Britain’s most pointless cycling ‘infrastructure’? Team car driver rear-ends Giro d’Italia rider; Danny MacAskill is human after all; Wrecked £250k Ferrari smashes into cycle lane; Police appeal; Tom Dumoulin is back; Bidon bins + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Wrecked £250k Ferrari smashes into cycle lane after crash with another driver
Back in October we got hold of this video of a Ferrari driver in London filming himself speeding over Lambeth Bridge before losing control and narrowly missing a cyclist riding in the opposite direction. Well, another Ferrari driver has made the blog this morning…and it is another shocker…
Greater Manchester Police appealed for information and dash cam footage after this major city centre crash on Wednesday morning. Pictures released by the force show the wrecked Ferrari 488, worth £250k, badly damaged and now sat half on the pavement, half in the cycle lane where most of its front end looks to be scattered.
The other driver involved was in a Peugeot 308 and police confirmed one person suffered a “minor injury”. GMP Traffic tweeted: “Two vehicle RTC on Chester Road attended by #XT14 & #ME51 this morning involving minor injury. “We are aware of potential CCTV that may assist our investigation into the circumstances and would ask anyone with footage to email 15246@gmp.police.uk.”
We can confirm at this stage no CCTV / Dash Cam has been recovered or passed to police. We are aware of comments to suggest the investigating officers have established the speed of the vehicles involved – this is not the case. Any witnesses/dash cam are asked to make contact.
— GMP Traffic (@gmptraffic) May 12, 2021
Stage four winner Joe Dombrowski out of the Giro d'Italia due to concussion sustained in race marshal crash
🏥 Medical Update: Unfortunately @JoeDombro will not start stage 6 of the #Giro 🇮🇹 after his crash yesterday. 1 | 2#UAETeamEmirates #RideTogether pic.twitter.com/bpDI3LRP7L
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) May 13, 2021
Joe Dombrowski has been forced to abandon the Giro d’Italia following tests by team doctors at the UAE Team Emirates hotel this morning. The stage four winner crashed in the same incident that saw Mikel Landa leave the race in an ambulance with a broken collarbone and ribs.
The American’s team confirmed he has been officially diagnosed with a concussion and cannot be allowed to continue. Does that mean Vincenzo Albanese gets a last minute delivery of another king of the mountains jersey for stage six today? We will have to wait and see.
Stage six looks like another intriguing test for the peloton with one big second category climb before a summit finish at San Giacomo, a 15km climb that averages 6 per cent, although the final 4.5km are much tougher, averaging 7.5 per cent. A good day to be in the break? Will Alessandro De Marchi retain pink? Plenty of questions to be answered…
Tom Dumoulin to make racing return at Tour de Suisse
Back in the peloton ➡️ @tom_dumoulin
His first race will be the Tour de Suisse🇨🇭
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) May 13, 2021
Tom Dumoulin will make his return to the peloton at the Tour de Suisse, six months after taking a break from the sport. Speaking to his team, the 30-year-old said he had rediscovered his love of cycling and was ready to make a comeback. Beyond the Tour de Suisse in June, Dumoulin will target the Dutch time trial and road national championships before heading to the Olympics in Tokyo.
Jumbo-Visma recently announced Dumoulin’s place on the Tour de France team would be taken by Jonas Vingegaard who impressed during the spring, winning a stage in UAE before finishing second on GC behind Primož Roglič in the Basque Country. Back in January, Dumoulin stepped away from the sport, saying he needed to “get things clear in my head about what i want and how I want it.”
“It feels really good to take this step and I feel very supported by my friends and family and the team to take this step. Taking the decision immediately felt like a big weight of my shoulders. I’m going to do a lot of thinking and talking to a lot of people and I’m very confident that I will find the answers the coming period,” he said at the time.
"We decided it was not safe for me to start today": Joe Dombrowski on Giro abandon
💬 💙| @JoeDombro had a message for you all.
All the best for a speedy recovery, Mighty Joe!#UAETeamEmirates #RideTogether #Giro pic.twitter.com/htGuPp6cIl
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) May 13, 2021
Here it is from the horse’s mouth…a bruised up Joe Dombrowski looking like he had a scrap at the team hotel last night…
Pavel Sivakov has also left the race overnight. Ineos Grenadiers’ back up plan fell earlier in the stage and limped home 13 minutes behind the peloton.
Northumbria Police appeal for information after cyclist killed in A19 collision
Northumbria Police appealed for witnesses to a collision between a driver of a Ford Fiesta and a cyclist on the A19 this morning to come forward. The incident happened at around 1:35am on the northbound stretch between A183 Offerton and A1231 North Hylton in Sunderland. Sadly the cyclist, a man in his 20s, died from his injuries and his next of kin have been informed.
The force wants to hear from anyone travelling in the area at the time who may have dash cam footage or saw anything. They are particularly interested in tracing the driver of a heavy goods vehicle who may have witnessed the collision. You can contact Northumbria Police on their website or by phoning 101 and quoting the log 47 130521.
Bidon bins tackle race waste at the Giro
🏀 Hey @KingJames hold my beer 🍺#Giro pic.twitter.com/HXBq1LyWhF
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 13, 2021
These new bidon bins Bahrain Victorious have set up at the Giro are great for improving the optics of the peloton lobbing their empty bottles into the nearest field as soon as they enter the ‘litter zone’…
🔎 Have you seen our bidon bins at the feed zones of @giroditalia?
We created our bidon bins to do our part in looking after the environment and to make sure our fans still get hold of this treasured souvenir. ♻️
Who’s next?! 👀🗑#RideAsOne #Giro pic.twitter.com/d3ktV6FO0H
— Team Bahrain Victorious (@BHRVictorious) May 12, 2021
Behind the scenes with Danny MacAskill and Kriss Kyle
Any time Danny MacAskill does anything on a bike it is usually worth a shout on the live blog. His latest video, ‘This and That’ features some pretty impressive gate-hopping that could finally find a use for the ridiculous ‘infrastructure’ from earlier…
In between the super-human bike handling clips we even get a reminder he is human as MacAskill goes flying over the handlebars into a bush, cheers for making us all feel better about our skills, Danny. There is also a behind the scenes…
Wout van Aert to skip Critérium du Dauphiné in build up to Tour de France, according to Dutch media report
Wout van Aert will head straight to the Tour de France after the Belgian national championships and has opted to skip the Critérium du Dauphiné, Wielerflits reports. The Belgian underwent appendicitis surgery last week and is expected to channel all his efforts into getting in top shape for helping Primož Roglič win the yellow jersey at the Tour.
Van Aert won the opening stage of the Dauphiné last year before taking two stages of the Tour but will not be at the traditional warm up race this year. Instead, he has added a defence of his national time trial championship and the road race to his programme. In the meantime, the 26-year-old will meet up with his Jumbo-Visma teammates at altitude in the Sierra Nevada next week.
The team’s strategy has raised a few eyebrows. Primož Roglič decided to prepare his challenge solely at altitude and will not compete between Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the start of the Tour on June 26.
Ineos Grenadiers blow the Giro d'Italia apart
#Giro – The situation#LFRLive pic.twitter.com/IbFFbfAPY1
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) May 13, 2021
Echelons! There has been a split on the descent, the wind is blowing and maglia rosa Alessandro De Marchi has some work to do to defend the jersey. I wonder if we will hear of any other big names missing the split…
Elsewhere, Mikel Landa has been released from hospital and will fly home ahead of surgery on Friday. In a team statement, team doctor Daniele Zaccaria said: “The team arranged a private flight from Rimini to Vitoria, and the medical plan is to undergo surgery tomorrow morning there. After the surgery, he will start all the treatment needed to have a prompt and safe recovery.”
Estonian Prime Minister takes a spin to the office
Cycling to work is a good start to the day. As an MP, I often cycled to work, weather permitting. Today was the first time cycling to the office since I became Prime Minister in January 2021. Hopefully I can #biketowork more frequently in the summer. pic.twitter.com/iJyb4It6I0
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) May 13, 2021
Team car driver rear-ends Giro d'Italia rider
😶Bike Exchange team car accidentally hits Deceuninck–Quick-Step rider, Pieter Serry. Still gets back up, deservedly annoyed. #Giro104 pic.twitter.com/bLMYjW0l7v
— Justin Britton (@Justin_Britton) May 13, 2021
A crazy day at the Giro d’Italia just got weirder…Deceuninck-Quick-Step pro Pieter Serry was moments ago rear-ended by the Team BikeExchange team car as the peloton started the final climb of the day. The team car appeared to be passing jackets to the race commissaire’s car when the driver ploughed into the Belgian, knocking him to the floor.
Quick-Step tweeted: “He is back on his bike, but that gave us a huge scare. Hoping Pieter Serry is ok after that heart in the mouth moment which happened on the last climb of this Giro stage.”
BikeExchange apologised for the incident shortly after but I am sure the fallout will rumble on into the evening. It comes a day after Mikel Landa was forced to abandon having broken his collarbone and some ribs in a crash involving a race marshal.
More reaction as we get it…
Gino Mäder wins Giro d'Italia stage six
💗 Giro d’Italia 2021 – Stage 6⃣
📌 Grotte di Frasassi – Ascoli Piceno (San Giacomo)🥇 @maedergino 🇨🇭
🥈 @Eganbernal 🇨🇴
🥉 @DanMartin86 🇮🇪#Giro pic.twitter.com/JOKFmLcrGb— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 13, 2021
No repeat of the Paris-Nice heartbreak for Gino Mäder today as the Swiss rider went some way to restoring Bahrain Victorious’ pride after the loss of their leader Mikel Landa yesterday. Part of the day’s breakaway, Mäder left Dario Cataldo and Bauke Mollema on the final climb to win the first summit finish of the race.
Behind, Egan Bernal showed his hand for the first time this Grand Tour, attacking close to the finish along with Remco Evenepoel and Dan Martin to force a small advantage over the rest of the GC favourites. Alessandro De Marchi would have been resigned to losing the maglia rosa having been distanced on a descent earlier in the day.
FDJ’s Hungarian climber, Attila Valter, is the surprise new wearer of the leader’s jersey and has an 11 second advantage over Remco Evenepoel. Egan Bernal moves up to third overall.
Alex Howes blames new UCI rules for Pieter Serry crash
Do they have to retrieve it during the race?
— Daniel Lloyd (@daniellloyd1) May 13, 2021
Giro: Your thoughts and reaction on Pieter Serry getting taken out by a rival team
Very careless from Bike Exchange driver. Not paying attention. Inexcusable at this level https://t.co/cSiw2Uxolv
— Auribus Teneo Lupum (@AirbusLupum) May 13, 2021
This will be one to keep an eye on as we hear more from the rider involved and the two teams… there has been plenty of sympathy for Pieter Serry rolling in. In the live blog comments, OnYerBike was not convinced by Alex Howes’ thoughts on it being the UCI’s fault.
He wrote: “I know the UCI isn’t always the most popular organisation amongst pro cyclists, but this is stretching it. The crash was a product of the driver not watching where they were going.”
dubwise suggested a strong punishment for BikeExchange: “Personally, I would throw Bike Exchange out the race. Rider safety doesn’t seem paramount to them. If the UCI can throw the likes of Schär out because he threw a bottle away in the wrong place, then…”
DS’s shouldn’t be driving EVER. Eject 1 team car and the driver from the race. #Giro2021 https://t.co/SxPC4dmo2l
— Dustin White (@dustinwht) May 13, 2021
Over on Facebook, we enjoyed the irony of an ad under the blog that one reader spotted…
Get on the phone, Pieter…
*Pinned post* Britain's most pointless cycling 'infrastructure'?
Ok Google. Sum up UK attitude to cycling in a single image https://t.co/v8enmmQPWw
— Real Gaz on a proper bike #fbpe (@gazza_d) May 12, 2021
Oh to be a fly on the wall in the meeting that decided this would be a good idea. We went down a ‘Pointless Gates and Associated Infrastructure’ rabbit hole this morning and discovered a whole Facebook page dedicated to the noble pursuit of pointless infrastructure…
This one shared yesterday really caught our eye…what looks like a shared-use path divided by some sort of unnecessary metal barrier. Why? To slow cyclists down? To ‘stop’ motor vehicles? Judging by the worn turf either side it is doing a sterling job…
On a more serious note, plenty of people have been pointing out how the only people these barriers really stop are disabled cyclists. Robyn Jankel commented: “So basically the only people who these barriers stop are disabled cyclists and people carrying kids who won’t necessarily be able to cycle on mud/grass. Fantastic.”
The level of ineptitude & idiocy is quite staggering.
Needlessly putting up barriers to cycling is understandable nay expected from many councils. But trying & thoroughly failing is just the epitome of useless town planning.Name & shame?
— cyclinggrump (@cyclinggrump) May 12, 2021
13 May 2021, 08:03
13 May 2021, 08:03
13 May 2021, 08:03
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Fascinating and insightful article, thank you.
@Sriracha " Stick a battery in a car and your still a motorist ". I think you'll find a lot of motorists who disagree with you there ;-)
"Dude. Pretty confident I could bunny hop those barriers!"
It sounds as Dublin is experiencing visits from UFO cyclists. "It was bicycle shaped. I'd never seen anything like it before. It emitted a low hum and then streaked through a red light at an unimaginable speed - probably several times the speed of sound!"
RE: Dublin street barriers - if "anti-social types" is your problem then the answer is unlikely to be "put in something they'll either see as a challenge, or just ignore and find another way of causing trouble (possibly right *outside* of the barriers)"
It does seem baffling that he was allowed to carry on. I wonder if him being in yellow affected the decision.
As soon as Mrs H and I saw the Traeen crash (didn't intend that pun but I like it now) and him being checked over at the roadside we both said that's it for him, he can't go on. It was quite clear from the video that he had taken a massive force to his right hand side and his head had banged along the tarmac for a considerable distance, he should never have been allowed to get back on the bike. It's only sheer luck that the exhaustion and confusion the crash clearly caused didn't lead to another, worse one. Do the medics have access to the TV footage? If not they should, or somebody who does should be able to get in touch with them, so that they can factor in how bad a crash was if footage is available before letting the rider resume; I don't think anyone who saw the footage would have been happy to say it was safe for him to proceed.
That's the funniest thing I've read in ages. An MP complaining about language that obscures facts. An MP complaining that someone has bent the truth, altered the meaning and the perception. Maybe if he did that for everything that comes out of every politician's mouth or is written by them, our politics would be in a far better place and our people would be more knowledgeable. But I agree, he is correct to correct the article.
That's the funniest thing I've read in ages. An MP complaining about language that obscures facts. An MP complaining that someone has bent the truth, altered the meaning and the perception. Maybe if he did that for everything that comes out of every politician's mouth or is written by them, our politics would be in a far better place and our people would be more knowledgeable. But I agree, he is correct to correct the article.
"Frightening" wildfires are the absolute worst. I am quite partial to a "Mildly amusing" one myself.
36 thoughts on “Britain’s most pointless cycling ‘infrastructure’? Team car driver rear-ends Giro d’Italia rider; Danny MacAskill is human after all; Wrecked £250k Ferrari smashes into cycle lane; Police appeal; Tom Dumoulin is back; Bidon bins + more on the live blog”
Sounds like they need speed
Sounds like they need speed cameras or speed bumps.
One went through a red light
One went through a red light if it is side on / front damage.
One did (guess which!)
One did (guess which!) acording to witnesses on local cycling twitter
Must also be a cyclist
Must also be a cyclist
Obviously. Only cyclists ever
Obviously. Only cyclists ever jump red lights. Fact! *
* not a fact
The owner of the Ferrari is
The owner of the Ferrari is stating he wasn’t speeding, the Peugeot did the illegal manouvre and the traffic cops at the scene will be charging that driver with due care and attention.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
I know it’s not the norm, but I didn’t realise that was actually an offence now.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
Agreed. From limited pics I’d say head-on with the Peugeot turning right… and fairly high speed from the Ferrari as it’s pushed the Peugeot back where it came from (but on incorrect carriageway) and both cars travelled in the direction of the Ferrari post-collision.
The tyre mark up to the kerb is an indicator.
Kerb strickes and tyre marks are very useful for rewinding from final resting places of vehicles.
I’d imagine the Peugeot driver’s version of events will be pretty enlightening.
“minor injury” and that’s the
“minor injury” and that’s the problem. People drive like that because the odds are they can just shrug and walk away. Airbags (etc) ironically are the worst thing that happened for road safety.
2.7m insurance claims last
2.7m insurance claims last year and allegedly 170,000 of those are considered to be crash for cash. 6% of all road traffic collissions are considered to be deliberate, I find this quite shocking.
Surely a sign of how safe the inside of a car is for the occupants, if people are prepared to have a deliberate crash, it stands to reason that most people will not be overly considered with the consequences of an accidental collission. Replace all the air bags with spikes and the number of crashes would surely go down.
I’m not suggesting this incident was crash for cash
I agree.
I agree.
Back in 1994-98, typically there were around 5,000 killed on the public highway. The death toll has now reduced to about 1,700 deaths per year. Makes you think the roads are so much safer!
However, if you look in detail at the Road Casualty data for Great Britain (RCGB) over the last 25 years, you realize the reduction in road deaths is for occupants of motor vehicles only.
BTW: The number of cycling casualties dropped 32% between 1999 and 2002 !!!! Most likely due to the introduction of the MG NSRF form!? Perhaps too many Police Officers don’t want to do the paperwork when a cyclist is injured in a RTC.
Back in 71 there were nearly
Back in 71 there were nearly 5 times as many road deaths/year in the UK than there are now. It makes you think.
and there were at least half
and there were at least half the number of vehicles on the road back then too
So might be less traffic
So might be less traffic meant more bad driving and more traffic generally slows down everyone. After all the 1st lockdown showed that drivers sped more when the roads were emptier.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
That doesn’t really tell us anything. Attitudes to driving on relatively emptier roads as the norm in the 1970s will not be the same as attitudes to driving on relatively emptier roads in 2020 when we are used to driving on roads that are normally a lot more congested.
Cars today are also (in general) capable of accelerating a lot faster to higher top speeds, and are bigger, heavier and employ significantly more safety features.
There are considerably fewer
There are considerably fewer deaths and serious injuries to vehicle occupants for the following reasons:
Cars are constructed of better quality steel, welded together better, passenger cabins protected better by thicker A, B and C pillars, crumple zones, collapsable steering columns, ABS, airbags, and lets not forget about “Clunk, Click every trip” (seatbelt laws front & rear), child safety seats …..
The standard of driving, I have observed during 40 years as a driver, has got worse, more drivers being more reckless.
If the drivers of today were driving Vauxhal Vivas or Ford Cortinas, the death toll would probably be in the 10’s of thousands! Then again, perhaps driving in less safe vehicles might make these drivers more cautious!?
Fines and penalty points don
Fines and penalty points don’t work. I believe the only thing which can stop people like this is just clamp every vehicle they own or drive. And make de-clamping a proper crime. 12 points? Your car is clamped for 2 years, no excuses. Plus compulsory black box device after that.
Black boxes post-prosecution
Black boxes post-prosecution would be a great idea. The technology exists to quite effectively monitor driver behaviour, it could even be managed by issuing a court order that any future insurance for the driver must include a black box policy, it wouldn’t even require the police to take on the effort of administering the boxes/data.
fwhite181 wrote:
Yep
We can fly an unmanned mission to Mars, fly a drone there, but as yet no electronic means to clamp down on rogue drivers. New drivers can have a black box to reduce insurance, so why don’t insurance companies insist on bad drivers having them? Or do they prefer raking in the extra premiums? That’s if the driver is insured?
they already have black boxes
they already have black boxes Every new car has them the manufatures have acceses to them. Im sure the local concil in England will take money from the cycling infastruture budget to fix the Ferrari
In many US states it’s
In many US states it’s routine to impound the car, and police will get a warrant to access the black box data. There’s a huge amount of data stored, even on relatively old cars. Back in my trackday days I remember Honda refusing a warranty claim because the black box showed that the engine had been buzzed through a missed shift – this was on a Civic Type R, late 90s. That Ferrari will have stored lots of potentially incriminating and circumstantial evidence, particularly as the airbags deployed.
maviczap wrote:
We have the means, just not the will.
Glad to see the number plates
Glad to see the number plates blurred out on the police cars so their undercover disguise isn’t blown.
Probably an auto AI Bot doing
Probably an auto AI Bot doing it for their pics so potential court cases aren’t jeapodised.
I can see the difficulty for
I can see the difficulty for GMP here: they’re geographically next to Lancashire Constabulary which is of the opinion that going through a traffic light at 50+mph up to a couple of seconds after they turned red is driving behaviour of such minor concern that they ignored impeccable video of 4 drivers doing it in separate incidents within 40 minutes on 20.6.20. LC did absolutely nothing so the drivers’ opinion that this is OK must have spread to GMP- or maybe GMP and LC Traffic train together?
Im glad Bahrain Victorious
Im glad Bahrain Victorious copied my suggestion 😉
see its not difficult to set up something that doesnt result in that mass chuck of bidons we had earlier in the Giro, more of this stuff teams/race organisers if you please
I think they should turn the
I think they should turn the mountain running numpties into mobile bins.
Strap a bin to the back of them and you have a mobile bin to shed those last grams before the summit.
Quote:
Not any more, it isn’t.
Good to see that after
Good to see that after knocking Serry down they had their priorities straight
…and rushed right over to give the bike a good check over.
I would have thrown the bike
I would have thrown the bike at the car windscreen.
Alex Howes blames new UCI
Alex Howes blames new UCI rules for Pieter Serry crash
I know the UCI isn’t always the most popular organisation amongst pro cyclists, but this is stretching it. The crash was a product of the driver not watching where they were going.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Personally, I would throw Bike Exchange out the race. Rider safety doesn’t seem paramount to them.
If the UCI can throw the likes of Schar out because he threw a bottle away in the wrong place, then…
I moaned a couple of days ago
I moaned a couple of days ago about team car driving standards – have a look at the Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert celebrations. On the radio, off the radio, one hand, no hands, looking around the car, over his shoulder, all while driving pretty rapidly. Much like the bidon lobbing the whole thing just looks dreadful and sends the wrong message about the sport.
kil0ran wrote:
Do not understand why a DS/coach/mechanic should be driving team cars. These are multi-million pound operations, they can’t afford a professional driver? That’s disregarding the fact that I’m sure there are plenty of cycling fans who are brilliant drivers who would be happy to do it for room and board. Surely having to focus (or not, as this sad incident shows) on driving as well as your actual job means you do neither 100% effectively?
dubwise wrote:
Couldn’t agree more.
If UCI rules prevent riders
If UCI rules prevent riders dropping their £300 Castelli race jackets for collection later, let the record show I’m happy for them to hand them to me to hand over as their team cars pass at any race I’m watching. I’m also prepared to look after their race bikes if they have to swap out with a teammate. There would be no charge for this service and I am entirely trustworthy, honest.