Normally, we try not to get mixed up with news in Tweets of the Week. It's a place for the silly, the irony-laden, the fun of the world of cycling. However, on this occasion, we will have to deal with some hard news.
You might have missed it, but this week, Ben O'Connor's Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale were handed four yellow cards on stage 11 of the Vuelta a España, for "obstruction by by a rider to prevent or delay the movement of another rider or vehicle".
While Decathlon, on the front of the peloton, were doing this, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) crashed, although it is not clear whether it was directly because of the blocking. EF's team boss, Jonathan Vaughters, tweeted: "Accidents happen in cycling. We all know that. It’s a rough sport. But this was not an accident."
Enter O'Connor, stage right, who sent a series of tweets arguing that he and his team had done nothing wrong. However, after some thinking on Wednesday night, he ended up deleting his whole X/Twitter account. What a time he's having. To be fair, maybe he has just had enough of the Elon Musk show and the timing was just a coincidence.
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The next day, O'Connor told Eurosport: "I completely stand by the boys. I can say we did absolutely nothing different or wrong. We showed no aggression to anybody else."
By the way, the Australian is still in the red jersey at the time of writing, and there was no real need for him to take to social media. I feel sorry for the poor Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale press officer who had to talk to him about the whole affair. Anyway, I hope he's doing alright, and not missing scrolling too much.
Keep scrolling here to find out which sport Mathieu van der Poel does when he's not cycling, what Lennert van Eetvelt puts on his feet, and which band Demi Vollering uses on Instagram reels. It's all go!
1. Ineos Grenadiers have not won a race since the beginning of July, but maybe this new job search will fix everything
2. Only a world champion could keep this up, really. I'm not sure I would be able to keep going after this, what with the adrenaline
3. TDT-Unibet might not be the best cycling team in the world, but they are very good at getting combativity awards
4. If this is how Harrie Lavreysen feels about going back to the gym, the best sprinter on the track, then how should I feel?
5. "I needed some racing miles, but I don’t really feel ready for it," Geraint Thomas said at the Renewi Tour. Sounds like not a lot of fun, and I'm not sure he really wants to be there
6. Mathieu van der Poel golfs? He golfs?! Ah man, this is disappointing news. I wonder if his cycling skills help him in any way.
7. Tadej Pogačar, meanwhile is living his best life. He especially likes watermelon, clearly
8. All power to Daphne Schrager, this is very cool
9. How do you make yoga more exciting? Add a small child into the mix. I'm sure this is exactly what Elinor Barker needed
10. There's always that one friend who is filming everything... Or is this how many Para athletes can you fit in one lift?
11. Demi Vollering likes Formula 1. Fine. The more notable thing about this, for me, though, is that the SD Worx-Protime rider has chosen the music of the Royal Marines Band to accompany her. Weird.
12. Poor Ben O'Connor, who decided to delete his Twitter account after first of all coming onto Twitter to have a go at the UCI. One normal day of the Vuelta is all I want, will never happen.
13. I simply would not be cycling outside if the weather was like this
14. And finally... How else would you treat a swollen foot than with an onion? Lennert van Eetvelt is the unlucky victim
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