Broken 'Banksy bike' WASN'T stolen after all; Incredible Belgian bike path in the trees; Nigel Havers complains of cycle lanes 'causing gridlock every day'; Tao's Route; 'Example No.465 of how not to do cycle infrastructure' + more on the live blog

Bike from Banksy’s latest artwork https://t.co/7PTy5ZOKVM

— MTB seagate29er (@nicolazanardi) November 23, 2020

The Nottingham Project, who are behind plans to rejuvenate Nottingham city centre, have responded to earlier reports of the bike that appears in front of a Banksy mural being stolen as false. 

Their statement reads: "Over the weekend it was reported that the Raleight bicycle that formed part of the Banksy artwork that appeared in our city last month had disappeared. 

"Well we have some good news. 

"The bike has been moved and is in very safe keeping. The action was taken to remove any risk to it remaining in its original location. 

"We are working with Nottingham City Council and the property owner to safeguard the future of the artwork, including the bicycle, as an important asset for Nottingham's cultural and creative future. 

"We will be releasing more details of the work to protect the artwork in coming weeks." 

Meanwhile, it appears a Good Samaritan has replace the original bike with a new one in the last few hours (above), so the piece as a whole still makes sense. 

These behind the scenes videos from Grand Tours are becoming more popular with Jumbo-Visma, Team Sunweb and Deceuninck-Quickstep all releasing in-house videos doucmenting their time at the Giro and Vuelta in the past few weeks. Now it's EF Pro Cycling's turn. The film captures the riders' reactions to their special one-off Palace kits and both the team's stage wins from another succesful Grand Tour for the men in pink. 

The mood of the majority in Ealing is really starting to shift now people are living with a fair trial for LTNs.

Here on the anti-group you can see that despite previously having 2800 people on the group there aren't even 20 who are prepared to be activists.

Buyers remorse? pic.twitter.com/bCY0s16HDi

— Just Darren 💚 (@darrenmoore) November 20, 2020

An anti-LTN Facebook group were left pretty disappointed by this response to a post asking for help handing out flyers... In October Ealing council won a vote that could have seen LTN's implementation suspended across the borough. 

“I’ve been lobbied on Syria bombing and Brexit in my time but nothing has inflamed like LTNs”- excellent piece by Labour MP @RupaHuq https://t.co/ic1ItLda7X

— Allister Heath (@AllisterHeath) November 22, 2020

Labour MP Rupa Huq has hit back at the "Lycra brigade" who she described as "surprisingly vicious". In a column for The Telegraph, the MP for Ealing Central and Acton explained that she has received abuse and death threats and that she's "found the Lycra brigade surprisingly vicious".

Huq said: "I've been vigorously lobbied on Syria bombing and Brexit in my time but nothing has inflamed like this."

Having outlined her own history of commuting by bike as a child and at university, Huq continued: "Post-LTN, however, I've been labelled a petrolhead by the Lycra brigade, and warned that I am going to hell for passing on the concerns of my constituents."

The column was branded "embarrassing" and "riddled with inaccuracies and clichés" by pro-cycling councillor Jon Burke. Last week Huq suggested that a referendum would be the only way to settle the debate over LTNs.

1/ Just read Rupa Huq's anti-LTN piece in the Telegraph.

Absolutely riddled with inaccuracies and clichés.

Worst of all, it claims policy should be evidence-led, but that irrespective of how well LTNs work, the only test we should apply is popularity. 🤔

Embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/gKpLYh4nwT

— Cllr Jon Burke (@jonburkeUK) November 22, 2020

When people like @RupaHuq use the term 'Lycra Brigade' this is who they're harming.

My daughter cycles to school & faces bullying tactics by motorists who want to cut her up, drive too close and honk her.

Because discriminatory people like this put her in an 'out' group. pic.twitter.com/iTtMWmcPDe

— Just Darren 💚 (@darrenmoore) November 23, 2020

Possible and Brompton have teamed up to launch a campaign to rename London's cycle routes and some of the UK's great cyclists have been nominated. After thousands of people submitted suggestions the public are now being asked to vote for their favourites.

The CS1 could soon be renamed 'Tao's Route' in honour of Tao Geoghegan Hart's recent Giro d'Italia win. The route which connects Liverpool Street with Tottenham via Tao's home borough of Hackney is one of three cycleways that could soon have familiar names.

Legendary British cyclist Beryl Burton, who missed out on competing at the Olympics because women's cycling wasn't added until 1984, could appropriately have the CS2 from Aldgate to the Olympic Park in Stratford named 'The Beryl Burton Way'.

While Maurice Burton, Britain's first black cycling champion, has been nominated for the CS7 with the proposal reading: 'In recent interviews, he has said that his career might have been limited by prejudice. Including his name on the route and emphasising his achievements might start to counter that prejudice and encourage more inclusive participation in cycling - from commuting to sprint racing - in the capital.'

While the proposals have generally been welcomed, some cyclists have questioned whether naming routes after professional riders will help encourage non-cyclists to use bikes more often.

TBH as much as there are so many great UK cyclists, we should be looking towards normal people cycling and not confusing transport with sport. This is what cyclists should be looking like, and will when there is enough infrastructure: pic.twitter.com/muu6x3eBUu

— ⚫ CyclingMikey #BlackLivesMatter 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇿🇼 (@MikeyCycling) November 22, 2020

The bike from Banksy's hula-hooping girl artwork went missing before being replaced by a different bike hours later. The graffiti artist's latest piece, on a wall in Rothesday Avenue in Nottingham, features a girl hula-hooping with a bike wheel behind a bike missing it's rear wheel. But yesterday the rest of the bike disappeared too.

A local resident Tracy Jane found the bike was gone on Sunday morning. She told the BBC: "The artwork records an important part of Nottingham's history, Raleigh bikes. My late husband worked for Raleigh until it closed in 2002. He died at age 48 in 2017. It's such a shame if someone has stolen the bike. It's sheer disrespect and saddens me very much."

However, in another twist, it appears to have been replaced this morning by a different Raleigh bike...

It was gone and now it’s back. The #Banksy bike. Except that it’s a different bike! #Nottingham pic.twitter.com/IwrhW387rj

— News Mutt 🎙 (@NewsMutt) November 23, 2020

Example No.465 of How Not To Do Cycle Infrastructure:#cycling #cycleinfra #highways #activetravel pic.twitter.com/Fpzymp3ieX

— Alex Romankiw (@russiankiwi3) November 21, 2020

 A high-speed dual carriageway isn't the safest place to ride your bike, however this cycle lane in Bedfordshire leaves you little choice. It's well surfaced at least, but that's where the positives end. The so-called cycleway abruptly forces cyclists onto the Dunstable Bypass with just a very narrow white line for protection. We're not entirely sure where pedestrians are meant to go either.

For those wanting to see what happens next....Cycle route used to be a road but this was diverted onto the bridge over the new dual carriageway - cycle route built on old road to access the dual carriageway as the motorway junction is to the right, designed with no cycle access. pic.twitter.com/ta8Rdtt7Kd

— Alex Romankiw (@russiankiwi3) November 22, 2020

Yeah we also painted "slow" for the cyclists to address the real issue of them joining the dual carriageway at, uh, more than 70mph pic.twitter.com/ciPatwyRuM

— Alex Romankiw (@russiankiwi3) November 22, 2020