“This is ridiculous”: Council starts ‘bike week and climate week’… by telling cyclists to dismount on its longest cycle route; Mallorcan cafés put up notices asking cyclists not to pee on trees; Visma’s nightmare social media day + more on the live blog

Tudor Pro Cycling are only in their second ever Giro d’Italia, and it almost turned into a painful and premature end for their team leader even before the race had begun.

Writing in a blog for Cyclingnews, Larry Warbasse revealed he had a close call with a pothole on a pre-race training ride in Albania: “’Watch out!’ I yelled, as I too frequently do, trying to signal a massive crater in the road to my teammates behind,” he wrote.

“As I swerved to avoid it on my BMC TimeMachine TT bike, I hit a different bump just next to it, and my sunscreen-coated gloveless hand slipped from the bar, and I stumbled, only to somehow catch myself with my wrist and keep my bike upright. It was a close call.

“My Giro nearly ended before it started here in Albania, but luckily, my teammates and I all made it to the start line in Durres in one piece. And out of the first three stages for that matter, which, seeing how it started on our first ride here, seems like a big win.”

The American rider didn’t hold back in his assessment of the general roads: “I have to say we were somewhat worried about the state of the roads after our two pre-Giro training rides.

“Thankfully, the roads of stages one, two, and three were fairly decent,” he wrote. “I also find that when everyone is on high alert in the bunch, for example, on rainy days or with terrible roads, it seems like there are even fewer crashes than normal. I think because of the increased focus with the greater perceived danger.”

“So, on the whole, I think there seemed to be a fair number fewer crashes in the race than normal for the first few days of a Grand Tour, which is a very good thing.”

> No GOAT, but plenty of goats (and stray dogs) at the Giro d’Italia, as riders head back to Il Bel Paese after three eventful days in Albania

The opening three-day stint of the Italian Grand Tour in Albania was certainly eventful. Crashes, stray dogs and goats chasing through the peloton, criticism of “massive craters” on the roads… and now a video from Saturday’s time trial stage has surfaced, showing a Cofidis cyclist crash after hitting a clueless man who walked over onto the designated racing zone during his recon ride.

Just your average Giro recon… until a “fan” walks straight into your TT line at the 🇮🇹#Giroditalia…

📹 lultimolultimo pic.twitter.com/8Wawe01Nyu

— Domestique (@Domestique___) May 12, 2025

Luc Grefte from Lanterne Rouge commented on the video on social media: “During the recon, I went to a marshal from RCS after seeing this exact crossing. There was zero coordination, no whistle to guide police when to open/close, just pure disorganisation. Unfortunate to see it went wrong.”

> Road rage driver jailed for life after killing e-bike rider “to teach him a lesson for doing wheelies”

If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if a Tour de France winner were held hostage by a marketing department, you’re in luck.

In a new promotional video for Chinese cycling sports equipment brand Mentech, Visma-Lease a Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard appears so expressionless and robotic that fans were quick to ask: “Blink twice if you’re in danger, Jonas.”

 

 

 

 

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Staring into the camera like a man reading ransom demands, Vingegaard mumbled: “Hello I’m in Jonas Vingegaard. At the moment we are preparing for the Tour de France. Thank you to all the Chinese fans for the support throughout the years. Big congratulations to Mentech on the product launch. Thank you for the support. Thank you, bye bye.”

Words of stoic, percipient wisdom.

> “Cycling is a weird sport”: Spare a thought for the poor soul who has to put on the T-Rex suit for Soudal Quick-Step in 40-degree Vuelta heat

But let’s not be too harsh. Jonas is simply honouring a grand tradition of professional cyclists looking completely out of their depth in the name of sponsor loyalty — from Trek-Segafredo routinely making riders pull espresso shots to Tom Boonen’s foray into haute cuisine, that is, being submerged in a bath of Heinz baked beans — yes, that’s forever etched into my memories.

Not to be outdone, Soudal Quick-Step embraced full-brand absurdity by rebranding as T-Rex Quick-Step for last year’s Vuelta. Riders were decked out in dinosaur graphics to promote Soudal’s T-Rex adhesive — a marketing move that saw Remco Evenepoel slowly unveil a glue stick as if the McGuffin of the latest Star Wars movie.

Is this particular stint going to help Mentech shift units? We aren’t sure (I’ll make sure to ask our reviews team if they’re any good). Is it going to help Visma-Lease a Bike collect a few thousand pounds to fund their Tour de France training camp? Probably. At least, it’s given fans something to laugh about in the run-up to Lille.

Mikel Landa has returned to Spain to begin his recovery after crashing out of the Giro d’Italia on the first stage, suffering a fracture to his spine.

The 35-year-old Soudal–QuickStep rider was hospitalised in Tirana following a high-speed crash on the descent of the final climb of Friday’s opening stage. He ran wide on a sweeping left-hand bend just over 5km from the finish, came off the road, and fell roughly a metre down onto a footpath. Landa was left lying motionless on his side and had to be stretchered away before being taken by ambulance to the hospital.

A CT scan revealed a stable fracture to the TH 11 vertebra. He spent the night in an intensive care unit before being moved to a general ward the next day.

In a statement, his team confirmed: “Mikel had suffered a stable fracture of the Th 11 vertebra. This will require Mikel to remain in a stable lying position for an extended period of time.”

Following further assessment, arrangements were made for Landa to return home. Soudal–QuickStep officials said he is now back in Spain “in good spirits and optimistic for the future.”

The 35-year-old, who’s won three stages at Giro d’Italia in the past, and started the Giro with ambitions of a GC challenge just days after signing a one-year contract extension, said: “I would like to thank everybody for the messages of support and the love that I have received.

“I would also like to thank the medics both at the scene of the accident and at the hospital in Tirana, and to everybody at Soudal Quick-Step who has taken care of me and helped me to return to my home. It will be a long recovery but the support that has been shown to me will strengthen me on my journey.”

The team has not given a timeline for his return to racing.

> “I was doing shitloads of cocaine”: Bradley Wiggins says he became a “functioning addict” during post-retirement struggles

A popular restaurant on the iconic Coll de Sóller climb in Mallorca has once again been forced to put up signs asking visiting cyclists not to use their property as an impromptu toilet stop.

Located just metres from the summit of the legendary 8.9km ascent in the Serra de Tramuntana, the restaurant sits right on one of the island’s busiest cycling routes – and each year, thousands of riders tackling the 5.3 per cent average gradient find themselves in need of a pee break at the top.

Unfortunately, many have been choosing the restaurant’s grounds as the spot to do it.

In response, the owners have taken to nailing a blackboard sign to a nearby tree, bluntly stating in Spanish, English and German: “This is NOT a public toilet! Do not pee here!”

According to Majorca Daily Bulletin, the issue has become a regular headache for the business, with unpleasant smells – and occasionally worse – wafting near the entrance and the outdoor terrace.

Bikes aren’t allowed in the road tunnel that takes most vehicle traffic underground, leaving the original pass road to cyclists — with spectacular views across the island, minimal traffic, and little in the way of public facilities near the summit.

To be fair, a long climb in Mediterranean heat is not exactly bladder-friendly — and when nature calls halfway through a training ride, options can be limited.

Until the local authorities provide a few more official pit stops, riders might want to plan their hydration a bit more carefully… or risk getting a multilingual telling-off from a very unimpressed tree.

I’ve got to say, even by pro cycling’s bare-minimum standards, Visma-Lease a Bike’s social media team is having a mare today…

First, the most monotonous and uninterested-looking Vingegaard promoting a Chinese equipment sponsor for the team, and now some poor soul with an phone and a mic has been made to go around the Giro d’Italia camp and ask its riders the most pertinent question of 2025 so far: Can 100 men beat one gorilla?

A terrible question would only mean some terrible responses, with a completely confused and dazed Wout van Aert doing his best to look excited, in the end coming up with the response: “One gorilla? I don’t know…”

 

 

 

 

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To compound Van Aert’s miseries, the Belgian was also late to the start of the race, giving him a right tough task to chase the peloton down even before any real racing had begun. But as TNT Sports’ Orla mentioned, the riders did start a “couple of minutes early”…

“How very un-Italian and very un-Giro d’Italia!”

 

 

 

 

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> Labour MP calls for tougher e-bike laws on “battery safety, speeding and enforcement”

A scary moment for pink jersey Mads Pedersen…

 

 

 

 

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Team Picnic–PostNL’s Casper van Uden pulled off a surprise win on stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia, sprinting to victory in Lecce after a tense, crash-marred day — and handing his team a crucial boost in the WorldTour relegation battle.

The first stage back on Italian soil – a 189km route from Alberobello to Lecce – offered the first flat finish of the Grand Tour, and all signs pointed to a pure bunch sprint. With no appetite for breakaways, only Team Polti–VisitMalta’s Francisco Muñoz attacked, riding solo for over 100km before being reeled in before the final intermediate sprint.

 

 

 

 

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The day wasn’t without incident. Tom Pidcock’s domestique, Nickolas Zukowsky crashed heavily and abandoned with a suspected broken collarbone. Lidl–Trek’s Mads Pedersen, the GC leader, was caught in two crashes, including one that brought down teammate Søren Kragh Andersen with 20km to go. Despite this and little team support in the final, the maglia rosa recovered to take fourth in the sprint and retain the overall lead.

Visma–Lease a Bike’s Olav Kooij came second, while Tudor Pro Cycling’s Maikel Zijlaard was third. Red Bull–Bora-Hansgrohe’s Primož Roglič gained two seconds and now trails Pedersen by just seven seconds on GC.

 

 

 

 

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The 23-year-old Dutch rider — who seemed as surprised at his first Grand Tour win (and fifth pro win), as fans were at the choice to go for a Lazer time trial helmet on a sprint day — said after the race: “I didn’t do it alone, we did it together as a team. I didn’t have to take any win until 200 meters to go.

“We’ve worked really well on the leadout this season and the guys did a perfect job for me, and it feels great to be able to give them something back. Sometimes I have to find my self-belief and today I succeeded.”

> Cyclist sues New York Police Department over “malicious and outrageous” fines for jumping red lights, arguing officers are getting traffic law wrong

Dublin City Council has launched its Bike Week and Climate Week with an unexpected gesture: telling cyclists to get off and walk on one of the city’s busiest and most scenic cycle routes.

Without advance notice, signs were installed after the morning rush hour instructing people to dismount on the S2S Dublin Bay cycle path in Clontarf — part of the city’s longest continuous bike route. No official detour was offered, and the signs only appear after cyclists cross the road to access the path.

“This is ridiculous, where is the traffic management plan? Cycling is a legitimate form of transport,” said Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr Donna Cooney (Green Party), who described the situation just after 5pm as “chaos”, with commuters trying to figure out where they were supposed to go.

Cllr Cooney had previously been told by officials that the works weren’t scheduled to begin until June. She said she had been asking for proper arrangements for cyclists ahead of time and had hoped they’d be in place before any closure.

Instead, the current ‘traffic management’ solution consists of funnelling pedestrians, dismounted cyclists, and those still riding into a sliver of road space between construction barriers.

> Disabled cyclist wins battle to remove “discriminatory” barriers after council agrees to out-of-court settlement to modify National Cycle Network path

“The space between the barriers is very narrow,” Cooney told Irish Cycle. “Two people with prams, or two people using wheelchairs, or two people walking their bicycles would struggle to get past each other.”

“Nobody should have to dismount, clearly Jonathan can’t,” she said, referring to a handcyclist she met at the barrier. He was able to get through, but it was so narrow that the word “accessible” doesn’t really apply.

This is ridiculous, where is the traffic management plan. Cycling is a legitimate from of Transport.
Nobody should have to dismount, clearly Jonathan can’t. I explained this was a concern. pic.twitter.com/r5lyBfpSO8

— Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr. Donna Cooney (@donna_cooney1) May 12, 2025

Cooney said she reminded officials before the work began that maintaining access along the route was a serious concern. “Part of the planning condition was that a traffic management plan needed to be put in place,” she said. “They showed a pedestrian route in the plan, but not a cycle path.”

“Pedestrians will be mixed with people cycling from a two-way path onto a very narrow section of roadway which has been sectioned off,” she added.

“This is my route at least four times a day,” Cooney said. “There will be people coming home facing this, kids in cargo bikes from the creche, lots of adapted bikes, people using buggies, and wheelchairs. It’s a hugely busy route for pedestrians and people cycling.”

> “Benefit of removing barriers far outweighs anti-social motorbike behaviour”: Cyclist calls for removal of barriers from cycle paths for greater accessibility

The incident in Clontarf isn’t an isolated case, of course. Just two weeks ago, cyclists in Colchester criticised Sainsbury’s for closing pedestrian and cycle access to one of its stores “without warning”, forcing riders onto a narrow, overgrown footpath or a fast-moving dual carriageway.

Campaigners called the closure a “typical lack of thought” for people arriving by bike, with local rider Andy Sample saying: “They should have thought about this much more carefully.”

Meanwhile, a London cyclist shed light on a network of restrictive gates across Bexley that block access to parks and cycle routes. In one case, navigating a gate on Robin Hood Lane required lifting a bike overhead just to pass through — a task, as he pointed out, not even remotely possible for anyone using a handcycle, child seat, or mobility scooter.

“They’re just in the way for people who want to use the parks and quiet paths,” he said. “The infrastructure was meant to help, but it’s ended up being anti-bike.”

Happy Bike Week, now get off and push.