“They should have hi-vis and helmets”: Viral video of SUV driver smashing into restaurant prompts cyclists to slam victim-blaming culture; Simmons: “We don’t have to be politically correct”; David Byrne on cycle lanes; Poole virus + more on the live blog

> Former Israel-Premier Tech pro admits it’s “definitely nicer to ride without an Israel logo”, as Liége and Lombardia winner distances himself from team

Ah, happy memories. It’s 12 years ago today that one of my bike’s frames completely failed on me as I pulled away from the traffic lights. Fortunately ithe frame didn’t completely collapse and I stopped to check why my bike felt so…bouncy! 😱😁

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— David Brennan (@magnatom.bsky.social) August 20, 2025 at 9:46 AM

Nope. Just nope. 

Promising young British rider Max Poole has been diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus – the infection that plagued Mark Cavendish’s 2018 and 2019 seasons – potentially ruling him out of the rest of the season, his Picnic PostNL team revealed this morning.

The 22-year-old was preparing for the upcoming Vuelta a España, where he took four top three stage placings last year, when his team became concerned that he wasn’t responding positively to training.

Poole enjoyed a strong start to the season, finishing 11th overall at the Giro d’Italia, but has struggled for form since, failing to finish the Critérium du Dauphiné. According to Picnic-PostNL, the Scunthorpe rider’s health problems worsened during an altitude training camp and then at the Tour of Poland, which he abandoned on medical grounds.

Tests later revealed that Poole is suffering from Epstein-Barr virus with glandular fever, and is currently unable to train or race, putting the end of his season in jeopardy.

Zac Williams/SWpix.com

“It’s been difficult few weeks trying to work out what the situation was and I appreciate the support the team has given me during this period,” Poole said in a statement today.

“I’m pretty relieved to now understand the root of the problem as it means that I can start to focus on recovery and getting my health back on track. I’m really disappointed to miss the team at the Vuelta, and wish them the best of luck there.”

Picnic PostNL head coach Rudi Kemna added: “Max didn’t come away from altitude feeling as we’d hoped, and when he continued to decline during Poland we removed him from the race on medical grounds to conduct thorough investigations.

“Now that we know the full extent of his illness, our focus is simply on looking after him and giving him the time and support he needs to recover fully.”

“We’ve been looking into the possible reasons for Max’s health problems over the past few weeks, and today we confirmed that he has Epstein-Barr virus with glandular fever,” team doctor Camiel Aldershof confirmed.

“Sadly, this means he’ll need a longer period of rest while we work on getting him back to full health. Now we know what’s behind his symptoms, we can start moving in the right direction with his recovery.”

Owners of first-generation Wahoo cycling computers have reported significant issues with their devices since the weekend, the tech company apologising and saying it is working to fix the problem.

Read more: > Wahoo scrambles to fix significant “data and ride recording issues” after first generation Elemnt, Bolt, and Roam bike computers reset to 2006

Autumn’s coming – and that means one thing: Lots and lots of leaves in bike lanes:

“Big fan of Autumn season incoming in our house but Cork City Council made a gutter into a cycle lane and five years later we’re still cycling in the gutter,” Yay for Bicycles wrote on BlueSky after posting a video of the already rapidly filling cycle lane.

“That gutter is now filling with leaves which will very soon block the drains. Then the gutter cycle lane will flood. Do better Cork City Council.”

If you’re reading this live blog, I’m sure at some point, after a difficult, draining day at work, you’ve headed out on your bike to clear your head. It’s one of the great benefits of cycling.

But what do you do if you’re a professional cyclist whose job entirely revolves around riding your bike? How do you mentally refresh, then?

Well, according to Kasia Niewiadoma, you still ride your bike.

In a brutally honest Instagram post, the 2024 Tour de France Femmes winner admitted that she “hit the ground” and lost all motivation in the wake of her unsuccessful yellow jersey defence, which saw her finish third, four minutes down on Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.

ASO/Pauline Ballet

Niewiadoma wrote that her performance at the Tour – still enough for a podium, of course – didn’t feel satisfying or rewarding, and that she even contemplated ending her season early.

However, the Polish star says she has rediscovered her mojo ahead of next month’s world championships – and it was all down to a really long bike ride.

“I felt tapped out on cycling so decided to go for seven-hour bike ride,” she said in the post. “That’s what [her husband] Taylor Phinney couldn’t understand and somehow he found it ridiculous, which got me thinking or wondering on how people athletes process past events or go through their lower days!

“Just as I was thinking I got my feelings and emotions under control, out of the blue I hit the ground where I just felt unmotivated, low, ready to give up, have only junk food and occasionally a glass of vino, which I wouldn’t even truly enjoy.

“But I felt I wanna say fu*k it to the rest of the season, just because deep inside I just didn’t get the satisfaction or reward feeling post-Tour.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Katarzyna Niewiadoma Phinney (@kasianiewiadoma94)

“To my luck I find riding a bike not only as a form of training/work but also a tool that allows me to deal with whatever is going on inside my head.

“It’s not that I get on a bike and I feel instantly amazing, I would say I feel complete opposite at first. It does take hours or sometimes days of long hours to recalibrate and to rebuilt the happiness and true motivation for what’s next.

“So, I feel that finally I got back from my long ride and I have the feeling back, feeling for wanting to work hard to be the best.”

I know, I know, it’s only August. But if these socks don’t scream ‘stocking filler’, I don’t know what does:

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ostroy (@ostroynyc)

What do you reckon? Are these jokey socks the perfect gift for the discerning cyclist in your life (who enjoys quaffing down gels like they’re going out of fashion)?

Or should they be added to our notorious ‘what not to buy’ list, alongside the pizza cutters, pain cave posters, and crapping chain dogs?

Lime Bike Leg – is it a thing? One doctor, who doesn’t mind speaking to the Telegraph, certainly thinks so: 

> Doctor claims surge in ‘Lime bike leg’ injuries linked to tourists and inexperienced riders

Here’s a heartwarming story for you this Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier this month, residents of a care home in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, were treated to a morning of cycling, thanks to adapted bikes supplied by inclusive cycling business Get Cycling.

Hambleton Grange Care Home partnered with Get Cycling to enable their residents, some of whom hadn’t cycled for half a century, to rediscover the joy of riding a bike.

“It was fantastic to see so many residents wanting to take part and thoroughly enjoying the experience, with many coming back for second and third rides,” the care home’s lifestyle manager Elaine Snowden told the Northern Echo.

“The staff enjoyed a fun morning as well. Cycling is certainly an activity we plan to repeat.”

Meanwhile, resident Mary Fidell said: “It was a wonderful experience – I haven’t ridden a bike for over 50 years.”

Ruth Studholm, who cycled alongside her daughter Sarah, said she “loved being outside”, while Judy Lancaster added: “It was great. I didn’t want to get off. I could have ridden all day, it was so much fun.”

A new contender for the ‘Most Worn Tyre of the Year, 2025’ awards, courtesy of our neighbours at Green Park Bike Station:

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by GreenParkBikeStation (@greenparkbikestation)

No idea how that one managed to pick up a puncture…

It just seems all too easy for Tim Merlier at the moment.

The European champion, off the back of two stage wins at the Tour de France, returned to road racing with a bang this afternoon at the Renewi Tour (or whatever it’s called these days), powering away in Breskens to take a comfortable stage win and the race’s first leader’s jersey.

Capitalising on a late surge by Picnic PostNL for Pavel Bittner, Merlier launched with just over 150m to go, the Soudal Quick-Step star never looking in danger, despite late surges from Arnaud De Lie and Juan Sebastián Molano.

A fading Bittner was forced to settle for fourth, just ahead of Biniam Girmay and Ben Turner.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by TNT Sports Cycling (@tntsportscycling)

And while Merlier’s latest win – his third at Rotating Sponsor Tour of the Benelux, and his first since 2021 – seemed all but inevitable, for most of the stage a bunch sprint appeared anything but.

A staggeringly strong group of 16 riders, including Jasper Stuyven, Paul Magnier, Kasper Asgreen, Frank van den Broek, Mike Teunissen, and Tibor del Grosso, formed in the second half of the stage following a few splits in the bunch.

And despite being held at under a minute for over 100km, the looked capable of holding off the bunch, which was forced into a frenetic chase.

However, despite the group’s firepower, it was finally reeled back in with 4km to go, just after a crash in the peloton brought down Sam Welsford and Dan McLay.

And while a pan-flat stage in the Netherlands may have resulted in a more intense, unpredictable battle between the peloton and the attackers, the final gallop went right to form.

“All day I had a quite good feeling, so I was really confident to have it,” Merlier said at the finish.

“It wasn’t assured we were going to have a sprint because of the strong breakaway. But in the end, it all came together, and the team did a really good job to bring me in a good position and I could launch my sprint in the right moment like I wanted.”

Kévin Vauquelin became the darling of the French public after a captivating ride at this year’s Tour de France, which saw him finish seventh overall, inspiring scenes of delirium not witnessed since the heady days of Alaphilippe and Pinot-mania back in 2019.

But France’s latest great hope now looks set to miss next month’s world championships, and probably the rest of the season, after undergoing surgery for damage his tibiofibular membrane near his ankle, caused by a fall down the stairs shortly after the Tour de France.

At the end of July, after his Arkéa-B&B Hotels team revealed that Vauquelin had fractured the distal end of his fibia in the fall, the 24-year-old took to social media to jokingly explain that his injury wasn’t the result of some excessive post-Tour partying.

ASO/Charly Lopez

“To be clear, it was while going down the stairs with my suitcase, not at a party. Sorry to those who thought I was an alcoholic,” he said at the time.

However, while he was initially set to be on crutches for two to three weeks, the need for surgery has put the rest of Vauquelin’s season in doubt.

“After further examinations, Kévin Vauquelin underwent surgery in Lyon for a lesion of the tibiofibular interosseous membrane. His unavailability time will be communicated later,” his team has posted on social media, a statement which looks set to dash France’s ever-rising rainbow hopes.

Over here on road.cc, David Byrne isn’t known as the guy with the massive oversized suit, or for being one of the pioneers of new wave.

Nope, here on the live blog, we simply know him as David Byrne, cyclist.

The Talking Heads frontman has been using the bike as his primary mode of transport around his native New York since the 1980s, and ten years ago even wrote a book about it, called ‘Bicycle Diaries’, chronicling his experiences cycling in cities around the world.

In 2023, he even turned up to the Met Gala on a bike, and in a snazzy white suit too (no helmet or Lycra in sight).

And this week, he’s back talking cycling, during an appearance on SubwayTakes, an internet talk show hosted by Kareem Rahma and featuring celebrities – you guessed it – delivering some hot takes while travelling on New York’s underground system.

Everybody should follow the bike lane arrows!! Feat David Byrne pic.twitter.com/1lNwUxWt6f

— SubwayTakes with Kareem Rahma (@SubwayTakes) August 19, 2025

And Byrne’s hot take? That the Big Apple’s cycle lanes are full of psycho killers (sorry) travelling in the wrong direction.

“I’m a bike rider. I get around New York on a bike,” he says. “Everybody should follow the arrows and go in the direction that they’re supposed to go in. No matter who you are.

“If there’s a moment I’m not paying attention, the next minute I know there’s somebody about to crash into my face.”

“Could be a delivery truck, could be a cop car,” interjected Rahma.

“Could be someone with a stroller – do not use your baby as a battering ram!” Byrne eclaimed.

“I don’t know how to enforce it. In other countries, people stay going in the direction of the traffic, they stop at the lights, they do all that kind of stuff.”

When asked about delivery riders cycling the wrong way on New York’s bike lanes, Byrne was diplomatic.

“In a sense, I don’t blame them,” he said. “They get paid by delivery, so their incentive is to make as many deliveries as they can, as fast as they can. The structure of how they get paid makes them behave that way.”

However, when the subject of cyclists policing themselves was brought up, Byrne then admitted he was “shamed” while cycling in Copenhagen… or Amsterdam – “someplace where they ride a bike a lot”.

“I was riding and I had to stop to look for directions on my phone. And all of a sudden I’m hearing this, ‘Get out of the bike lane! You idiot!’ I was shamed, it was so embarrassing.”

Politically correct and Quinn Simmons: Two things you wouldn’t expect to find in the same sentence.

The long-haired, horseshoe moustache-sporting American has established himself as one of the peloton’s most flamboyant, brash personalities since turning pro with Lidl-Trek in 2020.

The 24-year-old, decked out in his Captain America national champs kit, has previously voiced his support for Donald Trump, and was once suspended by his team for making “divisive, incendiary” online statements, after Simmons responded to commentator José Been’s call for supporters of the US president to unfollow her by replying “Bye” with an emoji of a black hand waving.

So, we shouldn’t be surprised that Simmons believes that too many cyclists are “politically correct” when it comes to dealing with the media – and that it’s holding back the sport.

Zac Williams/SWpix.com

Speaking to Bici.Pro, the former junior world champion argued that riders should “behave like human beings” when things don’t go right for them in races, suggesting that a “more honest” approach in public would help attract new fans to cycling.

“Regarding post-race interviews, I’m not so much referring to the questions they ask us – as journalists, you can ask anything – but I think it’s more about how the riders respond,” he said.

“If there’s a battle in a race, if something went wrong or something wasn’t right, you don’t always have to give a perfectly politically correct answer.

“I think we can be more honest as riders. I think if everyone starts doing this, those who do it won’t have much of a problem if it becomes normal and they behave like human beings. I think other sports behave like this. We always have to have a filter, and when you remove it, it starts to become a problem.”

Zac Williams/SWpix.com

Reflecting on how the sport presents itself, especially to a young audience, Simmons continued: “Cycling isn’t much fun for a teenager. I said I don’t watch cycling for fun, I watch it because I enjoy the competition, I enjoy the work, I enjoy trying to be the best at something.

“I don’t see road cycling as much fun, and for me, there are other sports I’d like to do for fun or as a hobby. My opinion is that cycling is more important to me than happiness.”

So, how does Simmons think cycling can appeal to a new generation of youngsters? By encouraging charismatic figures, like Peter Sagan, and incorporating more circuit-based races, he says.

“I grew up watching Sagan. I really liked his riding style, his aggressive racing, the way he won, and the way he presented himself. He was fun, he was always very cool, different, especially when I was little.

“And then it was great because I saw him at the classics, but also at the world championships… which he won three times. He was a great inspiration to me and one of the riders who made me love cycling.”

Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com

He continued: “I really like circuit racing. The world championship style, racing at full speed, makes for a great competition. And it’s better for the spectators, too. Not only that, but it’s also much safer for us riders.

“I understand that there’s history and that some might turn up their noses. There would be many races that wouldn’t work as circuits, but I think if the sport moved in this direction, it would be good.

“And I repeat, it would be good both from a fun and safety standpoint. In this regard, I don’t understand the debate about radios, I don’t understand why people think they’re bad.

“It would be really dangerous to remove them. For me, racing without radios is not an option. If the director can’t inform us of a dangerous event or if there’s a fall, that’s a big problem. They shouldn’t even be considered for removal.”

Over the years on the live blog, we’ve encountered a seemingly endless supply of campaigns led by police and local authorities, urging motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians to ‘share the road’ and informing us that road safety is a shared responsibility.

Well, it turns out two US-based food influencers – and the restaurant they were eating in – didn’t quite get the ‘share the roads’ memo this week.

In a video that has already been viewed over 250,000 times, YouTube food reviewers Patrick Blackwood and Nina Unrated (no, I’ve not heard of them either) were getting ready to eat a typically overindulgent meal in front of a camera – like all good food influencers – at their favourite restaurant in Houston, Texas.

However, in a display of freakish timing, just as they took their first bite and made that daft, closed eyed food Instagrammer face, an SUV driver smashed through the restaurant and into the YouTubers’ booth, sending them and glass flying.

Bloody ‘ell. Thankfully, and somewhat miraculously, Patrick and Nina escaped serious injury, aside from a few nasty cuts and scrapes.

“We were laughing, having a great time, and right as we tapped our sliders together in a ‘boom!’ cheers moment, out of nowhere, this SUV came barrelling through the glass wall at 35-40 mph,” Nina said after the horrifying incident.

“No warning at all glass shattered everywhere, chaos erupted, and it hit right next to Patrick on the outside of the booth. We were inches from disaster, but by some miracle, we’re both okay, just shaken and forever changed.”

The video has, understandably, since gone viral, prompting cyclists and road safety campaigners on the internet to poke fun at the usual victim-blaming nonsense we hear when a cyclist or pedestrian is “involved” in a collision with a driver.

“Insert obvious joke here that isn’t really funny, about the food reviewers INSIDE THE RESTAURANT wearing dark clothes and not making eye contact with the driver WHO CRASHED THROUGH THE OUTSIDE WALL…” wrote city planner and regular live blog contributor Brent Toderian.

“Too many cars that are too big, driven too fast, often by people who shouldn’t be driving at all.”

“Yeah, they should have had hi-vis and helmets,” added cyclist Andrew.

“Let’s not demonise drivers! Was the restaurant wearing hi-vis?” asked another BlueSky user.

Believe it or not, some readers reacted to Pop Crave’s reporting of the incident – which described the food reviewers as being “involved in a crash” – by asking: “Why didn’t they get out of the way?”

Needless to say, that particular comment didn’t go down too well.

“Remember to look both ways before eating,” said one baffled replier.

“They should have been more considerate to the driver of that car and gotten out of the way sooner. Damned pedestrians sitting in their restaurants blocking people,” said another.

“And they were in a bike lane!”

> “Car moved towards cyclists causing several to be dismounted,” police say – after two riders seriously injured when driver crashed into group ride during botched overtake

“Comments under this are great,” write one cyclist, “Especially those along the lines of ‘Remember, traffic safety is a shared responsibility’.”

Meanwhile, another suggested that the police report of the incident probably featured something along the lines of: “Restaurant collided with a moving vehicle.”

In any case, it’s also important not to forget what the biggest problem on the road – or in your local greasy spoon – is.

“I saw a cyclist roll through a stop sign once,” said Stephen.

Remember folks, restaurant safety is a shared responsibility.