“Stay safe out there”: Pro cyclist harassed by tailgating drivers who “attempted to hit us” and “threw items out their car”; “He has no limits”: Eddy Merckx “speechless” at Tadej Pogačar’s stunning Milan-San Remo victory + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Stay safe out there": Pro cyclist harassed by tailgating drivers who "attempted to hit us" and "threw items out their car"
Some concerning footage filmed by US pro cyclist Luke Fetzer in southern California on Saturday, some aggressive tailgating and throwing of items out a passing car on display in the video.
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Luke explained how the convoy of drivers of a BMW and Corvette had driven aggressively close in the bike lane, thrown items out their cars and later “parked up the road, got out of their cars and attempted to hit us”.
“Beautiful Saturday out in SoCal, just trying to enjoy my first ride back home. If you recognise this BMW or the black and red Corvette in front, they both threw items out their car at me and a buddy,” he explained. “They then parked up the road, got out of their cars and attempted to hit us (and other cyclist) off our bikes by running into traffic and blocking the road.”
Fetzer noted under California law it is illegal to throw and object or substance at a vehicle or its occupants on a roadway, with punishments ranging up to three years in prison.
“Karma always has its way,” he suggested. “Stay safe out there.”
Such was the tailgating from the blue BMW, the rider behind Fetzer decided to bunny-hop out of the bike lane onto the pavement to get away from the driver, only for the driver to then launch a cup full of liquid on the way past. Fetzer hopes sharing pictures of the number plates will help bring about some form of positive action.
Milan-Sanremo will be regarded as the pinnacle of the Pogačar era – and why cycling’s most dominant rider still inspires devotion
"He has no limits": Eddy Merckx "speechless" at Tadej Pogačar's stunning Milan-San Remo victory (+ cycling world still in awe at world champion's historic performance)
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Nobody’s complaining about Saturday being boring, right?
Even by Tadej Pogačar’s mind-bending standards, finally winning Milan-San Remo, coming back from a skinsuit-shredding crash on the approach to the Cipressa — which threw the UAE Team Emirates gameplan into the bin — getting back to the front, launching a typically thermonuclear attack, dropping Mathieu van der Poel on the Poggio, putting the pressure on Tom Pidcock on the descent, all before winning the sprint… Saturday was pretty special.
Tadej Pogačar has won Milano-Sanremo for the first time🔥 pic.twitter.com/9RHKcwNgbm
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) March 21, 2026
You could see the emotion in the world champion afterwards, perhaps mainly relief at not having to return to the race he joked many months ago might be the one that, trying to win, breaks him. It of course means Pogačar is a Paris-Roubaix success away from Monument immortality and Saturday’s performance will only have strengthened his claim to cycling’s ‘greatest of all time’ crown.
Speaking of which, Eddy Merckx admitted the Slovenian’s stunning San Remo success left him “speechless”, the Belgian great telling Eurosport afterwards that he didn’t expect Pogačar to be able to pull that off and the greatest rider of the modern era “has no limits”.
“He made me speechless,” Merckx reacted. “Did I expect him to win like that? Honestly, no. I think this can be considered one of his greatest performances. His reaction after that crash was that of a true champion. That Van der Poel would be dropped on the Poggio surprised me. The fact that Mathieu could not sustain his effort is really Pogačar’s merit.
“Pogačar deserved a San-Remo. It is now clear that he has no limits. What more does he still have to do?”
It could well be one and done at the opening Monument on the calendar, Pogačar more than hinting after his victory that he may well skip the race in future years.
“Maybe next year, I cheer from the TV or the side of the road,” he smiled.
Pidcock reported that’s what Pogačar had told him too, telling the TV interview afterwards that next year he’d have to do a bit more work to escape the bunch. “So, what motorbike am I going to have to sit behind?” the Brit joked, before admitting the main emotion was “disappointment” at having come so close.
Had Pogačar won solo with him second, Pidcock suggested he’d have found the result easier to digest, but, with the winning distance at four centimetres there’s always going to be a feeling of what could have been.
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We’ll leave the final word to long-time cycling journalist Neal Rogers who summed it all up rather nicely on Threads: “Been thinking about Tadej all day. Dude is just one of one. Better than all the Grand Tour riders, better than all the classics specialists. Hard to wrap your head around it. The best bike racer of his generation, likely of all time. Almost certain we will never see a rider like him again in our lifetime.”
£85 Assos aero socks, Rapha and Santini hot-weather jerseys, plus more summer kit from Quoc and Madison
Wholesome Mondays on Instagram
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What else happened this weekend?
Our weekly tech round-up starred Factor and Bugatti’s £18,0000 UCI-illegal collab, which unsurprisingly they reckon is the fastest bike in the world. We also had new shorts from Gobik, new shoes from Fizik and Giro, and a new bag from Apidura…
On the news front, Megan brought us the story about a new bike rack in Oxford… which had only been in place for a week when it was already crashed into by a driver, prompting much local chatter.
There was also the news that Lambeth Council in London is to convert over 130 car parking spaces into e-bike bays, the local authority stating it’s a move to attempt to tackle bikes being abandoned on pavements.
And finally, we’ve got our latest competition up on the site now, so if you fancy being in with a chance of winning a year’s supply of energy products for your 2026 rides, check that out here.
Unlikely pro cycling sponsorship #1,964
The team with two title sponsors, five main sponsors, ten co-sponsors and 28 partners has added another commercial deal, Soudal-Quick Step welcoming Costa Coffee onboard as their 29th partner.
Fans of UK high streets and overpriced service stations rejoice, we’ve hit the big time. CEO of Soudal-Quick Step Jurgen Foré believes Costa’s “ability to deliver that coffee shop taste, wherever you are, fits perfectly with how our teams operate”.
Ethan Hayter’s Costa card is going to be overflowing with points by the time he returns to Britain…
"I am really sore": Greg James sums up that post-epic ride feeling... by doing BBC News interview from the bath
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Nairo Quintana confirms he will retire at the end of the season
With Movistar announcing an impromptu Nairo Quintana press conference ahead of the Volta a Catalunya, it didn’t take Miss Marple to work out there might be a retirement announcement on the cards.
Last evening, the 36-year-old did indeed confirm he is stepping away from the sport at the end of the season.
“Today I look back… and I don’t just see results,” he said. “I see people. I want to thank every teammate, every staff member, every person who stood behind a race, a recovery, a difficult moment.”
The Colombian rider whose palmares includes the 2014 Giro d’Italia, 2016 Vuelta a España, three Tour de France stages, and a host of jaw-dropping climbing performances, says his retirement won’t be a farewell, but the start of something new.
“I’m speaking about a beginning,” he continued. “A new beginning where I want to keep building, create businesses, open opportunities, support both competitive and recreational sport, and give back to people — especially the younger generation — everything that cycling has given me.”
Quintana’s career was, of course, not without controversy. There was the sanction for a tramadol infringement at the 2022 Tour and doping raids during his time with Team Arkéa Samsic. It’s probably quite a safe bet that Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe won’t be invited to the retirement do…
Debora Silvestri suffered five broken ribs and shoulder fracture in shocking Milan-San Remo crash, but team reports rider "in good spirits"
Lotte Kopecky took her Monument tally to five with a first Milan-San Remo win. However, the women’s race was overshadowed by a shocking crash on one of the descents, Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi rider Debora Silvestri plunging over a roadside barrier and suffering a heavy impact on a driveway below.
Her team confirmed yesterday that she suffered broken ribs and a fracture to her shoulder.
A statement said: “After remaining hospitalised under medical supervision overnight, Debora Silvestri continues to evolve favourably. She is in good spirits and with the strength to face her recovery, and she will remain in the hospital in the coming hours to continue being monitored. The team’s medical staff trusts that her condition will continue to improve. From the team, we will continue to report on her progress. Both the cyclist and the team want to sincerely thank all the messages of support and encouragement received in the last hours.”
The crash footage has gone around the world and was shared widely on TV reports and news websites, viewer discretion is advised, it’s as heavy a crash as we’ve seen in a while.
La estremecedora caída de Debora Silvestri durante la #MilanoSanRemo femenina.
🙏 El LABORALKutxaTeam ha informado de que “se encuentra estable” tras ser atendida por los servicios médicos de carrera y de urgencias pic.twitter.com/gdkW9375Hu
— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) March 21, 2026
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@AidanR I wonder how it would change the stats if one looked at deaths per trip? According to the NTS the average person makes 15 cycle trips a year and 357 as a car driver, so 23x more driving trips than cycling ones but 182x the pedestrian deaths so by that calculation cars are 8x more lethal. Take out the 20% of car trips on motorways and you have one death per 51M trips motoring and one death per 487M trips cycling, so motoring becomes almost 10x more lethal. I know one can make statistics do anything one wishes by changing the metrics but that figure seems a more realistic approximation of relative lethality to me. All this of course is before we count all the other deaths caused by motorists that cyclists almost never cause, i.e. motorcycle riders, car passengers etc, almost five times the pedestrian numbers, cars then become 50x more lethal than bikes...
Eh? Does it make it 1.35% easier?
@Rendel Harris I think the reliability of the stats probably goes down the more specific we try and make things, but restricting the comparison to roads with speed limits of 40mph and under (as an imperfect proxy for urban areas) changes the stats from car drivers killing 2.5x pedestrians per mile vs cyclists to 3.3x. A notable increase, but I still find it surprisingly small given the generally higher speed and much greater mass of cars.
@AidanR Fatalities per billion miles overall isn't a very helpful metric though, given that generally cars will cover so many more miles than bicycles on roads that are de facto pedestrian-free even when you don't count motorways. So car drivers killed 364 pedestrians in 2025, cyclists killed two, but with 274 billion non-motorway miles motorists "only" kill one pedestrian every 752M miles, cyclists with 3.5 billion miles kill one every 1.75 billion miles, so yes, that comes out as motorists only 2.5x more lethal even though they kill 18,000% more pedestrians than cyclists. For a fair comparison you'd have to take out all the miles travelled by cars on roads where they won't encounter pedestrians, i.e. most inter-urban roads, dual carriageways etc, same for bikes obviously but the vast majority of cycling is in the urban environment whereas only 50% of motoring is. Additionally, with no lack of respect for the victims, the number killed by cyclists is so statistically negligible that you can't really draw any solid conclusions.
@AidanR I care less about them, yes it will be costly for society, NHS and benefits when they crash, but it only really affects the offender, it's the other fatal four that causes hazard to others.
@chrisonabike If AI is to be trusted: Cars and LGVs - 35% of pedestrian deaths at junctions Motorbikes - 40% at junctions Buses/coaches and HGVs - 45% at junctions Bicycles - 60% at junctions
@AidanR Buses: as others have pointed out not only are trams more efficient - and often money-saving over the long run, but their predictable paths mean they can be more safely mixed with pedestrians. The very flexibility that people like in buses * likely makes them more of a danger. Of course as an Edinburgh resident I should add that with sufficient ignorance/hubris/graft (take your pick) it's quite possible to make more dangerous tram line designs, very slowly, at an astronomical cost. Indeed if you cock up repeatedly you might even end up deciding to take back existing active travel infra (while sending the line away from destinations and housing concentrations...) "because that should mean fewer complaints". * I've also heard there's a fear of single point of failure / unions holding us to ransom.
If I was to spend £10,000 on a new bike, it most certainly would not have Mavic wheels on it. For that money I would have some nice hand built wheels built by a reputable wheel builder.
@AidanR like all these things though "how it's coded" is a lot of it - IIRC it's "involved in" with those figures. That may be mostly correct but we can't be sure (and the cycling numbers are so low that the stats may need care). More to the point would be "who kills who *where* / doing what". That might point towards eg. making some of the changes seen in NL around minimising interactions between different modes as the speed / mass difference goes up. I've never found the source but IIRC some stat about KSIs from cyclists being more common at junctions has been raised here. Also something done quite differently in NL (and they may have the figures so we can check).
Hopefully Active Travel England take a very careful look at what they apply for in the future. Unfortunately this is a "hurts us more than it hurts you" as AFAICS all they can do is not approve future funding, which of course will likely mean cycle infra doesn't happen. Or it does - but via a "council inventing it here" version of "ineffective or dangerous stuff, spread thin". On which "advisory cycle lane" sounds like they're already on it...
13 thoughts on ““Stay safe out there”: Pro cyclist harassed by tailgating drivers who “attempted to hit us” and “threw items out their car”; “He has no limits”: Eddy Merckx “speechless” at Tadej Pogačar’s stunning Milan-San Remo victory + more on the live blog”
For those interested in what they’re missing out on, TNT coverage-wise, here were the companies that advertised in one single ad break (the one at c.80km to go), which I think tells you a lot about who they *think* is interested in paying to watch MSR.
then
Standard Life
Compare the Market
L’Oreal
Quooker
Hargreaves Lansdown
Shopify
Step One (gents’ underpants)
Vinted (in case you don’t like the underpants, I guess)
Lloyds
They weren’t all full-length adverts, but it did feel like quite a long time away from the early inaction, hence me rewinding and making notes …
… and obviously, programme sponsors either side of those (why can’t I edit my post? the comments software deleted everything between less than / greater than signs)
why can’t I edit my post? the comments software deleted everything between less than / greater than signs
That method is still working for italics, although editing is still not enabled
What a list! To buy an ad slot on TNT companies must have deep pockets. For the records, TNT reported a pre-tax loss of £187.5 million for the 12 months ending 31 July 2024. One may assume their P&L is still in the red.
I’ve seen this 4 cm claim on several outlets today, not sure where it came from but the photo finished camera clearly showed Pogacar winning by half a wheel, so more like 30 cm. It was a brilliant race and an incredible finish, it doesn’t need exaggeration!
It came from Pidcock’s interview in the aftermath (see the embedded video) – he was obviously misinformed, and others have been too lazy to check.
In Pidcock’s defence, the finish line TV camera did once show him winning Amstel Gold by a fraction of a tyre, but the official finish line camera was positioned slightly earlier than the TV camera / line on the road and the win was given to WvA, so I can see how he might believe anything plausible his team told him!
If Pogi doesn’t start MSR in 2027, Pidcock will have to beat MVDP, WVA and a long list of young guns who all will believe in their chances.
You mean all the people he already beat this year?
If Pogi sticks that ripped MSR world champ skinsuit on eBay, it’d make a fortune.
Debora Silvestri should take a leaf out of Arsenal and England winger Saka’s book.
After plunging around 10 feet onto tarmac and breaking 5 ribs etc, she pulled out of the race.
In yesterday’s League Cup Final, Saka banged his head on an opponent’s shoulder. After 30 seconds lying on the ground in agony, when it became clear that no free kick was going to be awarded, he got up and got on with the game.
Women cyclists really need to toughen up.
“…under California law it is illegal to throw and object or substance at a vehicle or its occupants on a roadway, with punishments ranging up to three years in prison.”
“Fetzer hopes sharing pictures of the number plates will help bring about some form of positive action.”
So Shirley sharing the plates WITH THE POLICE will result in the proper action…?
“Council to review city centre cycling”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cvg341zerego
“Delivery bikes face scrutiny amid cycling crackdown”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyx5wxpp5go