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.
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Welcome back to Spin Cycle, Escape Collective’s news digest.
Today's newsletter operates on a sliding scale from supremely dumb to utterly charming occurrences in the bike world this week. A sort-of eat your greens first and then enjoy the rest of your meal situation.
Or, if we're not self-explaining like a seven-year-old, employing some delayed gratification. Ripping the band aid/plaster off and dealing with the crumbling integrity of our sport before we get to bask in the oddities that make us keep coming back for more.
The cycling shit show heard around the world 🌎
The biggest news of the week was the absolute farce (as Eurosport's Rob Hatch called it, and you know when he whips out the f-word he's really not playing anymore) of the Volta ao Algarve's signposting of the stage 1 finish line, which was so poor the riders went the wrong way. It's frankly a miracle no-one was seriously injured as the peloton sped past fans standing by the side of the road.
Filippo Ganna, far enough back to get a better look, realised the mistake and sailed to victory, only for the race organisers to have the stage annulled. They still tried to get the Italian up on the podium to please the local sponsors, but he wasn't having it and the Ineos Grenadiers bus rightly drove off.
The man at the front of the peloton who took the wrong turn was Lotto's Jarrad Drizners, who did partially put his hand up in apology, but this mistake lays squarely with the race organisation.
“It’s a stupid mistake, but there was no clear signalling,” Drizners told Sporza. “If you watch the replay, you’ll see me in the middle of the roundabout already looking around. There were no barriers until we were on the straight. It happened so quickly and instinct took over.”
Drizner's sprinter, Arnaud De Lie, was fairly unforgiving in his assessment, and likely unaware in the aftermath when speaking to the media that it was his teammate that had gone the wrong way.
"Everyone knows that the finish is on the left, it's been like that for years ... The first rider follows the motorbikes, he must have never watched a bike race because we know that motorbikes don't cross the finish line."
We're almost losing count at the dumb and unsafe things that have happened so far this season, and we haven't even got to Opening Weekend yet!
The story didn't just make mainstream newspapers around the world, but was even shown on the BBC six o'clock news. Yes, the NEWS news. Mortifying. Every time we think we've reached the bottom we manage to slide further. You would have to presume that when our Saudi overlords take over, these incidents won't happen anymore. This really isn't the sort of thing you'd have thought we'd have to invoke, but it's surely getting to that stage.
🍼 Sticky bottle of the week 🍼
The reason I could never be a pro cyclist aside from the lack of talent, physique, physiology and disposition for truly hard graft? They'd have to physically restrain me from any rider who swung past on a sticky bottle like this while I professionally and fairly chewed it up on a climb. Bruno Armirail thinks his Raving Rabbids underwear will save him now, I don't think so Bruno!
Feed Zone 🥖
🇵🇱 Michał Kwiatkowski won the Clásica Jaén for Ineos Grenadiers, although their celebrations were blighted by Egan Bernal crashing in the closing kilometres and breaking his collarbone.
🙏 Elia Viviani has finally found a team for 2025, signing with Lotto.
🤔 Despite the Danish Federation reversing its decision to give Johan Price-Pejtersen back the 2024 national time trial title, he wasn't able to wear his national colours in the UAE Tour time trial as the UCI has reopened the case.
🪖 Wout van Aert says he "felt a lot of love" for his time trial helmet in the Algarve peloton. Hmm ...
🇷🇼 The UCI will reconsider whether the Road World Championships can be held in Rwanda this September after seeing how the Tour du Rwanda goes next week, according to DirectVelo and RadsportNews.
🦤 A "stray animal" collided with David Gaudu while he was out training, which will keep him out of this weekend's Classic Var, his Groupama-FDJ team have said.
🇫🇷 "Jacques Augendre, the memory of the Tour de France has flown away," writes L'Équipe's Alexandre Roos, in a fantastic piece worth your time about a French journalist who covered 55 Tours de France.
💂♀️ At this point we'll finally admit we are now simply obsessed with any small movement Ineos makes. In our defence, it's not our fault. They keep being absolutely bonkers. If you would also like to barf in your own mouth to get ready for the weekend take a look at the Ineos compass.
👬 A fun fact from Discord user Koppenberg regarding the Yates twins: "They have raced head to head 294 times and are tied with 147 wins [against each other] apiece (according to the ProCyclingStats head-to-head thingy)."
🏁 Other notable winners of bike races this week: Tom Pidcock (Ruta Del Sol stage 2), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Tour stage 3), Jonathan Milan (UAE Tour stages 1 and 4), Josh Tarling (UAE Tour stage 2 TT), UAE's Jan Christen (Volta ao Algarve stage 2).
Cycling on TV 📺
Saturday February 22nd
UAE Tour - Stage 6
(03:35-07:50 ET/08:35-12:50 GMT/19:35-23:50 AEDT) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+,🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺Staylive
Vuelta a Andalucía - Stage 4
(07:30-09:30 ET/12:30-14:30 GMT/23:30-01:30 AEDT) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺Staylive
Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var - Stage 1
(09:10-10:25 ET/14:10-15:25 GMT/01:10-02:25 AEDT) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺Staylive
Volta ao Algarve - Stage 4
(10:00-12:00 ET/15:00-17:00 GMT/02:00-04:00 AEDT) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺Staylive
Sunday February 23rd
UAE Tour - Stage 7
(02:35-07:50 ET/07:35-12:50 GMT/18:35-23:50 AEDT) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+,🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺Staylive
Vuelta a Andalucía - Stage 5
(07:30-09:30 ET/12:30-14:30 GMT/23:30-01:30 AEDT) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺Staylive
Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var - Stage 2
(09:40-11:05 ET/14:40-16:05 GMT/01:40-03:05 AEDT) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes
Volta ao Algarve - Stage 5 (ITT)
(10:00-12:00 ET/15:00-17:00 GMT/02:00-04:00 AEDT) 🇬🇧Eurosport/Discovery+, 🇺🇸Max, 🇨🇦FloBikes, 🇦🇺Staylive
Monday February 24th
No live racing ...
📏 Little and large of the week 📏
As riders were shot out the back on the long ascent of Jebel Jais during the UAE Tour's stage three, a rift in the universe where the laws of physics don't quite apply opened up, with the 1.98 metre, 81 kilogram Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) being dropped at exactly the same time as the 1.72 metre, and certainly much lighter, Vini-Fantini rider Roberto Carlos González from Panama. Just a pleasing visual showing it takes all sorts to ride bikes as fast as possible up a mountain in the desert.
And finally ...
Maxim Van Gils' prize for leading the points classification after winning the first stage of the Ruta Del Sol? A 200-piece puzzle depicting a map of Malaga of course!
Corrections corner 🎈
Prepare yourselves to learn about hot air balloons following Monday's video of one hitting the water at a cyclocross race.
"Regarding that hot air balloon crash during a cross race that was referenced in the newsletter and on the podcast," writes in Caleb Hayter, "that may not have been an actual crash. Hot air balloon pilots will sometimes descend over bodies of water and lightly touch the basket to the water surface, mostly for photographic reasons. After touching the water they add more heat to the balloon envelope and rise up off of the water."
Koen Miseur wrote in to confirm the same, adding that the Sporza commentators said at the time the balloon dip had been planned and the pilot was very experienced. All in all, much less fun than a hot air balloon accidentally plunging to watery depths, but with the ongoing safety debacle of the sport it's probably a good thing that we don't have to add hot air balloon misadventure to the list of problems that need fixing.
Oh, and Caleb also provided this nice photo of hot air balloon-dipping from his childhood hometown. Some nice Friday vibes here.
🧺 Send us yer laundry pics
"Southlands Mawson, Canberra ACT," writes in Philippa Henty, giving the place of today's featured laundromat before adding a great fact about this location. "Home of this sparkling laundromat and also Michael Matthew’s dad’s butcher shop." Can anyone top that?
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: jonny.long@escapecollective.com
Until next time …
That’s all folks! Thanks to Philippa Henty, Koen Miseur, Caleb Hayter and Phil Long for contributions to today’s edition and a big thank you to all of you who have signed up as Escape Collective 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.
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