Spin Cycle is Escape Collective’s news digest, published every Monday and Friday. You can read it on this website (obviously) or have it delivered straight to your inbox.
Spin Cycle
Enter your email address to get our unique spin on news from the world of cycling delivered directly to your inbox!
Get our unique spin on news from the world of cycling delivered directly to your inbox!
Hello!
Welcome back to Spin Cycle, Escape Collective’s news digest.
Tadej Pogačar was back to winning ways at the GP de Montreal, showing expected but still worrying (for his competitors) form ahead of the upcoming World Championships road race.
But before then there are other things to worry about. Such as who at Visma-Lease a Bike thought it was a good idea to auction off the jersey Wout van Aert crashed in at the Vuelta a España, and the dates of the 2028, yes … 2028, Tour de France.
When will the 2028 Tour de France take place? 🤔
After this year’s fun, possibly once-in-a-lifetime switch to a finish in Nice instead of the Champs-Élysées, it will feel good when the Tour de France returns to an Olympics-free French capital next year.
And yes, while you may be wondering why we are already thinking about the 2025 Tour de France, don’t worry, there are people out there concerning themselves with the logistics of the 2028 Tour de France.
Tracked down by Wielerflits over the weekend, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme was asked whether he knew what would happen to the Tour in four years’ time when the next Olympics in Los Angeles comes around, which are taking place during the earlier-than-usual slot of July 14-30.
While we couldn’t dig up any confirmed reasoning as to the cause of this date change, some people have pointed out the LA Games will utilise various college facilities that will be needed in August, as well as NFL stadiums that will host pre-season games that month.
“What date will the Tour get in 2028? That is not up to us. The UCI decides that. We will see. Whether the Tour will be before or after the Olympic Games? I have no idea,” Prudhomme responded to the Dutch publication, who said the Frenchman was “not amused” by this organisational headache brought about by this change to the regular schedule of things.
A Tour after the Games would be wild, meaning the race would miss holding a stage during the national Bastille Day public holiday on July 14. Hosting the race mostly beforehand, say (scrolls iPhone calendar way into the future) between Saturday June 24-Sunday July 16 wouldn’t seem that ridiculous and allow for the Olympic Road Race to be held on Saturday July 22, a compressed and rushed transfer around the world, but one that was managed in 2021 when riders had six days to get between Paris and Tokyo.
Who knows what politics are going on behind the scenes (but with UCI President David Lappartient announcing his candidacy for IOC President he may find allies down the road) or why Prudhomme is even suggesting an August Tour de France when that seems quite a severe reaction to the situation, but you can guarantee if there’s no Bastille Day stage the French will instead be doing maybe the only thing they love more than the Tour: protesting.
An auction to forget 🛒
After the parting of ways with supermarket chain Jumbo, and the plugging of the gap with Pon subsidiary Lease a Bike, Visma-Lease a Bike have been on the front foot in finding ways to generate extra revenue as one of the WorldTour’s leading teams.
This has included expanding their merch offerings. Their slick online shop operation means you can already order an Edoardo Affini European time trial champion jersey while their offerings for Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson-related merch often involves some American-flag flair to try and capture the imagination of US fans, who are also able to purchase a Visma-Lease a Bike varsity jacket like the team wore for sign-on at April’s Tour of Flanders.
This is all well and good; merch never hurt anyone (probably). But the same can’t necessarily be said for another adjacent venture, a partnership with an auction site that allows professional sports team to sell off clothing worn and signed by their athletes to fans.
Currently, you can bid on jerseys worn in the Vuelta a España by Wout van Aert, Sepp Kuss and Robert Gesink, with prices ranging from $270 to $1780.
However, Visma-Lease a Bike were maybe a bit gung-ho in also offering up the jersey Wout van Aert crashed in on the Vuelta’s stage 16, after which he spent time in hospital in intensive care and was forced to end his season before a tilt at the rainbow jersey at the World Championships.
After this auction was spotted on social media by a fan of the team, Visma-Lease a Bike apparently saw sense in removing it from sale (we tried to confirm with the team that they made the call to remove the jersey but haven’t heard back). The person who’d posted it on Twitter subsequently deleted their tweets about the situation but we have a screenshot just to show you it actually happened.
Considering the jersey was one of the only ones that wasn’t signed – presumably because they couldn’t get it back to Van Aert in hospital in Belgium or they saw sense in not asking their injured rider to autograph it – they probably should have thought twice about this being a good idea.
Feed Zone 🥖
🇨🇦 Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) beat Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) in the sprint to win the GP de Quebec on Friday, while Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won the GP de Montreal on Sunday solo, with Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) 24 seconds adrift and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) in third at the front of the reduced peloton 40 seconds back.
💭 After finishing eighth overall at this summer’s Tour de France while providing domestique duties to Jonas Vingegaard, Visma-Lease a Bike’s Matteo Jorgenson says he’s changed his opinion on potentially riding for his own overall hopes at a future Grand Tour. “I think at some point in my career I would like to have that challenge to go for the GC in a Grand Tour. I don’t know if that is next year or in three years, but I would like to try it at least once,” he told Cycling Weekly.
🇪🇺 Tim Merlier (Belgium) is the new men’s European road race champion after beating the Netherlands’ Olav Kooij and Estonia’s Madis Mihkels in the sprint in Limburg, while Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) bested Italy’s Elisa Balsamo. and Poland’s Daria Pikulik in the women’s race.
Cycling on TV 📺
Tuesday September 17th
No live racing …
Wednesday September 18th
Tour of Luxembourg – Stage 1
(09:00-11:30 ET/14:00-16:30 BST/23:00-01:30 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Max🇺🇸, Staylive🇦🇺, FloBikes🇨🇦
Grand Prix de Wallonie
(10:45-12:00 ET/15:45-17:00 BST/00:45-02:00 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Max🇺🇸, FloBikes🇨🇦
Thursday September 19th
Tour of Luxembourg – Stage 2
(08:50-11:20 ET/13:50-16:20 BST/22:50-01:20 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Max🇺🇸, Staylive🇦🇺, FloBikes🇨🇦
Friday September 20th
Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
(09:35-11:00 ET/14:35-16:00 BST/23:35-01:00 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Max🇺🇸, Staylive🇦🇺, FloBikes🇨🇦
Tour of Luxembourg – Stage 3
(09:40-12:10 ET/14:40-17:10 BST/23:40-02:10 AEST) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Max🇺🇸, Staylive🇦🇺, FloBikes🇨🇦
💸 Transfer mechanics of the week 💸
A medium-sized story over the weekend came in the form of Simon Yates telling the media present at the Canadian one-day races that he was taking a pay cut to join Visma-Lease a Bike from Jayco-AlUla.
Yates was responding to comments after his transfer was announced that the WorldTour should have salary caps so that talent does not continue to get concentrated amongst the super teams, and pointing out that the draw for him was seeking the gains at the Dutch squad that have seen the likes of Christophe Laporte and Matteo Jorgenson push on when supported by one of the leading outfits in the sport.
Because, unlike other sports, pro cyclists’ salaries aren’t made public, only estimates exist, with Simon Yates rumoured to have been earning between €1.5-€2 million a year at Jayco-AlUla. Meanwhile, the going rate for a top climbing super domestique (a service Yates can provide at Visma as well as pursuing his own goals) is estimated to be in the €750,000-€1 million range. It’s a jump down, but Yates will still be doing alright. And, let’s be honest, that missing chunk of change is worth it if you’re trading it for having sports director Grischa Niermann in your ear on the radio calling you a motorbike as you climb.
And finally …
If anyone was looking for a slomo, super rainy sideways skid before a backflip into a barrier, Timothy Dupont has what you need. The Belgian thankfully was still able to cross the finish line and we hope he’s okay.
For those who weren’t paying attention to the Tour of Istanbul, Escape Collective favourite Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) won two of the four stages and took home the overall victory. Nice one burga-boy! We love you!
Corrections corner 😭
Look, we promise we’re not doing some weird engagement bait by including borderline obvious errors in these newsletters (if we were we’d be doing hugely well) but the latest oopsie that gave eagle-eyed readers a chance for a satisfying “well, actually” email reply was when we repeated a deeply (but erroneously) held childhood belief that Disneyland Paris was closer to Lille than the French capital.
Could we have easily googled this despite being so sure our recollections of a 20-year-old trip to the Happiest Place on Earth were correct? Yes. After correction emails started flooding in in numbers to rival those present at the daily Disneyland Stars on Parade, I consulted my parents, to attempt to pass the buck and gain an insight into why I could have possibly ever believed this.
It turns out, we had taken the Eurostar to Lille to then get a local train to the nearby Marne La Vallée station. You don’t care about this fact, I just needed to close the book on my latest dose of shame. I like to think there’s a quickly-fading authenticity and charm to these occasional slip-ups; that’s what helps me sleep at night at least.
In happier news, Raphaël on Discord points out there is a 10 km loop around Disneyland Paris that could make for a good ride outside of park hours. What about a Circuit de Disneyland race? With Mickey Mouse ears awarded to the winner?
🧺 Send us yer laundry pics
“There’s a town in southern Illinois called Metropolis, and they lean in hard on Superman,” writes in Jamie Wilger, attaching today’s featured laundromat. “From murals to business names, everything is super, including the local laundromat: SuperWash. Attached are photos of said laundromat, which despite the name seemed rather ordinary, and of the hometown boy himself, as seen in front of the courthouse.
“I actually wasn’t there to ride bikes; I was getting my scuba certification at Mermet Springs, which is billed as the Bermuda Triangle of the Midwest. Fascinating place, southern Illinois.”
As always, we are accepting your laundry photos (especially ones with the doors open so we can Photoshop riders inside the drum) to star in Spin Cycle. Either send them via the Discord or shoot me an email: [email protected]
Until next time …
That’s all folks! Thanks to Jamie Wilger, Raphaël and Phil Long for contributions to today’s edition and a big thank you to all of you who have signed up already as Escape Collective founding members. If you haven’t there is no time like the present. To smooth the process just click this link here and hit the Join Today button in the top right of the page.
Every edition of Spin Cycle is available for free so please share it with your friends and help us enjoy limitless growth. You can give them this link to take them to our most recent edition.
And if you’ve been forwarded this email from someone else and want to receive it straight into your own inbox while it’s still hot, you can sign up by clicking the button.
Spin Cycle
Enter your email address to get our unique spin on news from the world of cycling delivered directly to your inbox!
Get our unique spin on news from the world of cycling delivered directly to your inbox!
Did we do a good job with this story?