“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
View this post on Instagram
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)
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £2.49. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
6 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
@chrisonabike True, things went back to normal once the pandemic was over. In this case, however the problems are still ongoing, and aren't likely to be resolved in the near future. If anything, they're going to get worse. Food shortages are predicted because of the effect that the heatwave has had on crops. This is bound to push prices up. The Straits of Hormuz aren't likely to reopen anytime soon and the strategic oil reserves are running low. Russia is having to import petrol because its own refineries have been badly hit, so that's even more competition for an even more scarce resource. I think that more and more people are going to see cycling as a way of cutting household bills.
I think if "grown up" cyclists * are quibbling about ASLs we've very much missed the road safety point anyway. (Not to mention the wider "better transport choices" picture). ASLs are poor-to-useless "cycling infra", even for their design intent. If the idea is "for less confident cyclists" then a design that requires that you re-position in front of the motor traffic - waiting to accelerate - seems unhelpful. Of course they're only designed to help when traffic is stopped, and you can reach the front in time and if vehicles aren't already occupying them. As we're noting here drivers frequently ignore them - whether that be deliberate, a lack of road craft, because they were concentrating on following the vehicle in front, or because the paint has rubbed off. * Aside: shouldn't cycling also be safe and accessible for kids? Or should they only be allowed to do this when accompanied by sufficient qualified adults? Or be limited to parks and otherwise being driven around by their carers? Perhaps there is another way...?
Hi Bungle, I saw you follow-up comment. I can't imaging there's a tolerance of 4 seconds on camera enforced lights, seems an odd decision - an offence is committed if a vehicle starts crossing on a red, any tolerance is discretionary. There does seem to be some odd thinking about 'advanced stop lines' where the rules relating to them are identical to a regular stop line, as explained correctly elsewhere in the Highway Code. It does seem a regular offence. Where I live it doesn't help that some of them are very faint and disappear in rain.
@ktache Not sure he's totally ruled out of the worlds yet (though I think it would be best if he doesn't), normal recovery time is about eight weeks but surgery can halve that...depending on the nature of the break he could be just about fit to ride by the time of the elite men's race, but he'll have missed a lot of training. Hopefully his managers and team will persuade him to wait until Lombardia, if not just to knock it off for the rest of the year.
@Bungle_52 The Met told me a couple of years ago when rejecting a submission that they needed a clear three seconds of red visible before they would consider it for an RLJ prosecution. I pointed out to them that this meant that at 30 mph a driver could see a light change to red from 40 metres away and still get through without sanction, or 55 m if they accelerated to 40 as most do. They just replied "them's our rules..."
@Ben Graham I have just checked the footage from my report. The driver crosses the 1st stop line 4 seconds after the light turns red. All on camera from behind the vehicle. No further action. So I assume the margin is at least 4 seconds.
Oh, and active travel funding per head (in England at least) is laughable compared to other places. Plus it is delivered intermittently. It's more like a Blue Peter contest...
Yup, I see those opportunities being missed all the time in Edinburgh. When it gets really bad, dig it all up and put it back down again how it was. Contrast with what seems to happen in NL - when things are dug up the whole thing seems to get a "let's redo this according to the current standards" treatment. They even coordinate with the utilities, so that after a refurb the street isn't immediately dug up again because of leaking pipes / we suddenly realised the new estate being planned for round the corner will want broadband etc. Pros and cons of course - you may wait longer there for changes as smaller changes may be deferred until a major redo is due. (Though in the UK case you likely wouldn't get them at all...) It seems we "can't have nice things" in the UK in part because a) we have greater motor traffic speeds/volumes spead across "streets" / within urban areas b) the funding and organisational responsibility differs. Are we in the "Sam Vimes boots" territory (being too poor to afford better products which not only save money over time but actually work)? There is long term money pressure on LAs and it seems that due to poor construction and maintenance we have to regularly pour money into (pot-)holes in the road. And it seems there's no budget to check up on or enforce adequate standards from utilities work or even private building.
Shame about the world champs defence. Speedy recovery. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/aug/30/tadej-pogacar-vuelta-a-espana-cycling-crash-hospital-stage-nine
I believe the accepted form for this kind of argument is "I know you are, you said you were, but what am I?".
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.