Seven days in cycling: Your weekly catch up service of the week's big news stories on road.cc

Our top stories of the week included the man who claimed compensation when the ambulance rescuing him from a MTB injury hurt him further, the Essex cyclists who ‘should be more safety conscious’, and a whole load of shiny tech from IceBike

Click on any headline to read the story in full and join in our reader debates in the comments section.

Top Gear on Cycling: Well, what did you expect?

Our hearts sank, to be honest, when we heard the BBC’s hugely popular motoring programme, Top Gear, was due to feature a segment on cycle safety on Sunday.

It was, we felt, too good to be true – and that’s exactly how it turned out, as it resorted to a to a re-hash of old jokes and pantomime prejudice against cyclists.

Top Gear could have seized an opportunity to highlight that cyclists and motorists are often one and the same, but sadly failed on that, and many other fronts.

Just one disappointing example was a short film featuring presenter Jeremy Clarkson, which showed a man leaving the office after working late and driving home to his family. “John works hard,” went the voiceover, “which means he can afford to drive a car. That means he gets home to his family safely every night.”

The strapline, against the image of a bicycle laying on the road with buckled tyres, was “Work Harder. Get a car,” an old Clarkson joke and used often enough to be more or less his catchphrase when it comes to cycling.

Still, on the bright side – at least there was no mention of bloody road tax.

If you missed it judge for yourself, it's on the BBC iPlayer now.

Colnago C60 Sneak peek: Pre-launch lowdown on Colnago's new range topper

You’ve flocked to the site in your droves in the last few days to check out our sneak previews of the new Colnago C60, which will be available with or without disc brakes.

There is a new bottom bracket press-fit standard, oversized tubes and new alloy dropouts, contributing to a frame that is significantly stiffer than the previous C59 say Colnago. And they say the C60 Disc is 140g lighter than the C59 Disc.

Frame price will be £3,499.95 or £3,699.95 for disc, but the disc version won’t be available until October.

According to Colnago there are no round tubes on the new C60. They’re using star-shaped tubes and lugs in a homage to the famous Master steel frame which helped the company make its name.

“Star-shaped tubes are a proven design element and have become a signature design element for Colnago frames,” says Colnago. It adds that the full-length star shape “allows better control of the wall thickness and lamination of the entire length of the tube” which it regards as a step forwards for strength and comfort. Bold claims indeed.

Video: South Africa cycling organisations condemn cyclists' road rage attack on van driver

On Tuesday we brought you the news that Cycling South Africa was “horrified and disgusted” at a video posted to YouTube that shows members of a group of cyclists allegedly assaulting a van driver in Cape Town, including one using pepper spray on him. Other cycling organisations have also condemned the behaviour of the cyclists involved.

The driver of the van was a 19-year-old student who had been volunteered to help clean up the road after the 10km Nelson Mandela Commemorative Walk.

Symon Scott, who posted it to YouTube said: “There was a lot more going down than what you can see in the video."

Watch for yourself in the video below:

Top Gear: Cyclist’s widow tells Jeremy Clarkson: 'Look me in the eye'

On Wednesday, Debbie Dorling, whose husband Brian was killed by a lorry at Bow Roundabout in London while riding his bike to work in October 2011, challenged Jeremy Clarkson and James May to look her in the eye over their piece about cycle safety in Sunday evening’s edition of the BBC TV show, Top Gear.

Mrs Dorling told road.cc that the programme “totally missed the point of cycle safety”, and that she found one sequence particularly “distressing”, when vegetables were dropped from height onto a hard floor, with a bike following.

“What’s it meant to be?” asked May. “It’s a cyclist after an accident,” explained Clarkson.

Mrs Dorling, posting as Brians Wife, made a comment to our article on the programme, in which she said:

I sat and watched TG with my daughter as it is one of our favourite programmes. However after the initial laughter at the cycling piece we were both shocked and sickened by the content. Sorry guys, this was not good TV for a family whose cyclist husband and father was killed by a lorry. This missed so many opportunities and I am quite saddened by what went on air, had I realised I would not have watched.

Her husband Brian, an experienced cyclist who rode around 200 miles a week, was killed at Bow Roundabout in October 2011 on his way from his home in Hounslow to work as a surveyor at the Olympic Park.

Coroner: "No doubt" that pothole caused crash that killed cyclist

 

A pothole that went unrepaired for five weeks after police alerted North Yorkshire County Council to it was to blame for the death of a cyclist who was thrown from his bike into the path of a car,  we reported on Thursday.

Martyn Uzzell from Somerset, aged 51, was taking part in a Land’s End to John O’Groats ride for charity when he was killed after hitting a 10cm deep pothole and losing control of his bike on the A65 Settle Bypass at Giggleswick in June 2011.

He was hit by a Volkswagen Golf travelling in the opposite direction and killed instantly.

North Yorkshire coroner Rob Turnbull said in a narrative verdict at Skipton Coroner's Court that he had “no doubt whatsoever that the condition of the road on that occasion was the cause of the accident”.

He went on: “It is my opinion based on the balance of probability that this defect had existed for some time prior to the accident.

“It is not my opinion that it was a defect that had occurred very recently and it must have been some days since the defect was apparent.”

Video: Caravan firm "horrified" after cyclist suffers shocking near-miss

The manager of a Gloucestershire caravan company said on Friday he was “horrified” at a video showing one of its vehicles speeding past a cyclist on the A59 at Samlesbury, Lancashire with barely inches to spare.

The company, Forest of Dean Caravans, was alerted to the video by a Twitter user who had seen it. The cyclist involved has told road.cc he believes the close pass was not only dangerous, but also deliberate.

The video shows just how close the flatbed lorry, carrying one caravan and towing another, came to striking the cyclist. The potential consequences of that are obvious.

It’s clear the driver of the lorry saw the cyclist – the horn was sounded loudly and at length as the vehicle came up behind the rider, alarming enough in itself.

If you watch the video at work, you may wish to turn the sound down as the language is rather fruity.

Campagnolo to launch new Super Record RS groupset

More Campag news on Saturday, this time that Campagnolo is launching a new high-end mechanical groupset called Super Record RS. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it’s launching an RS version of its existing top-end Super Record groupset, because the differences appear at first sight to be minor.

The new components have been on display on a new Colnago C60 road bike at Taipei Cycle for the past few days, but details are very hard to come by.

Campag is keeping schtum for the time being. Visually at least, the changes appear to be tweaks rather than wholesale redesigns.

Click the headline link above for all the latest spy shots from Taipei.