Tweets of the week: The Tour de France visits Singapore, happy birthday Chris Lawless, and cyclists get scary
You know the season really is over when Jonas Vingegaard is winning sprints
I recently finished the novel Ti Amo by Hanne Ørstavik. It is a short tale of love and loss, of a woman coping with the imminent loss of her husband to cancer, expertly written, and sad. It would be trite to compare this with the end of the cycling season for the virtue of a round up of social media posts on a Friday afternoon, and yet here I am.
One is aware that the road cycling season is drifting away from a great distance, from as soon as the World Championships is on the horizon, and yet it is always difficult to process, to accept, to deal with it. One tries to cling onto it, to watch Paris-Tours or the start of the cyclocross season and pretend that it isn't happening, that there really is a bit of a wasteland until we get to the Tour Down Under. There might be things to keep you occupied in that time, whether it's the Track Champions League or muddy riding in Belgium, but it doesn't feel quite right.
Just as the narrator of Ti Amo, I find new situation hard to adjust to, even if the grief doesn't last forever. However, in the blink of the eye, we will be back in the thick of racing, working out early season form at the UAE Tour or getting really into the Challenge Mallorca, so I shouldn't be too concerned.
In the meantime, here are some choice cuts of tweets and Instagram posts to keep you going this Friday; maybe you could print them out and burn them for fuel, if you're one of those hardy types still refusing to put your heating on.
Read Ti Amo by the way! It's good!
1. Team BikeExchange have gone all out for their Halloween content, Christopher Ghoul-Jensen a particular favourite
Introducing our 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒚 team for Halloween 🎃💀Teniel Cannibal😦 Sam Boo-ley 🔪 Kill O’Brien👻 Chris Ghoul-Jensen pic.twitter.com/rSf4fMR70XOctober 31, 2022
2. Meanwhile, the SD Worx Halloween party was actually scary. Whenever I close my eyes, I now see scary clown Lonneke Uneken. Terrifying
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Happy Halloween! Do you know which rider of the team this is? 📷 @raykerckhoffs pic.twitter.com/Hc8amXBXQVOctober 31, 2022
3. It does not get more on brand for Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe to record an episode of their podcast inside an Ineos Grenadier, the vanity-project car which still isn't really available. Super cool! CyclingTips did a good write up of where the massive car is at
A podcast studio with a difference 🎙️Check out how @GeraintThomas86 and @LukeRowe1990 got on as they recorded the latest episode of @Watts_Occurring from inside the @INEOSGrenadier. pic.twitter.com/CawN80CPElNovember 2, 2022
4. Human Powered Health seem to have gone mad, apparently this is something to do with a made up world that has gone viral online? I feel old
We'll see you on the start line! We can announce that in 2023 we're also racing the Grand Prix de Westeros, Tour of Middle Earth, Mos Eisley-Ancorhead-Mos Eisley, Bikini Bottom classic, The Hogwarts Series, Battle of the Asgard, Jurassic Park Trophy and Gotham City criterium 🏁 https://t.co/oOxE5T9HedNovember 2, 2022
5. Movistar take to Twitter to rebut rumours. Exciting times to be a social media admin
Can we please, kindly remind everyone that we're at 30 riders on our men's team for 2023 (the UCI maximum) and this is just the desire of Max, who has been close friends with Cav for a long time 😅😉November 1, 2022
6. We discussed who would be good at tandem cycling during the Tour de France. What we never envisaged was a mixed tandem team, as Pfeiffer Georgi and Ben Turner are displaying here - the star couple would probably do pretty well, although maybe not in heels
A post shared by Pfeiffer Georgi (@pfeiffergeorgi)
A photo posted by on
7. For the not-deeply-online of you out there, the affable Dan Martin and the equally affable Tadej Pogačar have been engaged in a kind of faux-Twitter spat for some time now. Good to see they still get on in real life
Caption this! 🤣Bumped into this guy @lequipe HQ in Paris last week and gave him some holiday reading. I know I might regret this, but do your worst! #chasedbypandas @TamauPogi pic.twitter.com/MwRf4RkH4tOctober 31, 2022
8. British Cycling suggest going as a cyclo-cross rider for Halloween, but perhaps a Shell oil executive might be a better fit?
Trick-or-treating 'fit sorted 👻🎃🧙♀️🐈⬛#LoveMud pic.twitter.com/5anbY0n4jaOctober 31, 2022
9. The Tour de France Singapore Criterium: absolutely, definitely a completely fair and objectively ordinary race where Jonas Vingegaard sprinted to victory on a flat course. Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali on the podium too? Why not
🤩 The #TDFSG podium 🤩🏆🇩🇰Jonas Vingegaard 💛🥈🇬🇧 @chrisfroome 🥉🇮🇹 @vincenzonibali 🦈 pic.twitter.com/y1wmhQsIirOctober 30, 2022
10. The real story at Singapore, though, were some of the fun outfits and activities. In this clip, Alejandro Valverde looks like he's ready to retire
🥁 Once cyclists, now traditional Singaporean musicians!🥁 De cyclistes à musiciens traditionnels singapouriens. #TDFSG pic.twitter.com/fsyYcigkaPOctober 29, 2022
11. Poor Wout van Aert, who was cruelly decapitated after he won the Amstel Gold Race in 2021. Annemiek van Vleuten is seen laughing at his misfortune
A post shared by Annemiek van Vleuten (@annemiekvanvleuten)
A photo posted by on
12. Whooooo remembers Chris Lawless? TotalEnergies just about do, with this half-hearted birthday tweet. Happy birthday Chris
Happy birthday Chris! The English rider turns 27 today. 🎂 pic.twitter.com/rpbITv3ECoNovember 4, 2022
13. Finally, if I were Pauliena Rooijakkers or Kasia Niewiadoma, my new directeur sportif wouldn't exactly fill me with confidence
Further to my recent post, made in humour, I won’t be taking over at the helm of @WMNcycling 🙃 However, I did spend a cracking day filming their team car today in Leipzig for @wlcmagazine pic.twitter.com/FhxZpcr7eTNovember 1, 2022
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