E-bikes seized to tackle bad parking, but no mention of tackling obstructive car parking; Transitional stage could bring first sprint finish at Tour de France + more on the live blog
Daily dose of car dominance
It seems like an own goal on the part of a local authority to allow several hire bike providers to run amok through the borough, and then complain that bikes are being parked on pavements because there is nowhere suitable for the bikes to be parked.
Westminster City Council’s approach, rather than limiting the number of providers or, heck, installing active travel infrastructure to increase the availability of cycle parking bays, is a bit nuclear, seizing all bikes they consider to be “dangerously parked.”
It’s hard to know what the council think will happen having seized the bikes, other than there now being a potential shortage in supply that forces people to travel less sustainably.
And they must know that there are limits on the size and scope of infrastructure (parking bays) that these companies can construct, given that such construction is typically bogged down in debates about taking from pedestrian space. Particularly when you know how difficult it is to reduce car parking availability without the support of said council.
But you sense that this sledgehammer approach might not be the best way to crack this nut, and also that Westminster Council, despite progress in some areas, might not have the best interests of active travel people at heart…
Swag!
It seems gone are the days when you’d get just a baggy jumper.
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People of the Pyrenean foothills can now spend the day trying to spot some polka-dotted E. LeClerc stickers…
Visma Lease a Bike's mascot has a name...
And I think you’re going to be very underwhelmed…
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Still, got nothing on the Soudal Quick-Step T-Rex…
How much does a Tour de France bike cost?
Based on Mat’s cost analysis, I will either have to settle for an XDS bike used by Astana, or ask my bosses for quite a pay rise. To be honest I might have to do both…
Stage Four preview: Reduced bunch or breakaway day?
If you read our road.cc prediction’s article, you might realise I’m not much of a fan of this year’s route. After the first stage, we already had the GC shaken out in a rough order you might expect to see in Paris, after yesterday, we even now have the favourite in the yellow jersey. Stage 3 was probably envisioned as a breakaway stage when it was designed, but this early in the race the peloton (and UAE) were too motivated to let a stage win go up the road.
The question is whether UAE will finally give the break a chance given today’s final categorised climb is 35km from the finish, and the last 15km are mostly downhill. Or will Visma be tempted to ride the break down in order to keep Tadej Pogacar in the yellow jersey? Yesterday’s post-stage interview already hinted that the Sloveniam might become weary of having to talk to Seb Piquet (ASO’s interviewer and the voice of race radio) every day.
If the peloton do lead over the line, then the question will be whether the sprinters can survive the two second category climbs, and whether the teams of riders like Mads Pedersen and Dorian Godon have the firepower to hold them off on the chase at the other end. Here’s some of what Ryan had to say from his stage-by-stage guide:
“Starting in one of the homes of cassoulet, that hearty stew favoured by Tour journos, this stage, working its way through Cathar country, has the breakaway written all over it.
“Though considering the limited sprint opportunities available at this Tour, the more climb-friendly fast men could also eye this one up, and put their teams to work to ruthlessly slaughter the hopes of the escapees, Medieval Inquisition style.”
Sofa score: 7/10
Tom Pidcock shocked by ‘hardest ever’ Tour de France heat
Ryan’s latest dispatch has a deep dive on yesterday’s scorching heat at the Tour de France, which took place a stone’s throw from some raging wild fires…
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In 2024, MIB total payouts were £434m, so £39m would be a reasonable chunk on top of that. On the other hand, motor insurance payouts in 2025 were £11.9bn...
@mdavidford Thanks, as a result of this diversion I have now learnt some Slovenian too.
@mdavidford Re: "credit to road.cc for their commitment to cribbing other people’s content, which even extends to reproducing Velo’s closing ‘for more information see the Castelli website’ link, despite there not actually being any more information there" That seems a little harsh! Sure, there are some similarities, but surely both of them (and all the other outlets who say something very similar) have just cribbed a press release?
Presentation of the numbers is also confusing misleading: So in other words, £59m paid out in 12 months, of which, £20m was a single claim, leaving £39m for the rest.
BBC running a story on the cost of e-bike-related insurance claims, and claiming it's "a major contributor to increases in annual premiums for ordinary members of the public". But next to no context (is this a big number?; increases in what premiums?; are these incidents caused by those vehicles, or inflicted on them?). And it turns out nearly 1/5 of the amount is down to a single claim. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05y9pe5p1jo
[Yes - I know it would really be more like 'pobydd', but 'bara' is more amusing - to me, anyway. Although in English his full name of Thaddeus Baker is rather brilliant.]
@ktache ITV4+1 was/is available on freesat. I appreciate that this fact isn't much use to you now but it is perhaps worth noting that in general Freesat SD channels have better resolution than Freeview which really helps with the +1 channels (e.g. 5+1) which seem pretty degraded on Freeview. Seemingly Freesat SD is 704 × 576 pixels whilst Freeview often shrinks these same channels to 544 × 576.
@Pub bike 2a. Being driven into by someone exiting a side road through queueing traffic. n+1. Being driven into by someone cutting the corner turning into a side road you're waiting to exit.
"If you start the stage at 10 instead of 12, you get a couple of hours in the stage. They could do that, though they’re looking at prime time television." Has the definition of prime time television changed?
3 thoughts on “E-bikes seized to tackle bad parking, but no mention of tackling obstructive car parking; Transitional stage could bring first sprint finish at Tour de France + more on the live blog”
BBC running a story on the cost of e-bike-related insurance claims, and claiming it’s “a major contributor to increases in annual premiums for ordinary members of the public”. But next to no context (is this a big number?; increases in what premiums?; are these incidents caused by those vehicles, or inflicted on them?). And it turns out nearly 1/5 of the amount is down to a single claim.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05y9pe5p1jo
Presentation of the numbers is also confusing misleading:
So in other words, £59m paid out in 12 months, of which, £20m was a single claim, leaving £39m for the rest.
In 2024, MIB total payouts were £434m, so £39m would be a reasonable chunk on top of that. On the other hand, motor insurance payouts in 2025 were £11.9bn…