Broke the record by five hours. It's demeaning for women and it's very bad for our country. We're not going to put up with it any longer. [Applause] What I have just described is only a small fraction of the commonsense revolution that is now, because of us, sweeping the entire world. Commonsense has become a common theme and we will never go back."

I don't know who he's referring to or what event.

Does anyone know?

Power to the people ✊

While there are undoubtedly many more important things going on in the world currently, it was pleasing to see the demise of Eurosport in the UK and 400% price increase for a TNT Sports subscription debated in the UK's Houses of Parliament recently.

Brought about by the cycling-mad and wonderfully named Ben Obese-Jecty MP for Huntingdon (in Cambridgeshire), the whole transcript of the debate is quite long and covers a lot of familiar ground for those who've followed along with the story. Our favourite moment, however, is when Obese-Jecty decides to provide some details on his own cycling fandom, which involved a recent foray into taking part in a cyclocross race himself:

"My own deeply mediocre recent career in racing cyclocross was born from watching Mathieu van der Poel take on Wout van Aert and latterly Tom Pidcock. If I had not watched obscure Belgian Superprestige races and finally decided to get stuck in myself, I would not have joined British Cycling, bought myself a bike from eBay—n+1, I don’t make the rules—found my local grassroots race series and dragged myself off for an hour of the hardest, most heart-pumping physical activity that I have ever participated in. I mean that literally, because men of my age are not meant to hit 200 beats per minute. Mathieu van der Poel I was not, but it was fun to pretend that I could be. I would never have taken up cyclocross if I had not had access to watching the sport."

At another point he also name checks Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, and even Scheldeprijs(!), which presumably means those races will now live on forever more in the archives of UK Government debates, which is very fun.

Evenepoel speaks out against Belgian commentator

In a social media post, Remco Evenepoel expressed his frustration with Belgian television commentator Ruben Van Gucht after Van Gucht shared a rumor he had heard that Evenepoel financially supports the family of his wife Oumaïma Rayane.

"We have known each other since childhood. Long before there was any talk of money, fame, or anything. Her parents do not owe their prosperity to anyone. Certainly not to me," Evenepoel wrote on Instagram. "And then you, Ruben, come and tell me that I take care of them? Let me explain something to you: If anyone has helped, it is more likely to be our in-laws who have always done everything to support us and make us stronger. I don't know where you get your stories from, Ruben. Or is it difficult for you to believe that a Moroccan family has simply worked hard and is well-off? That says more about your limited worldview than about reality."

Jules said:

That's a shame. Felt like the last couple of years he was on the precipice of some breakout performances but had a run of bad luck and/or bad blood with teams.

https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/caleb-ewan-retires/

David Yang said:

JP man, Caleb is half Korean which means that he's 100% all Korean to us Koreans, which also means he's the greatest sprinter, nay, cyclist to have ever cycled in the history of cycling, the end.

I said, "The end!"

David Yang said:

David Yang said:

JP man, Caleb is half Korean which means that he's 100% all Korean to us Koreans, which also means he's the greatest sprinter, nay, cyclist to have ever cycled in the history of cycling, the end.

I said, "The end!"

☹️

Jules said:

I tend to agree, although it seems more like the common denominator is sprinters in general. I remember Vaugters explaining why he didn't pick up Thor Hushvold as the reigning world champion and it seemed to me (at the time) like the deck was really stacked against sprinters in general. Sam Bennet and Cavendish were also snubbed in their prime by top teams.