Peter Sagan takes part in epic 24 hour, 180km celebrity water bike race… and gets accused of drafting behind the boat; Tom Pidcock says Ineos Grenadiers “don’t help me to perform at my best” amid “number of issues within the team” + more on the live blog

It’s been a few months now since Peter Sagan hung up his racing wheels after taking part in the Tour of Slovakia and his home national mountain bike championships earlier this summer. So, what has the three-time world champion been up to in the meantime?

Well, apart from taking in the Olympics as a fan and reflecting on his illustrious career with road.cc (cheap plug, I know), Sagan ended his summer by adding another cycling-related string to his multidisciplinary bow – in the form of water biking.

> “It’s always been the same Peter Sagan”: Three-time world champion talks retirement, pressure, the peloton’s “loss of respect”, and being cycling’s greatest showman in exclusive interview

Over the weekend, the Slovakia superstar teamed up with gravel bike-loving F1 star Valtteri Bottas to take part in the second edition of ‘The Crossing’, an epic 180km water bike relay challenge between the Corsican town of Calvi and Sagan’s residence in Monaco. How the other half live…

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Valtteri Bottas (@valtteribottas)

The event, organised by the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation (for which both Sagan and Bottas are ambassadors), aims to raise awareness and funds for water safety and drowning prevention.

The aquatic version of Milan-Sanremo also saw a host of other stars, including Visma-Lease a Bike-bound Olympic mountain bike champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, former Giro d’Italia stage winner Gustav Erik Larsson, and – weirdly – Tyson Fury-conqueror and heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk.

Not sure Strictly can compete with that line-up, eh?

(Canyon-Sram’s Tiffany Cromwell was also initially down to race alongside Sagan and her partner Bottas, but a little thing like the Tour de Romandie Féminin took precedence.)

So, only another 30km to the Poggio after this…

Even without Cromwell, Sagan and Bottas’ Team Serenity had a great start along the open waters of the Med, surging ahead at the halfway mark as night fell.

However, as Monaco’s coastline came into view around dawn on Saturday morning, Ferrand-Prévot’s Team Lionheart unleashed a Sagan-esque sprint to nab the win, 22 hours after leaving Corsica, with the former Paris-Roubaix winner and co. eventually fading to third (but that’s still good enough for some green jersey points, eh Peter?).

Despite the 34-year-old trying out a brand-new cycling discipline in this new post-retirement phase, some on social media noted that old habits die hard, and that the Slovakian – who was docked 20 seconds at the 2018 Vuelta for drafting for too long behind his team car after coming back from a mechanical – was enjoying perhaps a bit too much time in the slipstream of his follow boat during his relay stints.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Peter Sagan (@petosagan)

“Drafting with the boat is okay?” asked surfboard enthusiast Grant on Instagram – and you’d think he’d know how many watts per litre you’d save by drafting behind a boat…

“How much draft or help do you feel from the boat?” asked Rudy, while Doug chipping in: “Always be drafting!”

Well, I suppose there was little chance of Sagan being penalised for a sprint deviation, anyway.

Where are the commissaires?

However, the Black Cyclists’ Network’s Mani Arthur predicted what could potentially happen if Sagan aims to take on water biking as his new career, writing: “Boats will be drafting Peter soon”.

You never know – Sagan and water biking for LA ’28? I’ll start the petition…

Two teenagers in Sevenoaks have put themselves in the running for the much sought after title of the UK’s Worst Bike Thieves, after bikes they stole last week were recovered by police within 30 minutes.

In a statement released by Kent Police, officers were called last Tuesday afternoon to a report of bicycle thefts from a residential property near Bat and Ball Road.

After searching the area, and within half an hour of the crime being first reported, the officers had located three teenage suspects at the Bat and Ball train station and recovered the bikes. Two more bikes, suspected to be stolen from the station earlier the same day, were also seized.

The boys, aged between 14 and 15, are scheduled to attend interviews at a local police station, and the two bikes reported stolen have been returned to their owners.

Probably best to start pursuing other career prospects, eh fellas?

It’s been almost three months since we were treated to the gnarly sight of Gordon Ramsay’s horrifically bruised abdomen (and forced to listen to his dad-like lecture about helmets), and the culinary world’s sweariest purveyor of derivative TV competition programmes has finally opened up about his nasty run-in with a pothole while cycling, which left him covered in blood and struggling to breathe.

Ramsay, an experienced cyclist who competes in Ironman triathlons, crashed heavily while training in Connecticut in June, leaving him a large purple patch on his side… and unable to put his pants and socks on himself.

> Gordon Ramsay says helmets are “crucial” for cyclists no matter “how short the journey is”, after accident leaves him with a terrible bruise

“My life flashed before me,” the TV chef told Men’s Health UK in a recent interview.

“[I was] travelling down the hill quite fast, no other cars involved. The front wheel went down a pothole, and the whole bike just catapulted me.

“I struggled to breathe. I thought I was going to pass out. Stupidly, the bike was mangled, and I put the chain back on. Then, like an idiot with adrenaline, I started fucking riding again.”

He continued: “I bent down, started tightening up my helmet, and the whole thing had split. Then I was trying to look, and I could just see a blur of vision and blood everywhere. I honestly thought I was going to pass out.”

Ramsay was rushed to hospital after the crash, where a CT scan gave him the all-clear – though the pain from the crash wasn’t as quick to subside.

“I couldn’t even put my fucking socks and pants on,” he added. “Justin [Mandel, Ramsay's assistant] he used to dress me in the morning. I felt like a fucking 95-year-old man, asking a 30-year-old kid to put my fucking underpants on was embarrassing.”

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Gordon Ramsay (@gordongram)

Despite the embarrassing repercussions of the crash, Ramsay says he’s already back in training, and reckons he owes his swift recovery to his desire to keep fit.

“If I wasn't fit and those bones weren’t strong, I’d be screwed,” the 57-year-old said. “I’m going to put it back down to the fitness... I’m lucky to be here because I'm fit.”

At the time of the crash, you may remember, Ramsay also attributed the fact he’s still alive after his crash to his helmet, calling on all cyclists on his social media to “please, please, please wear a helmet”,  a stance that unsurprisingly attracted some criticism on social media, and was described – in a tone that would have been welcomed by Ramsay himself – as “complete shite” by Cycling Mikey. When in Rome…

While it’s not quite to dust off the knobby tyres on this side of the pond, over in the United States we’re already well into cyclocross season, with the Englewood Open CX in Wisconsin kickstarting the UCI calendar over the weekend.

And the organisers decided to head into the new cyclocross season with a stricter, more regimented approach to that great bane of races around the world – the sight of riders leaving gel wrappers at their backsides as they make their way around the course.

And instead of the slap on the wrist, or even fine, normally meted out for littering, the Englewood CX organisers have properly laid down the law, introducing a five-minute time penalty for anyone caught “intentionally littering”.

‘Don’t worry, I’m just running back to pick up my gel wrapper!’ (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

“Please do not throw used gel packs on the course,” the organisers said on their website. “Cattle like sugar and electrolytes too, and plastic wrappers can block their digestive tract.

“This has been an ongoing problem, and if racers are observed intentionally littering, a five-minute penalty will be added to their time. This penalty will be lifted after the offending racer has performed 30 minutes of course clean up after their race.”

Cyclocross community service, I like it.

Our own Jo Burt is also a fan of the Wisconsin-based race’s new ruling, and reckons it should be implemented in all races.

“Five-minute penalty on GC or tidy away the last kilometre of barriers on Alpe d’Huez – your call Remco…”

I could definitely see that catching on.

> Cyclist ordered to pay £500 for riding through town centre, as councillor insists cyclists “who have not followed rules” will be “rightly punished”

After adding the Tour of Britain to what has already been a breakthrough year of success at the highest level, Stevie Williams has now set his sights on an especially hilly edition of the world road race championships later this month.

The 28-year-old, who dominated his home tour’s opening hilly portion, taking two stage victories and beating fellow Brit Oscar Onley by 16 seconds overall, is heading to Zurich off the back of what he calls a “dream” year, which kicked off with a GC win at the Tour Down Under and a stunning triumph atop the Mur de Huy at Flèche Wallonne.

That win – the first by a British male at the Belgian spring classic – marked the culmination of years of gradual building for Williams’ career, one that was stalled early by a succession of injuries, but which has burst into life since joining Israel-Premier Tech at the end of 2022, following the demise of the ill-fated B&B Hotels project.

(Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)

Reflecting on his season so far, the Welsh puncheur told BBC Radio Wales breakfast this morning: “An amazing year, one I could only dream of. We have another five or six weeks left of the season so hopefully we can finish the season off well and that would be perfect.

“But it’s important to enjoy these moments and let them soak in. As athletes we get easily drawn into the next competition or target. Hopefully I can let this one sink in and enjoy it.”

Following his Tour of Britain win, only the third by a British rider in the race’s modern incarnation, Williams will now head to Canada, where he will hone his pre-worlds form at the punchy one-day WorldTour races in Québec and Montréal this weekend.

"They’ll be on Friday and Sunday this week, so hopefully I’ll be good there,” he said. “They’re well suited to me, punchy, hard races, so if I bring the Tour of Britain legs to those races hopefully I should be good.

“And then a big target for me a couple of weeks later will be the world championships in Zurich.”

(Will Palmer/SWpix.com)

And with a potential realistic tilt at a rainbow jersey on his mind, what does Williams credit as the main factors behind his slow but steady rise to the top?

“I think the consistency of training and also the consistency of my race programme,” he told the radio programme.

“I’ve been very healthy this year, injury free – touch wood that stays the same – but I just think that having set goals out from early winter last year to manage my goals and to set expectations and put myself in the best environment to actually go for them, I think that’s been a major factor.

“I think I’m actually in a situation and a place now where I can go to these global events and try and actually compete for the win because [of] how good I’ve prepared.

“I think as well, as athletes we continue to grow and I’m 28 now. I feel like I’m coming to a place where I’m reaching my physical peak and hopefully the next few years will be the same. It’s been a gradual climb to here and it’s just going to get better I think.”

Tom Pidcock isn’t the only Ineos rider struggling to hold back his concerns when it comes to the team’s annus horribilis on the road.

Speaking as part of Eurosport’s Vuelta coverage, Luke Rowe admitted things haven’t “been going well for a long time” as Ineos.

Reflecting on the team’s performance in Spain, 34-year-old road captain Rowe – a pillar of some of the squad’s biggest victories, and set to retire at the end of this year following an awful run of injuries – said: “It’s not prettier than it is, and the podium is just very far away. The focus was on stages, with Josh Tarling also out.

“Thymen [Arensman] was the leader, but Carlos [Rodríguez] didn’t have the full support, and he was not in the best form to go for it completely. And then [Laurens] De Plus also dropped out.

(Zac Williams/SWPix.com)

“I will do my best to say this nicely," he said, when asked if Ineos had reached a low point in the team’s 14-year existence.

“You can’t justify it. It’s a team with a huge budget. Riders are paid to win big races. That’s just not happening now. We’re not performing. Not that one person is failing, but it hasn’t been going well for a long time.

“Staying at the top was difficult, we were chased. Now, we have to chase the rest. Several teams have passed us. I know the people at the top of the team, and they will start thinking and not give up. But it’s not solved in one or two years. I give them a few years, then Ineos will return to the top.”

One from the weekend, in case you missed it…

> The guilt, the danger, and the dichotomy of being a cycling parent