“Completely made up”: Cycling page with thousands of followers spreads bizarre fake stories, including one claiming Tadej Pogačar confronted by Greta Thunberg during TV interview; Incredibly serious Zwift safety concerns… (not) + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Completely made up": Cycling page with thousands of followers spreads bizarre fake stories, including one claiming Tadej Pogačar clashed with Greta Thunberg during a TV interview
Here’s a rather bizarre start to Thursday for you: a Facebook page presenting itself as a news site appears to be chasing engagement with completely made-up ‘stories’ about pro cyclists.
The reviews of the page from fed-up people who keep seeing the posts on their feed include plenty of mentions of ‘fake news’, but this week’s (now deleted) one has attracted particular attention for claiming Tadej Pogačar “was unexpectedly interrupted” by Greta Thunberg during a TV interview and “was publicly called a ‘traitor’ for refusing to join a LGBTQ+ awareness and climate change campaign”.
We told you it was bizarre.
Now, it would be all too easy to dismiss this. Who could possibly believe that’s true? But the page in question has thousands of followers (enough to fill most League One football clubs’ stadiums) and the comments and reactions suggested some were taking the ‘news’ seriously.
Furthermore, as cycling journalist Peter Stuart pointed out on in a post on LinkedIn, the fake post was then appearing in Google’s AI overview.
“Pogačar was allegedly interrupted by activist Greta Thunberg during a live television appearance,” the AI Overview told readers searching for any news about Pogačar and Thunberg.
“Reports suggest Thunberg criticised Pogačar regarding environmental campaign participation, to which the cyclist responded calmly, causing the studio audience to applaud him.”
Fortunately the discussion around the page’s fake stories, and Google AI’s interpretation of them, means it now flags it all as made-up, but what strange times we’re living through…
Was there ever any doubt?
Different bike, same outcome 👊🏻
Despite last-minute changes from TT bikes to road bikes, time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel still won Stage 2 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana ahead of teammate Aleksandr Vlasov 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/vwgf4c6tCc
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) February 5, 2026
Racing round-up: Lorena Wiebes gets 2026 underway with a win, but Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana time trial neutralised due to strong wins
Wiebes wins with ease 😮💨
Lorena Wiebes proved once again she’s the woman to beat in the sprints, delivering another imperious performance to take her 119th career win on Stage 1 of the UAE Women’s Tour 💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/D39RCFz1kr
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) February 5, 2026
The sprint queen is up and running in 2026. New year, same result, this first stage of the UAE Women’s Tour all too familiar for every other team trying to get Wiebes beat. Just look at that gap back to Lara Gillespie and Zoe Bäckstedt.
Over in Spain, the TT at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana has been neutralised amid strong winds and reports of roadside barriers being blown over. The stage win is still up for grabs and Remco Evenepoel has just rolled down the start ramp as we speak. He’ll have to beat Brandon McNulty’s 20.47, so we should know fairly soon.
On the decision to neutralise the GC, the organisers confirmed: “As a result of the safety protocol meeting, comprising the various departments previously communicated, and following a thorough analysis of the situation and the conditions under which the stage will be conducted, the decision has been taken to proceed with the start in accordance to the planned route.
“Nevertheless, it has been agreed that the times recorded will not count towards the general classification. The stage will have a stage winner, and the corresponding podium ceremony will be held in accordance with the established protocol.”
British cycling clothing brand Le Col bought by Head Group, months on from founder's departure following years of heavy losses
Common sense prevails (for now)... Ineos Grenadiers don black shorts
View this post on Instagram
The grey/white ones are gone and Ineos are back in black. Maybe someone’s pointed out to a chief bean-counter behind-the-scenes just how much extra washing the white ones would have meant? Those controversial shorts did get an outing in Aus recently, but the reality of European weather vs summer Down Under might have forced their hand.
Pro cyclist struck by speeding 100kph driver in alleged hit and run – despite being "perfectly visible" with hi-vis jersey and flashing light
"Not the best start to the year, but I'll bounce back": Mads Pedersen breaks collarbone and wrist in crash in first race of the season, faces disrupted classics prep
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A tough start to 2026 for Mads Pedersen, the Dane crashing and breaking his collarbone and wrist on stage one of Volta a la Communitat Valenciana.
Pedersen is undergoing surgery on his collarbone today, the wrist injury not believed to require an operation as things stand.
It all puts his spring classics campaign up in the air, at the very least disrupting his early-season racing and prep for the cobbles.
“Not the best start of the year,” Pedersen wrote on Instagram. “I’ll bounce back.”
Lime bike boss proposes adjusting traffic lights "to reward safe cyclists"
But can Matt Richardson do this?
Dutch cyclist Piet Van Kempen having breakfast at a six-day event in 1936
📷Derek Berwin
— Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 4 February 2026 at 17:48
European Track Championships: Matt Richardson ends Harrie Lavreysen's seven-year winning run + Josie Knight breaks individual pursuit world record
It was another successful day for the Brits in Konya at the 2026 UEC Track Elite European Championships, Josie Knight and Matt Richardson adding another two gold medals to the tally. Great Britain sit at the top of the leaderboard heading into the final day of competition.
Richardson ended world champion Harrie Lavreysen’s unbeaten run in the sprint, this the first time that Dutchman has lost the event since 2019. Lavreysen took the first race before Richardson landed the second, the first time he’s ever beaten the 19-time world champion over the line.
In the decider, Richardson launched with one lap to go and held off Lavreysen to take a stunning win.
“It was hopefully an exciting final for the people watching at home,” Richardson said afterwards. “I certainly enjoyed myself; It was a really hard-fought battle. I’ve been working on trying to beat Harrie for many many years and always fell a little bit short so it’s really satisfying to finally get on that top step. I’m really proud to be able to wear this jersey for the next year and I’m going to enjoy it a lot.”
Elsewhere, Josie Knight regained the European individual pursuit title, setting a world record in the process. Knight’s time of 4:19.461 took 4.181 seconds off Vittoria Bussi’s previous record from May 2025. Teammate Millie Couzens won bronze to make it a British 1-3 on the podium.
Incredibly serious Zwift safety concerns... (not)
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Of course drivers need to be responsible and take care but we are in danger of getting a bit high and mighty when police raise issues like this. Since the clocks went back last weekend, I have been commuting home this week in the dark for the first time this year. I am gobsmacked by the number of cyclists I see who have no lights and no reflective gear, often with no helmets either. It's common sense to take precautions and we've got our head in the sand if we pretend all cyclists are taking appropriate steps to protect themselves and others.
@mdavidford was about to ask them if they thought the law should also been changed to ban the LAs from doing that, so as to save money...
@Rendel Harris sentencing is Monday. 15 yrs minimum (not premeditated) but multiple aggravating factors. 20+ feels appropriate
@kinderje Murder attracts a mandatory life sentence, so that can't be changed, although it will be interesting to see what the judge sets as the mandatory minimum term before parole can be considered.
@Gd29 All of those are factors that could be influential however you do not address the fact that the dependent variable has shown a fall against the control variable. If the control variable had fallen at the same rate as the dependent variable certainly that would require investigation, but it hasn't. If we regard 20 mph limits in Wales as an experiment, we can say that the conditions of the experiment were such that only one change was made that didn't affect all of the roads in the experiment and a significant result has ensued from that change. That is evidence. I see nothing to indicate that you want to kill all cyclists, however.
@kingleo yup - nary a bar or local business to be seen I tell you!
@Rendel Harris "Justice is properly done" - maybe! Unfortunately we are yet to hear the sentence and I hope this isn't another 'it was only a cyclist' type.
@Rendel Harris horrific case. Yet only the 6th item on the BBC news website, after an article on the Traitors TV show.
@mdavidford Good point, I meant and should have said conclusive, or proof as you suggest. :)
@Rendel Harris If there are no other variables. Be mindful of those that present such simple arguments as evidence. If there is no consideration for frequency of car usage, frequency of bicycle usage etc. then the stats can only be said "appear to suggest", as correctly stated by the road.cc author. These stats include the era of the post Iran fuel price spike of 40%, where car usage has fallen. Which could skew the numbers unless the stats are adjust by number of journeys, road users etc. For what it's worth I just want to point out potential abuse of stats. Not an opinion on 20mph zones or a desire to kill cyclists as some might contort it to be.
6 thoughts on ““Completely made up”: Cycling page with thousands of followers spreads bizarre fake stories, including one claiming Tadej Pogačar confronted by Greta Thunberg during TV interview; Incredibly serious Zwift safety concerns… (not) + more on the live blog”
I think perhaps you meant the first time that he’s not failed to lose it.
Didn’t we see Van Kempen’s bike on the blog a couple of weeks ago?
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-22-january-2026-317755#Mother%20of%20God!
It appears the Irish government previously discussed plans to make helmets and hiviz mandatory for ebikes and escooters are being extended to apply to bicycles too: https://irishcycle.com/2026/02/04/all-bicycles-included-in-draft-plan-for-mandatory-helmets-and-high-vis-department-confirms/
Write to your TDs now!
https://road.cc/content/news/ireland-introduce-helmet-and-hi-vis-laws-cyclists-317819
Check the dates. That road.cc article is from January 26th, and the Irishcycle article is from February 4th. As the Irishcycle article states:
” today was the first time that they have made it clear that all bicycles are included in the draft plans”.
I.e., this story has developed since the road.cc article you’ve referred to.
That wouldn’t surprise me :-/
Maybe you should update the previous thread, it’ll probably be lost in here.