“How is this even a question?” Cyclists slam “who’s in the right” poll after rider struck by corner-cutting driver; Red light hypocrisy as lorry driver speeds through junction; LTN congestion claims blasted; Pog on the Poggio + more on the live blog

Ah, don’t you just love it when you’re waiting to turn right at a junction, and a motorist chooses to cut the corner, ploughing straight into you, and then, five years later, some so-called ‘media personality’ shares it on Twitter and asks “whose mistake was this”?

> Mechanic escapes driving ban after cutting corner straight into cyclist

That’s the unfortunate internet fate that has befallen poor Michael Rammell, who was struck by a BMW driver while out cycling in Berkshire back in March 2019, luckily only suffering some “bumps, scrapes, and bruises”.

Rammell revealed at the time that he had been bombarded by anti-cycling trolls after sharing footage of the collision, describing it as “quite chilling just how many people have no regard for road safety”.

Whose mistake was this.

The driver or the cyclist? pic.twitter.com/df8dOIfm0M

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) March 9, 2024

Well, as they say, those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it, and almost exactly five years after the collision, it’s doing the rounds again, having been viewed a whopping 20 million times since Oli London posted it on Twitter on Saturday, alongside the caption: “Whose mistake was this, the driver or the cyclist?”

Let’s just say some of the replies are… predictable.

“Cyclist.  He was supposed to stay single file in his lane,” wrote Robert.

“Cyclists do this to themselves—they think they’re invulnerable to the 2000 pound very fast machines around them, and they want to use the same space as those machines. Their collective sense of entitlement is infuriating,” added another user, perhaps forgetting to note that the motorist in the clip in question certainly felt ‘entitled’ to use the wrong lane while taking a corner.

“I’ll go ahead and piss everybody off by saying 50/50. The cyclist is fault because he was in the middle of the road, rather than the middle of the lane or the outside edge. The car is at fault because they cut the turn too close and entered the wrong lane,” said the diplomatic, but still very wrong, TX Dodge Dude.

Thankfully, others had some sense (a rare commodity on social media these days, mind you).

OMFG no wonder the justice system
Is fucked if people like the ones saying the cyclist ever sit on a jury ! When there’s clear video evidence of the car in the wrong lane pic.twitter.com/txBSwh35BB

— leilani dowding 🌸🚜 ☮️ (@LeilaniDowding) March 9, 2024

“How is this even a question? Cyclist never leaves his lane, driver cuts the corner,” noted Glenn, helpfully.

“It’s very clear driver was on wrong side of road,” said the very observant Leilani.

“Car clearly goes into the other lane. Car is in the wrong, all day long,” added Matthew.

Alright, that’s enough of that ‘debate’…

> Cyclists fed up with “ridiculous” lamppost blocking busy cycle lane for five months

As he prepares for his season debut, and title defence, at Milan-Sanremo on Saturday, Mathieu van der Poel has admitted that it will be difficult to replicate his career-defining 2023, a year that saw him a maiden rainbow jersey on the road in Glasgow, along with a ‘cross world title and wins at Paris-Roubaix and Sanremo.

(Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

“Yeah, it was a really special season and it will be really difficult to do it the same or better... is impossible, I think. But for sure, I’m aware of the fact that it was unique and it will maybe never happen again,” Van der Poel, who’s already began his 2024 in style by winning his sixth cyclocross world championships, told the Eurosport Cycling Show, which will air tonight at 5.30pm.

When asked for his favourite moment of 2023, the 29-year-old said: “If I have to pick one, I think the World Championships is something I was always dreaming of, so it was maybe the nicest victory of last year.”

 (Alex Broadway/SWpix.com)

Looking ahead to 2024, Van der Poel reckons his main targets are “mainly the same as I did last year” – with the added bonus of a possible tilt at Olympic gold in the road race or on his mountain bike (or both), with the MTB race coming just eight days after the end of this year’s Tour de France in Nice.

“It’s a bit of a strange year with the Olympics, which is also a goal for me,” the multidiscipline star says. “But yeah, mainly, the big races I target are the same as last year, and then I’ll be at the Olympics.”

In December, Van der Poel told Het Nieuwsblad that he won’t replicate his 2021 season, which saw him leave the Tour early to prepare for the Olympic mountain bike race in Tokyo (one he spectacularly crashed out of in the first lap as Tom Pidcock took gold).

(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

“Either I’ll ride the Tour and then I'll only do the road race at the Games,” he said. “Or I don’t ride the Tour and then I do the road race and mountain biking. What I am certainly not going to do is ride the Tour and then leave it earlier, like I did for Tokyo.”

“We had a really good season, especially with Jasper [Philipsen] in the Tour, he was also super successful,” the four-time monument winner tells Eurosport. “So I think we try to improve every year. We will do so next year, but it will be difficult for the team in general to do better than this year.”

Well, despite those cautious words, I wouldn’t bet against Van der Poel emulating his rival and training partner Tadej Pogačar (who won his first race of the season at Strade Bianche) by starting his 2024 with a bang on the Poggio on Saturday…

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Tadej Pogačar (@tadejpogacar)

A well-wrapped up Tadej Pogačar here, helpfully pointing out exactly where he’s going to attack (and warm the hearts of headline writers everywhere) on Saturday, during today’s recon of Milan-Sanremo’s crucial final climb.

Oh, and he also had time during his recce to visit one wall artist’s flattering depiction of the Slovenian superstar (alongside, I assume, Filippo Ganna), located somewhere on the Poggio:

Yikes.

Rather diplomatically, Pogačar described the portrait as “me in fill ‘sprinter’ version”.

To be fair, Pog in full sprinter mode would be a frightening prospect at La Primavera…

Last week, you may have heard, Lambeth Council announced that it was suspending a controversial Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme in Streatham Wells with immediate effect, just five months into its intended 12 to 18 month trial period, after opponents claimed that the LTN was causing massive public transport delays (with one three-mile bus journey purportedly taking over two hours) and widespread congestion in the area.

So, with the LTN now gone, I imagine the traffic is flowing freely and smoothly through Streatham?

Or maybe not…

Morning all, it's us again. What is the plan for dealing with this mess please?@MayorofLondon @willnorman @LabourMarina @clairekholland @RezinaChowdhury pic.twitter.com/DECNeGqNLY

— Liveable Streatham Wells // fix our broken streets (@LiveableWells) March 12, 2024

Curious about where we should be cycling in this? @lambeth_council @RezinaChowdhury

— Liveable Streatham Wells // fix our broken streets (@LiveableWells) March 12, 2024

According to the Liveable Streatham Well group, the LTN was suspended on Thursday with “five minutes’ notice”.

“Children went into school in an LTN and came out into this mess,” they said.

“Keep ‘em coming,” added Tom, in response to the group’s video. “Every post shows how blaming LTNs for traffic congestion is ridiculous. They are part of the long-term solution and, while tweaks may be needed, trial periods should run their course and be assessed objectively.”

bloody ltns, ambulance something something

— Cavit Erginsoy (@caviterginsoy) March 12, 2024

“Gee, so it wasn’t the LTN that caused the tailbacks,” transport journo Carlton Reid wrote on Twitter this lunchtime. “Who’d’ve thunk it?”

Who’d’ve thunk it indeed, Carlton…

It seems like only a few months since AG2R joined forces with Decathlon and ditched the iconic, if ever so slightly divisive, brown shorts for a clean cut blue, white, and black look.

Well, that’s because it was only a few months ago.

But today, for some reason – that reason being Decathlon’s quite minimal rebranding and new logo – the French squad has unveiled their second kit design overhaul of 2024:

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE TEAM (@decathlonag2rlamondiale)

I have to say, despite the absurdity of releasing a new kit when the old new one had barely made it through Paris-Nice, I quite like its vaguely cosmic stylings.

Although as some people have already pointed out on social media, the varying shades of blue and different coloured sleeve is giving off strong Israel-Premier Tech vibes. And does the 2024 peloton really need another dark blue-dominated jersey?

Bring back the brown shorts, I say!

Team GB will have the roundest wheels, slippiest frames, and most aerodynamic clothing at the Paris Olympics this summer, the squad’s performance director has claimed.

Among the 64 pieces of kit registered by Great Britain and homologated with the UCI at last year’s Glasgow world championships – which marked the cut-off for new pieces of tech and kit ahead of the Olympics – sit a 3D-printed frame, the updated Hope-Lotus HBT bike, and new skinsuits, some of which will remain under wraps until Paris.

“For those of us that are into tech, it’s quite interesting times,” GB performance director Stephen Park says.

“Some pieces of equipment are limited and set by that homologation. Some have some degrees of freedom within them. It’s even more so on the apparel side, the clothing side.”

> Lotus and Hope reveal new British Olympic track bike: what’s going on with that seatpost?

Park also confirmed that the new Hope-Lotus bike, which has been raced just once in Glashow, will not be used again until the first race of the Olympics, and that there will “certainly be some 3D-printed products involved in the line-up”.

While noting that Team GB will also take advantage of pieces of equipment homologated by other nations, Park maintained – with a not-so-subtle reference to Dave Brailsford’s infamous 2012 remark that Britain’s success on the track owed to the squad’s “specially round wheels” – that the team will “still make sure we’ve got rounder wheels than everyone else”.

“[We’ll also have] slippier frames than everyone else, and hopefully better apparel than everyone else,” he continued.

“I am confident that, when we go to Paris, no other team will have an equipment and an apparel set-up that will be better than the one that we will be able to provide our riders to give them the best opportunity to deliver their best on the day.”

> Halfords donates state-of-the-art wind tunnel to British Cycling

Thanks to the £1 wind tunnel donated by Halfords back in 2021, formerly of the Boardman Performance Centre but now located near BC HQ in Manchester, Park added that “we've been able to run lots more tests and positioning than we’ve ever done before. We’ve been able to offer it to the Paralympic riders, which we’ve never done before. That has provided us with a great opportunity to progress testing.

“You’re still looking for every half a percent. It’s a challenge, but it’s a good one. We’ve got some really smart people doing some really good work in that space. I’d be quite happy if I was a rider.”

Maybe Kate’s Photoshopping skills were a bit off simply because she was riding her bike at the time?

Quick, someone get me Kensington Palace on the phone, we’ve cracked it!