the break; presumably his bike will be equipped with a Shimano Cues groupset?
Apologies.
I certainly hope he's able to chalk up some decent results.
As long as he doesn't get big headed and go around putting too much side on.
He has a special range of cycling jerseys, with six pockets. Though it can be quite tricky to put things into them.
I look forward to seeing him bridge across some gaps. Something something successful break.
A judge told me that I had to stop stealing from snooker tournaments. Very well, but first, I'm going to take a rest.
Nice bike, but he does win a lot of frames.
I once played snooker against a U.S. police officer. They were easy to beat as they always go to shoot the black.
Predictably, folks didn't baulk at making puns...
Met police to reopen investigation into Wimbledon school crash (Grauniad)
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/24/met-police-reopen-invest...