“I’ll pass on the saddle”: Life-size BMX bike made entirely out of chocolate (with a working chain) has the internet in disbelief; Ben Turner becomes Britain’s latest Grand Tour stage winner with Vuelta a España stage four victory + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
More high-profile bike theft, crashes, and tech fixes… here’s your Bank Holiday weekend news roundup
I know, I know, it was a nice, long weekend to be out and about. But the cycling news mill, it doesn’t stop. Here’s everything that you might have missed while you were riding away in search of PBs, or slumped in your couch in front of the tele…
> Bikes stolen from Visma-Lease a Bike truck in massive overnight raid at Vuelta a España
Ex-UFC announcer assaulted schoolboy over Lime Bike blocking pavement outside £1.6m west London house... before turning up to court on one of the hire bikes
And the award for headline of the day goes to…
“Jeez, unbelievable”: Jeremy Vine joins Dara Ó Briain in slamming “Checkpoint Charlie” fiasco as London councils’ turf war over hire bike operators leaves Lime Bikes dumped on bridges
London has acquired a new Cold War relic, only this time it’s made of discarded e-bikes. A stand-off between Hounslow and Richmond councils over which hire bike companies they’ll allow has created what locals are calling “Checkpoint Charlie” on Chiswick and Kew bridges.
We reported last week how Irish comedian Dara Ó Briain had mocked the situation, describing the west London crossings as “Checkpoint Charlie” in a post on Twitter/X. He joked: “Hounslow council have banned Lime bikes, and licensed Forest and Voi; neighbouring Richmond has licensed Lime and banned the others. So every bridge is Checkpoint Charlie, with loads of Lime bikes parked on one side and loads of Forest and Voi on the other. Top work everyone!”
Now broadcaster Jeremy Vine has followed up with a video filmed at Chiswick Bridge, showing how Lime bikes simply shut down once riders cross into Hounslow.
If you’ve been wondering what these “Checkpoint Charlie” references are to @LBofHounslow — now in the national news — you can see here. Absolutely bizarre situation which will lead to @limebike dumping all over the area as the power gives out. pic.twitter.com/GQIUStv2wg
— Jeremy Vine | Here, on Tiktok, Insta & Facebook (@theJeremyVine) August 24, 2025
“So these are dumped Lime Bikes, there’s the first one,” he said in the clip, pointing at one propped against a bus stop before pointing across the road to a line of not one, not two… but eleven more green and white e-bikes.
“The power goes when you cross the border into Hounslow. This is this crazy thing now, look at this. They get dumped on Chiswick Bridge because they run out of power here… Jeez, unbelievable. This is now Checkpoint Charlie for Lime Bikes.”
“Someone decided this part of London is so special you can’t ride a Lime Bike through it,” Vine said. He added: “While Lime can’t get into Hounslow, it seems other makes can’t get out,” as he pointed at abandoned Forest and Voi bikes scattered on the opposite side of the road. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Comedian Dara Ó Briain joined the ridicule last week, writing on Twitter/X: “Hounslow council have banned Lime bikes, and licensed Forest and Voi; neighbouring Richmond has licensed Lime and banned the others. So every bridge is Checkpoint Charlie, with loads of Lime bikes parked on one side and loads of Forest and Voi on the other. Top work everyone!”
One local told The Sun they have to “wade past a sea of Lime bikes that have littered the pavement,” while another wrote online: “It’s just one of the million ways in which people who choose to cycle are constantly discouraged. How are Lime bikes more of a problem than cars choking the streets?”
The confusion comes from Hounslow awarding contracts to Forest and Voi, while Richmond has licensed Lime but not Forest. The result is that riders get stranded, bikes pile up, and west London gains a surreal new border crossing.
Lime said it was “disappointed” with Hounslow’s decision, warning that “patchwork schemes that drive down cycling rates and hinder London’s net-zero goals” risk being created.
A spokesperson added: “It’s important people can cycle through Hounslow on their way to other parts of London. We need to make cycling easier, not harder, for residents in all parts of London.”
Richmond Council also criticised the move. Councillor Alexander Ehmann, chair of the Transport and Air Quality Committee, said: “Local authorities should be working to make active travel options easier, not more complicated. Hounslow’s recent decision seems to have underestimated the impact on riders to and from neighbouring boroughs, including Richmond.”
From “I don’t want to travel to Africa” to chasing rainbow stripes: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot makes U-turn and will start world championship in Kigali
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, after initially claiming that she would not make the trip to Africa, has announced that she will be lining up at the Road World Championships in Kigali on September 27.
Back in July, fresh from her victory in the Grande Boucle, the reigning 32-year-old Tour de France champion explained: “I also have to be smart and I need to enjoy this one. I don’t want to travel to Africa and I want to do the European Championship in France. So I will prepare for that and make the most of it.”
But national coach Paul Brousse confirmed today that the plan has shifted. “Pauline really has a strong desire to achieve something. Physically, she’s in top form. And psychologically, she has a huge desire,” he told AFP, calling her participation “superb news”.
He added: “At first, I think there was a bit of physical and psychological fatigue, and then immediately afterward, given that she hasn’t raced much this year either, she felt capable of getting back into it for her two end-of-season goals, the World Championships and the European Championships.”
It means Ferrand-Prévot will chase a second road world title, more than a decade after her first in Ponferrada in 2014. Her palmarès already includes five mountain bike world titles, the 2015 cyclo-cross crown, and the inaugural gravel rainbow jersey in 2022, besides winning the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix earlier this year.
She will be backed in Rwanda by a strong French squad: Juliette Labous, Évita Muzic, Maëva Squiban, Cédrine Kerbaol, Marie Le Net, and Léa Curinier. The course itself is brutal — 164.6km with 3,350m of climbing — described in the French press as “the toughest in history.”
Before Kigali, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider will return to competition at the Grand Prix de Plouay in Brittany this weekend. Then it’s worlds, the European Championships on home soil a week later, and the Gravel worlds in South Limburg.
Bike brand halts US imports over 50% steel tariff
Visma-Lease a Bike still missing most of €250,000 worth of stolen bikes as replacements rushed from the Netherlands ahead of Vuelta team time trial
Quick update on the Visma-Lease a Bike Vuelta a España theft saga: Dutch news website NOS reports that not all of the 18 Cervélos stolen from the team’s truck near Turin have been recovered. Italian media put the total value at around €250,000.
A few were found dumped in bushes on Monday, but the bulk are still missing. Fresh bikes are now being sent from the team’s base in Den Bosch to Girona, with a spokesperson saying they’ll be in place in time for Wednesday’s team time trial. “We do have experience transporting bikes,” they added.
“I can already be awarded the title of World Champion of Change of Plans”: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot says lighter race load left her ready for Rwanda after Tour de France win
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has now spoken publicly about her decision to ride the World Championships in Kigali, writing in an Instagram post: “Hello to all… I had made the decision, early in the season, not to participate in the World Championships in Rwanda… I came out of the Olympic period tired physically and mentally worn out. I clearly didn’t want to relive this moment or ask for extra effort from an already tired body and 80 per cent mental (I like to do things all the way).”
“The context is really different too (few races this year, and much less pressure for the Tour de France than for the Olympics),” she wrote, adding that she feels ready “to continue to give my best smartly and thoughtfully.”
The call to race Worlds was made in agreement with both Visma-Lease a Bike and the French national team. “I am honoured to ride with my French teammates, who are part of the world’s elite, to give the best of ourselves in the victory of the rainbow jersey.”
She signed off with a wink at her own change of mind: “Thank you all for your unconditional support. Looking forward to a new great experience! And in any case, I can already be awarded the title of World Champion of Change of Plans.”
“That’s cycling!”: Jonas Vingegaard says David Gaudu “divebombed” him, as fans laud Frenchman for “Lewis Hamilton overtake” on final hairpin corner to win Vuelta stage three
You don’t often get to say it in cycling — but yesterday’s Vuelta stage finish really did look like something straight out of Formula 1. Groupama-FDJ’s David Gaudu came steaming down the inside line of the final hairpin into Ceres, “divebombing” race leader Jonas Vingegaard, and slingshotting his way past Mads Pedersen in the lead.
Pedersen, whose Lidl-Trek teammates had ridden themselves ragged all day, suddenly looked like the guy on cold tyres who’d left the door open.
David Gaudu outsprints Mads Pedersen to take the third stage at La Vuelta 😳 pic.twitter.com/skU26zg0QR
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) August 25, 2025
Vingegaard could only shrug afterwards in a TNT Sports interview: “Pedersen was going very strong and I didn’t really think that I could go past him because I was suffering a lot in the wheel, and then in the last corner, David Gaudu divebombed me and Pedersen. It was quite a move, but that’s cycling.”
Gaudu, who missed this year’s Tour de France citing poor form and fatigue, himself admitted he hadn’t even expected to be in the mix: “My win is a surprise for me. This morning, I thought it would be a stage for Mads Pedersen. I am very happy and very proud to take the victory for my team, and this is a great beginning of the Vuelta for me. I pushed myself beyond my limits all the way to the finish line.”
Beautiful angle of today’s Gaudu win by @rolandhric #LaVuelta25 pic.twitter.com/BGkYgGyT7x
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) August 25, 2025
And the fans? Utterly beside themselves. “Gaudu from out of nowhere!!” … “What a smart move”… “Gaudu with the crash and take everyone out or win the stage approach.” One simply declared he was “doing a Max,” referencing Verstappen’s uncompromising — and often controversial — “yield or we crash” style.
Over on Twitter/X, Benji Naesen called it a “Lewis Hamilton overtake”, which feels spot on: a perfectly judged late move that used momentum and line choice to make everyone else look flat-footed.
One fan even broke it down like an onboard replay: “He used that momentum and probably slightly flatter gradient on the inside to slingshot past Pedersen. Perfect race dynamics.”
Another chimed in: “Closing up through two gaps before coming around. Really impressive.” And for the purists, a nod to F1 legend and four-time world champion Alain Prost was floated — ‘Le Professeur’ — now echoed in Gaudu’s audacity.
Whether you’re team ‘keep motorsport out of my cycling’ or team ‘hell yes, give me F1-style corner lunges on two wheels,’ you can’t deny it was electric to watch. For a sport often defined by long attritional climbs and sprints measured in watts, this was the kind of seat-of-your-pants manoeuvre that jolts you upright. Cycling doesn’t often look like F1, but when it does, and Gaudu channels Hamilton on the apex, it can be irresistible.
When Tony Hawk meets a penny farthing (+ a tailcoat and a top hat)
“People are entitled to their opinions… I’m equally entitled not to care”: Jonas Vingegaard says “people have to respect” his last-minute decision to skip Rwanda world championship
Jonas Vingegaard has doubled down on his decision to skip next month’s World Championships in Kigali, batting away criticism from Danish fans and pundits who wanted to see him finally pull on the national kit at elite level.
“I won’t be going to the World Championships,” he said bluntly before the Vuelta got underway. “It doesn’t fit into my schedule. I’m focusing instead on the European Championships.”
That pivot sparked plenty of grumbling back home, with many disappointed that the two-time Tour de France winner won’t feature at such a historic edition of the worlds as well as continue trading blows with his rival and current world champion Tadej Pogačar. Asked about it again during the opening stages of the Vuelta, Vingegaard didn’t mince his words.
“People are entitled to their opinions,” he told Feltet.dk. “And I’m equally entitled not to care. I have my reasons for the decision, and people should be able to understand that.”
Pressed on whether he could sympathise with fans who felt let down, he added: “Yes, I suppose I can. But it’s my decision, and people have to respect that.”
For context, Vingegaard hasn’t actually raced an elite world championship before — his last appearance in Danish colours came as a U23 rider. That only added to the frustration for some who were eager to see him go up against Tadej Pogačar for the rainbow stripes.
It’s a sharp contrast to Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who — as we reported in today’s live blog — made a U-turn in the opposite direction. Having initially ruled Kigali out, she’s now embraced the chance to race Worlds and joked on Instagram that she’s already earned the title of “World Champion of Change of Plans.”
Two very different approaches to the same race: one star stepping back, another diving in. Vingegaard, though, currently in the leader’s jersey at the Vuelta, looks unlikely to lose sleep over the criticism…
81-year-old driver fined after overtaking cyclist at “unsafe distance” and “inappropriate speed” in Tenby
An 81-year-old motorist has been fined after a dangerous overtake on the A4139 in Penally, near Tenby.
Mary Fleming, of St David’s Close, was behind the wheel of a Hyundai Kona on April 24 when she passed a cyclist just after a traffic island. The court heard she did so at “an unsafe distance” and “an inappropriate speed,” with her standard of driving described as falling “well below that of a reasonable and competent driver.”
Fleming pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on August 13, the Western Telegraph reports. She was fined £299, ordered to pay £130 costs and a £120 surcharge, and had five points added to her licence.
Ben Turner storms to first Grand Tour stage win at Vuelta a España as the 26-year-old Brit outpaces Jasper Philipsen in uphill sprint finale, with David Gaudu taking red jersey on countback
Britain has another Grand Tour stage winner. Ineos Grenadiers-TotalEnergies’ Ben Turner delivered the ride of his life in Voiron, powering up the uphill drag to the line on stage four of the Vuelta a España and outsprinting Jasper Philipsen to take his first victory at cycling’s highest level.
BIG BEN STRIKES 🔔
Ben Turner takes the biggest win of his career as he wins the sprint on Stage 4 of La Vuelta.#LaVuelta pic.twitter.com/xXWwEJKvFP
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) August 26, 2025
The finale had chaos written all over it. Mads Pedersen, one of the pre-stage favourites, bottled the last corner in a similar fashion as yesterday, losing half a dozen places even before the sprint even started.
Up front, Alpecin-Deceuninck executed a textbook lead-out, Edward Planckaert opening the throttle to deliver Philipsen into position — but crucially, he never left the gap to the barriers that sprinters crave. Turner launched hard, boxed Philipsen in behind his own teammate, and never looked back. Philipsen had to settle for second, with Planckaert himself rolling in third.
Turner, speaking at the finish line with emotions swelling up, said: “It’s amazing. The team really believed in me, and I’ll do anything to race these races. Thank you to the boys, they’ve been amazing all day. I really believed in what I could do in this stage finish, and winning is just amazing.”
The win caps a summer of progress for the 26-year-old from Harworth. Already this season he’s taken a stage win and two podiums at the Tour de Pologne, finished third on a Giro d’Italia stage, adding to earlier career highlights including victory at the 2023 Vuelta a la Región de Murcia.
And he wasn’t even supposed to be here — Turner only got the Vuelta call-up the day before the race began, drafted in after teammate Lucas Hamilton withdrew with illness.
Today, though, marked the biggest step of all: maiden Grand Tour glory.It also feeds into a wider story of British riders coming through on cycling’s biggest stages. Turner joins the likes of Oscar Onley and Matthew Brennan, the crop of British riders who have lit up the summer with their swashbuckling, fearless riding.
Amidst Turner’s breakthrough, there was a significant GC shuffle. David Gaudu did just enough to move into red on countback after finishing safely in the peloton, leaving Jonas Vingegaard level on time but bumped to second overall. Giulio Ciccone sits third, with Egan Bernal and Tom Pidcock rounding out the top five.
Community service for dangerous driver who crashed into cyclist while overtaking another vehicle at 60mph on blind bend, causing traumatic brain injury
“I’ll pass on the saddle”: Life-size BMX bike made entirely out of chocolate (yes, with a working chain) has the internet in disbelief
Some innovations in cycling promise lighter carbon, new bottom bracket standards, or slightly different aero profiles. This one promises tooth decay. A French-Swiss pastry chef has built a full-size BMX bike out of chocolate — frame, wheels, tyres, pedals, spokes, and, unbelievably, a working chain.
The man behind it is Amaury Guichon, a French-Swiss chocolatier best known for his elaborate edible sculptures. Born in 1991, he trained as a teenager in France and Switzerland, won the title of Best Apprentice in France in 2010, and has since become a social media phenomenon for creating giant, hyper-detailed chocolate dragons, violins, roller coasters — and now, apparently, BMX bikes.
The video, soundtracked with suspiciously cheerful background music you’d expect in a TikTok tutorial about icing cupcakes, shows him calmly welding cocoa into chain links and moulding tyres with a grin so unwavering it’s almost unsettling.
Naturally, the internet had thoughts. “The sheer audacity to make a functioning bike chain out of chocolate is awesome. I love it,” wrote one fan. Another was floored by the engineering: “As impressive as the working chain and gearing is, I was ready to congratulate him for getting those spokes to hold the weight of the frame, and then he sat on it?!”
One Instagram user cut through all the engineering chat with the real issue: “Nice! But I’ll pass on the saddle.” Probably the only part of the bike nobody’s queuing up to taste-test…
One wag even suggested he deserved a “degree in chocolate engineering.” Closer to home, Jo Burt shared his two cents on the road.cc group chat: “Cue comments about that chain lasting longer than (insert brand here) etc.”
Yes, it’s technically impressive. But a chocolate BMX? It feels less like 2025 and more like something that should have gone viral on 2010s Facebook, right between a Minions meme and a recipe for Oreo mug cake…
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Latest Comments
@mdavidford Yes- it works!
Nuance died along time ago in the media - its all about how we can make our readers angry at somebody else. That said speed restrictions for county lanes needs to be revisited. There are lanes around me that are just wide enough for 1 car and yet in theory the speed limit is 60mph. These limits were put in place when there weren't that many cars, they were smaller and many couldnt even reach that heady speed. I know the likelihood of that happening is zero because the media nor the general public are interested in saving lives if it inconviences them in the smallest degree.
Sometimes steak with oysters, caviar and champagne isn’t available, ... because we've eaten them all.
@mctrials23 Absolutely, I was just thinking of a couple of roads I regularly ride through at Elephant and Castle, where a plethora of new tower blocks has been built: the prevailing wind is south-westerly but due to the wind shear affects of the new buildings it switches to northerly for several blocks and requires very considerable extra effort on windy days, how is an app going to figure that out? How will it know if I'm riding on an open road with nobody about or drafting behind an HGV? I'll really be surprised if in real world conditions this app can consistently get within 20% of a power meter figure. It's one of those cases where if it were possible, somebody would've done it already. That said I wouldn't have minded giving it a free trial but it wants your card number, something I always avoid unless essential, it's just a trap for the forgetful and poorly organised (like me). If companies are really sure their products are so good that people will subscribe after a free trial, why do they insist on having your card number instead of just genuinely letting you try it for free?
@wtjs Of course they won't unless Marcus Wright is actively blocking them from attending a scene under blues and twos. You can't expect the police to do good solid coppering when there are thrilling chases and high-profile glory cases to be taken on
Rider: You promised that the breakfast would be toast with jam, cereal and boiled eggs, all I’ve been given is a slice of untoasted plain bread. Prudhomme: Sometimes steak with oysters, caviar and champagne isn’t available, stop complaining. Pathetic from the top man, all the riders are asking for is clean rooms with air-conditioning. The attitude that they are asking for the Earth with such minimal demands shows absolute contempt for the people whose incredible efforts pay for his enormous salary (I assume it’s enormous, given that he seems to have taken great care to make sure that the figure is not publicly available as far as I can see). The attitude towards riders doesn’t seem to have changed in some respects from the days when they used to sleep on the stone floors of churches overnight to try and keep cool.
English comms available or flemish/dutch only?
55% of hardly anyone isn’t that impressive. I like to think they’d do better with a fairer price for marginal interest sports. I nearly paid but went through sky to discover that they wanted £34 not £31 and I just couldn’t stomach it. Especially as they still expect me to watch adverts for that money.
Its impossible to do what they are suggesting. There are far too many variables that affect the things they are using to calculate it. The reason Stava and co. can be in the ballpark *sometimes* with their estimates is because sometimes the conditions they base their estimates on are simple or they simply get lucky ie. overestimate the effect of wind by 5% but also underestimate the quality of surface you're on. With a strong wind, crappy road, upright position, wrong tyre pressure, putting power down when you shouldn't or coasting at every chance, the estimates will be wildly wrong.
12 thoughts on ““I’ll pass on the saddle”: Life-size BMX bike made entirely out of chocolate (with a working chain) has the internet in disbelief; Ben Turner becomes Britain’s latest Grand Tour stage winner with Vuelta a España stage four victory + more on the live blog”
New record yesterday –
New record yesterday – approach speed of 118 kph on an nsl by a driver who should have not exceeded 80 kph.
This is why we need legislation for cyclists.
“New plans to charge £2,500 a
“New plans to charge £2,500 a day for road closures…
Southampton City Council has released new plans to charge operators for road closures …
The council would charge its own contractor Balfour Beatty and utility firms for roadworks undertaken at peak times, claiming it will encourage quicker completion and avoid disruption.“
This is bizarre.
Shirley this means the contractors will simply add that to their bill to the council for the work done?
Or am I missing something?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70xn066yzdo
Don’t be silly, they will add
Don’t be silly, they will add more than that to their bill, they have to make a profit!
Not all of the contractors
Not all of the contractors are being paid by SCC, only Balfour Beatty. We have roads closed for utility repairs very often, especially by Southern Water.
13 years in jail, presumably
13 years in jail, presumably out early.
But 15 year driving ban.
Is that the highest yet?
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/killer-sang-shaggy-hit-it-32295600
She said: “While Sam clearly
She said: “While Sam clearly has difficulties of his own, he has ambitions. He says he wants to join the Army.”
Sam had six previous convictions for 13 offences including burglary and vehicle theft.
“Divebomb” my ar$e; you could
“Divebomb” my ar$e; you could have driven a bus through that gap. And why the F1 analogy when you have the sport of cycle speedway, where dive bombing is positively encouraged as a passing manoeuvre?
“A female 81-year old driver
“A female 81-year old driver was fined £299, ordered to pay £130 costs and a £120 surcharge, and had five points added to her licence.” That’s ineffective, not to say useless. She shall be ordered to book a driving test within the next month, while being prevented from driving a vehicle during the interim. In case she fails the said test, then she’s back to the driving school and restart from scratch.
I would suggest that 5 points
I would suggest that 5 points is no mistake. When 12 points should lose you your license, why on earth are we giving people 5 points other than to avoid banning them. Its OK though, when this old dear kills someone it will have been an accident that couldn’t have been foreseen or prevented.
I really want to know what would happen if someone sued after a driver that shouldn’t be on the roads wasn’t banned despite repeated bad driving.
Just wanted to wish you a
Just wanted to wish you a happy bank holiday, so I had to get close for you to hear.
Quote:
I didn’t think that was something you really needed to train for, it just happens naturally.
‘This morning I’m going to practise not tidying my room.’
That is so unfair
That is so unfair