Two people arrested in protest successfully blocking cycle lane removal in Toronto; Toxic culture exposed in Team Picnic PostNL; More GB medal chances in track worlds + more on the live blog

That appears to be the conclusion from over the pond, where cyclists have blocked, for now, attempts by the provincial government to remove 19km of bike lanes on some of the busiest roads of the city.

A little bit of context, the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, has long called for the removal of the bike lanes which were installed by the mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow.

> “Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident

Justifying the removal of the bike lanes a few weeks, Ford’s Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria told media, “These are some of the busiest streets in all of North America. We need to restore them to vehicle lanes to stop the congestion. That’s exactly what we were elected on and that’s the exact mandate we got.

Chow has fought back, arguing she has presented plans to the provincial government that would add an additional vehicular lane whilst keeping the protected bike lanes in the city. But she says Doug Ford hasn’t listened.

“Doug Ford should stay in his own lane. Stop interfering in this city, whether it’s bike lanes or speed cameras […] because you’re trampling on the rights of local democracy and the people of Toronto.”

So on Tuesday night, campaigners decided the best thing they could do was physically block the lanes from being removed. And it worked!

First and second truck have left. LFG🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

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— Tom Flood (@tomflood.bsky.social) 14 October 2026 at 00:55

It must be said this is a long battle. The first trucks were only to put out construction work barriers, before they were escorted away by police. Also escorted away were two protestors who were arrested. Amusingly, both protestors have been charged with “mischief”, according to CBC.

What’s striking is that such a protest feels unlikely in Britain. We have of course countless cycle campaigners and organisations such as Critical Mass who organise rides of rebellion, but I can’t recall action as direct as this when it comes to protecting cycle infrastructure.

> Hundreds of cyclists ignore road closure to “mass trespass” on notorious Westway and tell government to “stop spending money on car roads”

> “A car is also a weapon”: Calls for mandatory lifetime bans for “killer motorists” as driver charged with murder following cyclist’s death

What helps/hinders is that the major cities we do have tend to favour expanding active travel networks, rather than being stuck in battles of devolved powers over who can remove it.

And where we do have cycle lanes removed, like in Middlesbrough or as looks likely in Exeter, there are fewer campaigners able to mount a disruption as significant as what we’ve seen in Canada.

> Calls to rip out “disastrous” cycle lane always blocked by cars rejected – but council proposes extra parking spaces in concession to angry traders

Instead, in our murky world of which powers are actually devolved to who and where, we have a system that favours legal actions in court than direct action on the street. But kudos to the campaigners of Toronto, who might now be bracing for a long winter of protests ahead of them.

Wow wow wow! Maybe gold medals and buses have more in common than you think. Erin Boothman, Millie Couzens, Anna Morris and Josie Knight started slower than Italy in the final and their deficit extended towards a second at the 1km mark. But then the catch began.

Tenth by tenth, a few hundreths by a few hundreths, the British quartet caught their rivals a kilometre later and after pulling ahead they never looked back, eventually winning by around 4 seconds. A fantastic result!

That also ends today’s medal exploits. In other events, Lotte Kopecky triumphed in the elimination race for the third time, Harrie Lavreysen won gold in the keirin for the fifth time to take his 22nd rainbow jersey, and we had some heats in the women’s individual sprint, where Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane both progressed to the semi-finals, with the latter knocking out defending champion Hetty van de Wouw in straight rounds!

Remember you can catch up with all the coverage on iPlayer…

Our first gold of the games comes courtesy of the Manxman who rode a fantastically brave race. After European Champion Alex Vogel attacked solo in the early stages, Bostock tried a couple of times to form an alliance with other riders to reel him in. When that didn’t work, he went and did it himself!

Once catching Vogel, Bostock then attacked again and hung on to his advantage of three quarters of a lap to take his first world title and the biggest win of his career after his Commonwealth points race triumph earlier in the year. But those final laps must have been agony. Remember he was in the team pursuit squad earlier today…

Bostock is world champion! 🌈

Matt Bostock masters the men’s scratch race to claim the world title in Shanghai! 🇬🇧 https://t.co/HvprSVjUPz

— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) October 15, 2026

Yesterday, Netcompany-Ineos did something we haven’t seen the British team do all that often, announce the signing of multiple British riders! James Shaw has become a Grand Tour regular at EF Education-EasyPost and has an interesting background having bounced back up to the WorldTour via what remained of the British domestic racing scene.

In the press release announcing his arrival, Geraint Thomas says Shaw’s “got a diverse skill set and brings valuable experience to the team. He’s also someone who will contribute to the strong British culture we have within the squad, both on and off the bike.”

Meanwhile Joe Blackmore experienced a breakthrough season in 2024, winning the prestigious Tour de l’Avenir as well as the Tours of Czechia and Taiwan. But the Brit has since struggled with injury at Israel-Premier Tech (now NSN). He admits “It’s been a tough 2026 for me with injuries, but it’s made me even more motivated to reach my full potential.

“Joining a team that operates at the highest level gives me the perfect environment to keep developing. I can’t wait to get started and contribute to the team’s success.”

Netcompany-Ineos have been remarkably slow at announcing their roster for next season, and currently have only 19 riders confirmed for 2027. In contrast, UAE have 30, Visma 29.

Interestingly, there’s an interesting piece in the Athletic today that paints a picture of a very hierarchical structure at the team, with Dave Brailsford calling the shots and not exactly moving quickly as he does so. Parallels to the ailing Manchester United are aplenty.

If yesterday’s live blog was quite red light-heavy, today’s is becoming quite toxic management culture-heavy. The long arc of history bends towards Victoria Pendleton…

> British Cycling still suffering from “toxic” culture, new rider and staff survey reveals

Having trailed France after 2500m, the British quartet of Noah and Henry Hobbs, Matt Bostock and Ethan Vernon pulled clear in the final third to take GB’s second medal of the games.

Timed to perfection! 🔥

Great Britain’s men’s team pursuit squad claim bronze at the UCI World Championships after a perfectly-paced final kilometre! 🥉 https://t.co/F7KwLrHjDR

— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) October 15, 2026

In the men’s gold medal match up, Denmark have just romped to victory, beating an Italian quartet including Filippo Ganna and Jonathan Milan by nearly five seconds!

We’ve got the women’s team pursuit finals later, along with the men’s keirin and scratch race. In the meantime there are some women’s sprint quarter finals and the elimination race!

Blimey, some utterly extraordinary news is hot off the press this morning. When I woke up, Dutch broadcaster NOS and podcast In de Waaier had dropped one of the most in-depth analyses of any team I’d seen short of a doping investigation.

Speaking to more than 70 people connected to the team in recent years, a picture is painted of a toxic culture leaving riders and staff members demoralised, disconnected and unsafe. One former rider, Martijn Tusveld says he felt depressed and at one point contemplated self-harm. He retired last season at the age of 32.

Other extraordinary revelations include head coach Rudi Kemna telling a rider “I don’t believe in psychologists”, riders not being allowed to talk with coaches, or coaches with one another, and feelings of paranoia and working within a dictatorship.

Whilst we’ve known for quite a long time about the “strict” management of the team, formerly known as DSM, Sunweb, Giant and Skil-Shimano, this is a step up and has led the team to come out with a statement addressing the allegations. Here’s an abridged version:

The accounts shared by current and former riders and staff members affect us. At the same time, we do not recognise ourselves in the overall picture presented in the publications.

The fact that experiences differ does not diminish the seriousness of the accounts that have now come to light. We will therefore commission an independent investigation into how our team culture is experienced in practice and to what extent it reflects the culture we strive for.

Since the team was founded in 2008, three promises have formed the foundation of our approach to professional cycling: fair, healthy and responsible sport, safe collaboration based on shared values, continuity and job security.

We have made a commitment to do everything we can to secure the future of the team and, in doing so, preserve jobs within professional cycling.

Every year, several teams disappear, with the associated loss of jobs. This has become almost normal, even though it should never be the case in a sport of this scale. That is why we have been working to secure the future of the team since 2008. Over the years, we have provided employment for hundreds of people.

According to NOS, it spent months trying to speak with current and former riders and staff members. As soon as we received indications that the investigation was taking place, we offered to meet with NOS to discuss our philosophy and vision, and to give the broadcaster the opportunity to speak with current team members and colleagues. NOS chose not to take up that offer. We regret this.

In a performance-driven environment such as professional sport, things can go wrong. That is why there are several ways for people within our team to raise problems and concerns. If people have felt unsafe within our organisation or have felt they lacked sufficient opportunity to raise concerns, we want to understand how that could have happened.

We will therefore commission an independent, professional investigation into our team culture. We will take its findings seriously and implement any improvements that may be needed, out of respect for everyone who is, or has been, part of Team Picnic PostNL.

Denials, surprise and pledging an independent review. Where have we heard that before?

The same lane which has long been opposed by local Green Party councillors looks set to go ahead despite only having the approval of 16 percent of residents according to a consultation

> “What’s the point?” Work set to begin on controversial contraflow bike lane through park as baffled cyclists say they “can’t understand what problem this is solving”