Why do motorists hate cyclists?; Shocking cycling crash; First major race in the UK for over a year; Roglič's coach gives honest race review; Santander Cycles' 100 millionth hire; RoboCop polices Belgian race; New pop-up lane + more on the live blog

One of our forums got lots of attention over the weekend so we're bringing the topic here to get some more input from you lot...If you've cycled for any period of time you've probably had a negative experience with a driver: something shouted at you, a punishment pass, or worse...Whatever it may be there's an underlying question to be asked. Why do motorists hate cyclists? But why are road rage incidents so common? And why is it that one of the times when we feel the most hostility in our lives is probably when we're out on our bikes? 

Of the replies we've had so far, here's a couple of popular suggestions for starters: road rage drivers are angry about everything on the road (traffic jams, traffic lights, other drivers etc.) so cyclists are just another victim of their rage. Secondly, motorists incorrectly perceive cyclists to be holding them up...Anyone got any more suggestions?

🇩🇰@MadsWurtz of 🇮🇱@TeamIsraelSUN wins stage 6 of 🇮🇹@TirrenAdriatico #TirrenoAdriatico (📺@RaiSport) pic.twitter.com/H4OyQ9VuPT

— World Cycling Stats (@wcsbike) March 15, 2021

The breakaway survived on stage six of Tirreno-Adriatico with Mads Würtz Schmidt of Israel Start-Up Nation winning the five-up sprint. As well as being the Dane's first WorldTour win, it is the first win for a female directeur sportif at a men's WorldTour race. Schmidt beat young Belgian rider Brent Van Moer, Simone Velasco, Jan Bakelants and Nelson Oliveira in the kick to the line. Behind, Mathieu van der Poel's teammate Tim Merlier won the sprint for seventh, 30 seconds after the final man from the breakaway, Emils Liepiņš, crossed the line. Deceuninck-Quick-Step's Davide Ballerini, Cofidis' Elia Viviani and Max Kanter of Team DSM rounded out the top ten.

No changes on GC means that Tadej Pogačar will take a 1:15 advantage on Wout van Aert into tomorrow's individual time trial, the final stage of the race.

Velocio is running a virtual challenge from March 12-21 to share routes, favourite climbs and lesser known roads to make the best of a start to a season still disrupted by lockdowns and cancellations. They are asking riders to upload rides to komoot and tag Velocio to share their rides and be in with a chance of winning prizes from Wahoo, ENVE, Velocio and komoot. With no group rides, sportives or races allowed just yet, hopefully the challenge will mean we'll all have some new roads and climbs to explore in the meantime...

The Cyclone Festival of Cycling takes place in the beautiful and quiet NE of England over 2-4 July. Entries are now open for six public rides of between 10 and 108 miles - https://t.co/Z07iw5se5p pic.twitter.com/DILm4MlgTG

— Cyclone Festival (@CycloneFestival) March 8, 2021

The North East's biggest cycling festival has been given the green light to spearhead the return of racing in the UK. The Cyclone Festival of Cycling is now preparing to host the first major road races to be held in the UK for over a year. The Curlew Cup (women's race) and Beaumont Trophy (men's race) will mark the end of a three day festival of cycling on Sunday 4 July. Both races, are part of British Cycling's HSBC National Road Series.

In addition to the pro races, there will be a family event along the River Tyne on the Friday and four challenge rides ranging from 34 miles to 108 miles around Northumberland National Park on Saturday 3 July.

Last month British Cycling cancelled several National Road Series events including the Tour of the Resevoir, Alexandra Tour of the Resevoir and the Stockton Cycling Festival Grand Prix. The Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix scheduled for May 9 has also been postponed.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Congrats to @MaxSchachmann and @BORAhansgrohe. We fucked this up ourselves, nobody else to blame. pic.twitter.com/ZOm9nYQQ7k

— grischa niermann (@grischaniermann) March 14, 2021

No excuses from Jumbo-Visma coach Grischa Niermann about yesterday's disaster for his team at Paris-Nice. Primož Roglič confirmed after the stage that he suffered a disclocated shoulder in the first of his two crashes on stage eight. The Slovenian led Max Schachmann by 52 seconds going into the final stage but found himself detatched from the peloton without teammates and suffered a long, lonely ride to the finish.

Roglič haemorrhaged three minutes by the end, enough to see him drop to 15th in the general classification as Bora-hansgrohe's Schachmann defended his Paris-Nice title in unusual circumstances. 

"It's not the stage we were hoping for," Roglič said. "I did some mistakes today. With the first one I dislocated the left shoulder and then one more time. I just gave it all but unfortunately couldn't catch the first guys anymore. It's a little pity but we'll go on."

E3 Saxo Bank Classic introduces new barriers and a robot to count spectators and tell them to wear a mask pic.twitter.com/oicUvOdoHC

— José Been (@TourDeJose) March 15, 2021

This shocking crash in Petersham, Sydney, was caught on a motorist's dash cam. The cyclist crosses the road, filtering through the first lane of stationary traffic, but doesn't see the oncoming vehicles in the next lane. After colliding with the car the rider is sent flying but thankfully can be seen getting to their feet. The video was shared in Dash Cam Owners Australia Facebook group where the cyclist has been blamed for the incident.

However, Helen Angell came to the cyclist's defence, with some local knowledge. "What you can’t see in this footage is that there is a pedestrian island in the middle of the road that is very unsafe," she explained. "It’s actually not wide enough for people or bikes to wait safety and has not been upgraded despite many complaints and safety concerns raised about it."

The clip has also started a debate about helmets...Martin Zazvonil commented: "That 370Z owner would be fuming. This is a great example of why you may as well not even bother with a helmet if you don’t strap it up." The Australian Daily Mail even picked up on the video, sharing it under the headline 'Why you should always check your helmet'.