Looks like Remco is up to his old tricks again at the Valencia tour.
Can’t say the Saudi tour is filling me with mystique and wonder! Big, flat, wide tarmac roads in the desert.
Just watched the short highlights for the day of Valenciana and first 2 days of Saudi.
Tour de la Provence looks like it has a promising line up, not so the Tour of Oman.
Provence is becoming a bit of a lead in to Paris-Nice which is the lead into the Tour. It’s a good watch.
I’m glad I signed up for GCN+ this year, will take my Pro Cycling viewing on to a new level!
Some finish in Provence yesterday and a certain Manxman doing not too bad in Oman
Enjoyed that as well.
Winds/echelons are often promised by commentators desperate for action, but they actually appeared 
So Chris Froome is calling for TT bikes to be banned from road cycling events because it’s too dangerous to train on them on open roadster
Tom Pidcock came out with something similar a couple of weeks ago, after Bernal’s accident.
I said at the time, he had a point but if it gains momentum and a red top paper or something similar starts a bit of a campaign, it could be the end of TT bikes.
We should ban bobsleds too, completely unsafe to train on on the road in them, no place to have them in sport.
“When you are on the skis (handlebar extensions) you have no brakes. You need to sit up, it is not really that safe. It is one thing when you are racing with closed roads, and even then we see some pretty horrendous accidents, but it is completely another thing when you are out on open roads with traffic and people crossing the roads.”
Couldn’t agree more with that, in all fairness.
I hate to say this, but I agree with him. TT on a road bike would be a hell of a lot safer.
Not that much, the main problem is the contrived position to get aero which compromises the handling. Even if they outlawed “invisible aerobars” the riders would still need to get the head and hands next to each other and narrow to be aerodynamic, any pattern of that on a bike leads to handling compromises. The “road” bikes ridden by UK time trialists in ths 70’s were all head down etc.
But mainly it’s the bollocks about “we shouldn’t do this competitive event 'cos you can’t train for it on the public road” that’s an absolutely shit argument, most sports can’t be trained for on the road, you don’t change the rules of the sport so they can.
For more pro riders have been in training accidents on the open road on standard road bikes 
Surely pros can train for TT on closed roads or a private circuit if they want to. It’s us amateurs that don’t have those facilities at our disposal. Although Castle Combe race track has a play and play every Tuesday evening over the summer.
So Froome is just parrotting bollocks about banning TT bikes in pro races, absolutely no reason necessary for pro’s.
Alternatively you’re suggesting that TT bikes be banned for amateur riding, not unreasonable, but the classic picture of 70’s time trialling shows a road position probably more unsafe than a modern TT bike (especially as those brakes barely worked and the frame was drillium)
which I think shows it’s really not about the bike that defines safety, it’s the position, and the conflict with other road users.
Are the pros are getting up and out at 5am to deliberately get the quieter roads as well?
Btw cyclopark, hillingdon and I’m sure lots of other similar courses around the country are open for use most of the time for training.
I’m not suggesting TT bikes should be banned for amateurs, I’m suggesting pros should not be complaining about having to ride their TT bikes on public roads when they are the ones with the resources to avoid it should they want to. It’s not like they need to practice mountain passes on them.
As @gingerbongo says, most of us already take measures to avoid busy roads or busy times of the day. Maybe if cycling is your 9-5 you don’t think a 5am alarm is necessary, but maybe it should be.
I don’t think the big bike manufacturers would fight that hard for TT bikes. They’re probably an expensive distraction for most of them.
If the ITU and Ironman followed suit then the only people riding TT bikes would be the British testers drafting lorries on dual carriageways 
Evenepoel accidentally published his power numbers on Strava. Under 400w for more than 50kmh shows quite how good his position is