“The more bike lanes a city has, the more often this will happen”: Car passenger aims “vroom” taunt at cyclist… only to be caught and passed moments later; Valverde’s back on gravel, and with brown shorts + more on the live blog

Anyone with an EV know what would happen if our 200kg cargo bike picked up a charger cable like this?

Does the house end de-energise it when it tears out of the car? How quickly? pic.twitter.com/lhst9bmgAl

— Dave McCraw (@david_mccraw) April 1, 2023

The unfortunate cancellation of this year’s Women’s Tour – which will be the subject of an upcoming road.cc Podcast episode – has been greeted with dismay by a local council preparing to host the beleaguered Women’s World Tour stage race.

Stage two of this year’s race, cancelled on Friday amidst a maelstrom of increased costs, funding holes, and a challenging economic climate, was set to start in Northampton before taking in Daventry, Towcester, and Brackley on the way to Ampthill.

> Women’s Tour cancelled for 2023, organisers cite lack of financial backing

West Northamptonshire Council, the local authority responsible for the towns hosting the opening part of the stage, has responded to the race’s cancellation by saying it is “extremely disappointed”, but that it will continue to commit to enhancing the area’s reputation as a “world-class sporting venue”, while repurposing the funding earmarked for the Women’s Tour towards other cycling initiatives.

“Whilst we are extremely disappointed we will not be hosting the Women’s Tour this summer for reasons beyond our control, it was an honour to be one of just nine locations chosen to take part,” Adam Brown, the council’s cabinet member for housing, culture, and leisure said in a statement.

“West Northamptonshire Council is committed to doing everything possible to encourage and promote increased participation in sport – particularly by women and girls, and we will continue to strive to bring world-class events to our area as we build a legacy for future generations and establish West Northants as a destination for sporting excellence.

“We will also be looking at repurposing funding for other cycling and sporting initiatives which play an important role in bringing communities together and inspiring people to take up sport and live a more active and healthier lifestyle.”

Looks like Kostüme’s Signature Bib Shorts impressed our reviewers, gaining that elusive, tantalising five-star rating (if I’m honest, I didn’t think it was possible to hit the five star button on our systems).

But what else would you expect from the “most supple, soft, and beautiful Lycra I’ve ever put between my thighs”? (Careful now, those are Jo’s words, not mine…)

> Review: Kostüme Men’s Bib Short

If you build bike lanes, this is what your rush hour will look like –

London, UK 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/ySCM2sQtMk

— London Cycles (@London_Cycles) April 4, 2023

A recent study has found that if delivery companies switched to using cargo bikes instead of diesel vans for the first and last mile of deliveries, it would save the NHS and other government services over £4bn by reducing the costs of congestion and air pollution.

Researchers at London-based Just Economics, comparing the social, environmental, and economic impacts of diesel and electric vans with e-cargo bikes, concluded that diesel vans are 67 times more environmentally damaging when air, water, and noise pollution, as well as climate change, are taken into consideration.

When these environmental costs are combined with social costs, the report argues, the “hidden costs” associated with diesel van deliveries come to a staggering £2.46 billion annually in London alone.

According to Oxford courier firm Pedal and Post, if a third of those costs were saved from switching to zero emissions cargo bikes – the Department for Transport has claimed that 33 percent of urban deliveries could be managed by cargo bikes – the health and environmental savings could total £4.25bn across England.

“The potential to clean up our air and grow the UK economy is huge,” says Pedal and Post’s CEO Chris Benton, who is currently looking to expand the business through a crowdfunding campaign.

“Pollution from diesel van deliveries costs the NHS nearly £25,000 across the lifetime of the van, compared to around £150 for an electric cargo bike.

“We also know that cargo bikes can deliver more parcels per hour than the average van, and produce 92 percent less greenhouse gas emissions per delivery, so it really is a no brainer to make the switch.” 

> Transport for London launches Cargo Bike Action Plan, which aims to promote use of cargo bikes and address barriers that prevent shift from vans

The analysis comes just days after Transport for London launched a new initiative which will see it working with boroughs, businesses, and the freight and servicing industry to promote the use of cargo bikes and transform how deliveries and servicing trips are made in the capital.

According to TfL, cargo bikes could replace up to four percent of van kilometres by 2030, a figure that rises to 17 percent in central London.

The government’s Cargo Bike Action Plan, which was launched on Friday at the National Cargo Bike Summit in London, will aim to address the barriers that inhibit or prevent a shift from vans to two wheels.

Cycleway 3 nr Buckingham Palace will have temp changes until 15/5/23 for the Marathon & Coronation.

We’re maintaining protected bike lanes for most of the time but please follow directions from stewards.

Big thanks to @tfl @theroyalparks & @CityWestminster for keeping it open. pic.twitter.com/kLFRSCtrX4

— Will Norman (@willnorman) April 4, 2023

Following the disruption caused last year by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and, later, her funeral and the accompanying national period of morning, things look set to be a touch more straightforward for cyclists in central London during next month’s Coronation activities – unless British Cycling advises its members not to ride their bikes during King Charles’ big day (which, after last year’s almighty backlash, is highly unlikely. But not impossible, however. It is British Cycling after all).

> British Cycling removes advice telling members not to ride during funeral for Queen Elizabeth II

According to new guidance from Transport for London, from yesterday there will be temporary changes to Cycleway 3 around Buckingham Palace and Constitution Hill, lasting until Monday 15 May, in support of both the Coronation and the London Marathon.

The guidance says that, between Wellington Arch and Birdcage Walk, there will be changes to the key cycle route’s “layout and operation”, and that cyclists will be segregated from motor traffic and may need to follow the direction of stewards.

> Queen’s Platinum Jubilee forces six-week closure of key London cycleway

London’s walking and cycling commissioner Will Norman also tweeted that protected cycle lanes in the area will be maintained “for most of the time” during this period.

Meanwhile, there will be full day closures on Cycleway 3 on 22 April, 23 April, 5 May, and 6 May, with two additional overnight closures planned for Coronation preparations.

The measures have already been praised by cyclists, who have described them as “a huge improvement” over last year’s disruption to the cycleway.

Very good it is staying open. Such a useful route.

— Railton LTN (@RailtonLTN) April 4, 2023

It’s massively improved if they follow what they’ve done last two days.

— Jim Frayling (@JimFrayling) April 4, 2023

Now, we just need British Cycling to intervene…

Warning: the following post may contain references to overused 21st century sporting acronyms (and photos of actual cute goats).

🐐The real goats of #ParisRoubaix 😍 pic.twitter.com/EoEffvlWiX

— Paris-Roubaix (@parisroubaix) April 4, 2023

Is this the sight we’ll all be treated to when Tadej Pogačar finally takes on – and let’s face it, probably wins – the Hell of the North?

Meanwhile, Marianne Vos decided to check on her pavé form this morning with a pre-Roubaix test through the Arenberg Forest:

Les réelles stars du jour. 🐐 pic.twitter.com/Lv2SOS5nIr

— Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix (@A_ParisRoubaix) April 4, 2023

We love a pointless competition here on the road.cc live blog, so we thought we’d piggyback on this one, posted on Twitter by Active Travel England’s Brian Deegan, who asked: Where is the UK’s biggest cycle symbol?

Deegan’s entry, from Grove Street in Leeds, sure is a whopper:

Is this the biggest cycle symbol in the UK? Leeds for the win. pic.twitter.com/5N3Zqz71HN

— brian deegan (@bricycle) April 3, 2023

However, it might be 10/10 for size, but we’ve been forced to score it a 0/10 for pedals, unfortunately.

Cranks on the other hand should be there 😁

— rob (@robpatrick) April 3, 2023

Although some weren’t that impressed with other aspects of the design:

Looks like someone has a hard time using a roller in a circle.

I have seen linesmen roll out perfect circles before like a magician…..

But this is some kind of new bike I have never seen before.

Definitely a wobbly.

— PedalPowerWorkBikes (@BikeTaxiGuy) April 4, 2023

It’s a #fatbike

— k881mark🙂🙄🤪🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇺🇦 (@k881mark) April 3, 2023

Cycle marking designed for viewing at speeds above 20mph (hence elongated shape). Tells you everything you need to know about the roads department. @RantyHighwayman will correct me if I’m mistaken

— Proprietor of Cycles for Cake (@girlonabrompton) April 4, 2023

While Paul noted that Leeds, though boasting a massive bike symbol, also features this preposterously small ‘cycle lane’:

We also have this genius bike lane in Leeds though pic.twitter.com/nRtAxSjXKJ

— Paul (@muppetkeeper) April 3, 2023

Nevertheless, Brian has certainly thrown down the gauntlet in the ‘Massive Cycle Symbols’ contest, prompting a few contenders to emerge from the shadows (though I think we might have to bring UKAD in to police this competition, as some of the below entries aren’t on the road, painted, or even in the UK…).

It’s a contendor. Certainly has a slight edge over these in Gillingham. pic.twitter.com/aab7bBexVd

— Gary Outram (@KentRiderGaz) April 3, 2023

I’m going to suggest that Life Cycle (1995) by George Wyllie in Manchester is substantially larger and not made from magic paint. pic.twitter.com/Gc2ROic4tN

— ChrispLOL2 (@ChrispLOL) April 4, 2023

Does this count? 😉 pic.twitter.com/LQxFLelkLT

— Dom (@Leeds_guy) April 3, 2023

You should see the one in the centre of Munich. pic.twitter.com/ZrAkJuWYLp

— Maurice Barnes (@MrOctarine) April 3, 2023

Does your local bike symbol have what it takes? Or will it need to adopt the Pogačar approach to Paris-Roubaix and gain a few kilos before it can compete with the very best?

 

 

 

 

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Well, you can’t say it’s not ‘innovative’…

Some training for the Koppenberg next year 🤣 pic.twitter.com/xBrJ1AIVTW

— Elisa Balsamo (@Elisa_balsamo) April 4, 2023

Just get a hose and throw on some massive stones, and it’ll be almost life-like…

🇪🇸 #Itzulia2023

🏆 IDE SCHELLING TAKES THE WIN! 🏆

Bravo, @IdeSchelling! 👏🏼👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/AnVDMuOcst

— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) April 4, 2023

Another day, another tough, grippy, and complicated stage at the Tour of the Basque Country.

Today, it was Bora-Hansgrohe’s Ide Schelling who took the stage win, and with it Ethan Hayter’s leader’s jersey, after powering to the front of the 30-strong group that survived the slog up the final climb, the Arkiskil, and the tricky, rapid, and downright dangerous descent that lasted almost all the way to the line, to see off Matteo Sobrero and David Gaudu with a monster sprint.

🇳🇱 Ide Schelling claims victory in Stage 2 of Itzulia Basque Country with a 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 timed sprint! 🤩@IdeSchelling | @BORAhansgrohe | #Itzulia2023 pic.twitter.com/SNlgPYgc3J

— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 4, 2023

While the in-form Schelling proved the fastest of the daredevils in Leitza, 50 kilometres back down the road, Mikel Landa set Cycling Twitter wild with an audacious long-range attack.

@MikelLandaMeana ATACA A 47 KMS de META 😤

Mikel Landak irabazi nahi du💪

🏆GP @BancoSabadell

More info 👉 https://t.co/ZrixDZddGU #Itzulia2023 #Landismo pic.twitter.com/M5TnmLM19q

— Itzulia Basque Country (@ehitzulia) April 4, 2023

Phwoar.

Granted, it came to little except for a few bonus seconds picked up at the intermediate sprint, but these days we’ll take all the Landismo we can get…

> Council criticised after resurfacing entire road… except cycle lanes

In news that will shock absolutely nobody who’s been paying attention, cycling’s very own Dorian Gray, Alejandro Valverde, is set to make his return to racing this month… on gravel.

42-year-old Valverde – who only retired from his two decade long pro career (give or take a year or so in the middle for… reasons) last October following a string of top placings at the end-of-season Italian classics – spent most of the early part of this year teasing an immediate return to the Movistar squad, where he had in theory at least taken up a new staff-rider liaison role at the notoriously chaotic Spanish outfit.

But it seems as if the rumours of Valverde’s impending comeback to racing were at least half-right, as this morning Movistar announced that they were dipping their toe into the expanding world of gravel racing, with their ageless star acting as the venture’s poster boy.

(Movistar Team/GOBIK)

Valverde will make his debut for Movistar’s gravel squad later this month at La Indomable in Almería, a new UCI Gravel World Series event on the south side of the Sierra Nevada, which takes place on 23 April – two days before the 2009 Vuelta winner’s 43rd birthday.

He will be joined at La Indomable by the squad’s two female riders, 38-year-old e-sports and endurance rider Ana Dillana, and Hayley Simmonds, the two-time British national time trial champion who has represented Movistar in the virtual cycling world over the past few years.

The team’s fourth and (for the time being) final rider, classics star Iván García Cortina, will take to the gravel stage for the first time on 29 April at the Traka in Girona, alongside Simmonds and Dillana.

And while all the attention may focus on Valverde’s long-awaited (okay, five months) return to competitive bike racing, don’t think I haven’t noticed the big brown elephant in the room… Those shorts.

I’m not sure even sure Alejandro’s convinced…

Yikes. Surely they had to get permission from AG2R to use them?

What do you think? Is Valverde, blue, and brown a hit combo in your eyes? Or is it all one big racing and sartorial mistake?

We’ve all known since we were children that bikes mean freedom, in the broadest sense: the freedom to explore, to see new places with your friends, even just to quickly nip down to the shops.

But as you grow older, and are forced to commute to work, you realise cycling – especially as more and more dedicated infrastructure pops up – also provides you with the freedom and ability to escape that most mundane of everyday occurrences: traffic.

However, for some reason, that realisation has yet to seep into the minds of many motorists, still revelling in the marketing-infused notion that cars are your ticket to freedom, even when you’re stuck in a massive city-wide rush hour jam, and not, as that TV ad informed you, on a wide open American highway.

Passenger shouts *vroom* sound out of the window as they overtake, forgetting that cycling is often faster than driving in rush hour traffic 😂😂

They never caught up again. pic.twitter.com/zxVABxTDUL

— Stormont Cyclist (@StormontCyclist) April 2, 2023

That was certainly the case for this car passenger (note the R plates on the vehicle) who couldn’t resist the urge, as 17-year-olds are wont to do, of shouting “vroom” at a passing cyclist, who turned out to be Twitter user and regular uploader of close passes and bad driving, Stormont Cyclist.

Of course, we all know where this is going.

After directing their wholly original taunt out the car window, the poor passenger – travelling through Dundonald in the direction of Belfast, in rush hour, I’ll add – soon received a taste of his own medicine, with a good-natured but targeted wave from Stormont Cyclist as they continued on up the bus lane, never to be seen again.

‘Ha! Look at that silly cyclist, bet they wish they had your new car mate, they could get everywhere a lot fast-… oh.’

That wave has gone down well with many cyclists on Twitter, who have enjoyed their own spin by a taunting motorist in the past (you’d almost think that it happens all the time):

I was watching the video thinking “I hope you wave at them when you pass” and you didn’t let me down 🤣

— Jason Whitworth (@MrJasonJay) April 2, 2023

That’s the best feeling!

— Leo (@LeoIsTallish) April 2, 2023

Similar once happened to me on Chelsea Embankment. Since they were in a convertible BMW they had nowhere to hide as I cruised past chuckling loudly.

— KewCogs (@KewCogs) April 2, 2023

A car passenger made this noise to me in Newry last week. It made me laugh because they did a proper Doppler effect like sound while passing too 😂🏎️

— Aisling McCrudden ☘️🇮🇪 (@AislingPMcC) April 2, 2023

Though some focused on the serious side of the video, and the anti-cycling, car-brained, abusive attitudes which still prevail, unfortunately…

So much time for this 😂 UK drivers are an absolute menace towards cyclists. It’s always the dim ones that give the most abuse/drive the most dangerously https://t.co/XmPlKObZBp

— Joe Walsh (@walsh_joe) April 3, 2023

Studies show that cyclists are not seen as humans. This is because of the derogatory campaigns, including the ones from @RSAIreland. They are treated as second-class citizens.

I know this is harmless, but you’d never do that to a stranger in a shop. https://t.co/2Rid4WlyCO

— Slawomir (@Demichowicz) April 3, 2023

So many still see a car as freedom
(like in the ludicrous car adverts)
But when you get on a bike you actually experience real freedom @WeAreCyclingUK https://t.co/fFNzkA10Fl

— ian tern (@iantern) April 2, 2023

Amen.

Of course, those anti-cycling attitudes invariably popped up in the comments, with a few claiming that the rider was about to jump a red light at the end of the clip (because cyclists, apparently) – though Stormont Cyclist was, as ever, on the scene with a handy clip:

I stop at red lights https://t.co/hTsr9L6zRs

— Stormont Cyclist (@StormontCyclist) April 3, 2023