Brian Cookson

Thank you for thinking of me, Feargal. Have a nice day.

Why, yes, Rupert. Yes, I am. And I’m very cross about it. Very.

Thank you for letting me know, Feargal. I will try harder in future to comply with your social media rulings. Or maybe I won’t. Depends how I feel, really.

Hang on @tntsports you’re promising we won’t miss a minute of live coverage of @LeTour but now you’re treating us to repetitive ad breaks every few minutes, after previously providing ad-free streaming to subscribers. Maybe change your name to @pricegougingexperts?

Why on earth would Netflix release the latest series of their Tour de France Unchained, based on the 2024 race, a couple of days before the 2025 race starts? Literally a spoiler.

Excellent coverage of Simon Yates’ win in the Giro d’Italia.

Chapeau indeed regarding @giroditalia - but the tactics of UAE and EF were bizarre. Isn’t the point of a Mexican stand-off that someone does eventually pull a gun and shoot in the end?

Please will someone ask Cycling Up To Date website to stop sending out notifications that are spoilers, even when you’re watching with a few minutes delay.

Tree of the Day? Maybe. Goat of the Day? Definitely. Photo taken at Pollença, Mallorca today.

New AIRmail pro cycling newsletter out today …. theouterline.substack.com/p/pogacar-cont… …. Pogacar continues his dominant run; “The Athletic” weighs in on cycling’s future; Uno-X’s clever use of jerseys; Women’s cycling is more exciting these days; Cycling TV is still stuck in the past ….

There you go, I’ve given you an idea for your next column.

I never cease to be amazed by the people who discover cycle racing, fall in love with its unique nature, its heritage, its history, its complexity and its unpredictability, then decide it should be changed to be more like other sports. It shouldn't. It isn't like other sports. Stop this nonsense.

Something special, you say? Maybe like winning the first Women’s Paris - Roubaix, after attacking at the start of the first cobbled sector then riding solo to the finish?

Would be nice to see a Pavé Lizzie Deignan.

Petition: Make the Tour de France a Category A event so it is free-to-air Make the Tour de France a Category A event to ensure it remains free-to-air in the UK.

I'm supporting this petition, and I've also emailed Ofcom Chair Lord Grade about the issue of the apparent broadcasting monopoly position of WBD/Discovery regarding cycling and other sports in the UK. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/71...

It's exactly ten years ago since @UCI_cycling published the report of the Cycling Independent Reform Commission. Not everyone was happy with all of it, but I believe it significantly helped change the sport for better. Here's a link to the report. www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/wp-content/u...

Of course this is not a true story, but I don't see how this is in any way different from what WBD / TNT have done.

I heard one of the executives of @WBDsports was out shopping the other day. Went in to a department store, took a t-shirt and a pair of jeans to the till, but the assistant said "Yes, sir, fine, but you'll also have to buy an Armani suit as well. That's company policy".....

Great to see a full house at the @BritishCycling National Track Championships at @N_CyclingCentre aka Manchester Velodrome last night.

To sum him up - the bike rider’s bike rider. Chapeau, G, and good luck with the rest of your final season and everything you do in future!

But to achieve what he has achieved over his long career has taken incredible qualities of hard work, dedication, commitment and strength of personality. And all of this combined with being such a nice guy, reliable and approachable, has made him a unique figure in our sport. To sum him up...2/3

For me, Geraint Thomas represents all the best things about the golden era of British Cycling. A talented athlete spotted at an early age and given all the right support at every stage of his career, certainly. But...1/3

Questions raised over Rachel Reeves’s CV and expenses after BBC investigation The BBC has established the Chancellor left the Bank of England nine months earlier than she states in her LinkedIn profile.

Looking forward to the BBC investigation into how many other people’s CVs on LinkedIn have been, er, updated today. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

True.

Are my Trees of the Day safe from this? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Competition and Markets Authority We help people, businesses and the UK economy by promoting competitive markets and tackling unfair behaviour. CMA is a non-ministerial department.

If you’re upset about WBD's decision to scrap Eurosport in the UK and Ireland, and incorporate cycling and several other sports into TNT channels, it’s quite a simple matter to make a complaint to the Competition and Markets Authority here; www.gov.uk/government/o...

Thank you.

Ah, understood. Glad you liked the piece. I have some views about LinkedIn too, maybe I'll do an op-ed on that, but probably not on a cycling website!

Just curious, is it me, LinkedIn, or analogies that you don't like?

Following controversy over WBD's decision to scrap Eurosport in the UK and Ireland, and incorporate cycling and several other sports into TNT channels, at a 400% price increase, I wrote an op-ed piece for the Escape Collective. You can read it here;