‘Windmills of my mind’

 For this blog I have cherry-picked a number of short stories from “Pedals turned in Anger” – my unpublished ramblings.

Here goes.-

 When British riders won all three Grand Tours in one year.

HOW did we get here? I often reflect upon this, now I am now longer a roving reporter for Cycling Weekly. How did this sport survive scandals and upheavals across the decades to become the leading cycling nation in the world?

It really is – to use a tired cliché – rags to riches story.  And one which every bike rider in the land took pride in and it still takes some getting used to.

Despite their image tarnished following doping investigations this past decade, with accusations of sexism and bullying, British Cycling’s stock rose again with home riders Grand Tour domination in 2018.  The unique treble in winning all three grand tours – the Giro d’Italia, Le Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana.

With three different riders!

No one saw that coming, did they?  All three Grand Tours won by one nation!

This was a stunning and unique feat no other country has achieved and one which, despite the still simmering scandals embroiling Team Sky and British Cycling, puts them among the world’s top cycling nations. 

The history makers: Chris Froome in the Giro; Geraint Thomas in Le Tour; and Simon Yates, the Vuelta.

 

The marriage of success to failure

Our cyclists are celebrated multi-Olympic and World champions. Three of them have won the Tour de France – Bradley Wiggins once –Knighted for his efforts - and Chris Froome four times, plus Geraint Thomas once.

Honours fell like confetti on British Cycling’s riders and top officials.

Yet despite this celebration of our elite riders, the prospect remains remote that the roads will ever be made safer for cyclists, be they sporting cyclists or the tens of thousands of ordinary cyclists, too. The roads will remain as inhospitable to cyclists as ever.

The glaring failure of the  Olympic 2012 legacy

No one had a bad thing to say about the London 2012 Olympic Games.

I enjoyed them immensely, especially the road cycling witnessed in the flesh, but I had to make do with watching the track from my armchair – all tickets sold out!

Even the man who built the banked track, Ron Webb, failed to get a ticket!

But afterwards, post Games; there has been one glaring failure in the delivery of the Olympic Legacy in the Queen Elizabeth Velopark. Mountain bike racing, an integral part of the original Eastway circuit ripped out to build the Games Village, never made it back. Mountain bike riding did, let’s be clear, but on a track too narrow to allow racing.

MTB racing was “designed out” when the circuit they put back afterwards was deemed unsuitable for competition! 

 

When an Olympic hero phoned me!

At 426pm, as I was having a coffee and meatball Panini at Café Ritazza, my mobile rang.

“Hi,” I answered.

“Keith, it’s Chris.”

It was Chris Hoy, the most famous Olympic champion in the UK that year, 2008.

What a player. The MAN called me back!
Earlier that afternoon I had hoped to collar him at the Manchester Velodrome, but he simply did not have the time to speak with me. “Give me your number, I’ll call you later,” he said.

I was impressed. An Olympic hero phoning me? He had been in great demand by TV and for dinners and shows since he had wowed us the Beijing Games.

We didn’t have a good line. In one ear, booming station announcements. In the other, our greatest Olympian.

It was a hasty interview, not one of my best. Just a couple of minutes to see what he was doing next.

Is he riding the Revolution? (track meeting)

“Yes.”

In the last four months, taken up with public appearances and TV interviews and shows followed by a much needed holiday, did he get to ride his bike?

“Wednesday was the first time on the track. I took my road bike with me on holiday to Thailand, so did a little road riding there.”

Chris, let’s talk about your second gold medal of the Games, in the team sprint when you whacked the French.

That gap which you let open as Staff screamed away on the opening lap of the team sprint final, was that a problem? How much harder did you have to ride to pull that back?

His answer got tangled up with an announcement for a train to Crewe. I think he said he held it, then accelerated to close it at the last moment, so when Kenny, the man in front, swung up for Hoy to come through, Hoy was already travelling at a higher speed.

How many public appearances has Hoy made since Beijing?

“Phew. Don’t know. I’ve had one day off,” he laughed.

“The open-top bus ride in Edinburgh was probably the best – the Castle, Royal Mile. There were 500,000 people turned out. It was amazing.”

And they he had to end his call. What a player. What a nice man. I was so taken aback I almost missed my train.

Hinault versus LeMond...1986

Stage 18, Briancon-L’Alpe D’Heuz, 162.5 km.

My story in Cycling Weekly began:

“This was one of the greatest days in Tour history as Bernard Hinault tried to take back the yellow jersey he regarded as his own, from his own team-mate, Greg LeMond!

“Like two prize fighters the pair went in search of the truth over the terrifyingly high Col du Galibier, where the snows never melt and ice lines the roadside. Then over the Col du Telegraph, the Col de la Croix de Fer, and finally up the famous 22-hairpin climb of L’Alpe d’Huez, to complete the alpine “circle of death”.

On the descent off the Galibier, Hinault had dived into the attack, and his prey, he said, was Zimmerman.  But as far I was concerned, he might lose LeMond as well! Hinault plunged to a 20-second lead before LeMond seemingly unaware of the danger, reacted after the prompt from Cabestany.

LeMond took off, taking Cabestany with him, and, of course, their big rival Zimmerman and they all joined Hinault.

Rendezvous at first light

Discovering the magic of the early morning TT

This was early 1960s.  

It’s very quiet. Not a sound. The sun has risen and is edging above the eastern horizon, shafts of piercing light chasing away the last of the night.

The two teenagers, recent recruits to the Merseyside Wheelers, are to meet with club mate George Corfe, to ride out to their first club “25”, at Lydiate, a few miles out of town.

 It’s 5am Sunday, and they wait as arranged, at the junction of Queens Drive and Derby Lane, in Liverpool.  Silence.

Oh, but there is a just a tiny sound.  A light breeze sends fallen leaves and newspapers rustling and tumbling across the empty wide dual-carriageway.

Otherwise, absolutely still.  No traffic. They whisper so as not to disturb

sleeping sparrows awaiting the coming morning glory.  Nor the sleeping families in nearby houses.

They look way back down the road, in the direction from which George will come, to where the wide, empty road bends out of sight 400 yards away.

He’s coming!  They know it. Can’t yet see him but they hear him, or rather they hear something they had never heard before. It was a sound destined to make them slaves to their new calling. 

It is the faint hum of expensive lightweight tubulars singing on the smooth tarmac. Music!

The distant figure of a racing man hoves into view, alone on the wide, still empty road.  He rides fixed wheel. His bike gleams. It is shod with the best silk racing tubulars.  The sunlight flashes off polished stainless steel spokes.

The pair push off as he nears; begin rolling in the direction they must go.  He glides silently alongside, eases back just a bit, sits up and turns to his young friends, “Orright?”  smiles George.

“Nice morning. Fast times today – we hope”.

This was my introduction to the secret world of the early morning club time trial. 

King Charles, Rishi and Dodgy Dave all cop it for taking a jet each instead of sharing

 

Scroll down for more on the  headline story.

Otherwise, start with this mash mash of stuff.

THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY

To get us the mood,  check out a few amusing extracts from the Devil’s Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce, American journalist of the late 19^th century. Bierce set out to provide alternative explanations in the use of language, to appeal to “enlightened souls who prefer sense to sentiment, wit to humour and clean English to slang” – as the late Miles Kington expressed in his introduction in the 2003 publication by the Folio Society.

Bierce wrote:

 POLITICS. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

PLAN. To bother about the best method of accomplishing an accidental result.

PEACE. In international affairs a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.

LAWYER. One skilled in circumvention of the law.

CYNIC. A Blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are not as they ought to be…

 

To which may I offer Freedomcycle blog perspectives.

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT (DfT)

Fact: DfT has never formulated a national transport policy incorporating all modes.

Speculates on future transport needs by dealing with each mode as though others do not exist.  Recent achievements include making compulsory purchase orders on land and homes in the path of HS2 then cancelling the extension to Manchester. Promises a national cycling policy then underfunds it.   When nothing better to do, moves desks and chairs around.

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE.

World first in long waiting lists. Systematically under funded by a government which favour private health care. Already gone to private care -  dentistry, ear syringing, podiatry. Continues to offer little or no help to those suffering  chronic health conditions such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), hypermobolity Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia (PoTS) and AUTISM.

Conservative party (not worthy of capital letters)

Known for deceiving,  lying, dressing smartly, selling off public utilities to their rich mates, milking the system, promising what they cannot provide, creating a financial mess, under funding of the NHS, mental health services, wrecking the country and then promising to fix it if re-elected but with no intention of doing so.

 

BCF (British Cycling Federation)

Not to be mistaken for Birkenhead Corporation Ferries. BCF (otherwise known as British Cycling) famous for being top UK Olympic sports federation, infamous for selling their soul to the Devil in a sponsorship deal with Shell, whose carbon activities and those of other oil companies have contributed to 5bn deaths worldwide.

Backed by black gold they hope to deliver more Olympic medals even as the podiums are lapped by rising sea levels.

COP 28

We’ll all cop it.

And so to the UN’s COP 28 climate conference last week focusing on the big problem threatening life on earth, heating up of the planet caused by burning carbon.  

It was a week full of contradictions

The King, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary
were criticised for flying to COP 28 in three separate

aircraft.

How odd that the host city was oil-rich Dubai which has increased oil production up to 

4.5million barrels a day?  

Very revealing that the main message from COP 28 is an agreement by the rich countries to help the poorer nations cope with climate change, rather than agree on how best to prevent it!  By leaving the oil in the ground, say, for starters?

And finally, how perverse that King Charles, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and new Foreign Secretary, the former PM Dodgy David Cameron, each took a private jet to fly to COP28?

 The sheer hypocrisy of it beggars belief and they have been widely criticised for burning three loads of carbon instead of one. I suppose they’ll say they each travelled separately for safety.

Heaven forbid anything untoward should happen to them up there. But if did no worries, there are plenty of goons willing to step into their shoes should their jet vanish through a portal into a future world where we would have no need of oil, Britain had rejoined the EU and there are cycle networks in every town and city.

Welcome to the future. We finish as we started, quoting The Devil's Dictionary, which defined the future as: "a period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured."

 

Dodgy Dave, who wrecked

Get Britain Cycling report, is back in town

For all those who take refuge from the noos by reading Facebook posts by souls enjoying a meal or boasting of their achievements,  look away now.

The news this week does nothing to calm our nerves, as the headlines screamed: David Cameron is back in government.

Cameron! Or Dodgy Dave, as he became popularly known among the downtrodden.

 

This is the man who as prime minister refused to fund the widely acclaimed

Get Britain Cycling report in 2013.  He had raised hopes by praising it but then refused to commit government to implementing it.

Which in my book confirms that cycling issues just don’t grab any British government.

Instead Cameron passed the buck to Local Authorities where there was no danger of anything coming of it. He surely knew the LAs

had neither the £billions needed nor, in most cases, the political will to get on with the greatest cycling initiative ever.

 The former prime minister of course is remembered chiefly for his controversial Austerity measures which led to cuts in many public services and hardship for poor families.

 This is the man who allowed a public referendum which resulted in Brexit, and the UK leaving the European Union, something he hadn’t counted on.

Brexit set the country further back, from which the country today is still struggling to recover.

He disappeared for several years, surfacing in the Lords.

Now Lord Cameron slides back into the fray as Foreign Secretary.

His appointment by Rishi Sunak smacks of a drowning man thrashing around and grabbing any flotsam in a bid to remain afloat, a strange decision considering it was Cameron’s government which left the mess Rishi knows he must fix if he is not to lose the next General Election. 

This mishmash of double talk goes on at all levels, with cycling issues one prime example.

It is 15 years since writing of the remarkable rise of British cycling which first kicked off following the hugely successful 2008 Beijing Olympics.  In the decade following I would occasionally pause to ask myself the following. 

Do I need to reappraise my brutal assessment of how British politics has continually and willfully failed cycling this past half-century?

And the answer each time was no.

So today I am motivated to look back once again at the utter failure of the government to improve cycling conditions, which we felt certain would be addressed as cycling success continued.

I called this, the Marriage of Success to Failure following the 2012 London Olympic Games, when British riders again scooped a multitude of medals, following Bradley Wiggins famous victory in the Tour de France. What a marvelous year, as thousands of new followers took up cycling.

Then we had the brilliant Get Britain Cycling Report – to be sidelined, like many previous excellent recommendations - this time by Dodgy Dave.

Ditto post Rio 2016. Ditto post Tokyo 2020 Games. At each Games British riders  shone, but the success failed to permeate down to cycling transport policy.

Oh, government may say they want to invest in cycling, they do the talk. They’re good at talking, putting up a few £billion before taking it back, slashing funding.

Despite tirelessly lobbying by Cycling UK, the national cyclists’ organisation, funding remains woefully inadequate for the government’s so-called Active Travel Policy to encourage walking and cycling.

Such mismanagement of cycling policy serves as a perfect mirror for the nation’s woes.

How fitting that this devilish blog should coincidentally run to 666 words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What has  Rishi got against cycling? 

PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak’s cancellation of the Manchester leg of HS2 fell short of pulling the plug on the whole wasteful multi-billion pound enterprise, critics complained last week.   And while that story from Conservative Party Conference in Manchester grabbed the headlines, we cyclists were more concerned that not a word was said about improving cycling safety in the road upgrades promised.

His speech was all a load of soundbite cobblers anyway, not even discussed with his own cabinet.

His announcement of rail plans for “Network North” in a 40-page prospectus was rustled up a hurry, according to Helen Pidd in The Guardian.  It illustrates, she says, “a significant lack of understanding of the realities of transport in the north of England.”

It also hijacked some schemes already announced, as if they were new.

His plans to do away with 20mph zones will make the roads ever more dangerous and does nothing to encourage cycling, indeed will deter people from cycling.

He has surpassed liar and conman Boris Johnson with inflated claims painting rosy pictures of the future, relaxed measures to cut back on carbon levels which will weaken Net Zero aims, and all in the hope that the electorate will grant him a stay of execution in next year’s General Election which his party is predicted to lose.

But I wouldn’t bet on that, since politics now dances to the outlandish tunes demanded of the  populist masses who gave us the chaos of Brexit in 2016.

And that's enough of this blogging about all of that.

It brings me to this week’s big question.   What is the point of a blog?

Just what are blogs about, other inflated views of the writer. Who cares?

Curious things, Blogs.

Short for log, apparently, as in a diary for the keeping of. Keeps me occupied, it’s a distraction.  .

A blog diary is visible to all, of course, via the internet. Well - available to those who bother to look.

It begs the question, why would anyone want to look at what a blogger is writing, such as this blog?

I write one because after reporting for Cycling Weekly for many years I cannot kick the habit.

I like to record my thoughts, my reaction to the news and goings on. It’s like running the Hoover over my brain. Maybe, in my subconscious, I am writing to meet a deadline, to get a story out there.

I like to hammer out stories on my laptop to the recorded background sound of the rat-a-tat of typewriter keyboards (remember that old technology?) which I play to get me in the newsroom mood. Includes the stressful strains of subs howling in protest at grammatical blunders. And shouting, from time to time…. hyphens, dear boy, hyphens. (Fond memories of Sid Saltmarsh, a really excellent sub, pouring over copy, fag stuck to his bottom lip while listening to a horse race on the radio. I well recall his anguished cry of rage as his fancied horse was overtaken. “Oh for Christ’s sake, piss off Piggott.”

And I like the idea that a few people may follow the blog.

No idea what they make of it. But it’s become obvious to me that readers prefr cheerful celebratory stories and will steer clear of doom laden stuff about, for instance, the shit about the Tory Party Conference, or Climate Change, things like that.

Or the recent blog about how DuPont, sponsors of the Tour of Luxembourg, poisoned the world with a toxic chemical found in many every day products. Very few bothered to read that.

 I’ve replaced all my Teflon pans, by the way, with pans with stickers on them proclaiming them to be PFOA free.

One of the biggest spikes recently was recorded for my observations of one of the biggest and exciting upsets in the sport when a well-liked domestique upstaged the team’s two champions in a Grand Tour.

American Sepp Kuss won the Vuelta d’Espana despite being attacked by his two teammates, Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic, both of them hot favourites and winners respectively of this year’s Tour de France and Giro d’Italia. But when Kuss took the overall lead in Spain on stage eight with a healthy overall lead that upset the applecart.

That was a great story, and we were so pleased for Kuss who has wowed us all with his powerful riding in the service of those two talented riders helping to set races up for them on countless occasions. And yet they weren’t so big as to want to return the favour. Until pulled into line by team orders.

And so Kuss won. Bravo.

That blog netted over 800 hits in one day, with close on 5000 registered that same month.

Doesn’t compare with those blogs with several thousand followers – blogs about cupcakes, knitting, mending bikes, for instance.

The dive in readers occurred the week after the “Kuss surge” when I posted the truly depressing and horrifying story of how Tour of Luxembourg sponsor DuPont had, over the years, poisoned almost everyone on the planet with a chemical they knew to be toxic but nevertheless used in the manufacture of many products you and I use, from cooking ware to shower-proof clothing.

Very few clicked on the blog to read about that.

 Clearly, people get enough depressing news across the media without being assaulted by a blog of horrors.

This is also reflected in the many posts to Facebook, which invariable are all about happy times.

And why not?

But I'm envious of those posts from people on some swell holiday, or having a great time with family at some post restaurant with photographs of the meal they are about to be stuff into their gobs.

This is the downside of Facebook for many people out there, with no family, or with issues which all but halt social activity of any sort.

I suppose we’ve all been ensnared “social media”, posting stuff and hoping for “Likes” . Has it become a drug? 

I sometimes wish I could kick the habit. But then again, Facebook groups, especially those from people all sharing caring duties can be a blessing, for shared advice and support.

This is the good bit of Facebook.

So too for those in the throes of life threatening illnesses, sharing their concerns online helps when sometimes complete strangers respond.

And there are cycling groups, specialist interest groups, all good fun, sharing information and history and photographs. 

That’s what Facebook is, or pretends to be while storing our data, it's a place to hide from the everyday shit.

But I do wish there could be more comment on current affairs, such as the utter and complete mess this country is in, courtesy of the Conservative Party. Or, if it’s a Tory supporter with his or her head up their own arse, they may like to say how wonderful the Tories are doing, how their share values in the water companies have made them rich never mind the sewage being wantonly poured directly into rivers and the sea.

Do not fear. It turns out that Rishi will be moving out of Number 10  now he has won a one-way ticket to Rwanda, the first prize in our competition Vandal of the Year.

“And away….” as comedian Bob Mortimer would say.

That is the title of his autobiography, a laugh from start to finish.  Recommended as the perfect antidote to all this nonsense. Not my blog - the goings on!

Allez.

 

 

 

Cycle race sponsor DuPont manufactured the toxic chemical found in Teflon and other water-resistant products

CYCLE racing has a troubled history of doping, as we know. Riders taking dangerous chemicals to assist them in their work.  Today the sport insists doping is not so nearly as widespread as before.

But given this history of chemical abuse in cycling, how ironic that a sponsor associated with the sport is chemical giant, the American company, DuPont, based in West Virginia.

You may be aware of the dark side to this company. I wasn’t until recently. This astonishing and alarming story was only revealed in all its gory details a few years ago after lengthy litigation spanning two decades. It tells how DuPont manufactured a toxic chemical knowing it to be a health risk, and which has ultimately killed people. The record states it has made its way into the blood stream of every person on the planet.

Non-stick Teflon (left) non toxic (right)

Some might ask if this case is any worse than the health risks from burning oil and there are millions of vehicles, factories out there burning the black gold.

The big difference, though, insofar as oil is concerned, is that it was nearly a century after oil was first used in the automotive industry (1859, in the USA, I believe) before the risks became known. So this was in the 1960s and yes, you guessed it, oil companies kept quiet about it! Shush. Money to be made.

They probably would have kept the lid on it had they known from the beginning!

However, if there is a distinction to be made it is that DuPont knew the health risks when first making PFOA, kept quiet and went ahead anyway. Money to be made.

As bad as each other. We’re all fucked, if the truth be known.

Anyway, back to the DuPont story which really has pissed me off given that they boast to making stuff to make our lives easier and healthier.

There are three aspects to it, the exposure of employees to the chemical PFOA,  the dumping the toxic waste into the water supply and onto the land and  using this chemical in a wide range of water-resistant products used world-wide.

This from The Conversation: By 1989, many DuPont employees were diagnosed with cancer and leukaemia. Yet while these events were detailed in internal corporate documents, the media only reported the toxic spills in 2000. In 2001, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of Parkersburg residents. On February 13 2017, DuPont agreed to pay US$671 million to settle the case.

*The Conversation is a network of not-for-profit media outlets publishing news stories and research reports online, with accompanying expert opinion and analysis.

I became aware of this scandal recently after watching the true life film, Dark Waters.

Dark Waters is a 2019 American legal thriller film directed by Todd Haynes and written by Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan. The story is a dramatization of lawyer Robert Bilott's case against the chemical manufacturing corporation DuPont.

After many years DuPont was eventually forced to settle over 3500 personal injury claims arising from the leak of poisonous waste products into the water supply in West Virginia.

The day after watching this disturbing film, Dark Waters I turned on the television to watch a bike race and caught sight of the finish line banner. It has the name DuPont writ large upon it.

Hell, I thought! 

Clearly, the scandal which is revealed in terrifying detail in the film, has barely touched DuPont, as though the story belonged to a parallel universe. And here they are, few years down the line with a stake in sport, what we might call a “green washing” arrangement.

But it won’t ever wash with the people of West Virgina who took the major hit from this company’s work.

For this is a tragedy in human and also animal terms - one farmer lost his entire herd of cattle poisoned from drinking contaminated water. The farmer, Earl Tennant, discovered his cattle were dying. He was sure they were drinking contaminated water from a creek on his land and he was proved right. 

Tennant wanted answers and so lawyer Rob Bilott took up his case and was shocked at the sheer scale of this scandal which has reached far beyond West Virginia.

He wrote a book about it, “Exposure: Poisoned Water Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer’s 20-year Battle against DuPont.”

This book was the story behind the thriller I saw recently -  Dark Waters -  and the documentary, The Devil We Know.

The chemical at the centre of this is called perfluorooctanic acid (PFOA) – also known as C-8. It is called a “forever chemical” for it will last forever in the environment.

The film gets to the nitty gritty. This chemical is used in the production of Teflon and other stain and water resistant products.

The story revealed how PFOA is linked to serious diseases such as kidney cancer, testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease and pregnancy-induced hypertension.

Bilott says that a small group of people …. “coordinated the intentional manufacture and release of a lethal poison that had special properties that meant, once released into the world, it would be inevitable that it would make its way into the blood of virtually every person on the planet, even babies in their mother’s womb, and stay there, like a ticking bomb.”

Here is DuPont’s mission statement. “…to create sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer and healthier life for people everywhere.”

Net sales last year were $16.7bn, up 16 per cent on the previous year.

(The Organic Consumers Association tells the story in lurid detail

'The Devil We Know:' How DuPont Poisoned the World with Teflon - Organic Consumers) 

 

 

ALL HAIL KING SEPP

 

The bare facts will record how American Sepp Kuss won the 2023 Vuelta a Espana leading Jumbo-Visma to a historic triumph in being the first team to win all three Grand Tours in one year.

And that Kuss rode all three!  The team topped it off  by taking the top three positions overall in Spain.

Sepp Kuss, winner of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana

The story gets even better when we take into account the intrigue concerning what appeared to be devious plotting to deny Kuss that victory when both Roglic and Vingegaard, turning their pedals anger, attempted to wrest the red jersey from him.

It was a story which rocked the sport in the final week before it all came good in the end.

For wasn’t that the most magical moment when Jumbo – Visma’s Sepp Kuss, the American super domestique, upset the hierarchy – Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic - to  emerge as the new star of the decade.

His meritorious victory in the Vuelta in Madrid was achieved despite their best efforts to oust him!

What a controversy, as he put their noses out of joint, the two men he has faithfully always served. For he had helped Denmark’s Vingegaard to win of the Tour de France in July, a month after helped Slovenia’s Roglic take the Giro in May.

What an outrage then when this pair attacked Kuss when leading them in Spain, trying in vain to take the red jersey off him in the closing kilometers over two successive days including the toughest of mountain stages in the final week.

Sepp Kuss in the red jersey of race leader.

So what was going on in the private confines of the Jumbo team bus? Where was the show of solidarity to back their new star?

Clearly, the original Jumbo plan was to have either Vingegaard or Roglic go for top overall honours. As proven Grand Tour winners that’s what was expected of them. And Kuss was to be the mainstay, helping pave the way, as he had done so often in the past.

So perhaps when Kuss surprised and took the overall lead on stage 8, they saw him as “caretaker” of the jersey. They expected him, the “lessor” rider, to slip back in due course leaving the gate open for the “top” guys later in the race.

But what if he didn’t fall back. What if he began to look like a winner himself?  Which is exactly what happened.  Had they even considered a change to the script?

We all knew that Kuss had it in him to try. And this year my gut feeling was that he had it in him to win.

 We have watched him pace those two guys for kilometer after kilometer in the past, burning himself out before peeling off as they launched their efforts.

Was there a team discussion about the possibility that one day he might just be better than those two? And if this should happen would the team change strategy and support him.

It doesn’t look like it. More like the team was going to leave the riders to sort it themselves, man on man, as Roglic said.  

Whatever, clearly Vingegaard and Roglic held to the belief that the race was theirs to fight for, even as Kuss looked more and more the champion with a substantial margin over them both and worth defending.

The pair of them clearly had invested a lot of mental energy as well as specific training to carry out the team’s wishes, for one of them to take the race. We must not overlook that.

So focused were they on their quest, they failed to see, or didn’t want to see, that the world had changed around them.

And so they went about their business, failed to recognize that the time was right to repay Kuss for his years of service – including in both the Giro and Le Tour this year, where he worked hard as a pace setter on the steep slopes,  chasing down attacks from others, so that they didn’t wear themselves out, perhaps weaken themselves before they chose the moment to push on themselves.

But that counted for nothing. To hell with all that.

And so they attacked this usurper who had had the temerity to find himself ahead of them on general classification.

They would put him in his rightful place.  He’s their domestique, right. Hang him out to dry, set the GC to rights.

Vingegaard tried first on hilly stage 16 to Bejes, when he attacked with just under 5 kilometers to go, leaving Kuss on steep slopes averaging 9 per cent for the last 4.7 kilometers and he took a comfortable win. It was suggested that Kuss had shown the first signs of weakness that day, but if he did, it soon passed and he finished in 10^th place, four seconds behind Roglic. But Vingegaard had cut Kuss’s advantage to 29 seconds.

 

Then on stage 17 – Kuss’s 29^th birthday - both Vingegaard and Roglic attacked one after the other and distanced Kuss once again.

 

They cut loose in the final kilometers of the monstrous climb of the Angliru to finish at the top where Roglic outsprinted Vingegaard to win.  It’s described as 13 kilometers of hell, with an average gradient of 14 per cent, but with slopes of 20 per cent for good measure!

Vingegaard closed the gap to Kuss to only eight seconds and leapfrogged to second overall ahead of Roglic now third overall, who cut his deficit on Kuss to 1 minutes 8 seconds.

But Kuss wasn’t finished, taking third place on the stage – a Jumbo-Visma 1, 2,3.  And he kept the red jersey.

However, the attacks by his two teammates caused howls of

outrage across social media platforms and the press took  Vingegaard and Roglic apart.

It seemed to us that so inflated were their egos they couldn’t bring themselves to return the favour. So wired were they in their desire to win again they simply jumped ship, scarpered up the road, left him behind. I wonder what Kuss thought at the moment?

As it was they couldn’t take back enough time to dislodge him.

And they reckoned without the reaction of cycling fans across the world and the press who turned on them with a vengeance to lambast their acts of selfishness.

We can only wonder what words the management had for them that night. Whatever they said, clearly they told the pair of them that Kuss was now the protected rider that they must fall in line behind him.

It appeared to do the trick and the two rogues did as told, made sure Kuss reached Madrid in Red.

And they did that, although Roglic’s frozen smiles told you all you needed to know about how he felt about it. Vingegaard did genuinely look more relaxed.

History will recall when the new star first rose to the top. It was on stage eight won by Roglic that Kuss, the team's best placed rider overall, took  7^th place at 2sec, and rose to the top of the overall classification. He took the famous red jersey which would be his for the rest of race.

At that point,  Kuss led the race by 43 seconds from Soler and by one minute from Martinez in third. Roglic was 7^th overall at 2-38 and  Vingegaard 8th at 2-42.

There you have the new pecking order for Jumbo-Visma – or not!

The American had finally spread his wings as we all knew he could, and he would hold the lead for the rest of the Spanish race even as Vingegaard and Roglic closed up, moved up to second and third overall respectively.

Kuss had stood firm under attack from his very own teammates and clearly showed he had the class to win a Grand Tour.

So it was that the 29-year-old took the top step of the podium in Madrid on Sunday evening, flanked by Vingegaard in second place and Roglic in third.

It was, in the end, a truly magnificent victory for Kuss and the Jumbo Visma team. Hail King Sepp.

 

Ex-government minister encourages vandals to 'commit criminal damage' against traffic cameras

 

Science tells us that pollution is causing climate change and that transport is a major contributory factor warming the planet. And that this  will lead to sea level rise. 

 Lancashire will become particular vulnerable and large tracts of land will become submerged  within the next seven years. (Check out the Lancashire Telegraph and Lancs Alive.)

Yet the recent transport news leaves me reeling at the growing opposition to what the government is calling the "ruinous" race to net zero - to cut pollution. 

The struggle to limit pollution is failing as the Conservatives turn  important issues into political football in the hope of boosting flagging support for their failed policies.

Worse, one former minister and the right-wing press are encouraging vandals to commit criminal damage to traffic cameras, as reported by The Guardian.

 Not only that but gains made in road safety are beginning to unravel which will only deter people from cycling which, as we know, is the recommended mode of transport for many short journeys currently made by car. 

The government on the one hand reluctantly acknowledges the need to cut pollution but on the other cynically, devises policies which will only increase it, such as opposing schemes aimed at restricting the worst polluting vehicles in towns by charging to enter Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ).

There is another government action which will also increase traffic. This is the proposal to remove Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes, which have these past 30 years, improved the quality of life for many residents, and also made local roads safer for cycling. 

First off, though, ULEZ.  To drive into these low emision zones will cost you if driving a vehicle not classed as low emission.

This scheme has caused an outcry among drivers and the Conservatives have seized upon this to win votes by championing "poor" people who say they cannot afford to pay.

ULEZ was introduced by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who wants to extend it to every London borough.

So desperate are the Conservatives to discredit the ULEZ scheme, MPs have – unbelievably - resorted to encouraging vandals to attack cameras at the zone entry points. Some 600 cameras of the 3000 needed to enforce the new London zone have so far been destroyed!

So much for the self-styled “party of law and order”!  says The Guardian who ran the story on Friday last - written by Polly Toynbee. She reminds us that “Stop Oil” protesters have been jailed for criminal damage. Now we have MPs encouraging breaking the law to suit their political agenda.

According to Toynbee, Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative Leader, is “openly calling for protestors to commit criminal damage” by attacking ULEZ cameras!

This is the law and order tough guy, says Toynbee, who points out that Smith

helped push through new anti-protester laws which have resulted in two climate protesters being jailed for climbing onto a bridge and disrupting traffic!

Ah, Smith – such integrity. A man of the people.

ULEZ was created in response to serious health concerns over the worsening air quality which is estimated to have caused 4000 premature deaths in one year in London.

So as well as contributing to climate change, traffic pollution is also killing people. Not that the Conservative Party appear to be showing concern.

The introduction of low emission zones is an attempt to keep out the worst polluting vehicles by charging drivers £12.50 a day to enter the zones. Many people and businesses operating on a shoe-string plead they cannot afford to pay this and yet they cannot do without their vehicles.

So that’s an issue which needs to be resolved.

But if you can afford to pay you may still pollute! Doh.

What’s the point of that?  Its saying if you can pay you may continue to pollute. Bollocks.

One good idea is the suggestion that drivers are paid £2000 “scrappage” which would help towards buying a cleaner vehicle. 

It should be noted that France has banned vehicles which do not meet the new limits.

Britain’s way, however, is to turn this crisis into a game of politics while people meet premature deaths caused by polluted air and, in seven years’ time, by drowning as the sea floods their own homes.

Khan is Labour, so the Conservative government are opposing expansion of the zones in the hope of gaining brownie points over Labour to curry favour with voters they perceive are turning against green policies.

It’s all about the ballot box and the cynical “need” to secure the drivers vote in the next general election -  a few years before the seas start to roll in! 

The government knows there is public support calling for action to cut pollution to stave off the worst of climate change but they also fear a backlash from people who do not want to face up to the reality of what this might cost them – in the short term, that is; not using the car, for instance. And vote them out of office at the next general election.

The other traffic issue concerns the Prime Minister’s threat to take out low traffic neighbourhood schemes so he can say to drivers, look, I'm looking after you by finding more roads for you to use!

By doing so, this will allow through-traffic to once more use residential roads as rat runs.  Apart from benefitting residents these past 30 years since their introduction, LTNs have also contributed to making cycling safer.

Cycling UK, who urges us to write to the PM about this, said last week:

“Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) are widely supported by communities, but Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is listening to a vocal minority and has announced a review that could put our quiet residential streets and safe cycle routes at risk.”

The government cannot be allowed to succeed in taking out LTNs, say Cycling UK.

The government has already stood idly by as local authorities removed pop-up cycle lanes installed during the pandemic. And this year they have cut £millions from their own Active Travel Policy intended to encourage cycling and walking because, in my view, they fear a real increase in cycling will antagonise, yes - you are spot on – will antagonise motorists and certainly the right wing press.

And finally…

Here’s the  thing - the connection between pollution and those heavy torrential downpours.

The science says that the billions of tiny particles resulting from burning carbon (from traffic, homes, factories etc.)  are circulating in the sky above where they attract condensation.  This in turn increases cloud water vapour by 40 per cent. Which is then dropped in those sudden downpours which can cause flash floods.