Driver with 44 driving convictions given 3 month disqualification for “deliberate punishment pass”… after cyclist uses bike box on the road; Albert Einstein’s saddle up for auction; Giro TT coverage + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
A close pass to remember
Today’s blog kicks off with some rather strong language and a terrible near miss. road.cc reader John has tagged us in this shocking video from his commute between Carrigaline and Cork.
The white BMW driver stops at a red light right on the edge of the bike box before John gets going again.
But it doesn’t take long for the driver, on a rather narrow road through the village to attempt to overtake before reaching the parked cars on the opposite side of the road. The result is a very close pass, captured on John’s 360 degree camera.
John subsequently pulls over when he sees the BMW parked, and waits for the owner to return. We then see an edited version of their exchange:
“Do you want to see a video of it?”
“I drive every day of the week.”
“It’s a 360 degree camera that shows you going from behind and forward.”
“No problem.”
“You came within a foot of my right-hand side.”
“That’s right, and you came over the barriers.”
“I did at the start [the junction] because I’m supposed to.”
“You came out into the lane at the lights.”
“I did what I’m supposed to, that’s what that bike box is for.”
For someone who drives every day of the week, a worrying level of ignorance becomes apparent as the exchange progresses. The video ends with John telling him he would report the close pass to the Gardai (Irish Police).
> Near Miss of the Day 946: £1,000 fine after impatient driver close passes cyclist
Thankfully, we have a resolution to this story in the YouTube video description:
“This driver received a careless driving conviction, €500 fine, 5 points and disqualified for 3 months for deliberate punishment pass on the cyclist. He admitted on camera his actions were deliberate due to the cyclists use of the bike box. You’d think with 44 previous road traffic convictions he’d have tried to keep his head down.”
You have to wonder how other drivers, let alone cyclists would feel if they knew they were sharing the road with someone carrying 44 road traffic convictions, someone continuing to drive every day of the week. Anyway, how someone doesn’t know what a bike box is (a box for cyclists, as indicated by the painted bicycle) is slightly beyond me…
Giro GC results
2026 Giro d’Italia GC after stage 10 ITT (Image Credit: FirstCycling)
My prediction that Afonso Eulalio could win this Giro d’Italia are looking rather good to me. As I said, he probably won’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that the teams were playing with fire in letting him get up the road.
Meanwhile, Gall will be pleased Red Bull underperformed and optimistic, based on his recent climbing form, that he could reclaim a podium place in the second half of the race. Netcompany-Ineos and Tudor’s team leadership has been clarified, whilst Red Bull’s has become more confused. The riders 15th to 19th will be prime targets for getting in breakaways, either for stage glory, or a GC parachute mission.
What do you do when a bike lane is blocked by parked cars?
One for the motornormativity hive-mind. If you said, ‘rip it up and start again (as a car park)’, I would complain you’ve put an 80s earworm in my head. But I’d also, unfortunately, have to award you top marks…
Giro: Ganna wins, Eulalio holds on!
Wow wow wow, Afonso Eulalio has held on to the pink jersey!
Jonas Vingegaard would have hoped for a better performance today, he’s finished , slower than Arensman, Gee-West, O’Connor and even David de la Cruz. He’s lost a minute to Arensman, but gained 30 seconds on Hindley and 1’22” a sweaty, disgruntled Felix Gall. The Austrian struggled today, his lack of visor giving us an intimate picture of his suffering. He is not a happy man.
But Eulalio! The man who had never finished inside the top-50 of a TT outside Portugal, comes in in 39th, and keeps pink by more than 20 seconds by my calculations! What a performance, a fantastic ride for the diminuitive climber.
Giro: Arensmania!
What a ride by Thymen Arensman! His shoulders rocking and rolling over the bike, he comes across the finish line five seconds faster than Remi Cavagna in second place. It looks like a Netcompany-Ineos 1-2 on the stage!
Both he and Ben O’Connor are the big winners today, at the expense of Felix Gall and Jai Hindley. Could they be the strongest rivals to Vingegaard for the overall? Hindley comes to the line and finishes 21st, 13 seconds slower than his ill teammate Pellizzari.
Giro: Curse of the organiser's skinsuit?
Jonas Vingegaard is faltering. This is all relative of course, but it would have been the day he expected to take the pink jersey. But through the second time check he’s 30 seconds behind Arensman and 8 seconds behind Gee-West and O’Connor.
He’s put a minute into Gall, and making the most of the sub-par Red Bull duo, but Afonso Eulalio has only lost 1’30 on the Dane over the first two thirds of the course. Could the Portuguese rider hold on? Remember he had 2’24” over Vingegaard at the start of the day.
Giro: Store-naissance
Wow, I’ll eat my words, Storer has put in a great second-half of that TT, to finish 13th provisionally, matching several TT specialists. Young Beloki might have to wait a while to crack the first page of GC.
Here comes Pellizzari to the finish and it’s not looking great, slower than Storer and Beloki, he’ll be losing a lot of time to Arensman and O’Connor. If he’s under the weather, then I think it’s goodbye to his chances of the podium in Rome. Hindley is almost matching his teammate at the second intermediate point.
Fellow Perth boy O’Connor might have mis-paced his effort, having led Gee-West at earlier splits, he comes in in 10th place, some 25 seconds behind the Canadian. Still an impressive ride however.
Giro: Gee's GC benchmark
Derek Gee-West has just crossed the finish line in a provisional 4th place, 2’16” slower than Ganna. That’s a fast time and feels like a very good benchmark for deciding if a rider is going well or now.
Thymen Arensman is going very well indeed, beating Remi Cavagna into second at the first intermediate split. Him and Ben O’Connor are both faster than Gee-West. Things are not looking so good for Red Bull or Tudor though. Hindley and Pellizzari are losing time and could be seeing their podium times go up in smoke. Meanwhile Mathys Rondel and Michael Storer are at risk of dropping out of the top-10, with Markel Beloki (yep, son of that Beloki) riding very well is giving them a run for their money.
Vingegaard meanwhile comes through the timesplit and is slower than both Arensman and O’Connor! He’s still put 30 seconds into Gall though.
A reminder: At 42km this is the longest TT in a Grand Tour we’ve seen for 11 seasons, some riders have never done an effort like this in a pro race before!
Giro: Final riders starting
Rob Hatch has just said there is an ‘hour of power’ remaining, done a promotion for something superman-related on HBO, and then wondered aloud if time trialling is Christian Scaroni’s kryptonite. This is commentary as you’ve never heard it before.
The final riders are on the start ramp, both Red Bull riders have started, and will be keen to show the rumoured stomach bug going round is not damaging their podium hopes. Hindley will be hoping to gain on Gall, but both men will be worried by Thymen Arensman who you would expect to gain time on each of them.
Gall’s chances are not helped aesthetically by a wide helmet and a lack of visor. Time to call the fashion police. Saying that, Vingegaard has opted for his own wide, red helmet which clashes badly with his blue skinsuit of the mountains jersey leader.
Finally there’s race leader Eulalio. Smiling and waving on the ramp he seems relaxed, but it will have to be one hell of a performance if he’s to hang on to pink. He’s such a small rider he can get aero but can he put out enough power?
In terms of time checks so far, Derek Gee-West is riding very well, and has the sixth fastest time at the second intermediate point. that would have put him in the hotseat a few hours ago. Ben O’Connor has also started very fast and at the first time check is faster than any other GC rider so far.
The same can’t be said for Giulio Pellizzari, at the first split he’s level with an out-of-sorts Egan Bernal in 20th place.
Just because you can do something...
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Giro: Other specialists fall short
It’s a second fastest time for Remi Cavagna, just inside two minutes slower than Filippo Ganna. No one on course looks close to touching the TGV’s time, let alone the race leader.
But we’re now getting towards the lower end of GC contenders. Derek Gee-West, 14th overall after his crash in Bulgaria, is setting off in a few minutes. The top-15 are all setting off at three minute intervals rather than one in an effort to reduce drafting among the race favourites. You might think that works to Filippo Ganna’s advantage, but it can have its drawbacks as Jonathan Milan discovered earlier today…
🟦 Blue flag?????
📺 Follow the #Giroditalia on TV, and on socials, wherever you are 🌐 pic.twitter.com/Y4VcZ7mTNi
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 19, 2026
Giro: Top Ganna strikes again
Was it ever in doubt? Filippo Ganna has smashed the provisional fastest time by more than two minutes to take over in the hotseat, finishing his 42km effort in 45’53”. Poor Sjoerd Bax.
Remi Cavagna looks like he’ll go provisionally second fastest based on his times through the checkpoints so far. But it’s going to take a hell of a lot for someone (i.e. Vingegaard) to beat the Italian. And I think my hopes of Eulalio hanging on to pink could be hanging by a thread based on some of these time gaps we’re seeing between rouleurs!
Giro livestream... briefly
The race organisers have somehow wrangled the rights to make today’s Giro stage free to the world! Ned Boulting and Jacopo Guarnieri are the commentators…
For the first two hours at least, then just as Filippo Ganna approached the line it went offline. Maybe someone in the sweaty commentary box pressed the wrong button and forgot to geo-restrict the stage. In any event, all the preview and polemica you could possibly want is here for posterity
New “safe” road scheme will push cyclists and pedestrians into conflict and fail to slow drivers
Non-compliant cycle infrastructure? There’s one for the Bingo card…
Giro: Ganna flying
Filippo Ganna is resplendent in the colours of Italian National Champion, and absolutely flying. It took him only eight minutes to catch his minute man Cyril Barthe, and 12 minutes to catch his two minute man, points classification leader Paul Magnier.
The first man to finish this course, Lidl-Trek’s Max Walscheid is currently in the hotseat, but live tracking already has Ganna more than 30 seconds up on the Big German’s time. Meanwhile Mikkel Bjerg and Remi Cavagna are both out on the course.
Einstein saddle for sale
Albert Einstein’s saddle is up for sale. The Ludwig Nelson Fahrradbau seat, dated to 1929, is expected to fetch between £7000 and £10,000 and will be auctioned in Gloucestershire tomorrow.
The lot is complete with the order form signed by the German physicist, containing Einstein’s signature and home address.
Shortly before fleeing Germany in 1932, Einstein gave the saddle – along with a bike and other papers – to fellow Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max von Laue.
Von Laue discarded the bike, but the saddle was preserved because it was “so comfortable”. He later gifted the saddle away before a family descendent of the recipient chose to put it up for sale.
Chris Albury, Senior Auctioneer & Valuer at Dominic Winter Auctioneers, said: “We are delighted to present a deeply personal object that belonged to Albert Einstein, one of the world’s greatest minds. It is something he actively used in his daily life and therefore offers a tangible link to one of the most important figures in scientific history.”
We even have a quote from Albert himself on the merits of the bicycle, writing to his son Eduard in 1930: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
What do riders do on a rest day?
Medium-length content is taking off! First came a two and a half minute video from a slightly mad person talking about Afonso Eulalio, then came a five minute effort from former Vuelta third place Jack Haig, expanding his ‘content creation’ with a rest day vlog. Whatever could be next?
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FEEDBACK WANTED!
We want your thoughts, you want a new bike. This seems ideal…
Lime bikes abound in Hackney
When you have a half marathon to run, you might as well warm up on two wheels.
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Wonder if anyone brought some swimming goggles?
Giro TT preview: Ganna guns for glory, Ving hunts pink
One of my favourite subsets of race scenarios is a time trial where the race leader unexpectedly hangs on to their jersey, the power of being the last rider out propelling them them to career best performances.
I’m not talking about Pog or Ving winning in yellow, that doesn’t cut the mustard. I’m talking about Sepp Kuss holding on in the 2023 Vuelta a Espana despite Vingegaard and Roglic biting at his heels. I’m talking Lukas Pöstlberger collapsing over the finish line after delivering the TT of his life to hang on to the yellow jersey at the Criterium du Dauphine by a single second. Inject it into my veins!
Rest Day Notes from the Giro.
Something about Hope.https://t.co/79beC8X8cS pic.twitter.com/dMvmNKe3cX
— Never Strays Far (@neverstraysfar) May 18, 2026
Today, Afonso Eulalio has the opportunity to join that rather illustrious club that definitely just exists in my head. He was spotted by ex-ITV commentator (and my Road Book editor) Ned Boulting on a recon yesterday. Over today’s 42km course, the diminutive Portuguese climber is all but assured to lose two minutes, but if Vingegaard is on a good day it could be more than three. Will he hang on to pink with a 2’26” advantage on the start ramp? Will the maglia rosa on his shoulders be enough to propel him into a podium contender?
> Blog: GC favourites bet on youthful inexperience at the Giro
Today’s pan-flat course is one for the ‘bigger riders’ and, as the only TT in this year’s Giro, it represents Filippo Ganna’s best hope of an eighth Giro stage win and a seventh against the clock. The Italian has been rather anonymous so far in the race so will be hoping his fresher legs pay off against the race-weary GC favourites.
The other TT/rouleur specialists worthy of mention include Remi Cavagna, Matteo Sobrero, Mikkel Bjerg, Niklas Larsen and veteran Nelson Oliveira.
Of the GC riders, Vingegaard is well-placed to cement his GC lead over Felix Gall, with the Austrian having historically struggled in the discipline. Vingegaard will have to complete his effort in the race-provided mountains jersey though – shock horror! Red Bull have invested a lot in aerodynamics and will be hoping Jai Hindley can close in on the podium whilst Giulio Pellizzari can bounce back from his ‘stomach problems’ of Sunday that saw him lose a minute on his rivals. Thymen Arensman, Ben O’Connor and Derek Gee-West will be hoping to go G-whizz and move up overall.
The riders will head out on the course in reverse order, with maglia nero Frank van den Broek rolling down the start ramp in the next hour and a bit. I’ll keep track of the times as they come in!
Don't try this at home
When Bob Ross brought wet-on-wet painting to the masses, I doubt he envisioned his technique being taken on quite like this…
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If this doesn’t quench your thirst for two-wheel painting, there’s more to admire on the instagram account. Although, admire might be too strong a word.
Nine pockets, Jeremy? Nine? That's insane...
Rapha’s new Brevet collection offers a performance edge without compromising comfort, apparently. Oh and did we mention there are nine pockets across the jersey and bib shorts? Emily has the full write-up:
> Want pockets on your kit? Have nine! Rapha updates its Brevet long-distance collection
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Or mostly here for some "specific belief bingo" (see their entry earlier)? "Tell me the issue and I'll explain how it's down to cultural weakness (wokeness)"?
‘ though customers now have the option of paying £311 upfront to bring that down to £25.99 per month instead of 30.99 per month’ So it takes about 5 years to break even? Blimey - that’s not a very good deal. Use a VPN. I watch RAI but there must be English speaking channels somewhere in the world that broadcast for free. I don’t want to sound too old fashioned and leftie, but these huge US media corporations are poisonous. They are actually killing choice and sucking us into a US hegemony (as if we are not already in one)
The bottom line remains unchanged after all those years, in spite of the marketing hype: - either use oil and deal with black goo - or use a wax and deal with frequent re-application I'm a wax guy. Never been able to duplicate those 'lasts for 400 km when dry' blurbs. 150-200 in dry conditions is more realistic. In the wet, eat your hat after 50 km. Still, for me it's worth it.
“Unleash bare strength”. How about unleash bare knuckles, open wounds and sprained ankles.
Ha! Your bike is still a puppy! Me and some friends exclusively ride 90s mountain bikes. 30 to 35 years old, full rigid, rim brakes… and we love it. t 56 years old, I can still keep up with most other riders who are younger and on modern, more capable bikes. No need or desire for anything more modern.
Thanks for featuring this absolute GOAT of mountain biking!
@jackcycles I'll try my best not to fight anyone unless my safety or that of another person is at risk, but in any case, not quite sure how you've managed to get from "I wouldn't fight this very large clearly psychopathic probably drugged bloke who might very well have a weapon and has a mate who could join in" to "admitting" I'd only fight women and children. Actually, I am sure, it's because you're a troll. Suspected as much from your first appearances here but gradually been more confirmed and that utterly imbecilic comment seals it.
@Hirsute I have no experience of Essex Police, but I know a lot about the attitudes of officers in Lancashire Constabulary. They don't consider motoring offences to be real offences, especially if they're offences against cyclists. This is odd, because there are very few cyclists up here in North Lancashire and not much active travel for the specific purpose of getting to a specific place, beyond walking short distances. If this assault case had been in Lancashire, I would be pretty sure tha the police are deliberately not trying very hard to catch the offender, because they think the cyclist was 'asking for it' by just being there, and is now 'asking for it' by having initially reported it and for repeatedly pestering the police about what they consider to be a trivial offence.
@jackcycles That, in turn, is a very odd thing to say.
Bit of an odd thing to say. You're basically admitting you'd only fight women and children.
14 thoughts on “Driver with 44 driving convictions given 3 month disqualification for “deliberate punishment pass”… after cyclist uses bike box on the road; Albert Einstein’s saddle up for auction; Giro TT coverage + more on the live blog”
44 previous convictions and not already disqualified?
Tell us the system isn’t working without telling us.
And which motor insurer is providing cover for this individual and for how much?
@mitsky 44! AND he drivers every day….
@Daveyraveygravey Well if he only drove once a week he would probably only have 6.5 convictions
@mitsky I don’t think you understand, he needs to drive to provide for his family. His need to drive is much more important than anyone elses right not to be put in danger by his shit driving. He clearly cares deeply about providing for his family as well because he keeps driving like a complete twat.
The 44 convictions are for what he has been caught doing. Imagine what he has got away with!
external OLED displays front+rear displaying RTA offenses, penalty points accrued, current GPS speed and tyre tread depth in mm.
Surely mostly redundant already? Can’t we check that now via apps on the binnacle display in our Teslas / on our smart glasses? Or even on our phones on the handlebars?
(Grr…)
@the infamous grouse Here in the UK our authorities can’t even be bothered to enforce against the sale and use of non-standard number plates. So what chance of such a display? And actually displaying correct information and not hacked? Despite stats that show how deadly driving is it seems to be a treated as a game for many motorists, but also by the justice system. You even score points. Given the risks drivers take with their own and others’ lives maybe dashboards should have a GambleAware notice on them?
I don’t know why road.cc has to make a point of the BMW driver’s ethnicity.
With 44 convictions, this motorist is a road delinquant. Yet he’s allowed to drive every day. Until he kills someone. Receives a suspended sentence. And hits the road again.
What are the details of the other 44 convictions?
With regards to the bike box, a taxi pulled up alongside me at red lights in one in Plymouth. I asked him why he had freely stopped in the bike box and he said he was not aware of such a thing. I explained it had a big drawing of a bike on it and he just shrugged and repeated he had never heard of it. A police car was two cars back and did nothing. I submitted a FoI request to D&C Police and no surprise that in the previous five years there had been no offences recorded of deliberately stopping in a bike box. So what is the point?
@Jigzy99 In London I was informed some time ago by the police that they would not be taking action against drivers going into an ASZ unless they were filling it both longitudinally (so it’s okay to go over the stop line as long as you don’t drive all the way into the box) and laterally (so if it’s a box stretching over two lanes it’s okay to fill one of the lanes) and the video clearly showed them driving into the box with the lights on red. Given this clear desire not to do their job of policing the law I was not entirely surprised when my last submission was NFA’d, even though the vehicle (huge SUV) was completely filling the box and I was following them as they drove up to the clearly visible red that had changed at least five seconds earlier and that it could be clearly heard on the audio that I asked the driver, “Are you aware that this box is supposed to be for bicycles only?” and he replied, “Yes I am and I don’t give a fuck.”
The advance cycle signals here are largely pointless because the ASL is almost invariably occupied. If you challenge them, mostly they’ll tell you they’re sorry but they were just trying to keep the junction clear. They’re right that, if you stop where you’re supposed to, in combination with parked cars both sides, traffic turning into the road can’t pass. But what they fail to understand is that there only needs to be one car queuing behind them before that happens anyway. Meanwhile, they’ve blocked the dedicated space for vulnerable road users. First world problems I know, but it boils my p***.