Live blog: Call to ban “menace” rush-hour cyclists from towpaths; Shared path pushchair etiquette; TdF withdrawal? Watch ‘Best of … ‘ vid; Thick as thieves – ram-raiders steal e-bike … without charger + more

Like others, I found this year's tour rather unsatisfying. There wasn't a whole lot of actual racing going on as all the GC guys just waited for JAP to crack, which took longer than expected due to nobody really racing him. The weather might have spoiled two big days in the mountains, but it was the 2.5 weeks prior that made this year's tour a bit dull for me. Last year's was infinitely better and I'd have loved to see what Ineos would have done had Froome been present. Oh well, there's always next year.

Presumably Canal and rivers trust, if they don't like cyclists so much, are prepared to return the millions of pounds they recieve in funding from local and national govenrment to create cycling infrastructure.

If the government's earmarked money for cycling is being spent on canal towpaths, then people can't complain if cyclists are using canal towpaths.

How about banning menace journalists, rushing to get any kind of controversial copy, from writing bolox?

I think the best you can say is that it was a really entertaining Tour.  I still have a fondness for 2011 - Tommy V holding the yellow jersey for slightly longer than strictly credible before blowing up, Cadel nicking it from the Schlecks, Cavendish in absolutely majestic form, Rolland winning up Alpe d'Huez - but I'm sure that was actually less entertaining than I remember.

As for towpaths and similar paths being shared use - ultimately I think as cyclists we must accept that if we want to be treated as 'vulnerable road users' and that drivers can't simply use the roads like they're racetracks, then that also implies we must treat pedestrians in shared spaces as 'vulnerable path users' and give them as much space as they deem necessary.  I've trickled along behind a family of pedestrians and kids on strollers for over a mile before, if you can't pass safely you can't pass.

Re the Chaos at junior TTT, the water wasn't that deep!

Am I the only cyclist who as a child would have cycled through similar with a big smile, and probably gone back for seconds  

The absolute tragedy of a kitten being hit, and killed, by a cyclist. Thank goodness that nothing, not even kittens, get hit and killed on the roads by anything.

It's not just rush hour on canal tow paths. My wife has come home from runs/walks by the canal visibly shaken and angry at cyclists who make no consideration for more vulnerable users of the tow path. I've witnessed it myself with the miscreant making no attempt to let you know they are coming nor make any attempt to slow down and neither do they apologise.

If riders do feel the need to use a tow path they must keep in mind they are shared spaces and should reflect that in the way they ride, as we would want motorists to do for us on the road. 

Quote:

Mark Townsend, the newspaper’s home affairs editor, admits “racing” along towpaths and “swerving past mothers with prams or cutting up small dogs” in his haste to get to work, saying his “desire to reach the office on time was patently causing misery to others.”

Man admits to be being an arsehole so says everyone should be punished for his transgressions.

Typical Guardian fuckwit...

Yes, there are people that ride too fast along the path who also show little regard for others but you'll find those on the road and along the segregated N-S/E-W routes.

It's a cultural thing because if these people were in vehicles, they would still drive like arseholes but now for Mark, he's been put back in his place because he's now up against 2 ton steel boxes rather than mothers with pushchairs, which apparently is 'liberating'.

Some commuters are always going to be in a rush, so the best bet is to make the roads more suitable for cycling commuters in a hurry. It's no good having road infrastructure that is too scary for some cyclists to use, so of course you're going to get them bombing along towpaths.

Provide good alternatives, and people will use them.

That guardian article seems odd on a number of points. I agree that canal towpaths are not great for cycling because they are narrow and not ideal when there are also pedestrians. It's for that reason (plus the bumpy surface - it's uncomfy and slow) that I don't use them.

However, if propsing that "menace" cycling is the problem, why not advocate better adherence to rules and ettiquete?

Also, who is using the canals for peace and quiet at rush hour?

I'd suggest that the author should leave 10 minutes earlier if he really is putting puppies and babies at risk in his haste to reach the office on time, but I suspect that's just artistic license and doesn't really happen.

Headline picture (assuming it remains the one of the canal towpath) - as a warning presumably intended for people who are travelling too fast, "drop your pace" is an odd choice. Wouldn't the more usual "slow" or even "slow down" be easier for all the rush hour menaces to read as they hurtle towards the low tunnel?   

• I didn’t watch it ,caught a couple of highlights but switched off again . No excitement in racing these days . Get rid of power meters and radios  let them dope freely  ( that issue then has gone and the BS That goes with it). and balance the budgets so no one team can be financially dominant.  We will then see a better spread of top riders , more balanced  looking teams throughout the peloton and without radios and power meters riders will have to learn to race for themselves instead of being told what to do .
• i would also and I have said this for years have a mountain top TT . Riders go in reverse order 2 at a time .  That way ,there will be no hanging around just Mano v Mano action all the way up .  It’s a fucking brilliant idea . I have brilliant ideas and if the UCI want some more then for a fee I can help them turn this bore fest into a exciting race again that the fans want to see . Serious. 

Close does not mean exciting.  Too many big names were either missing or were in the race but effectively didn't turn up (Yates, Martin, Quintana, Porte, etc) in terms of GC.

In many ways this year I felt like the commentary at times was like to the WWF commentary you would listen to as a kid, where they would tell you it was the greatest PPV ever.  They seemed to be taking the attitude of tell people it was exciting and they'll think it was.

In a year where Ineos were not their usual selves from a team strength perspective it was interesting how bad so many teams were and how few teams got something out of the race.  Instead a small number of teams got a lot and a large number of riders seemed to just do a lap of France without actually doing anything at all (most of Dimension Data for example).

As for the tour, definitely one of the better ones I've seen since I started watching in 2012. No need to go overboard about being the best ever though, just appreciate it for what it was, an exciting and unpredictable tour that ended with a predictable (ineos) finish!

Guys just wanna say I appreciate the TCR updates - PLEASE KEEP THESE COMING!! (especially now we have no tour news )

For me, stage 18 (Galibier) will be remembered for a long time, and in addition to being exciting in itself, set up the GC for what should have been an exciting couple of days to come. Sadly stages 19 and 20 were a serious anticlimax. It felt like we'd waited 3 weeks for fireworks which never came. Nobody's fault obviously, just the way the weather panned out.

Agreed, defintely less interesting than last years. All the GC riders spent two weeks just waiting for Alaphilippe to crack with no one wanting to attack. Such a shame the last two stages were shortened as the fireworks seemed like they were about to start. The whole Sky/Ineos predictability arguement doesn't make sense to me regarding making the race boring, they win GC because they are solely focussed on it, sure they have a great team but it's about how they use those resources during the race. Other teams don't seem to put 100% into GC so it isn't surprising they are hoping for a bad day rather than attacking and trying to put them under pressure. Grand Tours arn't just about GC which is why every day is interesting.

I don't think that was the most exciting tour ever..  it was good due to the fact that no-one knew who would win until the last couple of days for sure. 

But exciting, erm.. maybe not so much, actually a little bit of an anticlimax as the big fireworks we were promised on stages 19 and 20 were neutralised. We'll never know what might have happened. 

I loved the 2015 edition that had crosswinds, cobbles and three yellow jersey wearers all crash out of the race, that was pretty brutal and epic. Or what about 2014 when all the main contenders crashed out and Vincenzo Nibali won.