CW LIVE: Buy Wout van Aert's bike; Olympian's assault charges dismissed; Zwift bans race hacker; 89-year-old wins national CX title; Williams completes Israel-Premier Tech roster; Bike lane roundabout dubbed 'ring of fire'

89-year-old wins US Cyclo-cross title

Fred Schmid won his 38th cyclo-cross title at the US National Championships on Thursday. 

The 89-year-old, who races in the over 90s category, was the only rider competing in his age bracket. 

In 2021, Schmid took on the 200-mile Unbound Gravel race but missed the time cut after the 120-mile checkpoint. 

Speaking to VeloNews this June, the American said: "I just enjoy riding and that’s why I want to keep doing it." 

Alé unveil Bahrain Victorious and Groupama FDJ kits for 2023

Cycling brand Alé have this morning shared the kit designs that WorldTour teams Bahrain Victorious and Groupama FDJ will wear next season. 

The Bahrain Victorious jersey looks very similar to that worn this season, now with added touches of black. Groupama FDJ, on the other hand, have decided to break with predominately white design that the riders have donned for the past five years. 

"The livery of the French team has been completely redesigned," Alé's press release reads, "and plays on shades of blue, with the flag following the zip route."

The kits are part of the brand's PR-S collection, which is reserved for professional teams. 

For more information on the 2023 team kits, follow our round-up here. 

Zwift racer banned after hacking UCI World Championships qualifier

South African Eddy Hoole has been let go by his team, Toyota CRYO RDT, and dealt a six-month ban after he was found to have cheated in a UCI eSports World Championships Europe and African continental qualifier. 

Hoole recorded a four-minute average power of 526 watts on the race's final climb, giving him a supposed power output of 8.5 W/kg and a VO2 max of over 90 mL/min/kg.

A statement released by Zwift's Performance Verification Decision Board on Wednesday said: "These values are significantly greater than those that have been measured for Olympic Pursuit Champions and World Record Holders (average power output over 4min, approx. 7.5 W/kg) or Tour de France GC winners (VO2max, approx. 85 mL/min/kg)."

Zwift's Decision Board therefore concluded that Hoole's power meter was "very significantly miscalibrated", adding that it was "highly unlikely" this was an accident. 

The statement continued: "The Board is comfortably satisfied that this was a result of deliberate manipulation of data, masked by the deliberate disconnection of the Zwift analytics datastream channel."

Hoole was retrospectively disqualified from the event. 

Assault charges dismissed against former Olympian

Tony Lally, who competed for Ireland in the road race at the 1980 Olympics, has had his assault charges dismissed after it was revealed he suffers from PTSD. 

The 68-year-old Irishman previously pleaded guilty to common assault after he insulted a woman who cut him off in her car while he was out riding in Sydney, Australia this July. 

Today, the Daily Mail reports, a court magistrate has chosen to dismiss the charges, finding that Lally suffers from PTSD from being hit by a car in the past. 

Thibaut Pinot targets Giro d'Italia stage wins

After a five-year absence from the race, Thibaut Pinot will return to the Giro d'Italia in 2023 with the goal of winning stages in the mountains. 

"The Giro will be my main season objective," the 32-year-old said in a graphic shared by Groupama FDJ. "My clear goal: beat the best on the mountains stages.

"This difficult Giro d'Italia [route] will probably be the hardest of the three Grand Tours next year, so it suits me the best."

The Frenchman came fourth at the three-week Italian race in 2017, before abandoning with fatigue after stage 20 the following year. 

Fancy owning Wout van Aert's bike? 

Jumbo-Visma have teamed up with online auctioneers Catawiki to sell 18 of the team's 2022 bikes. 

Among those available are Wout van Aert's green Cervélo S5, Jonas Vingegaard's Tour de France-winning R5 and Marianne Vos's bike from the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Each bike comes with a handwritten note from the rider it belonged to.

The current bid on Van Aert's special edition S5 is €10,000, which matches the bike's usual retail price. Vingegaard's bike is currently at €4,000, while Vos's is a relative steal at €2,600. 

The auction lots close on 19 December and all proceeds will go to "the development of cycling talent" within the Dutch team. 

Cyclo-cross dates for your diary

Cyclocross24 has put together a handy chart, combining the cyclo-cross calendars of Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and world champion Tom Pidcock. 

The trio are set to line up against each other on five occasions, with the first coming on 23 December at the Exact Cross event in Mol. It's worth noting, though, that the Belgian is yet to confirm his January schedule, so there's likely to be a few more meetings.  

Van Aert's next race comes this Sunday, when he'll go toe-to-toe with Pidcock in Dublin in the next round of the UCI World Cup. 

Andrii Ponomar joins WorldTour with Arkéa Samsic

Ukrainian national champion Andrii Ponomar will ride for Arkéa Samsic next season, joining the French team from Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli. 

The 20-year-old, who won the junior European road title in 2019, is one of the peloton's most promising young talents and has already ridden to Giri d'Italia. 

"I think I can make podiums, win races in the pros, and I hope to do so next season," Ponomar said. "I'm a climber-puncheur-rouleur, I can handle climbs between 7 and 10 kilometres well. I also have time trial skills, a discipline that I like and that suits me. 

"All this will allow me to target good placings in stage races." 

Ponomar is the 29th rider on the roster of Arkéa Samsic, who will step up to WorldTour level for 2023.

New roundabout for cyclists sparks debate

A brand new roundabout for cyclists, recently installed in Salford, UK has been brandished a "ring of fire" by active travel campaigners. 

The roundabout, which forms part of a segregated cycle lane, has four pedestrian crossings built into it. 

Responding to his city's new feature, Harry Gray, who runs the group Walk Ride Central Salford, tweeted: "The pedestrian experience here is hugely compromised. You have to cross into a ring of fire to exit. Every desire line is away from the path you are supposed to take."

Salford Council's Mike McCusker said that, although the roundabout has created some debate, the council has had "a lot of positive feedback". 

McCusker added: "It has been designed to accommodate people on foot or in wheelchairs or pushing buggies. Cyclists circulate round it like a ‘normal’ road roundabout so they, too, can get round this junction safely without putting pedestrians in danger.”

Bike video game to launch next month

An adventure video game, in which users explore the world by bike, is set to be released on January 31st 2023. 

Designed by game developers Scavenger Studio, Season: A Letter To The Future is described as a "third-person atmospheric adventure bicycle road trip game". Users play through the main character Estelle with the aim of creating memories and uncovering the past. 

Pre-order is already available on Playstation, priced at $29.99. 

If you'd like a taste of the gameplay, here's the trailer. 

Stevie Williams pens deal with Israel-Premier Tech

26-year-old Welshman Stevie Williams has signed for Israel-Premier Tech, becoming the team's final rider for the 2023 season. 

Williams, who previously rode for Bahrain Victorious, won his first WorldTour race this year, taking victory on the opening day of the Tour de Suisse. 

"I’m proud to be joining Israel – Premier Tech in 2023 and really happy to be part of this project," Williams said. "I know a lot of the guys already so it has been really easy to fit in since joining the guys at team camp. I’m really grateful for this opportunity and look forward to getting stuck into racing next year."

The Welshman's career so far has been blighted by a long-standing knee injury. He raced just eight days in 2019, before undergoing surgery and missing most of the 2020 season.

"After getting the win at the Tour de Suisse this year, I feel like my career is back on track," he said. "I hope I can continue to score some good results in IPT colours."

Eddie Dunbar will lead BikeExchange-Jayco at 2023 Giro d'Italia

In an interview with The Irish Times, BikeExchange-Jayco head sports director Matt White has said his new signing Eddie Dunbar will be his "general classification guy" at the Giro d'Italia next year. 

The 26-year-old cyclist, who won stage races Coppi e Bartali and the Tour de Hongrie this season, recently left Ineos Grenadiers for the Australian WorldTour team. 

Speaking about Dunbar, White said: "Obviously he had some opportunities this year and he took them with both hands, winning two stage races.

"He’s taken opportunities when he’s had a chance, sometimes, and then other times he just hasn’t had the chance, especially on the Grand Tour front, to show what his worth is.”

At the 2023 Tour de France, leadership duties are expected to fall to British rider Simon Yates.