"Bloody bonkers — there’s no road left, it’s crazy": Good to see the locals enjoying their new cycle lane; Pogačar vs Dan Martin: Twitter banter we never knew we needed; Rab Wardell tributes; But cyclists... + more on the live blog

The wait is over! 🇪🇸

Marc Soler becomes Spain's first Grand Tour stage winner in two years 👏#LaVuelta22 | @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/6lL9e2b8Wt

— Eurosport (@eurosport) August 24, 2022

Netflix hero Marc Soler stayed away for a famous solo win on the fifth stage of La Vuelta this afternoon...

Attacking on the final climb, Soler rolled with the punches as the group behind split, came back together, chased, lost cohesion, before eventually giving up and saving themselves for the sprint. Rudy Molard is your new red jersey having taken six bonus seconds atop the climb. Despite Fred Wright taking third, and four bonus seconds, it was not enough to dislodge the Frenchman from the lead.

Unfortunately for Wright tomorrow is the first summit finish of the race, making it difficult to see how the powerhouse from London will be able to get those two seconds on Molard back. Can we all just agree to give Wright a stage?

A big solo win for Marc Soler on Stage 5 and it's all change at the top of the GC as Team Jumbo-Visma decide to pass the red jersey on 🔴
________#LaVuelta22 pic.twitter.com/EBPrVRE6Ts

— Velon CC (@VelonCC) August 24, 2022

🇪🇸 Mikel Landa - @BHRVictorious: “Correr en casa es especial. Conoces las carrera, los fans en la cuneta... Estoy feliz. Hoy puede llegar la fuga"

"To race at home is special. You know the roads, there’s a lot of fans… I’m happy. Today the breakaway can make it"#LaVuelta22 pic.twitter.com/w9Rywgp6ht

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 24, 2022

 The Vuelta peloton is in the Basque Country, heading towards Bilbao, led by dual escapees Lawson Craddock and Victor Langellotti. Those two have a very slim advantage over the main breakaway, including Fred Wright, Alessandro De Marchi, Daryl Impey, Fausto Masnada, Marc Soler and a few others. Is this finally Fred's big day? After all that Tour de France breakaway heartbreak, could today be the day?

The group has 4:30 over the Jumbo-Visma led peloton with 36.5km and one more time up Alto del Vivero to go...

"We bid for as little as we can get away with in Stoke-on-Trent because I was not convinced that the scheme would be useful. It wasn't enough money to do something proper"

We bid for as little as we could, even though it wasn't enough and are now angry as it is inadequate... 🤦🏻‍♂️

— Matthew Martin (@mattmartin82) August 24, 2022

S13SFC is very kindly offering the local knowledge on today's main live blog story. Essentially, "it really is crap" with an unpredictable mess of segregation and unsegregated sections.

"It was previously just painted white lines the whole way. Now it's a mish-mash of both and is a bloody mess and where it crosses the exit to the A500, just plain unsafe," they told us.

"It's certainly the best of the routes from one half of the city to the other but it's still w***. The Potteries must be up there with the worst cities in the UK for cycling as well as just being up there in the worst city category!"

We're not getting involved in the second part of that statement...

Scouting Google Maps OnYerBike added: "I'm sure we all agree, one stretch of half-decent cycle lane isn't going to achieve much by itself — there are far too many examples of cycle lanes that are fine for their duration, but simply give up at junctions, no thought has gone into how cyclists are expected to join or exit from them, and do not form part of a cohesive network. This one appears to be very brief, and (as far as I can tell) offers zero protection at the various road junctions which are likely to be the biggest risk to cyclists."

Secret_squirrel commented: "I love how the councillors abrogate all responsibility for something they had full control over. It will surprise no-one to hear that they also declared a climate emergency."

brooksby noted Raging Russell Porter's line about the previous painted lane being "all you need for a cyclist", commenting: "And that right there sums up the attitude of the average motorist. Motorists must have three or four metres in each direction but cyclists just need a half metre and some white paint."

Tom_77 wrote: "They've just put new cycle lanes in and the kerb is raised. Cars keep hitting them...If cars keep hitting them, surely that's proof that the kerbs are needed."

Anyone noticing anything different about our World Champion? 😁#LaVuelta22 pic.twitter.com/Zsn85n9pHh

— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) August 24, 2022

The goatee is gone...

The cycling world is paying tribute to Rab Wardell who tragically passed away this week aged 37.

On Monday night he was on Scotland's Nine programme, talking through his Scottish XC mountain bike win...

"To be honest, it was a bit of a disaster…"

Scottish XC mountain bike champion Rob Wardell tells #TheNine how he won the race despite suffering three punctures 🚴‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/drxZFVBsI8

— The Nine (@BBCScotNine) August 22, 2022

road.cc and off-road.cc contributor Matt Page said: "Rab was a rider who I looked up to, despite me being a year older. We raced several seasons together in elite XC races, but the closest I'd ever get to him in a race was lining up on the grid. When the starter sounded, he'd be gone!

"Incredibly talented, both physically but also technically and a rider who did best on the toughest courses. He was funny and witty, always smiling and a rider that the whole mountain biking community will deeply miss."

Can’t believe this. Utterly heartbreaking. Rest in peace Rab ❤️ https://t.co/THGjakgD2U

— Sir Chris Hoy (@chrishoy) August 24, 2022

No! Surely this is not true...I'm stunned 😱

RIP Rab Wardell

— Brian Smith 𝕆𝕃𝕐 (@BriSmithy) August 23, 2022

If I'd suggest one thing today, don't go reading comments under media reports of the sad passing of Rab Wardell. The first couple had me raging, and I'd rather remember Rab for what he was, a nice bloke who was bloody good at riding bikes. RIP Rab (Callendar Park 2018, winning) pic.twitter.com/I60t0mtfxA

— Anthony Robson (not so urban now) (@urbancyclist) August 24, 2022

Sorry to hear of the passing of another great Scottish cyclist. Some of my earliest memories in the sport featured @RabWardell a strong, witty personality who’d help anyone. Below is a video of one of his many spectacular achievements/projects. RIP https://t.co/hJoKbSP5jt

— Callum Skinner (@CallumSkinner) August 23, 2022

Check out Stu's review of the new Scot Addict...

For a teaser: "Smooth-handling endurance machine with a racy edge and plenty of stiffness." But what did he score it?

Find out here...

#ButCyclists are always jumping red lights. pic.twitter.com/FvRgtlAyl5

— Pharmacist on a Pushbike (@PPushbike) August 23, 2022

Introducing, in the red corner, Raging Russell Porter!!! And, in the blue corner... Shelton New Road's cycle lane...

The disgruntled resident, dubbed with a fantastic wrestling title by the Stoke Sentinel, took to the local press, furious with the council's extended segregated cycle lane in Hanley.

"raging Russell porter" 🤣 Raging motorists slam council after 'dangerous' Hanley cycle lane eats up road https://t.co/WnJntheqz0

— Lee (@leegcook) August 22, 2022

 Calling the lane a "bloomin disgrace", Raging Russell added: "The cycle lane is dangerous and how it's got planning permission I have no idea — when you come down to the bridge, two vehicles can't pass.

"Cyclists don't use the damn thing anyway. Why they have to make a cycle lane that’s 6ft with the kerb is bloody bonkers — there's no road left, it's crazy. There already was a cycle lane but it was lined and it was three feet, that's all you need for a cyclist. They've extended that away from the kerb into the middle of the road and now the road is too narrow."

How the lane looked previously...

(Stoke Sentinel's story has better images of how the lane looks now, including the one further way up this post)

"It’'s a complete shambles and a waste of money. They plough money into anything which isn’t required," Raging Russell continued.

"It was quite safe as it was and there was no need for this new cycle lane. If they get away with this, they are going to be doing it all around the Potteries. I feel like they just do what they want, it's ridiculous. They didn't put signs up asking people what they think and if we had said no they would've still done it anyway. The roads in Stoke-on-Trent are a disgrace and you need a Jeep to go around the city."

It seems some at the council agree... the deputy council leader and cabinet member for regeneration, infrastructure and heritage said the lane is "not useful" and is "one of the worst government schemes of recent times because it was rushed, it wasn't thought through".

"We were told by the government that we had to bid for them. We bid for as little as we can get away with in Stoke-on-Trent because I was not convinced that the scheme would be useful. It wasn't enough money to do something proper but we had to bid for it," Cllr Dan Jellyman (another great name) said.

"We ended up having to do these little schemes like this because the government made us. The Active Travel Fund is one of the worst wastes of taxpayers' money." That's the spirit...

"It doesn't achieve what it's meant to achieve. The point of the scheme was to try and encourage people to get out of their cars and onto bikes. Putting a bit of kerbing and white lines on a couple of roads doesn’t get people on bikes.

"The government rushed it and gave enough money so that they can say we've done something but it's not enough to have a proper transformation so I totally understand why residents feel this way.

"I've seen it myself on Shelton New Road, it's not very impressive. It could've been a lot worse if the city council bid for more money."