"Nobody should be allowed near a driving licence until they've undertaken a comprehensive cycling course"; Lance Armstrong vs Jake Paul; Lapierre bikes back in WorldTour; Bizarre Tour de France betting tale; Festive 500 in one ride + more on the live blog

Cycling Scotland shared this on Facebook, drivers from Parks coach company in Hamilton recently out on their bikes as part of a Road User Awareness Training session. The idea being to gain "first-hand awareness of at-risk road users and guidance on how to drive more safely around people cycling".

It's got plenty of praise, many of the comments calling it a great initiative that should be more widely implemented. In fact, one person, a driver of 54 years and bike rider of 66 years, raised the idea that "no one should be allowed near driving lessons or licence until and unless they've undertaken a comprehensive cycling proficiency course/test", clarifying that they mean a 'proper' cycling course, not just the "school age basic type of 'proficiency'".

It's certainly not a new idea, and we're probably preaching to the converted here, but should cycling be part of the process of learning to drive? It would certainly, you'd imagine, give road users a greater appreciation for issues and dangers cyclists face?

Another comment suggested "the greatest benefit to road safety in the UK would be requiring *ALL* motorists to spend time cycling on public roads."

The York Cycle Campaign agreed with the positive impact such training can have, helping road users more aware of how others experience the roads. Likewise, they agreed with a comment saying it would also help for road users to experience sitting in a truck cab.

What do we reckon? Greater education and experience around cycling as a standard part of learning to drive? Seems a pretty obvious one when you write it out as a question like that...

> "Tech always gets faster – it's on riders to not do stupid things," says Tadej Pogačar, after rival team boss called for "slower bikes to save lives" and pro claimed "modern bikes break every time you crash"

The Festive 500 is an essential part of the Christmas week for many. Chapeau to all of you doing it this year, an even bigger well done to the ten brave souls taking it on in one ride at Herne Hill Velodrome, in south London, on the 29th and 30th of December.

Lloyd Collier will be one of them, the ten available places on the annual event are always over-subscribed but a lucky group has been selected to take on the mega challenge and raise money for some fantastic causes in the process.

500km outdoors during the British winter sounds hard enough, then add in the sleep deprivation and psychological fatigue of riding the same 450m lap over and over and over again... more than 1,000 times. It's a proper challenge.

Lloyd is riding in memory of Annette 'Netty' Collier who sadly took her own life last year. He's raising funds for the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance who attempted to save Netty that day.

"Each time the helicopter flies it costs almost £3,000, with EHAAT's monthly total cost coming to approximately £1,000,000," Lloyd tells us. "They rely solely on charitable donations so I'm hoping to raise enough funds for their next three or four missions — wouldn't it be wonderful if, with funds raised in memory of Netty, they can get to the next Netty, or Hetty, or Harry, in time.

"The family and I ask that her death also be a rallying call to all of us to be vigilant to our loved ones and their state of mind — a fleeting moment of weakness can last forever."

The fundraiser has already hit the £6,000 mark. You can read more about Netty's story, Essex & Herts Air Ambulance's work, and donate to the fundraiser here.

Regular road.cc contributor Laura has penned a piece for Fleet News communicating the update that police will be able to replace 'Police Accident' with 'Police Collision' on road signs and in-car messaging.

Campaigners and the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) welcomed the move, the language used to better reflect the fact that many collisions are avoidable and the result of human behaviour, not simply chance accidents.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has granted police special authorisation to use collision instead.

> Police no longer describing road collisions as 'accidents' – but over two-thirds still refer to vehicles instead of drivers, new research finds

Commander Kyle Gordon from the NPCC called the news "another positive step" as "correct use of language is essential to ensure we bring people's attention to the actual negligence present in so many of these collisions".

"I know this change will be welcomed by our colleagues in policing who see first-hand the serious and long-lasting impact of collisions on individuals, families and communities. Five people killed and over 80 seriously injured on our roads every day is quite simply unacceptable," he said.

"The vast majority of these collisions are simply avoidable if people start to take seriously their own personal responsibility for safe use of the roads. The correct use of language is essential to ensure we bring people's attention to the actual negligence present in so many of these collisions in order to try and prevent this level of harm on our roads."

Ilnur Zakarin, now-retired but winner of two Giro d'Italia stages and one at the Tour de France during the mid-2010s, has taken to Facebook with a bizarre tale about how he lost "100 thousand" betting on teammate Marcel Kittel to win a Tour stage... because the German powerhouse was eating a lot of pasta the night before.

The source for this story is... Zakarin himself... the Russian rider telling fans via his verified Facebook account of the tale. Thanks to Google Translate, we can grab a hopefully accurate enough translation... although we'd give him some leeway with some of the wording.

I just saw that @marcelkittel liked the previous post, I immediately remembered the story with it. I was very fortunate that he and I got to go on the Tour de France on the same team. After the 17th stage, we met for dinner and I noticed he's already eating his third plate of pasta. I be like, “wat up bro?” He replies that he feels that I will win the stage tomorrow, and this feeling never fails him. I laughed, but I postponed the feeling information, because I feel the same. For a second, he won five stages of Tour de France a year earlier.

After dinner, I quickly got to my room and wrote to my homie to bet 100 thousand for Kittel to win. Koresh, who understands cycling, said it was a bad initiative. But emotions turned out to be stronger and I still bet on him.
Of course, I sent the money immediately and waited for the next day. The bet should work, and I will make a lot of money.

I woke up in the morning energetic and charged up and expecting a big meal. I wished Marcel good luck, and I covered him from the wind, fed and protected him all day. I fell behind to the finish line, and when I got there, I immediately asked how he finished? He calmly replied that something went wrong today. After that, I no longer bet on sports.

The only year Kittel and Zakarin rode the Tour as teammates was for Katusha in 2018, a year when the sprinter was over the time limit on stage 11, so possibly a bit of misremembering going on here (although Zakarin saying Kittel had won five stages the year previous does check out). 

The "100 thousand" is presumably Russian Ruble too, which would have been about £1,250 in July 2018.