THE HUB
All the news you might have missed from the last seven days
Snowdonia safe passing distance signs a UK first
Snowdonia has become the first area in the UK to install road signs telling motorists the correct distance to leave when passing a cyclist. Each sign clearly shows that cars should be giving cyclists 1.5 metres on the road. The new signs have been put up on Snowdonia National Park’s most popular mountain roads “to ensure that cyclists continue to get the respect and space they deserve”.
Canyon-dhb join Bardet and Porte on Ventoux race
British squad Canyon-dhb will line up against top-flight stars including Romain Bardet, Richie Porte and Fabio Aru in a one-day race up Mont Ventoux. Last season, Jesús Herrada (Cofidis) and Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) went head-tohead on the slopes of the Ventoux for the inaugural CIC-MONT Ventoux Dénivelé Challenges. Starting from Vaison-la-romaine, the race heads over the Col de Fontaube and down to Sault before hitting the Bédoin ascent of the Ventoux twice.
Brit April Tacey wins another Tour stage
April Tacey (Drops) took her second win at the women’s Virtual Tour de France, the 19-year-old Brit sprinting past Anna Henderson (Sunweb) and Lauren Stephens (Tibco-silicon Valley Bank) on the line. Stephens’s team-mate Leah Dixon then took fourth while Chloe Dygert (Twenty20) rounded out the top five. Drops now sit in second place in the general classification, less than 50 points behind leaders Tibco-silicon Valley Bank.
8.53.36 …the new women’s Everesting world record set by Emma Pooley
The British former pro knocked 15 minutes off the previous record time. She completed her record on the savage 13 per cent gradient of the Haggenegg climb in Switzerland. “It was both terrible and fantastic, sometimes simultaneously. Never ever, ever again,” she said. Ex-pro Alberto Contador beat the men’s record a few days later with 7:27.20.