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Cycling can be an expensive pursuit, whether you want it to be or not. For Norwegian pro Johannes Staune-Mittet, he could definitely have made things less punishing on his wallet, while those bidding in online auctions for the bikes belonging to Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar have had some fiscal choices to make.
Wout van Aert has had his own decision to mull over. Is he a football fan or not?
Expensive training rides 💸
23-year-old Norwegian Johannes Staune-Mittet may have signed a decently-sized three-year contract with Decathlon CMA CGM (are we really gonna have to use those acronyms going forward?) but he’s already ripping through his new salary by stacking up €200 fines for riding with his headphones in.
“Guess it is better to buy a pair of those ugly out of ear headphones than to get fined for AirPods every day,” Staune-Mittet posted on Strava alongside a training ride in Calpe, Spain, where it is illegal to cycle using in-ear or over-ear headphones as it may impact the cyclist’s awareness.
A couple of questions we’re going to need answered: 1) Exactly how many fines has he received for this infraction? Surely after being given the first €200 fine you throw away your headphones never to be used again while riding a bike; 2) Please tell me he paid within 20 days in order to reduce the fine to €100.
Culturally this is a weird one. Using earphones while riding is illegal in European countries like France and Spain, but isn’t in the UK and Australia, while in the USA it varies state to state. New York and California allowing the use of one earbud and not two seems like the reasonable compromise. Everyone knows the true menace are the people who ride Lime bikes through cities like London at 25km/h wearing noise-cancelling over-ear headphones. We will never not watch in horror when those people pass by. How are they still alive?
In the comments of Staune-Mittet’s Strava post, EF Education-EasyPost’s Harry Sweeny suggested Staune-Mittet use a balaclava to cover his ears to go unnoticed by police. We just hope the Norwegian doesn’t also get stung for using those bone-conducting headphones as that still seems to fall under article 13.3 of the ‘Reglamento General de Circulación’, which states: “It is prohibited to drive while wearing any type of audio headphones or earphones connected to sound receivers or players or other devices that reduce constant attention to driving, except when taking open circuit aptitude tests to obtain a driver’s licence under the terms determined by the regulations.”
Some auctions are different to others 🤑
Visma-Lease a Bike recently auctioned off its squad’s Cervélo R5 bikes at the end of the season via Match Worn Shirts.
Jonas Vingegaard’s Paris-Nice and Critérium du Dauphiné bike sold for $8,700 (all figures USD) after 52 bids, which isn’t bad value at all. But if you were looking for a real bargain, Cian Uijtdebroeks (who stands at 6 feet tall so is more likely to fit a real-sized, non-pro rider person) went for $4,800. That is quite the deal on a bike that has been properly maintained by professional mechanics.
But should you be more of a UAE Team Emirates fan, you’re going to need to sit down before hearing the size of bids Tadej Pogačar’s 2025 Tour de France Colnago is attracting at a Sotheby’s auction that’s finishing today.
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