"A huge problem": Pro cycling disappearing behind £372-a-year TNT Sports paywall a "huge shame", Tao Geoghegan Hart says in lengthy post questioning "how many people have cancelled subscriptions" over price hike? + more on the live blog

British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart has joined the flood of reaction since TNT Sports announced on Tuesday that Eurosport's coverage of cycling in the UK and Ireland would be ending and the races would be put behind a premium £30.99-a-month subscription instead.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Tao Geoghegan Hart (@taogeogheganhart)

In a lengthy post on Instagram, Geoghegan Hart wrote: "For those in need of some context, the cost of watching racing has gone from £87 a year to £370. As of yet, I've seen little comment from pro cycling itself, especially from the many GB riders whose profiles, families & fans it impacts so greatly.

"Let's be clear, the sport going behind such a large paywall is a huge problem. Professional sports are all competing for the same audience. Cycling is completely reliant on this audience, it is how teams justify themselves to sponsors spending millions a year. Only a few teams can realistically promise a sponsor to win the Tour, but all teams can demonstrate good ROI when capturing so many eyes, hearts & minds. It's not only wins that can be of value. It's the journey & the heartache too.

"I find it hard to believe many fans will be able to justify this increase in costs to follow our races & those of our female colleagues. This is a huge shame. Cycling provides such great entertainment and inspiration to so many. GB fans are living a real high point of the sport. There are so many GB professionals, with Tom Pidcock winning his first race for his new team this afternoon a great example of that.

> "Absolutely disgusting": Fans slam "facepalm moment" £370-a-year TNT Sports subscription to watch cycling as "exploitation"

"To be clear on something that many don't understand, teams receive zero remuneration from TV rights. What do I want to say? For amateur riders, cycling has become a very expensive sport or passion. Now as a GB fan, following the upper echelons of the sport has also suddenly and massively increased in cost. I think it is now very relevant to realise where this money is going and where it is not. And perhaps to question the monopoly held over the sports UK coverage.

"I welcome all opinions on this and am curious to hear how many people have cancelled their subscriptions. This season I'll try to champion more accessible media. I'll remain incredibly grateful to our sponsors. I'll also be very interested to hear from you all which platforms myself and Lidl-Trek should consider collaborating with. We want and need to remain available to all of the huge 🇬🇧 audience that has been built up over the last 15 years of astronomic success."

Alex Dowsett replied to post: "Well said." It also received plenty of support from the fans who commented underneath, one thanking Tao for "sticking your head above the parapet and speaking out" about "cycling fans who will be priced out by this corporate greed".

Another wrote: "Potentially next year (2026) it will be the first time in 40 years I will not be able to watch Le Tour. How sad is that as a fan of cycling that it has come to this. I could pay the £30/month but out of principle for those that cannot I will not."

What a week it's been... and it's only Thursday.

Kostüme, the maker of some pretty decent cycling kit (the men's bib shorts getting a 10/10 review off Jo two years ago), has put 8.55 per cent up for investors on crowdfunding investment platform Crowdcube. At the time of writing, £112,121 has been raised via 43 investors, exceeding the £100,000 target. The share price is £9.29 and along with your stake there appear to be rewards for investing from £200 up to £50,000.

> Shimano officially launches entry-level CUES groupsets for drop bar road and gravel bikes, including 9, 10 and 11-speed options "at a reasonable price point"

> Body Rocket launches the "world’s most accurate cycling power meter" claiming +/- 0.1% accuracy

First things first, props to Kateřina Rusá, the Czech cyclist who last year rode 55,555km in a year, improving on her 2023 total of 50,505km. Rusá works a full-time job but still rides every day (in fact she hasn't missed one since 19 March 2016) and in 2024 averaged six hours 39 minutes riding and 150km travelled A DAY. An incredible achievement.

The only part we're a bit unsure of and have asked for more info about is a press release that dropped in our inbox from bike manufacturer Festka, for whom Rusá is an ambassador, the high-end bike brand claiming their rider "once again holds the record for endurance cycling". Now, we haven't heard a response back to our pedantry, so we're assuming what it all means was Rusá was the athlete on Strava to log the most cycled distance in 2024? After all, the Guinness World Record for greatest distance cycled in a year belongs to Amanda Coker who rode 86,573.2 miles (139,326.34km) between 15 May 2016 and 14 May 2017.

Now, a calendar year riding in Czechia is undoubtedly less pleasant (conditions wise) than riding from May to May in Tampa, Florida, however if we're talking about "the record for endurance cycling" in a year, that's got to go to Coker. Maybe we need to get out more... we're assuming the record was for distance on Strava last year... or maybe it was Rusá's own personal record... hopefully Festka will take a minute from rolling their eyes at our pedantry and get us an answer. Anyway, chapeau Kateřina!

Several models of Garmin cycling computers and smartwatches are facing a bug which forces the device to crash and enter a reboot loop when accessing any GPS-related activities. The tech giant has now published a number of resolutions on its website specific to individual devices, although many users are still claiming the workarounds failed for them. More info here:

> Blue "triangle of death" issue renders thousands of Garmin cycling computers and smartwatches temporarily unusable... but there are now numerous fixes (sort of)

One West Midlands school is taking a novel approach to improving student attendance, offering those who maintain 100 per cent attendance or show the most improvement the chance to win a new bike.

The story is up on Stourbridge News, and concerns a competition for two new bikes to be won by students at Pedmore High School (not to be confused with PED more, the words to live by for many in the pro cycling ranks during the 90s).

The year seven to 10 students can win the first bike by maintaining a 100 per cent attendance, or the second by showing the most attendance improvement by the end of the spring term. If more than one student has 100 per cent attendance or is equally improved on the attendance front there'll presumably be some form of prize draw... or perhaps a hill climb or 10-mile TT to decide the victor? Okay, yep, probably a prize draw.

Mike Humphreys has history with incredible physical challenges and raising money for a great cause, last year having run 30 marathons in 30 days in 30 different countries. Now, once again raising awareness of motor neurone disease (MND) and raising money along the way, he's cycling to the Alps... on this...

He's setting off this week and from the anxiety-inducing videos he's uploaded to Instagram we're not sure what's going to be the bigger challenge — the climbing or the descending.

> "Will Children in Need be paying for his new knees?" Paddy McGuinness completes epic five-day, 300-mile Raleigh Chopper charity cycle, raising over £7.5m – with a little help from Sir Chris Hoy (and a Gladiator) 

"This is going to be a struggle," he admitted. "The gear ratio is far from ideal for big hills but I guess a challenge has to be a challenge."

 

 

 

 

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Good luck, Mike! 

If you need to read about a new bike to take your mind off all this TNT stuff...

> Triathlon specialist Quintana Roo unveils new "all speed" aero road bike — and it's actually quite reasonably priced