Canyon gets a new majority shareholder

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/international/2020/12/15/belgian-group-—-joined-father-ipod-—-acquires-canyon

There was talk of investment firms buying Canyon for some time.  

I know Canyon has been growing and is "poised" for more growth being among the first with the web-only concept.  All the same, it strikes me that the business must not have been doing all that well for the company to sell a majority stake to an investment firm.  

I guess their first move will be to expand their line to much cheaper price points.  On the hopes that runaway growth will crush everyone else and put them in a dominant market position.  

https://cyclingtips.com/2020/12/these-are-the-best-and-most-surprising-places-to-get-a-draft-in-a-bike-race/

Found this article pretty interesting. Confirmed a lot of what we already know as far as sitting in, but also some surprises as to how much you can save at distances like 10 meters

mugwump said:

Canyon gets a new majority shareholder

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/international/2020/12/15/belgian-group-—-joined-father-ipod-—-acquires-canyon

There was talk of investment firms buying Canyon for some time.  

I know Canyon has been growing and is "poised" for more growth being among the first with the web-only concept.  All the same, it strikes me that the business must not have been doing all that well for the company to sell a majority stake to an investment firm.  

I guess their first move will be to expand their line to much cheaper price points.  On the hopes that runaway growth will crush everyone else and put them in a dominant market position.  

they could just as easilly sold because they thought they were overvalued

Matt Budofsky said:

https://cyclingtips.com/2020/12/these-are-the-best-and-most-surprising-places-to-get-a-draft-in-a-bike-race/

Found this article pretty interesting. Confirmed a lot of what we already know as far as sitting in, but also some surprises as to how much you can save at distances like 10 meters

That's a good one.

RobertMullen said:

I wonder too if Cervelo is going to try and jump into the cross game with a full on CX bike. Having Wout on the bike would be pretty good press. 

Woo!

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/01/cervelo-confirms-its-making-a-cyclocross-bike-but-what-will-it-look-like/

Well, the bike brand that has gotten more coverage in 2021 by far: Wout's bike is "not a cervelo" and Marianne's bike is "not a cervelo"

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/01/espresso-a-day-keeps-the-death-away/

based on this study, and my powers of high school scientific deduction, I've come to the excellent conclusion many of us may be immortal. Happy and proud of us!

This feels like an Onion headline 
https://cyclingtips.com/2021/01/riccardo-ricco-doesnt-want-to-be-injected-with-who-knows-what/

This guy... seriously.

JohnPowell said:

On 6 February 2011 Riccò was admitted to a hospital in critical condition, with sepsis and kidney failure, allegedly due to a blood transfusion he performed on himself with 25-day-old blood.

This guy... seriously.

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/80d49a4e-17cf-4775-964b-3d747753b134

The great bicycle boom of 2020

By Adrienne Bernhard

Throughout lockdown, rusty bikes were dusted off in garages around the world and sales of new bikes surged. The question is now: can it last?

https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/made-on-earth/the-great-bicycle-boom-of-2020.html

There's even a 20ish minutes tv segment about it...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/reel/video/p090h6zl/why-2020-was-the-bicycle-s-best-year-in-decades

It's insane. I am about to sell my kid's bike because it is too small now and good condition examples are selling at retail prices on ebay. Sheer insanity.

As the 2021 Iditasport was supposed to happen this weekend, I posted my story of riding the 1993 Iditasport on my site.  (those are double-wide rims I was riding)  Only outdoor race I ever did without a helmet.  Also the only race where I ever had to contend with moose.

What a fantastic story JP I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve heard it.  You guys should link to it from the socials

Jules said:

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/01/tom-dumoulin-will-take-a-break-from-racing/

It's always heartbreaking to me to see a guy leave the sport at arguably the peak of his career. I feel like it takes a lot of stress and sadness to say you need a break when you're one of the top riders on the best team in the world. 

RobertMullen said:

Jules said:

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/01/tom-dumoulin-will-take-a-break-from-racing/

It's always heartbreaking to me to see a guy leave the sport at arguably the peak of his career. I feel like it takes a lot of stress and sadness to say you need a break when you're one of the top riders on the best team in the world. 

This seems like a good thing to me; good for him, and good for sport in general to have a star stand up and say "this isn't making me happy." Kittle did it, Wiggins tried to... I think the more this happens the fewer people will be left feeling trapped.

Jules said:

This seems like a good thing to me; good for him, and good for sport in general to have a star stand up and say "this isn't making me happy." Kittle did it, Wiggins tried to... I think the more this happens the fewer people will be left feeling trapped.

I figure all the people at the very top are likely solipsistic bastards whom I'd probably detest if I got to know them.  That written, Wiggo' seems to stand out a bigger bastard than most.  Maybe it's because he was more honest.  Or maybe he's just more of a wanker.  

I would think most teams 'need' to win.  I wonder if some have a rep for being more understanding about their riders mental health needs...and if that has any relationship to anything we can see.  Are, for example, teams with less turnover better to their riders? And where doe Jumbo-Visma fit in to this? 

I think Tom's stepping away is sad for us as viewers, but great for him and the sport. In his comments he said how he felt like he just was on a never ending train and he didn't have time to think about what he wanted out of his career (something I think that is totally relatable without the added pressure of the sporting world watching your every move and constantly speculating about you). Now hopefully he can figure out what he wants out of his life/career (for his sake) and hopefully this helps continue to push sport psychology and other mental health aspects (which I think benefits the viewers in the long run).

Well played Cycling Tips, well played.

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/01/shimano-releases-2021-ultegra/

I find some of this content interesting

https://cyclespeak.com/

Mark Taylor said:

I find some of this content interesting

https://cyclespeak.com/

Great!

Heh

So are we gonna talk about the new uci rules now? I'll start:

What the hell?

The super tuck was always illegal , 

I think the anti- supertuck rule in the pro peloton is more for the dudes in prospect park than it is for the actual peloton. That said, are there any high profile cases of the supertuck causing serious crashes? I remember one guy at the tour a few years ago (Quickstep rider?) who crashed on a corner when coming out of the tuck but I cant think of others. 

Mark Taylor said:

The super tuck was always illegal , 

If so, it was unenforced until now? They're also making the invisible aero bar position illegal too which seems... unnecessary? I dunno, maybe there have been lots of crashes in continental or local pro races or something, but the big races we get to see here - I can't remember any crashes caused by either of these positions. 

Everytime I think the UCI has backed off making stupid ass decisions they come back and prove me wrong. I is obscene that in 2021 such a completely opaque, capricious and ignorant organization still has this much power. Also the UCI sucks.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/steve-cummings-signs-with-ineos-as-development-director-and-coach/

Glad to see my favourite rider back in the mix. Seems to suit the new direction which Sky are trying to take, with probably one of the smarter (by race craft) British riders of the last 15 years.