Bizarre scenes at Tour de France as team cars almost crash into each other; “Impatient” cab drivers slammed by cyclists; Cavendish says teammates helping him up the mountains is “more impressive than what any lead out man has done” + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Local reporter asks if motorists care that cyclists are dying on roads at “alarming rate” – and readers respond by claiming cyclists “think they own the road then suffer the consequences” amid calls for cycling licences, insurance, and mandatory helmetsLo
“If more than 100 people every year were murdered by gangs of madmen wielding chainsaws, the government would make it near-impossible to buy a chainsaw. But when it comes to the deaths of cyclists on our roads, we bury our heads in the sand”
"Remember, Paris wasn't always this way... Cities are a result of choice": Some wise words this Tuesday
Remember, Paris wasn’t “always this way.”
It wasn’t even this way in late 2019 when I was last there.
Just a few years ago, #Paris was choking in car traffic much more.
This is new. This is leadership.
Cities are a result of choices.
HT @Khayat_Fouadpic.twitter.com/ZdNhAmqwzE
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) July 15, 2024
"Imagine Ben Stiller in Chippy Lane at 3AM": Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe invite Ben Stiller for Tour of Britain... and a night out in Cardiff
I’m going to completely ignore the political calamity unfolding just a few hundred metres from my home in the Senedd today, and instead focus on the latest episode of the Watts Occurring podcast, hosted by Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe, in which they ended up inviting movie star Ben Stiller for a wild night out in Cardiff.
Stiller, famous for roles in movies such as Night at the Museum, Madagascar and Tropic Thunder, is a massive fan of cycling and recently showered big praise for Thomas ahead of the Welshman’s 241st stage two weeks ago, commenting under one of his tweets: “This guy is one of the best to ride the tour ever. Wishing him all the best!”
Ben Stiller x Chippy Lane.
Cardiff, he’s coming for you. pic.twitter.com/ESp5wlifK4
— Watts Occurring (@Watts_Occurring) July 15, 2024
And now, he’s found himself in the Welsh cycling pair’s lovely podcast, with Thomas suggesting Stiller to come to the Tour of Britain which is scheduled to finish in Cardiff this year, adding: “We’ll take you on a night out.”
“I’d love it,” says Stiller. But Rowe interjects: “Oh, I don’t know if you want to go on a night out in Cardiff Ben, you’d have a shock. Imagine Ben Stiller in Chippy Lane at 3AM, G!”
“What’s Chippy Lane?” Stiller asked, as I’m sure the most of you did in your head right now as well. Don’t worry, Rowe did a better job at breaking down the mythical alley in the middle of the city centre better than I could.
“I’m so glad you asked the question. So you go out on the town, you drink as much as you want, you have a great time or whatever, and at the end of the night when you get a bit peckish and a bit hungry before you get the taxi home, you head to Chippy Lane. It’s just a lane of chips shops and kebab shops and pizza huts… But it’s a bit of a s*****e.”
He added: “If you want to finish the night off with a scrap or a bit of a punch up, you can go down there”
And just like that, Stiller replied: “Alright I’m in, let’s do it.”
Let me tell you one thing for sure, Rowe and Thomas wouldn’t manage to convince me to go to the Chippy Lane at 3AM on a weekend, I think St Mary’s Street is enough for me. I just hope they don’t end up with Stiller at Tony’s…
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The secret to Vingegaard’s unbelievable Tour de France performances? It’s döner kebabs!
The secret behind the superhuman-like attack on Plateau de Beille, the incredible 2023 time trial at Combloux, or many other such performances over the years for two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard, believe it or not, might just lie in döner kebabs!
I know what I’m eating for lunch today then… excuse me as I quickly hop over to the nearby kebab shop.
My meal plans aside, Visma-Lease a Bike’s food coach Karim Lambrechts has offered some insight into the diet and nutrition plans for the Dutch cycling team, and surprise-surprise, it includes a lot of carbohydrates — described as the miracle macro that’s enabled the peloton riders of today to perform at levels unseen before (although, it doesn’t include a bag of chips, as a drunk spectator found at this weekend on the climb of Pla d’Adet).
“Every week, groceries are delivered from the Netherlands,” Lambrechts told Dutch website NOS. “It is important to be in energy balance, as we call it. If you do not properly replenish what you consume, you run the risk of not recovering properly. That also increases the chance of getting sick, for example. Especially in a Grand Tour, it is simply important to recover as well as possible every day.”
“A rider easily consumes 8,000 to 10,000 kilocalories per day. Breakfast this morning already consisted of about 1,500 kilocalories. That’s three slices of bread with sweet toppings, egg and ham or cheese on top. Then two more bowls of rice pudding and some fresh fruit and also some cottage cheese. Sometimes you think: how do they get it all down? But in the end they always manage.”
Anything special for the team’s leader Vingegaard then, who sits second in the general classification, three minutes behind Tadej Pogačar? Lambrechts said: “Vingegaard’s favourite food is Döner kebab. I incorporate that during the Tour de France by frying chicken with shawarma spices and putting it in a wrap. A little red cabbage, onions and garlic sauce on the side.
“We serve in buffet form. They are people and not machines,” he added, insisting the riders themselves get plenty of say in what they eat. “It is important that they also follow their feelings. If they want to take a little more or a little less, they can. We always make sure there is enough.”
I wouldn’t be opposed to Jonas Vingegaard starting a new podcast, where he discusses great nutritional recipes (that kebab wrap with red cabbage and garlic sauce? I would eat that three days a week) and perhaps even some moustache-growing tips with his countryman Magnus Cort!
The TdF analysis we live for! Comparing the Tour de France bikes that won on the Plateau de Beille in 1998 and 2024: Marco Pantani's Bianchi Mega Pro XL vs Tadej Pogačar's Colnago V4Rs
A lot has changed in cycling in the last 26 years, with Tadej Pogačar’s record-breaking summit of one of the Tour de France’s legendary climbs providing us with a great excuse to do a bike tech deep-dive
Magnus Cort proves he's a man of his word by dying his moustache blue
The stage-hunting, hotel-reviewing “moustache expert” Magnus Cort has finally delivered on his promises, and no, while the Danish rider hasn’t won a stage at the Tour de France yet, he’s dyed his moustache blue following through on his commitment to do so for the last week of the Tour if he reached 200,000 followers on Instagram.
🤩 The Blue-stache 🤩
Thank you @MagnusCort!#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/cOrETgv0kE
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 16, 2024
In an even funnier exchange, Magnus Cort has also given his countryman Jonas Vingegaard a nice little tip: Keep growing your own moustache if you want to be in yellow.
Speaking to a journalist just before stage 12, a day after Vingegaard became the first person to beat Pogačar in a straight two-up sprint, Cort said: “I have noticed it [that Vingegaard is growing a moustache] and I think yesterday we could see that it helped him. He couldn’t have pulled that little sprint without that moustache… I feel pretty confident that if he keeps growing it, he will be in yellow before Nice.”
Vingegaard, responding to Cort’s comments, said: “I think so, it gave me the strength to sprint yesterday. We saw it many times with Magnus and it helped me as well.”
Magnus Cort mener, Jonas Vingegaards moustache hjalp ham i spurten mod Pogačar👀😆#TDF2024 #cykling2024 pic.twitter.com/6A7rg4N8AZ
— Eurosport Danmark (@eurosportdk) July 11, 2024
"What they did was more impressive than what any lead out man in the history of cycling has ever done": Mark Cavendish applauds his teammates for helping him make the time cut
Mark Cavendish, arguably the greatest sprinter to grace this beautiful sport, yet the 39-year-old man is far from the best when it comes to climbing.
Not that he has to, we aren’t going to go around asking Jonas Vingegaard to win a bunch sprint to prove that he’s a great rider, but the fact that Cavendish struggles on the climbs means that making the time cut has always been a thorn in the Manx Missile’s side for long, like many other sprinters.
And on Bastille Day, as Pogačar swung the pendulum even further to his favour delivering a deadly blow to his rivals on the Plateau de Beille summit, lost amidst that incredible performance was Mark Cavendish, finishing 51 minutes behind and just managing to make the time cut by under two minutes, but surrounded by his Astana-Qazaqstan teammates Davide Ballerini, Alexey Lutsenko and Cees Bol.
“Whatever happens today, [the boys helping me make the time cut on] Sunday was more impressive than what any lead out man in the history of cycling has ever done”
Mark Cavendish spoke to Daniel ahead of the last sprint stage of his Tour career 🇮🇲🚀#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/kFGhoxZ4IH
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 16, 2024
Speaking ahead of today’s stage, which might prove to be the final chance for the legendary rider to etch his name even deeper into the echelons of cycling’s hall of fame by winning yet another stage and extend his Tour de France stage wins to a seemingly untouchable 36, he said: “It’s always been like that in Tour de France, when you fight through those mountains, there has to be something good on the other side of it.”
“Of course I will always fight in the Tour because I respect racing. But I’ve always said with the suffering and the down moments, you get something that is there to get you through… Everyone’s motivated to try and do what we can do to make the mountains worthwhile.”
“Whatever happens today, Sunday [the boys helping me make the time cut on] was more impressive than what any lead out man in the history of cycling could have ever done. I’m super proud of them, super grateful… they’re like machines.”
“Zero respect for cyclists”: Cyclists slam “simply impatient” cab drivers turning on the wrong side of the road to pass bus driver waiting to give way to cyclists
This piece of ‘not just questionable, but incorrect (according to the Highway Code)’ driving today comes from London’s Cycleway 4, with the footage captured by cyclist Greg and shared on social media.
In the video, a cab driver can be seen making a right turn across the cycle lane, despite a No right turn sign on the intersection.
As Greg turns around and approaches the junction, another cab driver, this time making a left turn, decides to pass the bus driver who was waiting to give way to cyclists (although with the front section of the bus was already on the Cycleway) and then make the turn on the wrong side of the road, only meant for oncoming traffic, instead of waiting behind the bus.
Some London Taxi drivers have zero respect for people cycling along #Cycleway4 and that left turning large vehicles like buses are doing the right thing by abiding by the give way rule as seen by the dashed lines and letting cyclists pass safely. These cabs are simply impatient. pic.twitter.com/H2aaPsF4QP
— Greg N (@n00dles71) July 15, 2024
Greg wrote: “Some London Taxi drivers have zero respect for people cycling along #Cycleway4 and that left turning large vehicles like buses are doing the right thing by abiding by the give way rule as seen by the dashed lines and letting cyclists pass safely. These cabs are simply impatient.”
The video has generated lots of discussion on social media, with Ian condemning the the cabbies’ driving, saying: “Zero respect for traffic law. That’s a great way to get people run over — wrong side of a traffic island.”
Another person commented: “London’s finest? Surely not.”
Meanwhile, there was some debate around whether the bus driver’s behaviour was acceptable or not, with some people suggesting that since the bus was already across the cycle lane, it might be better to let the bus go, but others disagreeing by saying that the driver could’ve “bullied” their way into the turn but remained unsuccessful in completing it.
“It’s not helping the first bus is already over the cycle way and STOPPED and cyclists keeps going In front of the bus holding it up even more causing a blockage and backing up traffic. Literally let the bus go and avoid the blockage,” wrote one person.
However, Greg replied: “It’s not a blockage, it’s an obligatory Give Way that is a MUST in the Highway Code backed by legislation.”
It was about 10 seconds of constant Cycleway traffic as the cyclists and vehicles were held in a group at a red light further back.
Can you point me to the legislation or Highway Code where it backs up your point that a Give Way stop is time limited or are you making up rules?
— Greg N (@n00dles71) July 15, 2024
Another Twitter user Ady commented: “The bus driver probably bullied his way into that position and the cyclists were showing their frustration. Why should the cyclists give way when they have the priority? It is a poorly designed junction to be honest but so are the majority of afterthought cycle lanes.”
We’ve seen a number of driving transgressions lately on similar Cycleway junctions in London. Just a few weeks ago, a cyclist bemoaned the fact that while the driver decided to wait for the cyclist in front of him to make their turn, but completely ignored them, cutting across on the CS7.
They wrote: “There’s a certain type of drive who (presumably) sees a cyclist go by in the bike lane and then thinks, “well it’s entirely impossible that any other cyclists come along so I can just pull across without looking”… All whilst indicating too late and failing to look or give way.”
Back in May, drivers in Shadwell found the C3 Cycleway along Cable Street quite a fine way to avoid all the traffic jam, with road.cc reader John sharing an egregious clip with us.
The guilty parties included an assortment of motorists, from cabbies to professional van drivers, and even driving instructors. “As you can see not only were the drivers in the bike lane, some were even refusing to give way,” wrote John. In fact, they were not just refusing to give way, but actively revving the engine and trying to intimidate cyclists into backing down and letting them through.
What do you think about this recent incident from C4? Should cyclists have stopped and let the bus driver past or should the cab driver have waiting behind the bus and not made an illegal turn?
Pragmasis to wind down production of bike locks after "finding times hard" amid Brexit, Covid and "cost-of-living crisis combined with Ukraine situation"
Popular bicycle lock manufacturer Pragmasis and SecurityForBikes has announced that it will be ceasing production of its products and closing its retail and despatch business later this year due to “the brutal reality” of “losing money for quite a while” amid challenging times and rising costs and overheads.
Green jersey battle is not over, as Jasper Philipsen picks up 50 points after winning final Tour de France sprint stage, with Biniam Girmay crashing in the final two kilometres
Heartbreak for Girmay as the current green jersey from Intermarché came off his bike with just 1.5 kilometres to go in the race. The misery was compounded as his rival and last year’s points classification winner Jasper Philipsen picked up his third win of this Tour, this time seeming much more comfortable, and as a result picking up a full 50 points and bridging the gap between himself and Girmay to just 32 points before we head off into the mountains one more time.
Alpecin-Deceuninck nail it again and deliver Jasper Philipsen for his third victory 🇧🇪🚀#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/E0ubamBgGo
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 16, 2024
Girmay was ushered to the finish line by his teammates, with bruises covering his right side. Here’s to hoping that he hasn’t suffered any major injuries, but the green jersey fight is about to go down to the wire, with every last remaining point crucial!
Biniam Girmay crashed in the last 2km, but retains a 32-point lead in the green jersey classification despite Jasper Philipsen’s victory 💚🇪🇷#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/SUZtbXtSeO
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 16, 2024
"What is happening?!": Bizarre scenes at Tour de France as two Uno-X team cars almost crash into each other
While roundabouts coming thick and fast in the final 15km or so in today’s stage, set to be the last bunch sprint of this Tour, it all almost came apart for the Norwegian team Uno-X as two of its team cars — one of the two drafting its rider — barely avoiding crashing with each other.
A sketchy moment for UNO-X 😬#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/s7u0Lztvnc
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 16, 2024
“What is happening?!” screamed the commentator, as did most of us watching…
This is far from the first time that team cars have come to the fore of this completely engrossing Tour de France. During the stage six of the race to Dijon, Mark Cavendish accused a Tour de France TV motorbike rider of interfering with his chase back to the peloton following a mechanical, a prolonged and controversial return to the bunch that ultimately saw the Astana sprinter fined for drafting behind his team car.
As the 39-year-old cyclist, now holding the singular record for the most stage wins at the Tour made his way back to the bunch through the convoy of team vehicles, he was later seen remonstrating with the motorbike-riding race commissaires, who appeared to be ticking off the Astana-Qazaqstan rider for slipstreaming behind his own team car for an overly prolonged period.
A few kilometres later, a clearly irritated Cavendish was captured berating and gesticulating towards the TV camera crew and motorbike pilot, before eventually making his way back to the peloton (only after a chat with, and brief tow behind the race official’s car), eventually finishing 19th in the sprint in Dijon.
“I had a mechanical problem – my chain wrapped and locked under my bottom bracket,” the 35-time Tour stage winner told reporters.
“I started to panic when the TV camera – it’s the second time this particular camera’s done it – he goes in the middle of the road and stops the convoy coming. That creates… you’re out the back.
“A TV camera is there to capture images and not to influence the race, and it’s the second time this motorbike’s done it. That’s when you start to panic when an outside control is influencing the race. It’s something you can’t prepare for.”
16 July 2024, 09:12
Six years on from a horrific collision which saw one cyclist die and several injured in Mallorca after a driver smashed into a group of German riders, hitting nine of them, the motorist responsible has been jailed for three years for manslaughter.
Driver who hit nine cyclists in Mallorca, killing one, jailed for three years
Anais Marco was sentenced for manslaughter having smashed into a group ride of German cyclists back in 2018, killing one and injuring eight
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14 Comments
Latest Comments
@robgodd The poor guy himself suffered a traumatic brain injury and his skull was so badly shattered a significant portion of it had to be removed - do me a favour, have a look around cycling helmet manufacturers and see if any of them claim the foam hats they produce will protect against or even mitigate that level of injury. I'll wait if you like, but I can save us both the time and tell you what you'll find: none of them. Not a single one of them will. Because they don't, and they *can't* based on simple physics. Once the point of failure in a material is reached all(or as near as makes no odds) of the additional force beyond that necessary threshhold transfers through to the object beneath. Since bicycle helmets are rated for forces roughly equivalent to being dropped straight down from a stationary start 1.5m above a hard surface. Now, I'm not an expert in vehicle crash investigation, but I'm *fairly* sure that any impact or series of impacts powerful enough to render a quarder of your skull into gravel, put you in a weeks-long coma, give you massive amnesia, and leave you with ongoing symptoms of traumatic brain injury are a little bit, a teeny-weeny amount, a little smidgeon-widgeon more than what bike helmets are rated for. That's why none of the companies that make them claim they will help in such circumstances: because they know it would be a lie, and that unlike uninformed punters, carbrained journalists, or "medical professionals" who think wearing a helmet would save you from a broken arm(an actual scenario encountered by a mate, who's nurse at the A&E tutted and harrumphed her way through his whole treatment due to his lack of helmet despite his bonce having come through *being hit by a car* - another scenario bike helmets are worthless in - completely unscathed), the lawyers for those companies know their business and understand that if you lie in advertising you will get sued into the ground.
The Battle of Ypres April 1915. The German infantry division advanced using das Brumptstadt Fahrarden. The slow speed kept them behind the cloud of chlorine gas as it drifted towards the Commonwealth trenches. The offensive cleaved a two mile gap in the Western Front. The use of cycles was copied by the Japanese as they invaded Singapore and Burmah. By then war technology had embraced wider low pressure tyres, carbon frames and hydration gels. The German forces decided not to incorporate cycling as part of Operation Session, as bike theft in London and the South East was rife and would have caused huge casualties. Ironically superior advancement of tyre technology led to a British victory at El Alamein. This technology played a key part in the US Marines victory at Iwo Jima.
The appropriate response to Google pissing on your cereal is not a fancy new sugar that removes the taste of urine. Stop using Google products where you can. Firefox browser and DuckDuckGo search engine have had noticeable upticks in market share by explicitly NOT pushing AI.
my thoughts exactly...I wonder how that approach is working, with motor vehicle drivers...🤔
I do not wish to diminish the personal tragedy, but one never hear calls for pedestrians or even hikers to wear clothing with integrated lightening rods.
RE Andy Burnam / Heidi Alexander - this is the best thing in many ways - set an example (even if currently it leads to lots of online name-calling). And imagine some of the political alternatives! The folks in the apparently second-placed party seem incredibly unlikely to be doing so. And even the current "new Greens" seem less interested in ... y'know, environmental things. OTOH I wish Heidi could be bolder. And I fear that like anyone ambitious enough to get to the top (exception B Johnson - well, I guess there was the Corbyn bicycle...) Burnam will be trimming his transport policy sails to fit the wind (should that be "bunker-fuel-burning engines"?)
@mattsccm Bull bars aren't banned, they just have to conform to regulations so they are deformable or have plates that allow crumple give on contact, rather than rigid steel bars that can smash into pedestrians and cyclists with no give at all, catch them and drag them under the wheels. If you think that's a problem, do one. Why should who is responsible for a collision remove the responsibility of people driving a tonne of machinery on the road from having safety features to at least mitigate some of the effects of a collision?
I'd be willing to bet that's lazy use of stock photography rather than deliberate misinformation, but the result is still the same.
@smallbeer You obviously don't realise how many bulls there are wandering around Chelsea, in and out of the china shops, that he needs to protect his Range Rover from.
I agree, it's bloody 'elf and safety overreach, can't help some people, I put some meat, sorry, neat decoration on the front of mine and the polis were round poking their noses in like that (mind you, that was a mistake...) (etc)
14 thoughts on “Bizarre scenes at Tour de France as team cars almost crash into each other; “Impatient” cab drivers slammed by cyclists; Cavendish says teammates helping him up the mountains is “more impressive than what any lead out man has done” + more on the live blog”
Going on the wrong side of
Going on the wrong side of the bollard is an offence and can/should be reported. Whether the Met Police will do anything is another matter.
Going on the wrong side of
Going on the wrong side of the bollard is an offence and can/should be reported. Whether the Met Police will do anything is another matter
We know what the Met are going do!
when pulling out of a side
when pulling out of a side road, once you have your wheels across the line you are “already there” and so now have priority over cars on the main road.
or does the already there clause only apply to cycle lanes.
incredible.
From :-
From :-
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/woman-fighting-life-after-serious-29546701
“Disappointingly, some cyclists ignored the road closure signs that were put in place while the emergency services worked at the scene until it reopened just after 1pm. Such closures are for everyone – motorists, pedestrians and cyclists included,”
Mr Hoopdriver wrote:
I suspect the problem is they often aren’t for everyone. Without seeing the signage it’s hard to say in any individual case but often they really do just mean closed to motor vehicles and pedestrians can go through. Sometimes there is even a police man or construction worker waving people through.
As a cyclist, if there was no obvious diversion in place, I would often continue knowing I can always get off and become a pedestrian if needed – particularly in the days before GPS – or when the diversion was onto the motroway.
I would assume that in this case people assumed it was this case and found out later they were wrong. It’s going to keep happing though until they stop using signs for motor vehicles and leaving everyone else to guess 🙁
cqexbesd wrote:
road.cc wrote:
Bit of a false dichotomy here. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of what the bus driver may or may not have done, or the cyclists weaving round it, it’s quite clear that the taxi drivers should have waited until the junction was clear – what they did was entirely illegal and what anybody else was doing is no excuse.
“Zero respect for cyclists”:
“Zero respect for cyclists”: Cyclists slam “simply impatient” cab drivers…….
Clearly faked AI video or cyclists stole the taxis and were driving them badly to make the taxi drivers look bad. Everyone knows that taxi drivers behaviour is impeccable and cyclists always break the law.
I had never heard of
I had never heard of Pragmasis locks…
That’s reassuring to know I’m
That’s reassuring to know I’m not the only one, as neither had I, but was left feeling that somehow I should have.
mark1a wrote:
Me neither. I think we may be uncovering the real reason for their demise: no-one’s heard of them.
Come on Adwitiya. Do better.
Come on Adwitiya. Do better.
“Bizarre scenes at Tour de France as two Uno-X team cars almost crash into each other”
“… it all almost came apart for the Norwegian team Uno-X as two of its team cars … barely avoiding crashing with each other.”
Were the cars auotonmous/self-driving?
No.
http://rc-rg.com
Got a bit excited for a
Got a bit excited for a minute there but, as far as I can tell, none of the Tours of Britain are finishing in Cardiff this year (which is fair enough, Caerphilly had it last year).
Id do know from experience a
Id do know from experience a night out in Cardiff is alot better than a night out in Felixstowe, or Lowestoft for that matter.