I don’t normal jump on the news bandwagon like this, but I’ll make an exception today. Iconic Mavic Neutral Support, after nearly 50 years of running after flat tires in the Tour de France, is saying au revoir!

This probably comes as no surprise, given that a few months ago nobody actually knew who even owned Mavic anymore, or IF anyone did. The ecriture was on the mur. For those of us who don’t remember the Tour before 1972, Mavic was as ‘Tour de France’ as mini sausages, polka dot t-shirts and mankinis. They will be missed.

In their place comes Shimano, thankfully also iconic by now, having been offering neutral service for at least 20 years. You’ll have seen them in the Giro and they’ve more or less taken over many of the spring classics, too.

I’ll miss Mavic, and will always cherish the day I was given a wheel by them in Haute Route 2013, allowing me to finish in Nice in deep-dish style. Now if we can just get rid of the mankini…