Hive Weekly Cycling News - November 30 2023

There is still so much happening for Cycling News to report on. Even though the racing has eased off for the year, there is still a lot of things happening. We are deep into the gravel racing and cycle cross season and I am sorry I have not been reporting on results, but may start reporting on these races as the popularity is rising. For once we don’t have any details on how Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles are tracking and hopefully with the Black Friday sales they have made enough money to continue into the near future. We do have some details on the Shimano data hack, and that details stolen by hackers have been released on the internet.

Before we move on, you thought about delegating some of your Hive to the Cycling Community. You don't have to delegate a lot, but every bit helps, with the Cycling Community(@hive-177745) growing and the payouts being rewarded is also growing, so it is definately worth you time.

Pro Team Announcements For 2024

There have been one or two announcements from teams as we move into the end of the year. This includes some name changes due to sponsorship changes and contracts ending. It is finally official that Jumbo-Visma will now be called Team Visma-Lease A Bike. We have been following this for a while and the software company Visma finished up their title sponsorship contract with the team, which has been taken over by “Lease A Bike”. The women’s team Jayco-Alula is now Liv-Alula-Jayco, with the Jayco-Alula team merging with the Liv Racing-TexFind team. Finally, we have DSM-Firmenich will now have an extra name added with the Dutch mail delivery company joining the team as a title sponsor to now have the team called DSM-Firmenich-PostNL.

I don’t think this is as big of a news story but some journalists have been disgusted with AG2R Citreon Team will no longer have their brown colours in the peloton any more. For me, I thought the brown was a little “brown”, the team have brought on Decathlon as a new title sponsor, so along with a new uniform, the team will now be called Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale.

[Image Courtesy AG2R Citreon Team Of The Old 2023 Uniform]

Dominos Delivery E-Bike Of The Future?

If you’ve been reading the weekly cycling news for a while now, you would probably assume I am not really one for e-bikes, either using them or talking about them. I do think they have a place and if they’re taking cars off the road, and Dominos have clearly seen value in using these e-bikes, even if it is a marketing statement or attempt to show they care for the environment. There latest model of there e-bike is definitely a great statement and is being rolled out across their markets, with suspension to make sure your pizza is all in one piece when it gets delivered. It also includes an oven, or a “temperature-controlled pizza pod” that keeps the pizza at 68 degrees celsius. The oven works using a fan-forced ceramic heating plate, with ventilation to make sure excess moisture evaporates and you have a crips pizza delivered. Dominos press release also mentioned that a pizza can experience up to 10.2 G, while it is on its way to be delivered, (I think I would like to see this research) but the pod and suspension, combine to make sure your pizza gets delivered in the best shape possible.

The e-bike is called the DXB and Dominos are doing their best to associate it with a Star Trek kind of leap in technology. I guess this is how everyone will be getting their pizza delivered in the future. Dominos has said the e-bike is "the next best thing to having a Dominos pizza oven in your own home" and "Domino’s is boldly going where no pizza company has gone before, launching a revolutionary new e-bike concept destined to change the food delivery universe forever."

[Image Courtesy Dominos]

Marine Worm Haemoglobin Could Be The Next Blood Doper

Marine worm or Lugworm haemoglobin made by a French company Hemarina, could be the next big thing in blood doping. It’s creator, Dr Franck Zal revealed to L’Equipe the sports science journal, that in 2020, a well known cyclist, whose team participates in the Tour de France, contacted Dr Zal wanting to know if he could get hold of the product.

This marine sea worm whose haemoglobin has biomedical properties, being used for organ transplants, but the haemoglobin is also a super-oxygen transporter, which is what seems to be attracting the suggestion of doping. With Dr Zal, explaining that every conference he speaks at these days, he will usually be asked about its use in doping.

The haemoglobin can be detected in blood tests but it is easy to use and has a short half life meaning that it would become undetectable after just a few hours. The World Anti-Doping Agency(WADA) have insisted that no cases of the haemoglobin have been detected as yet, but are concerned about its use. Dr Zal discovered the lugworm haemoglobin in 2007 and quickly patented his discovery, when he created the company Hemarina. This is good news to know its production and distribution is limited, but wouldn’t stop some companies making it if they had a viable market. Dr Zal has mentioned that “I understood very early on that it could be diverted. We had several direct requests from athletes or gyms, who wanted to know how to obtain the substance. I also learned of its possible administration to racehorses.” So it seems the market is there, but maybe a matter of time until it is utilised.

UCI Has Add New Sanctions For 2024

The UCI has implemented a number of updates over sanctions for the 2024 cycling seasons, increasing the amount of money fined for a number of offences. The changes were amended last Friday and come into effect 1 January 2024, include harsher penalties for wearing incorrect clothing and feeding infringements.

One of the most significant updates that has been added is for riders using non-compliant clothing, which will not have the fines increased to $2,250USD or £1,800. This will include unregistered team kit and aero modified fabrics. It also includes the harsher UCI sock height rule, which states that socks or overshoes cannot come more than halfway up a rider’s shin. This was actually enforced in the 2022 UCI World Championships where Annemiek van Vleuten was fined $225USD or £180 for wearing long socks, even though she won the road race. The changes will also see teams find for each rider using non-compliant clothing.

When it comes to unauthorised feeding, these have also toughened with riders who take on food or water in the last 20km of a World Tour stage race, has increased to $560USD or £450, with a 20 second time penalty and now also a 20% penalty in the points. There are a lot of changes that are surprising but at the same time, there are rules like riders pushing off vehicles, which will have a bigger impact if athletes are caught and sanctioned. The sanction changes are far and wide and if you are interested can be found at the UCI’s website at the following link: https://assets.ctfassets.net/761l7gh5x5an/saqORuae0w4djzEuc7e5i/393b103556bcb3d80a8a446378242e60/4.2_Annex_B_Regulation_Changes_EN.pdf

Team GB 3D Printed Track Bike

One of the first track bikes we are seeing reading for the Paris Olympics is Team GB’s new track bike which is being reported as costing £55,000. British Cycling have created this new bike from in house via 3D printing. The frame is being called the UKSI-BC1, was developed by the performance innovation team from the UK Sports Institute, and is not part of British Cycling’s partnership with Hope. It has been developed and tested to meet ISO standards for fatigue and strength, if we see this bike on the track, hopefully it will stay in one piece. The frame is almost £30,000 more than the frame created by Hope, and has only appeared in competition once this year, rider by Will Tidall at the UCI World Championships. As a result of its use, it has been officially registered for the 2024 Olympics. British Cycling have refused to reveal the material the frame contains.

[Image Courtesy British Cycling]

Hackers Release Stolen Shimano Data Online

Our last Cycling News article, we reported that Shimano had been victim of a ransomware attack in early November, with the company keeping quiet on how they were planning on dealing with the attack. It has become evident that data has now been leaked by the attackers online, which has been another hit to the Japanese component manufacturer. The attack and theft took place on November 5th, and Shimano have not really provided any information on how they were attempting to either recover the lost data or stop any of the data from being exposed to the public.

The data that has been leaked, has been in various languages, across multiple folders, including spreadsheets with payroll details for thousands of employees, manufacturing data, sales projections and presentation data. From this, we can probably assume Shimano did not pay the ransom demands, but the company has not elaborated further on the data being leaked. The company that originally attacked Shimano, also mentioned that they would attack the company again if their ransom demands were not met, so watch this space for more details as they come to hand.

Peter Sagan Wins The Baking Charity Criterium

This is Peter Sagan’s final year as a professional road cyclist before he embarks on an attempt to transition into Mountain Bike racing and possibly qualify for the Paris Olympics. Before his retirement though, he has managed to get one more victory in the Baking Charity Criterium in Monaco. This is the third year the criterium has been held and after 45 laps of racing, Peter Sagan still racing for team TotalEnergies was able to win ahead of Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates and Mark Cavendish of Astana Qazaqstan, who finished third.

The criterium was held on the 26th of November, with the course starting in Monaco’s Port Hercule, which will feature as the start of stage 21 in the 2024 Tour de France. The race was a way for the non profit, Beking Association, to raise funds to organise events that promote sport, education, sustainable mobility and environment protection. The event was for both professional and amateur riders to race around the Monaco circuit.

[Image Courtesy monacolife.net]

Coefficient of Aerodynamic Drag Calculator

Just in case you are one of those people who obsess over the numbers with their cycling, I know a few people who do, especially when it comes to time trials. Well on endurance-data.com, they have a Coefficient of Aerodynamic Drag(CdA) calculator so you can type in different variables like Course Altitude, weight of the rider and bike, and drivetrain efficiency and get an estimate of your CdA values. The website does mention that it is just an estimate and does make a few assumptions to give you the end result, but if it is something you are interested in, I would be keep to hear your thoughts on the calculator and if you think it is actually worthwhile.
https://www.endurance-data.com/en/cda-calculator/

Weekly Cycling News Is Brought To You By:

Vespa OFM

This week we have a great video from Peter Defty discussing the riders of the Tour de France and discussing what we can learn from the way they fuel and race:

About The Author
I am a DevOps Engineer, Endurance Athlete, Biomechanics Student and Author. We can all achieve amazing things, it's just a matter of trying, I want to change the world, one run at a time.