“Use COMMON SENSE”: Woman on mobility scooter hit by onrushing peloton, causing spectacular crash + more on the live blog
A racing crash to forget
We start today with what can be diplomatically described as some “underthought out” spectator behaviour. You’re using a mobility scooter, you’ve popped out to see the local junior race and you think “I’d like to move forward to get a better view.”
Only you make the decision to reposition yourself as the peloton is flying past you. The outcome, I suppose, is inevitable.
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The video was shared by FirstCycling’s Eemeli, who follows the European junior scene closely and could provide some useful context…
“This older spectator caused a seriously dangerous incident today at Saarland Trofeo Juniors by trying to get a better look and entering the course while riders were flying past at full speed.
“Fortunately, the riders involved escaped without serious injuries despite some spectacular crashes.
“…but it should go without saying: please NEVER enter the RACE COURSE while riders are approaching. Even a small step onto the road can have serious consequences at these speeds. This was not even the first incident of this kind during the race. Junior racing is already dangerous enough without spectators making it even more dangerous.
“Obviously, incidents like this are almost impossible to eliminate entirely, which is why spectators also have a responsibility to use COMMON SENSE and stay off the race course.”
Hear hear!
Bodge quality out of 10?
Is it a bodge if it works?
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Romain Bardet's return?
I miss Romain Bardet. The plucky French climber who tried to topple the Sky train, fell short but delivered some spectacular stage wins and finally got his hands on the yellow jersey in his final Tour de France in 2024. Good times.
The good news is he’s back! Not content with rocking around on the gravel train, L’Equipe report that the Frenchman is set to join Decathlon CMA-CGM in a staff role supporting Paul Seixas as he prepares to tackle the Tour de France for the first time, with aspirations on the overall title. Bardet knows a thing or two about carrying the nation’s expectations on his shoulders and, be it as a coach or mentor, might be a useful friend to the 19 (Nineteen!) year-old.
Bardet rode for the team for several years under its AG2R-guise, but the team has since internationalised and become one of the wealthiest in the peloton – thanks to all those trampolines, squash rackets and *checks notes* international shipping demands. The team has already moved to sign a squad of experienced domestiques and climbers, and might even drop their star signing, sprinter Olav Kooij, for the big race in July to accommodate Seixas’s rider support. Meanwhile, the team has also made moves off the bike to support Seixas, hiring a veteran L’Equipe journalist to be the Frenchman’s personal press officer. Bardet’s appointment would represent the next step on that journey.
A viral finish line photo
There was one another notable result from the weekend, over at the GP Gippingen in Switzerland. I’ve got a feeling the photos might not end up on Liam Slock’s wall anytime soon, despite it being his first pro victory.
Still, if you’re named after Liam Neeson, how else do you expect to win a race?
Weekend racing round-up: Dauphiné drama, Sprint honing and Blasi's not so blasé rise.
It’s that time of year where there’s loads of racing happening, but it’s all viewed through the prism of the bigger race in a couple of weeks time.
The race formally known as the Criterium du Dauphine wrapped up on the weekend and Isaac Del Toro made history, becoming the first rider in history to win both Tirreno-Adriatico and the *Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes* in the same season, taking back to back summit finishes in a way that reminded me of Mark Padun – something of a deep cut there.
🏆 #TourAuvergneRhoneAlpes 2026 💐
🥇🇲🇽 Isaac Del Toro
🥈🇬🇧 Luke Tuckwell
🥉🇪🇸 Juan Ayuso👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/Y9GPvaMHef
— Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (@tourauverhalpes) June 14, 2026
The weekend was dampened somewhat by a crash involving Paul Seixas, with the Frenchman spending most of the penultimate stage chasing on before losing time to his rivals on Grand Colombier. He abandoned the race not long into yesterday’s final stage. Instead Juan Ayuso was the weekend’s main combatant. First to attack on Saturday, he was caught and passed by the Mexican before riding a more measured race the following day to again finish second up to Plateau de Solaison.
But it wasn’t enough to try and overtake Luke Tuckwell, who started the weekend in yellow after a fantastic ambush on Friday, and then excellently limited his losses to finish second. An outstanding result for the young Aussie.
Meanwhile in Denmark, Jasper Philipsen suggested he’s once again peaking nicely for July, taking victory at the Copenhagen sprint ahead of Tobias Lund. And he didn’t even have Mathieu van der Poel there to lead him out. It should be added though that neither Tim Merlier nor Jonathan Milan could contest the sprint after being caught up in a crash.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) won the 2nd edition of Copenhagen Sprint ahead of Lund and Welsford! 👏🇧🇪 Sadly, Milan and Merlier were caught behind a crash and didn’t contest the sprint. Another ruined race.#CPHSprintpic.twitter.com/Z81NJWU8OM
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) June 14, 2026
In the women’s peloton, it’s been impossible to ignore the rise of ex-triathlete Paula Blasi. First came Amstel Gold, then an unexpected overall victory at the Vuelta a Espana ahead of Anna van der Breggen. And Blasi’s stock continues to rise with her latest victory at the Tour of the Pyrenees. Blasi made her move on Saturday with an attack on the Col du Tourmalet, and won by two minutes. Her teammate Dominika Wlodarczyk won the sprint of the small group of favourites behind and hung on the following day to complete a UAE 1-2. It’s all hotting up!
Paula Blasi wins Stage two of the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées! 👏
A superb ride on the Queen’s stage earns the Spanish rider a solo win over Col du Tourmalet 🗻 pic.twitter.com/whCxNQDTA2
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) June 13, 2026
No one tell Jeremy Vine
London’s Nocturne returned at the weekend and, for all the highlights of criterium racing, this might be the best achievement of them all: a 100-inch (2.54m) high penny farthing. I suspect some stilts are involved somewhere, I just can’t prove it…
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Your road.cc weekend
We may not run the weekend live blog but that doesn’t mean we were busy ruining our sleep patterns trying to watch people kicking pig’s bladders. Not all of us anyway.
Firstly, just as I was clocking off last week, Jill Scott was just getting her weekend’s party started, having finished her utterly bonkers Sport Relief challenge riding and running from London to Sunderland (via Liverpool) in just five days! Find out more about her challenge, and the customised Mercian bike used to do it, here:
Remember when we covered a Reform UK-run council endorsing active travel plans? Well the work has started and the residents aren’t happy…
Why accommodate active travel infrastructure when your car boot sale is being held in a car park that’s been there since before I was even born? Ryan tries to find an answer…
And we’ve got a blog on ebiketips from a rather unpleasant collision involving an illegal electric motorbike:
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@Pub bike - stating "the scrotes will find a way around any rules regardless" is pretty much agreeing with me that introducing new rules around the sale/purchase is the wrong way to tackle the issue. With sufficient traffic policing, the scrotes will get nicked, whereas introducing additional rules is pointless without increasing the enforcement.
@hawkinspeter The scrotes will find a way around any rules regardless. I frequently see riders speeding along with bicycles with enormous motors in the rear wheels where the chainsets have been removed altogether and foot rests have been installed into the bottom bracket. The bill being introduced under the 10 minute rule is about the marketing, sale and supply of them including conversion kits. I suspect it will be difficult to write a bill that simultaneously allows the sale of motorbikes whether electrically powered or not for private off-road use whilst restricting them for on-road use. Better surely to make it really hard to buy any kind of motorbike without it being registered with the DVLA and the keeper having the correct licence and insurance. But the police need play their part as well in stopping the riders and confiscating what they are riding. It is not like they are difficult to spot.
What "tougher regulation"? The clue is in the name: these things are illegal (and, I agree, an absolute menace).
Thanks for the excellent review - I know it's just one Google search away, but I think any bike review in this day and age should include max tyre clearance.
Yesterday, I organised "On Your Bike", a christening of this new cycle spine from Pittville to Bishops Cleeve. Between 11.30 and 14.30, we recorded 539 cyclists using this cycle path whilst the car boot was still busy. Everybody was kept safe and moving by the car boot sale's excellent stewards. I don't see any risk to users of the bike path. I also think its an excellent opportunity for cyclists and other road users to rub shoulders in a positive and friendly way. I cannot see why a cycling community would want to try and stir and stoke friction with an article like this.
"I know in NL they have trialled semi-portable “test stations” to check max motor speeds." Worth noting, the dutch police have long had dynos to test mopeds for power/speed limits. Maybe generally kept at the station usually. But the newer portable ones do not look very different from the one my own moped got tested on at a station in the 90s.
@mctrials23 I agree, these illegal electric motorcycles have considerable advantages for the ne'er-do-well over there more traditional weapon of two-stroke dirt bikes, as you say, easier to store, you could get one up to a flat in a high-rise building easily which you couldn't do with a petrol-powered motorcycle, easy and much cheaper to fuel from any home power socket, no going down the petrol station and risking being caught, way less maintenance, if you can look after a pushbike you can look after one of these, and they are even silent so you can smash them around the woods and recreation grounds without people calling the police having heard the noise. Personally I would say a ban on sales of full-on electric motorcycles like Surrons to anyone who can't provide justification for use, e.g. farmers and other people who demonstrably have enough private land to use them, would be perfectly appropriate.
Adding regulations on the sale of e-bikes simply adds to the enforcement requirement. Meanwhile, increasing (or starting) traffic policing also works to catch a lot of criminal/distracted drivers as well as finding cloned plates etc. If police catch and confiscate a lot of illegal e-motorbikes, then people are going to be less confident of riding them on the roads - it's the current situation of next to no enforcement that creates the environment where people can get away with dangerous riding/driving. To be honest, the bigger problem is still drivers and congestion, so illegal e-motorbikes can be seen as harm reduction, despite the collisions.
Accusing that penny farthing rider of using stilts is a bit of a stretch.
Of course it will help. Theres a reason these are so widespread, they are cheap and east to get hold of. Oiks have always been bashing about on either scooters, dirtbikes etc but these are far more expensive, heavy and unwieldy along with requiring trickier storage than illegal ebikes. There is a reason this has only become more of an issue since cheap, powerful ebikes have become so available.
5 thoughts on ““Use COMMON SENSE”: Woman on mobility scooter hit by onrushing peloton, causing spectacular crash + more on the live blog”
I think that’s a crown farthing, isn’t it?
Regulation isn’t required for the illegal e-motorbike issues – they’re already illegal to use on the roads/pavements, so it’s a question of enforcement. Tougher (or at least some) traffic law enforcement is required, but the police should focus on the biggest problems which to my mind are drivers who are not paying attention or speeding etc.
@hawkinspeter The scrotes will find a way around any rules regardless. I frequently see riders speeding along with bicycles with enormous motors in the rear wheels where the chainsets have been removed altogether and foot rests have been installed into the bottom bracket.
The bill being introduced under the 10 minute rule is about the marketing, sale and supply of them including conversion kits. I suspect it will be difficult to write a bill that simultaneously allows the sale of motorbikes whether electrically powered or not for private off-road use whilst restricting them for on-road use.
Better surely to make it really hard to buy any kind of motorbike without it being registered with the DVLA and the keeper having the correct licence and insurance.
But the police need play their part as well in stopping the riders and confiscating what they are riding. It is not like they are difficult to spot.
@Pub bike – stating “the scrotes will find a way around any rules regardless” is pretty much agreeing with me that introducing new rules around the sale/purchase is the wrong way to tackle the issue. With sufficient traffic policing, the scrotes will get nicked, whereas introducing additional rules is pointless without increasing the enforcement.
Accusing that penny farthing rider of using stilts is a bit of a stretch.