Tour of Holland final stage, a lap round Arnhem. Sadly without the planned gravel, which was deemed too risky last night -- so current leader Christophe Laporte and his parcours voodoo must have worked. @josebeentv.bsky.social and I will be your guides for final race day of the European road season.

A cartoon by Frank Cotham. #NewYorkerCartoons See more from this week’s issue: https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/U-UJUh

Tour of Holland -- specifically a Tour of a Huge Mound of Landfill. That's right, we're off to the VAMberg, the artificial mountain of Drenthe. The same circuit produced a great Euro Champs in 2023. Your guide will be @josebeentv.bsky.social, assisted by myself. From 13.50 CET.

The circuit at Tour of Holland today is on a mountain that's literally made from landfill rubbish. Which makes this my favourite geology joke of the day.

"Taking one for the team" is a shameful way to describe the opportunity to ride a late-season time trial...

The cows were mis-reported. There were cars on the road in opposite direction and a truck entering the peloton in the neutral sector. Race cancelled today. www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/tegem...

Tour of Holland heads south to Limburg for a sort of mini-Amstel Gold stage. Expect steep hills, forests, traffic calming and @josebeentv.bsky.social and me to talk about it all. Live in about 30 minutes.

Time trial day at the Tour of Holland. It's flat, it's fast, it's got some falling-off corners, and it's got Ethan Hayter vs. Jakob Soderqvist vs. assorted others. And it's got @josebeentv.bsky.social and me to talk about it. From 13.50 CET.

Tour of Holland today -- a very flat stage, largely below sea level, and that means some absolutely top windmill action. Live in about 30 minutes, @josebeentv.bsky.social and me on commentary.

Always had an affection for the team after their Tour debut in 2014. Smallest team in the race (by miles), and they gave me a coffee every morning out of their little campervan (no bus), often as not made by Emmanuel Hubert himself.

From the Tour of Holland media handbook. I'll be honest, I don't completely understand what this offer is.

If you think there just aren't enough very short time trials conducted in the dark, you won't want to miss the prologue of the Tour of Holland starting tonight at 18.50 CET. Jose Been and I on commentary duty.

Cycling is a totally normal sport where you can win a piglet and take it home.

If you feel like Lombardia is going to be too predictable, I can recommend joining @jezcox.bsky.social and me for the Tour of the Vendee at 15.30 CET. French Cup chaos ahoy!

The Nobel Peace Prize seems to be the new Sports Personality of the Year Award.

Months of consideration, and still a piece of legislation that fails to clarify whether a helmet that only partially covers the ears is permitted. Also, I don't see what is added by banning both "covering" and "enclosing" the ear. www.cyclingweekly.com/news/uci-rel...

And the market is already so flooded with riders I'm tempted to pick up a few bargains and stash them in the bike store till the prices pick up again.

I can understand fan boredom with the dominance of Tadej Pogacar. Indeed, some people used to feel the same about my capacity for winning time trial championships in the UK. So, if you struggle with Pogacar, can you imagine how much more boring a boring time triallist is?

Re: European Mens' RR champs yesterday. It's amazing that it's taken till now for it to occur to 'fans' to stick things to riders as they pass on climbs. I predict an awful lot more of this in the coming seasons. Flags, logos, marriage proposals, AirTags...

At the European Men's Road Race Champs: "Same again this week, Remco?" "Same again this week, Tadej."

Number of motorbikes among the riders in the women's World's RR is astonishing. There's at least 8 or 9 among the first three on the final climb.

Nerd cycling news update -- UCI has backed down a few mm on handlebar width for next hear -- 400 mm outside-to-outside, rather than centre to centre. And hoods can be 280, in from 320mm. New helmet rules from Jan for road races -- no helmets, no ear covering, minimum vent requirements.

When did championship winners stop being "The 2025 Champion" and start being 'Your 2025 Champion"? It's not a hill I'd want to die on, but "your" always sounds weird. It's not like I'm going to give them a hanky and send them off to joust for me in a tournament.

Name a pro cyclist who looks more like a Victorian strongman than Alexander Salby.

Road.cc review of "Further". They liked it. Includes phrases like "Wonderfully written" and 'Thoroughly entertaining." And who would I be to argue? road.cc/content/revi...

Final 4 K of today's @TourofBritain stage. Me and Michael Hutchinson bringing it home on TNT Sports youtu.be/JKyKOSsFm3M?...

Can Remco do it on a wet afternoon in Bedford? We get to find out, weather permitting.

Vine's Vuelta win in fog so thick you couldn't see him cross the line is, perversely, one of my all-time favourite cycling moments.

So, the cat has made friends with a pigeon. I think perhaps they solve crimes together.

What larks.

Looking forward to this -- Charlie's got a great skillset for an hour. The Ganna record is a bit of a mountain, but good to see someone taking it on.

Worrying development if you're a TT rider -- race engineer Dan Bigham at Red Bull has a shiny new time triallist to play with.

My Edinburgh Book Festival event next week -- and if I'm not enough (and I'm probably not) the host will be the estimable Emily Chappell. www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival...

The "Further" audiobook is out! Read by me, in a hot and sweaty cupboard in North London during the spring heatwave. www.amazon.co.uk/Further-Seek...

I was the question-setter for Midnight Mastermind on OJ Borg's BBC Radio 2 show last night. The specialist subject was.... The Land's End to John O'Groats cycling records. From about 29 minutes in. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

At the Visma party tonight: "I dunno, Jonas. He didn't seem that hard to drop to me." #tdf2025

And with that, Van Aert ensures that the Montmartre circuit becomes a fixture, and every sprinter in the peloton dies a little inside. #tdf2025

"Like this, Jonas" #tdf2025

In the wake of bottle-gate, I'd like to push once again my idea for a giant drinks bladder with eight hoses. One rider wears it, and goes back to the car for re-fuelling. Then, back in the bunch, the whole team gathers round him, takes a hose each, and suckles.

Lenny Martinez sticky-bottle-gate -- problem here is that the UCI accepts the idea you can "cheat" as long as you don't cheat too much. In addition, the penalties are highly inconsistent. It's a mess. If they just banned any sort of sticky bottle it would be pretty simple.

We saw more of Steve Cummings during that stage than we did on some stages that he won as a rider.... Great ride from O'Connor. And a great ride from Onley. Shows what patience can do for you. #tdf2025

Suspect Vingegaard was just on a mediocre day -- would explain a lot of Visma's riding. #tdf2025

Visma play book is getting thin on options. Next, I think, is plan x -- hope Pogacar gets struck by lightning. #tdf2025

I consult my leaked script for this year's Tour de France, and I see that today Vingegaard will attack and gap Pogacar, but Pogacar will chase back, drop Vingegaard and put 20s into him by the finish. I won't tell you who's going to win from the break, just to avoid too much of a spoiler.

There was a period in the 1890s when bicycle drive-trains swapped sides almost every year, to keep fashion moving and drive sales. Aero-bikes vs one-bike-to-rule-them-all-bikes vs climbing-bikes feels very much the same.

I was expecting a slightly dull day -- flat, flat, flat, Pog rides off. It was anything but. The full Tour experience -- two races going off at once, nutcase fans, and the weirdest-looking mountain in Europe. #tdf2025

I love that Julian Alaphilippe is going to spend the rest of his career with people waving bits of cardboard at him. #tdf2025

It's another normal day on nutter mountain. #tdf2025

A triumphant return to the Edinburgh Festivals. Well, I hope it's triumphant. I'll be talking about the art of the long bike ride (or the long anything, really) on 13th August, and to make things even better, my host will be the marvellous Emily Chappell. www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival...