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Seems to me to have been pretty conspicuous, what with it being all over the local news and everything. Was someone making a rather fat-fingered attempt at 'inauspicious'?

I just despair. This sort of article makes you think that cycling on the roads, is a bit like cycling in snipers' alley. From the state of the car, it must have been quite an impact. Maybe the arsehole driver had just been marking the run up to Halloween by watching the 1983 movie Christine, while necking a large bottle of Bourbon.

Bloody cyclists. The council pander to the lycra clad louts, giving them top class facilities and it all ends by hindering some poor lorry driver and prevents him from contributing to the economy.

That'll be totally funded from the public purse (who else do you think is paying?) and including a probable £10M+ fee to ASO (unconfirmed but in line with what they have charged other host cities in recent years). But hey, why not let them make another half a million or whatever at fans' (who have already paid into the event through their taxes) expense when they're already pocketing an enormous profit?

From the country that loves a school shooting, thinks bike lanes are woke and endorses a child loving president, this is just another low in a long line of lows

@Gravel1-2 The pros who ride on Specialized are still on the old model Crux…..and winning as well, as seen in France over the weekend.

And this Ladies and Gentlemen is how councils up and down the land waste your money. The contracts will have been costed and awarded. Penalties will now be owed by the council to its contractors for cancelling the start of works at short notice - likely funded out of the original active travel budget.

@Rendel Harris Not everything that is publicly (co-)funded is a public good and even fewer of those are indispensable. Just because it was partly funded from the public purse does not mean it's meant to be free - and especially if there are other benefits for the public. If we assume otherwise, there should be no obligation to pay for bus rides. And let's not fool ourselves - if the ceremony was free, the organisers would simply charge the local govt even more for the event overall. Of these two imperfect options I'd rather shift at least part of he burden on the rich spectators willing to pay for the tickets.

@tomlew The Tour is very much more than just a private event, it has taken nearly £100M in public money to come to the Uk. If it was self funding like a rock concert, fine, charge what you want, but having taken such a vast sum of money from the public and expecting their goodwill in terms of putting up with road closures etc said public have every right to be disgruntled at the attempt to sting them for even more to see part of an event that they’ve already paid for. As the article notes, other Grand Depart presentations have been free, why shouldn’t this one be? Your statement “it’s easy to spend other people’s money” would appear most apposite for ASO, with the addendum “then expect them to give you even more whilst you trouser the enormous profits.”

Road.cc staff all ride like Pogačar? Sounds dubious to me.