Spin Cycle: Not So Secret Squirrel
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Welcome back to Spin cycle, Escape Collective’s News overview.
As the TV guide becomes increasingly scarce, we’re fully immersed in cycling’s crazy season.
Strange things happen at the Tour du Faso and we don’t have enough time in the introduction to go into everything related to the Ineos Grenadiers. So you’ll just have to wait until we get to this part. And yes, we are talking about the Belgian giant squirrel.
Not so close
Here’s something strange: the Tour du Faso was stripped of its UCI status because a Russian team took part in the event.
On the starting list was a “CSKA Moscow” team, which has a sister team of the same name that has close ties to the Russian military, and appeared at the race in Burkina Faso wearing Russian army jerseys. We assume that anyone reading this has the context of both the war in Ukraine and Russia’s subsequent ban from all UCI events; unless … How.
Russia and Burkina Faso recently discussed expanding military ties, so it’s not too surprising that they would be okay with their cycling team taking part in their stage race, which has been running since 1987.
“The organizers of the Tour du Faso, a Class 2 event on the UCI international calendar, invited the Russian team CSKA Moscow on their own initiative and without prior notification to the UCI,” the UCI said in a statement on Friday.
“After being informed, the UCI immediately sent an official letter to the organizers asking them to ban the team’s participation in accordance with the UCI’s ad hoc regulations on measures against Russia and Belarus. But despite this instruction, the team started the event this morning.
“Consequently, the UCI has immediately withdrawn the event from the UCI international calendar and is currently assessing the disciplinary consequences associated with this team’s participation. There will be no further comment on this matter at this time.”
Not so secret squirrel 🐿️
Yes, it was Wout van Aert who was the giant squirrel in “Masked Singer” after all!
We’re sure we’ll watch his performance in retrospect and see how the reaction to it brought some levity to Van Aert, who has endured a tough year full of falls and injuries, and the video of him performing Blur Song 2 with the mask off is everything you hoped for.
We believe that the master has chosen the second places Song 2 aware, and we appreciate the level of commitment to his performance, that he pretends to hold up a traditional microphone despite having one strapped to his cheek. It looks like he had a really good time and we’re really happy for him.
“Thanks for the HOT tip about the Belgian Masked Singer finale,” Liam Brown wrote to us on Friday. “I’m watching now. I fired up my VPN, pointed it at Brussels… I had to sign up for a free account, provide a Belgian zip code (easy as my son lives in Brussels), endure about three minutes of ads, and now I’m wondering , whether I’m stoned or whether the show is really as strange as it seems …”
We had Quintana as a chameleon and Van Aert as a squirrel: who’s next? I think we need Tom Pidcock dressed as a sausage dog belting out Celine Dion’s My heart Will Go On. Feel free to leave your most imaginative fever dream suggestions in the comments.
Gren-oh-love-oh-love-oh-love 💂♀️
So Ineos owner Jim Wrathcliffe continues his autumn reckoning by sacking Erik ten Hag from Manchester United, and things seem to be getting worse for our favorite chemical tycoon.
The Ineos Grenadier car that sponsors the cycling team will no longer be manufactured Built on Purpose™ as a “critical component shortage” has halted production.
The supplier of this particular part is struggling with bankruptcy and therefore cannot deliver what Lynn Calder, CEO of Ineos Grenadier, has admitted Automotive News Europe is “a decorative part without which we cannot sell the car.”
In true Ineos PR fashion, they refused to name the part or supplier involved in this palaver, but said that production of the car may not resume until 2025. I bet Soudal never runs out… Even though he’s only sold 20,000 vehicles since founding the company in 2016, we believe the car crowd will survive.
Oh, and what’s new at Pidcock, you ask? Well, it looks like Ineos is giving away its mountain bike in a competition. (Yes, this is probably a replacement part or a replica, but don’t spoil the fun).
And if a free giveaway isn’t your thing, it looks like someone is selling some Tom Pidcock kits on eBay…
Feeding zone 🥖
🏃♂️ Former professional Nacer Bouhanni ran the Frankfurt Marathon in 2 hours 34 minutes at the weekend.
🍼 The latest person to dip their beaks into the ketone ad spending hollow? It’s Lance Armstrong, baby!
🤖 German rider Jason Osborne and New Zealand’s Mary Kate McCarthy are your new cycling eSports world champions after being crowned in Abu Dhabi over the weekend. Congratulations to both of them.
🐝 Jonas Vingegaard has already started training for next season. “We have to accept that Tadej Pogačar has raised the bar even higher this year,” said his coach Tim Heemskerk Bike.
Cycling on TV 📺
Tuesday, October 29th
Presentation of the Tour de France 2025 route
(06:00 – 08:00 ET / 10:00 – 12:00 GMT / 23:00 – 01:00 AEDT) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, FloBikes🇨🇦
Wednesday, October 30th – Thursday, October 31st
No live racing…
Friday, November 1st
Cyclocross
X20 Trofee Koppenbergcross, Oudenaarde – Women
(08:40-09:35 ET/12:40-13:35 GMT/23:40-00:35 AEDT) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Max🇺🇸, FloBikes🇨🇦, Staylive🇦🇺
X20 Trofee Koppenbergcross, Oudenaarde – Men
(09:55-11:20 ET/13:55-15:20 GMT/00:55-02:20 AEDT) Eurosport/Discovery+🇬🇧, Max🇺🇸, FloBikes🇨🇦, Staylive🇦🇺
👏 Growing the game of the week 👏
We know Eritrea is crazy about anything and everything Biniam Girmay, but seeing the impact he’s had on getting young people excited about bikes and racing is just the thing for a Monday in late October.
And finally…
While Tim Declercq races horses, Mathieu van der Poel drove rally cars at a criterium in Spain. The Dutchman briefly interrupted his vacation to come to the event (presumably for a large bag of gold – Alejandro Valverde was also present) and won his race against a motor vehicle.
Judging the progression of opponents from Declercq to Van der Poel, we may need to pit Tadej Pogačar against a Japanese bullet train for a fair fight.
🧺 Send us your laundry pictures
“I’m happy to see that Tadej Pogačar is upholding the exact amount of mortadella we’ve eaten so far on our trip,” Paul Hallows recently wrote via email, attaching today’s featured laundromat. “Greetings from a particularly informative laundromat in Monte San Savino.”
As always, we accept your lingerie photos (especially those with the doors open so we have Photoshop drivers in the drum) as star performers Spin cycle. Either send them via the Discord or write me an email: [email protected]
See you next time …
That’s all folks! Thanks to Paul Hallows, Liam Brown And Phil Long for your contributions to today’s edition and a big thank you to everyone who registered Escape collective members. If not, there is no time like this. To make the process easier, just click on this link here and click Become a member today button at the top right of the page.
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