The Spin Cycle is the 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. You can sign up here.
Hello!
Welcome back to Spin Cycle! The Escape Collective’s news digest.
Exciting news today, as this edition is feat. Iain Treloar!
Just like how The Crooklyn Clan jumped onto Fatman Scoop’s 1999 sleeper hit ‘Be Faithful’ and improved it immeasurably, we are delighted to have Australia’s foremost cycling dictator botherer hopping on this particular record. In fact, we’ve blown the entire budget and signed him to a long-term contract until at least 2027 just to make sure that any other teams don’t start eyeing him up and make an offer he can’t refuse (for instance, we can’t imagine Iain turning down the opportunity to star in the next Astana rap video alongside Cav and Alexey Lutsenko).
Speaking of which, Astana-Qazaqstan once again feature in this edition as Mark Cavendish’s sprint creates an extra lane in the road. Meanwhile, Jumbo-Visma get wholesomely hacked and Sam Bewley auditions to host his own TED Talk. It’s all the usual fare, TV guides, stories about videos posted on Twitter that if you’re reading on email you have the infuriating task of clicking a number of links to understand what we’re talking about. It’s all part of the fun! Some old-school web-based friction in an increasingly frictionless and sanitised world.
Stop everything, we found out what’s in Andreas Leknessund’s box
by Iain Treloar
Andreas Leknessund’s time in pink at the Giro ended almost a week ago, but it left one very enduring legacy: the mystery of what was in his box within a box. Was it ceremonial storage for his maglia rosa? Did someone forget to put something crucial inside?
After a bit of fossicking about – you can’t accuse us of not doing our due diligence on this one, even if no one cares – we have the answer. The commune of Fossombrone, host of the stage 8 finish, were supplied with the boxes by local company Gentili S.R.L. which – as I’m sure you know – is “specialized in production of high-end boxes … made of inventiveness and made with precious woods and roots.” Leknessund’s box specifically was described to Escape Collective as “so-called luxury ‘pocket trays’ or cigar holders.”
Whether Leknessund has slipped any stogies into his big pink box is not known, and based on the look of profound confusion on his face, we’re not so sure he put two and two together. But there we have it: the box is a box, but it’s meant to be. That’s our Big Journalism Moment for the day; your move, CyclingNews.
‘7 Ks of being an arsehole? That’s not bad’
Today’s source of inspirational quote is as unexpected as you can get: the man behind the wheel in the Israel – Premier Tech car, the recently retired New Zealander Sam Bewley!
After the TV motorbike picked up Israel – Premier Tech’s Sebastian Berwick politely informing Nico Denz “I’m not doing shit” towards furthering their breakaway effort, the team released their tapes from inside the team car, revealing the source of Berwick’s new-found courage.
“I know it feels bad to shake your head at this guy but that’s bike racing man, they get it,” Bewley told Berwick over the radio.
“They understand, they’d do the same if they were you. Don’t be afraid to be an arsehole for 7 kilometres of your life, mate. You’re a fucking great guy but 7 Ks of being an arsehole, that’s not bad.”
Bewley has a way with words and from now on I will be calculating all of my arsehole-ry by its metric length.
Feed Zone ?
? Greg Van Avermaet’s regular lieutenant Michael Schär will also retire at the end of the season.
? Arnaud De Lie has been diagnosed with a fractured collarbone, sternum and rib as well as a collapsed lung after he crashed in the final sprint of the Four Days of Dunkirk’s first stage.
?? Christophe Laporte has signed a contract extension with Jumbo-Visma that will see the Frenchman ride for the Dutch team until at least the end of 2026.
? Steven Kruijswijk has also extended his contract with Jumbo-Visma, and will ride for the team until the end of 2025 at which point he will be 38 years old.
? Tom Dumoulin has said he thinks Remco Evenepoel should ride the 2023 Tour de France.
? Tao Geoghegan Hart has undergone successful surgery after suffering a fractured left hip in his Giro d’Italia crash.
??️ Fabio Jakobsen is being courted by both Bora-Hansgrohe and Team DSM, according to Wielerflits.
? Mads Pedersen has abandoned the Giro d’Italia after falling ill the night after stage 12, suffering from a sore throat and tracheitis (a bacterial infection of the windpipe).
Hi Jumbo-Visma, help me transfer 0.7 BTC to your account
By Iain Treloar
You know who loves getting hacked on Twitter? Prominent cycling accounts, that’s who. Mere weeks after their star rider Primož Roglič was locked out of his Twitter account, Jumbo-Visma fell victim to the same trick on Thursday. Once again, it was dastardly crypto bros pulling the strings – the profile photo was changed out to a Bored Ape NFT, the username switched, and Jumbo-Visma’s 275,000 followers were suddenly implored to “break the matrix” by checking their eligibility for something called a $PSYOP token #airdrop (which, like so much in the space, doesn’t make much sense to the casual observer, and probably doesn’t signal anything good even if it did).
Jumbo-Visma’s frantic social media admins took to their development team’s account in the interim, using some very whoozy emojis to express their distress:
At time of writing, the account is still in nefarious hands – but now, they’re not shilling Bitcoin, just retweeting messages of support for other teams than Jumbo-Visma. Which is a whole lot more wholesome than the creepy pro-Nazi, suicide-cult NFTs that laid captive to Roglič’s online presence, or the conspiracy theorists that got into Jens Voigt’s. On balance, a big win for Jumbo-Visma.
? Most honest cyclist of the week award ?
“A Grand Tour top 10 has no interest to me because it has no monetary value at all.”
A bracingly candid interview from Jay Vine, who informs the slightly taken aback Eurosport interviewer that he doesn’t care for a top 10 finish at the Giro d’Italia, and that he’s only interested in wins and podiums. The talk of “monetary value”, we’re assuming, means he has no contractual bonuses for top 10s, while he seemingly would take little to no personal delight in a Grand Tour top 10 despite having not yet done that in his career.
Obviously, people are clipping it up out of context and having opinions on Vine’s opinions, but we’re big fans of riders giving their unfiltered views and not just pithily swiping away the questions asked of them. You do you, Jay.
Cycling on TV ?
Saturday
• Giro d’Italia, Stage 14
- GCN+ (05:45-11:45 ET/10:45-16:45 BST/19:45-01:45 AEST)
• Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, Stage 3
- GCN+/FloBikes (08:30-10:00 ET/13:30-15:00 BST/22:30-00:00 AEST)
• Veenendaal Classic
- GCN+ (09:40-11:35 ET/14:40-16:35 BST/23:40-01:35 AEST)
• Four days of Dunkirk, Stage 5
- GCN+ (10:15-12:00 ET/15:15-17:00 BST/23:15-02:00 AEST)
Sunday
• Giro d’Italia, Stage 15
- GCN+ (05:30-11:45 ET/10:30-16:45 BST/19:30-01:45 AEST)
• Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, Stage 4
- GCN+/FloBikes (08:30-10:00 ET/13:30-15:00 BST/22:30-00:00 AEST)
• Four days of Dunkirk, Stage 6
- GCN+ (08:30-10:15 ET/13:30-15:15 BST/22:30-23:15 AEST)
Monday
No televised racing
And finally…
As pointed out by Dan Deakins, Mark Cavendish is showing off his sprint in a video but when the camera switches, an extra lane of road magically appears. Maybe more impressively, he also conjures up a massive lorry, which he then zooms very closely past.
Astana, or at least someone new employed by Astana, has really upped their social media game lately, and if this was done on purpose, for little raccoons like us to pounce on the garbage, then it’s job well done as we’ve gobbled it all up. Every last drop. It’s a nice softening of the edge of Astana, who knew they could be so goofy!
Corrections corner ?️?
We accidentally omitted the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas from Monday’s TV listing. We also had Australia’s time zone down as AEDT instead of AEST, even though the time was correct. But if you’re staying up into the early hours to watch live racing in Australia, clearly the normal boundaries of time don’t really apply to you.
Primes (for helpful members) ?
Andrei Martinas now leads the sending-in-washing-machine-photos classification, having submitted two sets of pictures so far.
As always, we are accepting your own laundry photos to star in the Spin Cycle. Either send them via the Discord or shoot me an email: [email protected]
Friday Vibes ?
“Hi Team EC,” Escape Collective member Mark Steinwachs emailed back in March.
“Some of you may know me as the guy with the Maillot Sables tattoo. Some may know that I did the weekly playlist for the Placeholder Zwift ride for the last couple years. Some probably are this far in and think I’ve lost my mind.
Anyway, I had an idea of providing a good song to ride to and why the song has been chosen. The thought would be to encourage people to listen to music they may not have in the past.”
A great idea, and so Mark will now be providing some Friday Vibes every Friday edition.
Song: When Legends Rise
Artist: Godsmack
What is it: A crunching, agressive song from the stalwart heavy rock band that will get those legs turning over.
Quality Cycling Lyric (QCL): We burn it out a mile wide, when ashes fall, the legends rise.
You can listen to it here.
Until next time …
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