Cyclopunk: 2011-09-25

Thursday 29 September 2011

Royal Mail abandons bikes in improved efficiency drive

It's truly the end of an era.

Worldwide, organisations and companies are striving to find more environmentally-friendly ways of carrying out their business, even those that couldn't care less about cutting pollution because they're well aware that many of their customers do. Many are looking to the humble bicycle as an ideal means of making short-journey deliveries - bikes are ideal for this purpose because they don't emit noxious fumes, are cheap to buy and run and, during the busy times of day when many deliveries are made, can often prove a faster form of transport than cars and vans as they can nip through heavy traffic and use all sorts of routes not open to motorised vehicles.

Except the Royal Mail, who have just announced that posties in Cambridge, England, will no longer get about on their trusty red steeds and will instead be provided with vans. This is part of a "national agreement" - so expect to receive your last mail delivered by bike soon.

According to a report in the Cambridge News, the Post Office "needs to make its delivery routes as efficient as possible." Hang on a minute - aren't bikes supposed to be the most efficient form of transport around? Yes, according to a report by the John Hopkins University of Baltimore, Maryland, which found that a bike drivechain without selectable gears could be as efficient as 98.6%. Bicycling Science, a study produced by David Gordon Wilon and Jim Papadopulous, published in 2004 by MIT Press, achieved a similar result of 98.5%. Selectable gears - which your average postal operative worker is probably going to want if her daily round has any hills - may reduce this figure by 15%, down to 83.5%.

Here's Fred, working hard in his office
(© George Grinstead CC2.0)

However, if we look at the efficiency of some other forms of transport by converting figures into a form most recognisable to the majority of us - miles per gallon - then some interesting facts arise.

Let's start with a human being. We'll call him Fred. Fred's a very average kind of bloke - he's about five feet and ten inches tall, or just a smidge under 1.80m if you prefer your measurements metric-flavoured, and he weighs 140lb - 64kg. In other words, he doesn't stand out in a crowd; being neither tall nor short, not fat nor skinny. He works in an office, drives a Volvo and likes Jeffrey Archer novels too (but hey, someone's got to).

...and here's Rachel. She looks fed
up because after he read this, her
dad borrowed her bike - and she
wanted to use it to go and meet her
friends after college.
(© Rovdyr CC3.0)

Now, one day Fred's Volvo has to go to the garage, meaning that he's got to walk to work because the Tory spending cuts have seen to it that there's no bus service between where he lives and the office. Being of average height and weight, Fred will need around 80kcal of energy for each mile he walks - if he was French, that'd be about 205kilojoules per kilometre. One gallon of petrol contains somewhere in the region of 114,000BTU (British Thermal Units) of energy, or 120megajoules, depending on blend (personally, I prefer a single malt). That's actually pretty good - Fred is managing about 360mpg, which would be 153km/L in a Citroen. Trouble is, no Citroen on sale today can achieve anything like that efficiency - nor can any other car. In fact, even the Fiat 500 Twin Air - the most energy-efficient car on sale to the public in 2011 - only does 68.9mpg (29.3km/L on the Continent). And according to the EU, most car manufacturers lie about fuel consumption, claiming figures as much as 20% higher than reality.

Fred was knackered when he got to work. He's not fat, but those cushy Volvo seats have turned him soft and he's not very used to exercise these days; so he was very glad to get his car back ready for work the next day. It's a pity he didn't borrow his daughter's bike instead, because his daughter - her name's Rachel, by the way - has worked out that if she keeps her bike in good condition then the ride to and from college is much easier. So, she keeps it clean, oils the chain, replaces the gear cassette whenever the teeth look worn and has fitted a good quality set of road tyres. As you're probably beginning to realise, Rachel is quite a bit more adept with mechanical objects than her dad is. Because of this, a man of Fred's build would only need 43kcal per mile to ride it at 10mph (16kph) - more than three times greater than the average walking speed for almost half as much energy. That, ladies and gentlemen, is some 732mpg (311km/L) and is technically termed an epic win.

(Image © KaiMartin CC3.0)

At present, the postal delivery system is made less efficient due to a special van delivery having to be made to deliver large items - an increasingly common occurrence now that many people buy a wide range of household items online. However, there's a bike suited to the task: that thing in the picture above is a LongJohn freight bicycle, manufactured by S.C.O. of Sweden. It looks a beast and it is one - it weighs 84lb (38kg), which is a hell of a lot for a bicycle. However, it can carry 220lb (100kg) in addition to the rider. That's a lot of letters and a good few parcels too.

You'd have been much better off with a bike, Pat!

Of course, there's no way that even the fittest postman in the world is going to manage 83.5% efficiency pedaling a bike that; weighing in when fully loaded with his round and himself at 368lb (167kg) - but the LongJohn isn't quite as Victorian as it first appears: it's got a modern sealed bottom bracket, a 46 tooth crankset, an Sram 3-speed hub gear and low-friction bearings throughout. Combine all that with the relative inefficiency of even the most efficient internal combustion vehicles, and it's evident that the LongJohn would still be a lot more efficient than any van the Royal Mail can buy - even the most efficient electric vans are only three times more efficient than an internal combustion van.

Oddly, it seems that the brains in the Royal Mail's policy planning department have already recognised that the change is going to make the service less efficient, not just in terms of the efficiency of the vehicles used but also in the success rate of the service they offer - they state that "many" households and businesses will still receive their mail by lunchtime.

Even if we assume the posties are all blatting about the place in Fiat Twin Airs, the bike beats the car hands down every time - especially when we remember that the cars/vans are going to be a lot less efficient when loaded up, too.

Looking for the ideal camper for next year's Tour de France?

Tour of Beijing - The Teams

1. AG2R-La Mondiale
2. Astana
3. BMC
4. Euskaltel-Euskadi
5. Garmin-Cervelo
6. HTC-Highroad
7. Katusha
8. Lampre-ISD
9. Leopard Trek
10. Liquigas-Cannondale
11. Movistar
12. Omega-Pharma-Lotto
13. Quick-Step
14. Rabobank
15. RadioShack
16. Saxobank-Sungard
17. Sky
18. Vacansoleil-DCM


Peraud and Roche are leading a strong team to Beijing (Peraud © Fanny Schertzer CC3.0Roche © Klever CC3.0)

1. AG2R-La Mondiale have decided to let two men shoulder the burden of team captaincy, and they've picked two very capable pairs of hands: ex-MTB star Jean-Christophe Peraud who - as French TT champ in 2009 and the owner of a palmares that lists impressive results in a variety of races - would appear to be very much the sort of talented all-rounder a team might need in a new race. Alongside him will be ex-Irish road and TT champ Nicholas Roche, a rider who has been a prominent feature in many of the Grand Tours of the last few seasons. Backing them up are Sébastien Hinault, a rider who was always going to have a lot to live up to even though he's no relation to Bernard and hasn't disappointed in a 14-year professional career; Christophe Riblon who has emerged as one of the greatest track riders the world has ever seen; Grand Tour veterans Lloyd Mondory and Biel Kadri; Mikael Cherel who finished this year's Tour de Romandie in second place and promising new rider Julien Berard who took 4th place in this year's French championships.

Astana are sending a strong team in
the hope of having a rider for each
stage - including the Iglinskiy
brothers Maxim (pictured) and
Valentin.
(© McSmit CC3.0)

2. Astana, realising that nobody really knows what to expect, are sending an experienced team with a view to selecting a rider for each stage according to what they find along the way. The brothers Iglinskiy will both be in attendance: Maxim has revealed himself as a superb all-rounder during his six-year professional career with notable results including top ten finishes in the Critérium du Dauphiné and Milan-San Remo as well as a King of the Mountains trophy in the 2008 Tour de Suisse, while younger brother Valentin won the Chinese Tour of Hainan last year. At 39, Andrey Mizurov is the oldest rider in the race and brings with him a wealth of experience in Asian races - he's achieved respectable success in the Asian Games, Asia Tour, Tour of China, Tour of Japan and Tour of Qinghai Lake. Andriy Grivko, four-time Ukrainian National TT champion, should have no problems delivering a good result on Stage 1, while recent stage race success suggests he may perform well in other parts of the race too - and if he's not got the legs, twice Estonian TT champ Tanel Kangert will be able to take care of business. Enrico Gasparotto, winner of the Sprints category at the Tour de Suisse in 2009, should be suitably qualified to pick up valuable points throughout the Tour, as should Australian Simon Clarke and Kazakh Sergey Renev.

BMC top dogs Moinard and
Bookwalter

(Moinard image public domain.
Bookwalter image © Fanny SchertzerCC3.0

3. BMC are going to be racing in Asia for the very first time this year, having never competed in any of the UCI events on the continent up until now. It seems to us that although they've elected not to send anyone from their top five, Cadel Evans' lieutenants Brent Bookwalter and Amaël Moinard are capable team captains. Norwegian road champ Alexander Kristoff , 2009 US National Crits champ John Murphy, Simon Zahner, Danilo Wyss and Chris Butler are backing them up to form a team more than able of completing the task set to them. However, it's a team notable for its lack of an obvious time trialist - can Tour of Romandie sprint champ Chad Beyer keep up the pace in the first stage?

Sanchez is the boss of the Basques

4. Other that Katusha, the professional team that knows the most about surviving under a repressive regime has to be Euskaltel-Euskadi, for all intents and purposes the national team of the Basque Country - a nation that faced harsh restrictions that were designed to destroy their culture. Those restrictions failed, of course, and it seems the team plan to add more glory to their resurgent land. The team leader is none other than Sammy Sanchez who blew the Olympics apart when he achieved an amazing triumph under horrendous conditions in the men's road race. Sanchez is known to have a great love for China and its people, and he'll be wanting to repay the welcome they gave him three years ago by putting on an impressive show. With him will be Amets Txurruka, winner of a Combativity award and a white jersey in the Tour de France; Grand Tour experts Igor Anton and Alan Perez; grimpeur Mikel Nieve; Mikel Astarloza, recently back from a two-year ban and hoping to add more good results to an impressive palmares; 2009 Under-23 road champion Romain Sicard; ever-able Pierre Cazaux and new hope Jon Izaguirre.

David Millar, winner of
multiple "The Cyclist who
Most Closely Resembles
David Bowie" category
at the Tour de France
(© PetitBrun CC2.0)

5. We've always considered David Millar, who spent much of his youth in Hong Kong before it was handed over to Chinese control, to be one of the brighter minds in the peloton - perhaps that's part of the reason that Garmin-Cervelo have elected him as team leader for the Tour. As the only British rider to have worn the leader's jersey in all three Grand Tours, Millar returned from a two-year ban after empty EPO phials were discovered during a police raid on his Paris apartment by becoming National Road and TT champion in 2007. With a fine selection of stage wins to choose from among his palmares, the new father undoubtedly has the legs to do well as well as the brain. Supporting him are Johan Vansummeren, a rider who eternally guaranteed his hardman status by winning Paris-Roubaix this year; Heinrich Haussler, winner of the points classification in both the Paris-Nice and Tour of Qatar this year - and two stages in the latter; Matthew Wilson, no longer as strong a rider as he once was but one of the most capable domestiques in the business; Michel Kreder, who has been adding repeated top 10 wins to his palmares consistently ever since his first year as a professional in 2004; current Australian TT and madison champ Cameron Meyer, who also took both the overall GC and Youth trophies in this year's Tour Down Under; Andrew Talansky who, having been the US U-23 TT champion last year and winner of the Youth classification in this year's Tour de Romandie is one of the most promising young riders of the moment and Jack Bobridge, this year's Australian National Road and World Individual Pursuit champion.

New TT champ and almost certain
to be Stage 1 winner Tony Martin

(public domain image)

6. However, sending two elite time trial experts may prove insufficient. In fact, sending a whole team of time trial experts may prove insufficient - because HTC-Highroad, who will be riding one of their very last races, are sending new World TT Champion Tony Martin: the 28-year-old German who has taken the sport to a new level, upping the bar so high that even the likes of Fabian Cancellara can't come within sight of beating him. Riding with him will be 2011 Belorussian National TT champ Kanstantsin Sivtsov, a rider with the notable distinction of also having been national road race champ in 2006; Caleb Fairly, in his first year as a professional after winning both the Colorado Springs Crit and the Tour of The Bahamas in the previous two years; two-time New Zealand road champ Hayden Riulston, who also took 10th place in Paris-Roubaix last year; three-time World Track champ Leigh Howard, who also finished in 3rd place on the opening stage of this year's Vuelta despite being just 21 years of age; Irish road champ 2010 Matt Brammeier, who earlier this year topped that victory by winning both the Irish road and TT champs; Peter Velits, twice U-23 road champ of Slovakia and once U-23 World road champ; and past winner of the Tours of Britain and Austria Matthew Albasini, a Grand Tour veteran who also counts a rare 1st place victory in both the Sprints and Mountains classifications at the 2006 Tour de Suisse among his many successes. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of a strong team.

Galimzyanov will be in
charge of Katusha

7. If there's a team who don't muck about, it's the mighty Katusha who send a gang of fully tooled-up hardmen to every race they enter. Denis Galimzyanov, who has already crushed the opposition at the Tour de Luxembourg and Paris-Brussels this year, leads a mean-looking pack consisting of TT specialist Artem Ovechkin, three-time Moldovan road race champion Alexandr Pliuschin - also no pushover in a TT, two-time junior world track champ Nikolay Trusov, Egor Silin who completed a Tour de France in his first year as a pro, Stijn Vandenbergh who won the Tour of Ireland in his first professional year, Grand Tour veteran Vladimir Isaychev and promising new boy Alexander Porsev. Galimzyanov also understands the importance of this race beyond cycling: "Let’s hope, for the Chinese, this will be a huge show," he says.

The Little Prince becomes
the big boss at Lampre

8. Lampre-ISD have announced they plan for Damiano Cunego, winner of the 2003 Tour of Qinghai Lake, to lead a grade-A team. Under-23 TT champs Adriano Malori and Alfredo Balloni will be hunting honours for the team in Stage 1 before providing the Little Prince with back-up alongside Vuelta stage winner Francesco Gavazzi, a rider with the ability to win multiple stages; Daniele Pietropolli, who has already racked up 11 top 10 finishes this year; Manuele Mori, whose best result this year was a 6th place stage finish in the Vuelta a Espana; Matteo Bono, winner of a stage in this year's Eneco Tour of Benelux and Leonardo Bertagnolli, veteran of fifteen Grand Tours and a stage winner in the Vuelta, Giro and Tour of Austria.

Joost Posthuma,
seen at this year's
Dauphiné Libéré

9. Leopard Trek never send a B-Team to any race. In fact, with one of the most impressive multinational rosters of any team in the sport, Leopard Trek don't have a B-Team; and they treat every race as being as important as any other - whereas several teams sent their mini-coaches and a skeleton crew of support staff to the Tour of Britain this year, Leopard Trek sent their full-scale space shuttle bus and all full trappings of a successful Pro Team (your intrepid Cyclopunk photographer was very nearly run over by the bus, actually, and has never felt so proud in his miserable life). However, the team does seem peculiarly heavy on the climbers - a little odd in a race that features few big climbs. Though the team has announced its roster, it's not yet revealed the team leader - there are several potentials among the names, but the most likely must surely be Tour de France old hand Joost Posthuma, a rider who can perform well in a range of disciplines including time trial (1st '07 Sachsen Tour, '08 Three Days of De Panne, '10 Tour of Austria) and stage races (U-23 1st '03 Thüringen Rundfahrt, '08 Tour of Luxembourg, '09 Ruta del Sol). With him will be the current German road champion Robert Wagner; Thomas Rohregger, King of the Mountains in the Tours of Luxembourg, Austria and Down Under, later winning the Tour of Austria overall in 2008 - and having ridden for Austria in the 2008 Olympics, he'll have some idea what he's up against in this race. With them are Anders Lund, an excellent climber and talented all-rounder who has won both the Danish National and World road U-19 championships in the past; Danish U-23 road champ in 2004 and 2005 Martin Pedersen, who then went on to win the Tour of Britain in 2006; Danish Martin Mortensen, a powerful climber who also has a very unusual talent for time trialing, having won the 2008 Duo Normand alongside countryman Michael Tronberg; ever-consistent, occasional stage winner Tom Stamsnijder and the excellent Italian sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo who achieved his best victory with 1st place in Stage 5 of this year's Bayern-Rundfahrt.

Peter Sagan will lead Liquigas
(© RoxanneMK CC2.0)

10. Liquigas-Cannondale are another team who recognise that sprints may be the key to winning this race, sending a team of riders cleverly designed so as to be able to stay near the head of the course all the way throughout each day and have a rider capable of winning the stage waiting for the opportunity to do so. 21-year-old Peter Sagan - who, having won three stages of this year's Vuelta and two at the Tour de Suisse is widely considered the most promising rider of his generation and almost certainly a future Grand Tour winner will be joined by Cameron Wurf, Oceania TT champion in 2008 and 5th overall in this year's Tour of Turkey; Peter's older brother Juraj, 4th place in the Slovakian Road Championships this year; European track scratch race champion Davide Cimolai; Mauro da Dalto, a rider with a strangely empty trophy cabinet considering his near-superhuman ability to keep climbing for as long as a parcours requires; Elia Viviani, winner of three races and two stages of the USA ProCycling Challenge so far this year; Daniel Oss, another USA ProCycling stage winner in 2011, a year in which he also won a stage combativity award in the Tour de France and Tiziano Dall'Antonio, third overall and winner of the Youth category at the 2007 Tour of Luxembourg.

Experienced Pablo Lastras and
respected climber Beñat Intxausti
will be taking the reins at Movistar
(Lastras: © YellowMonkey/Blnguyen CC3.0
Intxausti: © Petit Brun CC2.0)

11. Movistar are also sending two team leaders, Pablo Lastras and Beñat Intxausti. Team manager Eusebio Unzué agrees with those who claim that neither rider is a strong leader, but with a win in the Vuelta a Andalucia and more stage victories than most riders could ever hope for in the case of Lastras and an assortment of respectable top 5 finishes for Intxausti, neither man could be described as a weak cyclist. With them will be Sergio Pardilla, perhaps the rider most naturally suited to climbing in the world after Alberto Contador and Emma Pooley; super-strong Cantabrian Ángel Madrazo, a rider who is sure to repay the honours paid to him by fans at this year's Tour Down Under who chose him as the subject of the race's tradition of picking an unknown and treating him as the ultimate star of the event; Jesús Herrada, perhaps the most noted young time trialist among the current crop; Enrique Sanz, a young rider who defeated several older, more experienced sprint specialists to win a stage of this year's Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid - his first year as a professional; super-domestique Javier Iriarte, a rider who marked himself down as a future great when he came within metres of a breakaway stage in the five-day Tour Méditerranéen early this year and Rubén Plaza, one of the few riders to emerge unscathed and cleared of all charges from the infamous Operación Puerto - billed as one of Spain's greatest chances for Grand Tour success this year, he comes to the race hungry to salvage success from a season almost destroyed by a complicated leg injury in Spring.

Van den Broeck is often on good
form towards the end of the
season

12. After a sickening crash that left him with several broken ribs and a fracture injury to his shoulder, Jurgen Van den Broeck somehow managed to be in a fit state in time for the Vuelta a Espana and achieved a very respectable 8th place in the overall General Classification. He's a mountain specialist, but a look at his palmares and track record reveals a very odd fact about the Omega-Pharma-Lotto leader - late in the season, when other riders are beginning to feel the strain after several months of hard racing, he tends to become stronger. That puts him in an ideal position to perform very well in this race even though the parcours doesn't feature any of the high, steep slopes upon which he excels. Alongside him will be ace sprinter Kenny Dehaes who, while seemingly not a potential stage winner, will almost certainly grab valuable points in the intermediate sprints; hardman Jens Debusschere who came second in the Junior Paris-Roubaix last year; Vicente Reynès, veteran of four Grand Tours and four top 5 appearances in them; Bart de Clerq, 5th place in the Giro's Young Rider classification this year and Maarten Neyens, a rider whose career seemed to have gone onto a back-burner since notable under Under-23 success but whom Omega-Pharma have spent the last year developing into a strong Elite contender. The team are evidently hoping to put on a good show in the time trial, too, as they're sending both Oliver Kaisen - a rider who has stood on the Belgian National Championships podium three times and, unusually for a TT specialist, can also climb with the best of them - and Adam Hansen; the latter being a man who is as comfortable riding an individual TT as he is elbowing his way through a teeth-and-nails sprint to the finish line.

Niki Terpstra seems the most likely
choice to lead a Quick-Step team
that is almost guaranteed success

13. Quick-Step, meanwhile, are determined not to make the same potential mistake as LeopardTrek; so they're sending a team consisting of all-rounders, any one of them suited to winning a stage. They too are yet to announce their leader, but the most obvious candidate is Niki Terpstra, 2010 Dutch road champ and an ever-present face around the general classification leadership boards in every race he enters. Backing him up are Francesco Chicchi, a rider who has won stages in more races than most people will ever enter; Kristoff Vandewalle, in his first year with the team but approaching the end of his third as a professional and finishing off a season in which he rode in both the Giro and the Vuelta; Belgian Iljo Keisse who is eager to repeat the early success that saw him win 29 track medals prior to a very messy doping investigation that left him unable to race up until August this year; all-rounder Francesco Reda who at 28 will be keen to find his place in the sport; Dario Cataldo, a part of every Giro d'Italia since 2008 and 15th overall this year; Matteo Trentin, in his first year as a professional and already Italy's U-23 road champion and Marco Bandiera, a rider who has been steadily moving up the ranks ever since he was 8th over the line in the final stage of the 2009 Tour de France.

Boom or Bos?

(Boom © McSmit CC2.0
Bos © Tete de la Course CC3.0)

14. In these days when even the highest-profile teams with the best track records can face an untimely demise due to the widespread belief that cycling remains riddled with drugs (as has been the case with Highroad), it's great to see an organisation such as Rabobank who are not only very pleased to support the sport (support they're actually extending for next year, hence their new team centred around Marianne Vos) but have actually woven it into their corporate structure. Team Rabobank are apparently keen to show their appreciation - which is why they're sending a team that, on paper at least, seems perhaps the most likely to win the Tour. As of yet, directeur sportif Erik Dekker remains reticent when it comes to naming his team's leader. Meanwhile, the fact that Lars Boom's name appears on the list of selected riders would appear to make it a foregone conclusion - having been a World champion in cyclocross and road four times, National champion in cyclocross, road and TT an incredible thirteen times and with an assortment of stage race victories (including two stages and the overall General Classification at this year's Tour of Britain), he's undoubtedly one of the most successful and talented all-rounders ever to have donned a pair of lycra shorts. However, he's not the only candidate - and nobody would be at all surprised should Theo Bos, sixteen times world champ in various track disciplines and a multiple stage winner in several road races, be the boss instead. Riding with them will be Stef Clement, current Dutch TT champ (as he was in '06, '07 and '09); Jos van Emden, who took the Dutch TT champ trophy from Clement in '10 and came 5th overall in this year's Eneco Tour; Juan Manuel Garate, a Grand Tour veteran having first ridden in the Vuelta ten years ago and who beat the best climbers in the world - including Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador - in the climb to the summit finish on Mont Ventoux in Stage 20 of the '09 Tour de France; TT expert Luis León Sánchez who in recent years has developed his climbing abilities to such a level that he's now rated as one of the finest all-rounders and grimpeurs in the world and Dennis van Winden and Paul Martens, both highly accomplished time trialers.

Janez Brajkovic is the
likely leader for
RadioShack

15. Team RadioShack as we know it is coming to the conclusion of its final season, after which they will merge with the Schleck's Leopard Trek to form a new superteam. That, combined with the links between the electrical retailer and the Chinese manufacturing base is the reason that RadioShack are sending a team of their top corporate executives in addition to a very strong team of cyclists. Like Rabobank, they've yet to announce the team leader, but the top man for the job is likely to be Janez Brajkovič, possibly the most successful cyclist to have ever pedaled out of Slovenia and a very strong time trialer who, in recent years, has been developing into a serious stage race talent beginning with an overall General Classification victory in the 2010 Critérium du Dauphiné. Joining him are Benjamin King who topped his US National Junior TT and Junior Road champion wins in 2007 by becoming U-23 Criterium, U-23 Road and Elite National Road champion in '10; Haimar Zubeldia, the type of climber his Basque homeland seems to specialise in producing, a noted time trialer and a veteran of ten Tours de France; Ireland's Philip Deignan, twice winner of Vuelta stages and a participant in three Giros d'Italia; Markel Irizar, another Basque and winner of this year's Vuelta a Andalucia; three time Kazakh TT champ and once Kazakh Road champ Dimitry Muravyev; current Portuguese TT champ Nelson Oliveira and Tiago Machado, Portuguese TT champ in 2009 and a successful finisher in several stage races since.

Nick Nuyens, seen here
in an earlier Rabobank
incarnation, will be taking
charge at Saxobank.

16. One of the best things from a fan's point of view about the non-Grand Tour Pro Tours is that they form an opportunity to see potential future Grand Tour captains being tried out in team leadership positions. This has never been more true than at Saxobank-Sungard, who have put Nick Nuyens in the top job - currently best known as a Classics specialist, a series of stage race successes - 3rd overall '04 Tour of Britain, 1st overall and two stage wins '05 Tour of Britain, stage wins in the Tours of Switzerland and Austria - over his nine year career suggests there's more then one string to his bow and a lot of potential in his legs. Supporting him are the Argentinian brothers Haedo: Juan José, after notable success as a track rider, built up an impressive palmares mostly in New World races during the early part of his career in road cycling, where he has become one of the most respected sprinters. He's been adding European wins ever since - most notably Stage 16 of this year's Vuelta a Espana. Younger brother Lucas Sebastián has not yet enjoyed quite such an illustrious career, but two stage wins in '09 and 2nd place in Stage 3 of the '10 Tour of Poland suggests he has the potential to achieve more. The always-consistent Chris Anker Sørensen is, perhaps, not an obvious candidate for stage wins - though he's the sort of rider that could easily create surprises if freed from domestique duties - but is a sold performer guaranteed to do what's required of him; Jonas Aaen Jørgensen won a series of 1st place prizes in 2009, then had a quiet year in '10 before a return to form saw him win the Grand Prix d'Isbergues in September this year; Luke Roberts is Saxobank's man for Stage 1 - he's won a range of time trial competitions since becoming individual and team U-17 TT Australian national champion in 1993. Also known as a pursuit cyclist, notable wins in the Tour Down Under, Tours de Normandi and Romandie, Critérium du Dauphiné, Tour of Britain and Tour de France suggest that 34, Roberts' career is entering a new chapter rather than drawing to a conclusion. David Tanner is new to Saxobank and new to the World Tour circuit - this is his first time riding in one; but a palmares with a string of top 5 results - including 2nd overall and a stage win in last year's Tour of China - make his a name that many people will be keeping tabs upon. Michael Mørkøv has been to China before too - he won Olympic silver in the team pursuit here in 2008, adding another result to a string of top three successes.

Chris Froome will lead
Team Sky, perhaps
early indication that
he'll be team captain
in the future
(© Rama CC2.0)

17. Team Sky have put together a roster that perfectly combines the wisdom that comes with age and the fiery passion of youth; a team made up of old hands and young bucks. Right in the middle of the age scale is Chris Froome, who at 26 has emerged as the most likely rider to take over when Bradley Wiggins calls it a day and will be acting as team leader during this race. Froome's most recent success was his brilliant, unexpected victory in Stage 17 of this year's Vuelta, when he used ninja-like cunning to sneak up the inside line past Juan José Cobo - a rider who made Alto de l'Angliru look easy - and won the stage before the Spaniard even knew what had happened. Riding support are Davide Appollonio, the 22-year-old sprinter who finished in the top ten five times during this year's Giro and then went on to win Stage 3 (and the points jersey for the stage) in the Tour of Luxembourg just a few days after the Giro finished; twice National road champ Jeremy Hunt now in his 15th year as a professional; 2010 European U-23 time trial champ and Commonwealth Games silver medalist Alex Dowsett; 2010 German road champ and winner of the 2008 Bayern-Rundfahrt Christian Knees; all-rounder and super-domestique Michael Barry who at 35 has a palmares boasting notable successes in both time trials and road races; Commonwealth Games gold medalist Steve Cummings, who also crossed the finish line in second place to complete this year's Tour of Britain and Dario Cioni, a professional for 11 years and an ex-Italian National TT champ who has also accounted very well for himself in a range of stage races.

Hoogerland's at the helm
for Vacansoleil

18. Vacansoleil-DCM have put Johnny Hoogerland - the popular Dutch rider who took his place in the cycling hall of fame after fighting on and finishing a stage of the Tour de France earlier this year after being thrown off the road into a barbed wire fence, dripping blood as he crossed the line to a hero's welcome - but let's not forget he also took the polka dot jersey at the end of five stages during the race. He'll be supported through the climbs by Thomas de Gendt, winner of the Mountains and Sprint classiifications in the 2009 Tour of Britain and Wout Poels, second man up the Angliru in this year's Vuelta; while Lieuwe Westra, himself a handy rider in the climbs and Martijn Keizer, winner of this year's Boucles de l'Aulne take care of duty in Stage 1. Meanwhile, Tour of Luxembourg winner Matteo Carrara, Tour of Qatar winner Wouter Mol and Rob Ruijgh make up numbers to form a very handy crew indeed.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Innovative anti-theft device wins award, Spyclopunk investigates

The annual Society of the Home, Innovation and Technology awards gala is one of London's premier design industry events in which inventors, developers and marketing experts come together to celebrate dazzling new gadgets. Each year, a list of over a thousand new products is submitted to the judges who then whittle them down to just twelve that, in their opinion, will revolutionise daily life. It's a white tie, couture frock, glitzy and glamourous party - which is why security wouldn't let us in to have a look at any of the new bike stuff on display.

In this photo taken from a brochure handed out by
Capt. Ruff's at the Society awards, the ARS unit is
virtually undetectable when fitted to a Trek Fuel
(CC3.0)

We'd heard about ARS; an incredible and entirely novel anti-theft device for bicycles which, according to the judges, demonstrates "blue sky, out-of-the-box imagineering by a team not afraid to use cutting-edge creaovation techniques in order to develop integethical new concepts." That's why we decided we needed to know more: because, well, we had no idea what on earth that actually meant.

"Of course, we were dazzled by the wafer-thin HD audio-visual kitchen implements, the biodegradable olive stoners and hydrorobotic parallel parking safety warnings," says chief Society judge Mikael Foray-Stout. "However, this device is so stunning in its simple effectiveness that there was really no contest. Our focus group agreed, saying that many people who would otherwise utilise bicycles for short journeys in the urban environment are discouraged from doing so due to the necessity of carrying a heavy lock, whereas this device puts paid to that - it entirely neutralises that need and safeguards the owner's property."

Cyclopunk got in contact with the device's manufacturer, Capt. Ruff's BikeCo Ltd of South Safeytor Headland, Lancs., but were unable to speak to anyone at the firm; learning from their answerphone message that they'd all gone down t'pub for lunch. After calling again the next morning, we were still unable to learn anything about the system because, in the words of employee Eli Grimthorpe, "Ah don't trust ye, ye lager-drinkin' soothern pansy. It's a simple design and ye'd probably steal it."

Stopping along the way for a packet of cigarettes,
Spyclopunk found that his ingenious disguise (complete
with a whippet - look carefully in the bottom left corner
of the photo above) allowed him to pass undetected by
locals in the narrow, over-crowded and smoky streets
of Manchester, virtually unchanged since the early
Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution.
(© Eirian Evans CC2.0)

Another job for Spyclopunk!

As regular readers will be well aware, here at Cyclopunk we employ only the finest journalists we can persuade to work for nothing, and the finest of them all is Spyclopunk. Once resident disguise expert at the SAS (which he takes great care to point out does not refer to the Swan and Stag public house), Spyclopunk uses his masterful skills to infiltrate the most covert echelons of the bike industry and make this website the very best for those discerning readers who want the latest news before any of the others have it.

Arming himself with a whippet and some pigeons, Spyclopunk was parachuted into deepest, darkest Oop North from the staff helicopter late at night last week (with the ace pilot stopping only briefly on the way to buy a road map from the Little Chef near Shiptonthorpe after realising he was lost, later making a brief stop on the outskirts of Manchester for a packet of fags). Having landed cat-like on the roof, Spyclopunk used his amazing ninja skills to gain admittance to the state-of-the-art Capt. Ruff's factory via an air conditioning duct ("And I think I'd better lay off the pies for a bit," he later said, "it's down to sheer luck and my excess perspiration problem that I didn't become permanently wedged down it.") He soon found his way into the underground research and development laboratories, where he managed to retrieve a blueprint.

However, after examining the document for several hours, our technical expert Dr. Les Sarbin pronounced himself absolutely unable to crack the code with which the strange diagrams were labelled. "I was absolutely unable to crack the code with which the strange diagrams were labelled," he later said. "But then, I had a flash of inspiration - with help from my assistant, I used a laser protractor to painstakingly rotate the document through 180 degrees, so we were looking at it the other way up. Suddenly, it all fell into place and I could understand it as though it were plain English." That document is reproduced below.

Imagine trying to make sense of this if it had been rotated through 180 degrees!

"The device is genius in its simplicity," he continues. "Basically, to the casual observer - ie, you and not a clever scientist like me - the device will look almost indistinguishable from a standard bike saddle and seat post when fitted to a bike. It features the ARS unit itself, which is fitted between the saddle rails where it can't be seen and is wired to sensors within the padding - this works rather like a retina scan, making a comparison between the buttocks of the person sitting on the bike and an image pre-programmed into the unit. I'm not yet certain what features it's built to recognise; probably pimples, hairiness, odour and suchlike.

"Now, the secondary function is where it gets really clever. Having made its comparison, it utilises an algorithm in order to determine whether or not the buttocks belong to the bike's owner. If a certain match - say 80% - is achieved, then it does nothing. However, any less than that and it sends an electronic signal to a device fitted within the special seat pillar. This then releases a firing pin, detonating an large gauge shotgun cartridge and sending several grams of red-hot lead pellets up the would-be thief's jacksie."

We later spoke to a public health and safety department spokesperson to enquire as to whether or not such a device could be legally sold in the United Kingdom. "Well, the company are seeking official approval at the moment, so I can't really comment," she told us. "However, as a keen cyclist and victim of at least five bike thieves over the years myself, I bloody hope so."

Tour of Beijing - Stage 2 Guide

Stage Map: click here
Stage Profile: click here
Stage Itinerary: click here
More Stage Guides: click here

Stage 2 begins, as did Stage 1, at the iconic "Bird's Nest" National Stadium (39°59'28.06"N 116°23'14.38"E), but rather than a high-speed course around the city and managed parks, today the route heads out into the real countryside. The finish line is in Men Tou Gou, just west of Beijing and contiguous with it, but as the riders head north-west they'll soon be leaving the city behind. At first, it's all wide arable fields, but once the race begins to proceed south after passing through Yangfangzhen, it's not long until we see the first mountains of the tour. The teams will only be climbing two small ones today and only the second, at 188m, is categorised (3) - but they'll go up it four times, giving a total of around 900m climbing over the entire 137km stage.

Beijing to Jun Zhuang

After riding 1.05km north from the stadium, the peloton will turn left onto Datun Road to begin the neutral zone. The turn is tight due to the wide central reservation with riders needing to avoid the barriers lining the narrow passage on the southern side of the road. They then turn right 500m later, passing onto Beichen West Road - as they approach it along the left-hand lane of Datun Road and the junction is around 50m wide, there should be no problems with the pedestrian crossing and central reservation just around the corner. From here, the race takes the same route as yesterday for the next 2.9km, passing onto Aolin Road West. However, rather than crossing the bridge over the N 5th Ring Road they'll take the left lane slip road down onto it (40° 1'10.89"N 116°22'44.46"E), heading west and reaching the end of the neutral zone and the beginning of the race as they do so.

The following 9km run along motorway and, like all motorway sections in all cycle races, will be rather boring as the peloton settle into a rhythm, nobody bothers making an almost-certainly-doomed breakaway attempt and nothing much happens. So, it's fortunate for we spectators that there are a few interesting things to look at along the way. The first, coming up on the left, is the Olympic tennis courts, now home to the Chinese Tennis Association and, since 2009, the China Open tournament. Designed to suggest the shape of a lotus flower - symbol of the 2008 Games - the central court can seat up to 10,000 people.

Ruins of the Old Summer Palace (public domain image)

Even more impressive are the Yuan Ming Yuan Gardens (the gardens of perfect brightness) 6.2km along the road and also on the left. Begun in 1707 as a gift for a prince of the Qing Dynasty and who later became Emperor Yongzheng. In time, the Gardens grew until the covered some 348 hectares (860 acres) and included the Old Summer Palace, built in European style at the behest of the Qianlong Emperor who was known for his love of exotic architecture. The Palace was destroyed during the Second Opium War in 1860 by French and British troops in retaliation for the murders of twenty French, British and Indian soldiers who under a flag of truce had accompanied envoys to talks with the Emperor. The Emperor, after a single day of discussions, ordered his forces to capture the foreigners and had them imprisoned, where they were subjected to horrific torture. The envoys, Harry Parkes and Henry Loch, survived, as did fourteen others. They were released a fortnight later with the corpses of those who had died, the bodies so mangled by the ordeal that they were close to being unrecognisable.

As they pass the Gardens, the riders will take the slip road up onto the fly-over carrying the Yuan Ming Yuan West Road and for km travel south before a right turn onto Yihe Yuan Road (40° 0'2.86"N 116°16'58.08"E) 1.23km after the bridge and leading through the Yihe Yuan (gardens of nurtured harmony) Summer Palace Park. Not quite as extensive as the Yuan Ming Yuan at 2.9km, of which 75% is water - the lakes are all man-made, the excavated soil having been used to create 60m Longevity Hill. Among the various spectacular structures on the hill is Fo Xiang Ge (variously translated as the Temple of Buddhist Incense or the Temple of Buddha's Fragrance), one of the finest in Beijing. The road carries the race underneath N 5th Ring Road, then northward along Heishanhu Road, a much narrower route that will cause the peloton to lengthen, continuing for 2.5km until they arrive at a right turn onto Malianwa Road.

The corner looks a likely spot for diesel spills, but the road beyond should be problem-free. After 615m, having crossed the bridge at the start, the pack turn left for Yongfeng Road. To the right of the road immediately after the corner is the Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, then the riders need to stay right to follow the correct route north. We see a very different landscape to that around the Olympic Park here - the mixture of heavy industry and grim, regimented housing blocks is very much of the Maoist era and far more indicative of how millions of Chinese still live. The Tour's first intermediate sprint begins at 17.5km on this road (40° 2'52.49"N 116°15'7.22"E), decreasing the time it'll take to get to Beiqing Road another 3km ahead.

Beiqing Road heads west for 7.16km - another rather boring section that forms part of the race solely to convey the riders from one place to another without any technical features. Fortunately, the countryside through which it passes is attractive; a compliment that cannot also be paid to the towns - though Sujiato, just around the right-hand corner leading onto Wenyang Road, has at least one thing to recommend it in the annual fruit-picking festival. Sadly, it's a tradition that will probably not last until the end of the current decade as the little town will, sooner or later, be swallowed up by Beijing as the city grows ever larger in the biggest expansion and urbanisation project the world has ever seen. Also worthy of mention is Sujiato's peculiar liking for blue roofs - a liking that also manifests itself in the surrounding towns and villages.

Peking Man (homo erectus pekinensis), an early
human ancestor from as long as 780,000 years
before the present, was discovered in a Western
Hills quarry during the 1920s
(© kevinzim CC2.0)

The race passes under the W 6th Ring Road 1.56km after the town is left behind, past conifer plantations and crossing Niegezhuang East Road before reaching Qianshajiancun and Houshajiancun on the way to Yangfangzhen. It arrives at Shayang Road after 3.97km (40° 7'50.75"N 116° 8'47.29"E), riders needing to be careful to stay left around the bend to avoid hitting the central reservation. 1.36km later, they turn left again for Webai Road - there's some attractive parkland (including a feature shaped like a giant guitar) to the north-west and, just beyond, green mountains - and travel south, following the river for the next 7.2km back to Beiqing Road. The section isn't testing, but trees along both sides may have dropped thorny twigs and/or slippery leaves on the road. At Beiqing Road, the peloton turn right and continue west for 1.53km to Bei'anhe Road, turning left onto it as they reach 45km from the start of the race (40° 3'57.27"N 116° 6'47.16"E).

The turning itself shouldn't be problematic - though the pedestrian crossing just around it may be slippery after rain - but the road immediately enters a section with many overhanging trees as the race enters Bei'anhexiang, thus increasing the likelihood of punctures. There's more of the same on the way out of the town, then the race turns right onto Wenquan Road (40° 3'13.56"N 116° 7'16.81"E) which, after 1.1km, becomes Da Jue Si Road - the stage itinerary misses Wenquan Road, apparently mistaking the entire section for Da Jue Si Road.

A few kilometres to the south-west of the finish line is the
Tanzhe Temple. At 1,700 years old, it's among the oldest
temples in the Beijing area.(© Ding CC2.0)

The details then become a little unclear - the stage map suggests that the race continues on the W 6th Ring Road, whereas the itinerary states it to be the Jun Zhuang Road - there isn't a road with this name, but the W 6th does lead to Jun Zhuang village. However, so does Junwen Road; making it difficult to establish with total certainty which one will be used. We think it'll be the W 6th, in which case it's another motorway section leading to an interchange and slip road (39°59'23.44"N 116° 5'16.65"E) onto the G109 National Road travelling south; whereas if the organisers mean Junwen Road there are a few sections overhung by trees before arriving at a junction with the G109 and a right turn (39°59'41.46"N 116° 5'17.06"E). Entry onto the G109 marks the beginning of the first of three 21km laps.

The Circuit

The first lap of the circuit begins 55.5km from the start of the race, passing through an urban area for the initial 0.92km before heading into countryside. The road is sandwiched between a golf course some way below the road on the left and a steep mountainside rising up on the right. The first categorised climb, a Cat 3 to 188m, begins 3km into the first lap, ending 1km later.

Almost immediately after the end of the climb, the road turns tightly right - potentially a danger spot for riders who attempt to descend fast to make up time lost on the way up. It passes by a junction with the X002 Danijan Road a short way ahead, then passes to the left of Dan Li village. Riders remain right to pass through a 40m tunnel, then turn left; the road becoming known as Shidan Road once it turns slightly right and away from the river. The stage's second sprint begins 2km later (39°58'32.28"N 116° 2'58.28"E) followed by the feed zone 1.5km after that (39°59'2.90"N 116° 3'39.40"E) - 65km into the race. The road sweeps to the right, passes a bridge on the left and then bends right again 1.2km later, soon becoming Chengzi Road and continuing south for 3.86km until a left turn onto Shuizha Road Bridge.

The river, known as the Yongding, was once called the Wu Ding - the river of instability, due to its dangerous propensity to alter its course. As the largest river to flow through Beijing, the resulting flash floods and damage to property and farmland could prove disastrous, hence a successful project in 1698 under the Kangxi Emperor to strengthen the banks and confine the water to one permanent course. It remains successful to this day. Long sections can dry out, creating wide swathes of green as opportunistic, fast-growing grasses take advantage of the rich, silty mud before the next rainy season turns it back into a river.

708m after joining the bridge, the race turns left and back onto the W 6th Ring Road heading north. The road itself is as uninteresting as it was earlier, but offers some good views across the river and to the mountains; especially after 908m when it skirts the edge of the water on concrete piles before passing under a 1.08km long railway bridge. The next 2.98km lead back to the start of the circuit and the beginning of another lap 76.5km from the race start.

Though considered separate from Beijing well into the 1990s,
the eastern parts of Men Tou Gou are rapidly becoming
suburbs of the city. However, the mountainous terrain that
covers some 97% of the region will hopefully ensure that
the tiny villages dotted around the landscape will be
preserved. Among them is the famous village of
Chuandixia, dating from the Ming Dynasty and now a tourist
attraction due to its traditional architecture.
(Copyright image used courtesy of Visit Our China)

Having three laps, including the final intermediate sprint in lap 3 (beginning and ending at the same points as that in lap 1), the peloton embarks on a fourth - however, after following the same route all the way to and along Chengzi Road, this time the riders do not turn left onto Shuizha Road Bridge. Instead, they continue straight ahead for 160m, then turn left onto Binhe Road, following it as it bends to the right and passes under a railway bridge. As the riders cross the pedestrian crossing just beyond the bridge, they enter the final 2km - not perfectly straight, but very near to it and completely flat..

Another crossing lies 300m ahead, followed by another marking 900m to go. A short way ahead, the race reaches the large Hetan Road intersection, marking 800m to go. Moments later, Yongdinghe River Cultural Square appears on the left - at the next pedestrian crossing, there are 356 straight metres left, making it territory for the sprint specialists. The finish line is located just before the turning on the left leading into the park, 112m from the fly-over (39°56'12.64"N 116° 6'15.75"E).

All the races we've covered in 2011: click here

Monday 26 September 2011

Tour of Beijing - Stage 1 Route Guide

Stage Map: click here
Stage Profile: click here

The riders couldn't wish for a flatter course than the Stage 1 time trial in the Chinese capital - it starts and ends at 41m and, with the exception of the briefest of blips after around 4km, doesn't really rise any higher along the entire route. With several straight sections and few dangerous bends, it leads north into the Olympic Park where it follows smaller, winding roads for a short while before heading south then back into the city along more straight roads for a final 300m sprint, this is a parcours that will favour sprinters as well as time trial experts and may very well generate new speed records.

As will also be the case with Stage 2, the route begins at the famous Beijing National Stadium (39°59'28.54"N 116°23'13.94"E): one of the world's most iconic buildings and commonly known as the Bird's Nest for the seemingly random placing of the steel beams from which the outer shell is constructed - however, as is the case with a real bird's nest, there's nothing random about it at all. The completion of the National Stadium
"Bird's Nest" is something that all the
Chinese people are proud of, according to the official race road book - possibly because the government told them to be. After riding north for 591m, riders turn 90 degrees left onto the National Stadium North Road whilst taking care not to hit the grassy verges separating the cycle paths running along both sides of the road - whereas these will be lined with barriers, it should be noted that Chinese trucks do not need to abide by the same regulations as do those in many other nations and as such, a corner in a busy location such as this is very much subject to diesel spills - one of the hazards most feared by cyclists because the fuel is impossible to see and lethal, especially after rain. On the right, just before the turn, is the 128m Long Long Pagoda - not actually a pagoda at all, but the Olympics international broadcast centre.

The next turn, a 90 degree right, comes 138m later and leads onto Tianchen East Road continuing north for 974m past the China National Convention Centre on the left, housed in the building that originally served as the location of the Olympic press centre and venue for pistol and fencing events. Random fact: the centre's central vacuum cleaning system is the largest in China with 15.8km of piping.

Passing by some of the 2.2 million trees planted around the Olympic site (because the Chinese government like to pretend they're concerned about the environment when there are foreign press about), the riders soon arrive at Kehui South Road (40° 0'19.69"N 116°23'5.35"E) ready for another 90 degree left, this time avoiding the central reservation in addition to the grassy verges (the official road book has not yet been published, so at present we don't know if both carriageways will be open). After crossing Tianchen West Road 204m from the turn, they come to a 90 degree right onto Beichen West Road 110m later. Caution is required again due to a central reservation. Just west of the corner is the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, occupying the splendidly-named Nanlongwang Hall. The difficulty of the turn depends largely upon which carriageways are in use - if the left, it's a wide and easy section; if right, it becomes much tighter and especially hazardous when wet due to the pedestrian crossing just around the apex.

Having crossed Kehui Road 304m to the north, the riders continue straight ahead on Aolin West Road as it snakes around the western perimeter of the beautiful Olympic Forest Park, a man-made area of forest and lakes almost 2km wide. They'll be on the right carriageway here, as the next turn in impossible from the left. It bends gently left, then passes under a fly-over and past the site of the two Olympic hockey stadia that were taken down after the Games, then bends right and left again before crossing a bridge over the N 5th Ring Road, then following the narrow slip road to the right 128m after the bridge (40° 1'20.74"N 116°22'48.69"E) down to a very tight right 300m later - a point where significant time could be lost through punctures caused by thorns from the overhanging trees.

A bridge 186m along the road is only very narrower than the road and as such should cause no problems since riders are crossing one at a time. More overhanging trees past the bridge may result in more punctures and there's another very tight right turn 400m after the bridge is left behind, this one made more difficult by a kinked entry (40° 1'27.29"N 116°23'9.87"E). There's an 80 degree right 181m ahead, followed by an equally tight left onto a narrower road 30m later where riders reach the intermediate checkpoint and we get early indication of their performances.

One venue we won't see is the Laoshan Velodrome, one
of the finest in the world. Built for the Olympics, it's
hosted several cycling events since. (© Doma-W CC3.0)

Shortly after the checkpoint is what must be one of the most remarkable motorway bridges anywhere in the world. Though some 50m wide - arguably making the passage below it a short tunnel rather than the passage across a bridge - the road on Tianchen Bridge is only around 5.5m wide, the space either side being landscaped and covered in trees and shrubs to form a continuation between the parkland to the north and south. At the road on the other side, riders turn 90 degrees left, ignoring the bridge south over the river and proceed for 805m past a car park and on to Aolin East Road for a right turn to head south.

Having passed under a fly-over, the road bends slightly right and then left before crossing Kehui Road and arriving at the next turn 259m later - a right onto Kehui South Road with caution again required to avoid the central reservation if both lanes are in use. As another busy urban route, diesel spills are a possibility; as may also be the case at the left turn 224m later onto Hujing East Road.

The Water Cube at night (public domain image)

Hujing East curves gently around a bend in the river, crossing five other roads before arriving at the National Stadium South Road 1.93km later and offers some of the best views of the Bird's Nest. On the left is the enormous 5-star Grand Skylight CATIC Hotel, then the riders turn 90 degrees right onto a bridge. The road narrows at the opposite bank to make room for traffic emerging from a central tunnel (39°59'18.16"N 116°23'28.36"E), then opens up again 269m after the corner. It then continues for a further 279m, crossing the wide boulevard past the stadium upon which the route began before reaching the final turn - a 90 degree right onto Tianchen East Road. From this point, there are 300m left to the finish line next to the National Aquatics Centre, better known as Water Cube; a striking building clad in 4000 plastic bubbles.