Mark Cavendish slides across the finish line after Giro sprint crash chaos; Driver crashes into "cursed" Velorution bike shop AGAIN; Mr Loophole says plan to allow longer lorries "a really bad idea"; Genius congestion-tackling + more on the live blog

It's been a tough day for the riders, with rainy and windy conditions making it seem less and less likely for a straightforward sprint finish at Salermo.

🔥 With 60 km to go @ChampionThomas8 - @TeamCOFIDIS, @ZOCC2 - @Bardiani_CSF, Stefano Gandin - @corratecSelleIt have a 1'02'' lead#Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/5kx5fz1udT

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 10, 2023

But if you can count on anyone to show up, it's the Tifosi.

😍 Tifosi #Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/l1FD0XANkK

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 10, 2023

Think Mark Cavendish's feeling at home with these conditions.

"Smilin' in the Rain"

🌧️🌧️🌧️#Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/YtJA7r2TzO

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 10, 2023

A cycling legend and one of the most successful Britons to take up the sport, Anthony 'Tony' Doyle MBE died from pancreatic cancer, at the age of 64, only four weeks after his diagnosis on 30 April, 2023.

road.cc has an obituary for the beloved icon, courtesy of the Doyle family:

Tony’s illustrious racing career brought unmatched success to British track cycling in the 1980s-90s - twice World Pursuit Champion, four-time European Champion, pioneering British winner of 23 Six Days and many other titles. Competing in the days before cycling had wide media exposure, Tony Doyle is a legend in the cycling community.

Tony’s cycling journey started in 1972 at age 14, when he joined his local Clarence Wheelers cycling club. In 1979, he moved to Metz, France, and spent a season racing on the continent. Shortly after his arrival, Tony won his first race, the 130km Prix Pinchi at Bouligny, going on to win a further 11 races in his first exposure to continental racing.

In 1980, he claimed his position as Britain’s leading track cyclist by winning the 5km Individual Pursuit in the 1980 World Championships at Besancon and, extraordinarily for a rookie professional, his first World Championship.

We’re deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former British Cycling President and world track champion, Tony Doyle MBE.

Our thoughts are with Tony’s family and many friends at this time. Full obituary to follow.

— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) May 5, 2023

Tony used his World Championship as a springboard to participate in his first professional Six Day, the Skol 6 in Wembley, describing it as a baptism of fire. Tony’s ambition was to become the first Briton to crack the continental Six Day circuit – a very few had won individual races, but nobody had yet mastered the Six Day, still less dominated the events as Tony was destined to do. He won his first Six Day in 1983 at Berlin, the first time a Brit had won a Six Day since 1972.

In the 1988-89 season, Doyle, with his teammate Danny Clark won five of the seven Six Days. Ultimately, Tony remains the most successful British Six Day competitor ever.

In the 1986 Championships, Tony was up against his long-standing rival Hans Henrik Oersted, who had beaten him in the previous two years’ finals. By the 4km mark, with 1km to go, Oersted had a lead of two seconds, and it seemed like the race was over. However, Tony put in one of the sport’s greatest ever counter-attacks and completed the final kilometre in just 1 minute 5.91 seconds. Oersted could not respond, and Tony Doyle had become World Champion once again, winning by a margin of 1.946 seconds.

The whole of British Cycling was jubilant, at a time when there wasn’t much success to cheer on the track.

Tony Doyle at the 1986 world individual pursuit championship’s, Colorado Springs. pic.twitter.com/r8C78WF81Q

— cycling archives (@mission753) May 8, 2023

In November 1989, Tony suffered a traumatic injury whilst racing at the Munich Six Day. He fell head-first and remained in a coma for eight days, with his shoulder broken in five places and his elbow broken in two. It was predicted that he would be unable ever to return to professional racing. He had to relearn the most basic tasks, including how to walk and eat.

However, within just three and a half months, he was back on the road and went on to win the 1990 Munich Six Day. He raced for a further four years, eventually retiring due to a back injury sustained at the Zurich Six Day in 1994.

Awarded an MBE in 1989 for services to cycling, Tony mentored and supported many younger riders, and visited countless schools to encourage the children into cycling as a pastime and competitively. He was a technical innovator, being the first to use for example the solid wheel, the wind tunnel, and the application of continuous meticulous tiny improvements to all aspects of equipment and training to improve performance.

After retiring, Tony later served as president of British Cycling, was the founding director of the Tour of Britain and played a significant role in sports promotion and media.

Anthony is survived by his partner Adriana Alessi, his children George, Gemma and James and their mother Anne.

I had just switched on the Giro when this happened...

A massive heart-in-mouth moment for Remco Evenepoel and Soudal Quick-Step, as an awfully cute dog unfortunately made its way onto the track, forcing one of the world champion's teammates to hit the deck first which led to Evenepoel crashing as well.

> Remco Evenepoel crashes after loose dog runs into Giro d'Italia peloton

First a bus, now a car smashing into a bike shop? I can't believe it. 

In what can only be described as a remarkable concurrence of events, a car driver has crashed into the London bike shop Velorution in Marylebone. It comes just six weeks after a separate incident in which a TfL bus crashed into another Velorution shop in Chelsea.

> Rudie Can’t Steer? TfL double-decker bus crashes into London bike shop with driver injured

Are we being targeted?! First, we had a bus come through our window at Chelsea and this morning, a car has parked in our Marylebone shop! The store will be closed until at least midday today.#carcrash #cycling #londonparking #ebike #londonnews pic.twitter.com/QoaYVX3qHq

— Velorution (@_velorution) May 10, 2023

It's unclear why the driver of the car crashed into the shop after turning right onto Riding House Street shortly after 6 am this morning. Video footage from inside the shop shows the driver taking the turn normally, before speeding up and becoming lodged in the scaffolding of the building. Riding House Street remains closed whilst the scaffolding of the building is assessed for damage.

Jonathan Cole, the owner of Velorution joked, "I'm starting to think one of our competitors is to blame!". 

The shop is managed by Sean Hayhow, who was also in the Chelsea store at the time of that incident. "I'm starting to think I’m cursed," quipped Sean over WhatsApp this morning.

Cole continued, "On a serious note, I’m glad the shop was closed and no one was in it at the time of the event. We’re assisting emergency services and property management with their enquiries.

"It’s obviously extremely disappointing to have to close, at least for this morning. We’re entering our busiest time of the year and our unique cafe trike outside the shop does excellent business throughout the day. We’re doing everything we can to be open as soon as possible."

Velorution is a specialist in urban, folding and electric bikes, and has four stores in London. Two down, two to go?

The UK Government has announced new laws today to permit longer semi-trailer combinations up to 18.55 metres on British roads – 2.05 metres longer than standard size.

Let's unpack this. First, I'll leave you all to discuss this bizarre press release.

Second, the “trial” for these longer lorries has been running since 2013 with over 3000 already on the road from 300 companies.

And third, freight trains exist! Campaign for Better Transport have in the past called them "an efficient, safe and clean alternative, with just one freight train capable of removing up to 129 lorries from our roads".

We did a lot of work exposing the dangers and misinformation around longer lorries, so we’re disappointed @transportgovuk is taking this retrograde step. https://t.co/WVGXcDhTHP

— Campaign for Better Transport (@CBTransport) May 10, 2023

Official figures show that HGVs accounted for only 3.4 per cent of traffic - but were involved in 15.5 per cent of cyclist and 11 per cent of pedestrian deaths.

As you'd expect, this decision has left many, including those who value their safety on roads scratching their heads.

Cycling UK has raised fears it "could cost lives of pedestrians and cyclists", and rightly pointed out: "At a time when funding for infrastructure to keep people cycling and walking safer has been cut, it's alarming that longer and more hazardous lorries could now be allowed to share the road with people cycling and walking."

You might remember this tweet from a Swedish researcher who did a test on the safety of cyclists when being passed by extra-long lorries and HGVs from a couple weeks ago.

Last weekend we collected data on how 23 experienced road cyclists feel when being passed by a truck. We tested 50 and 80 km/h and 1 m, 1.5 m and 2 m clearance with a standard and an extra long truck. Many thanks to all volunteers and the team! pic.twitter.com/bufzhvKvm4

— Katja Kircher 🚴‍♀️ - @katjakircher [at] mastodon.nu (@KatjaKircher) April 27, 2023

> “It’s problematic to have a value like that”: Researcher calls for better guidelines than “just 1.5 metres” for passing cyclists

What do you think? Could it make cycling and walking on UK roads even more unsafe than it already is?

Here's what some other people think...

“Could”?
It’s a “will” - the uncertainty is around how many

— Roger Humphry (@RojH123) May 10, 2023

Hot tip: it won’t save any CO2. Numbers of such lorries will increase, wiping out any gains. Same seen with rise of SUVs. We need heavy restrictions on use of all roads by motor traffic.

— Carlton Reid (@carltonreid) May 10, 2023

Just a ridiculous, retrograde step. Apparently it's about the 'need for robust supply chains', which reading between the lines = 'since we your govt have shot the UK trade in both feet with #Brexit, we're grasping for anything whatever the implications, safety or other...'

— ClayDenizen (@claydenizen) May 10, 2023

We'll be reporting more on this news shortly...

Yesterday morning, Alan Myles, perhaps inspired by the now moustache-toting Wout van Aert, set off to do a recon of the UCI World Championship route in Scotland.

> "Very poor state": Riding at race speeds on Scotland's bumpy and uneven World Championship route led to cyclist snapping his saddle

But as it turned out, riding at race speeds may not be advisable on a (checks notes) race route, as the bumpy and even Campsie Road in Lennoxtown near Glasgow, which has been confirmed to feature in the Championships later this August, left him with a snapped rail on the saddle and hoping to dear God that the other rail holds on for the 16 miles till home.

@EDCouncil has made what is likely to be the last repair to part of the @CyclingWorlds route. I though i'd ride it at race speed this morning and my saddle snapped. So that will be fun for all the riders... just the 16 miles left for the other rail to hold on till home.@roadcc pic.twitter.com/848ZzubTIN

— Alan Myles 🇵🇸 (@AlanMyles8) May 9, 2023

He told road.cc: "The council re-laid the road just round the corner so it looks highly unlikely this bit will get done before the championships as they would have done it at the same time (the road had to be closed for it)."

We had reached out to the East Dunbartonshire Council asking whether they would be resurfacing the road or not, and their reply is... vague. 

Ann Davie, Depute Chief Executive, East Dunbartonshire Council told road.cc: "We have conducted an initial route audit and are in regular discussion with the UCI World Cycling Championship event organisers. A further route audit will be conducted imminently. The results of this will be discussed with the organisers and actions and timescales will be agreed.”

> Wout van Aert takes time trial bike to Scotland for World Championships recon —then rides an OVO bike on Glasgow’s “risky” streets

I doubt the UCI will be very pleased.