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“This is why we ride in primary position”: “Impatient” driver tries to pass mum and daughter cycling with oncoming traffic; When Jeremy Vine met Greg James; Pidcock brushes off Ineos Tour de France rivalry as “Netflix drama” + more on the live blog

It’s Thursday and we’ve got two more live blogs for you before the week ends and the Tour de France begins, Adwitiya’s delivering all the cycling news and views today
Thu, Jun 27, 2024 09:44
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SUMMARY

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“This is why we ride in primary position”: “Impatient” driver tries to pass mum and daughter cycling with oncoming traffic; When Jeremy Vine met Greg James; Pidcock brushes off Ineos Tour de France rivalry as “Netflix drama” + more on the live blogCyclists in Denver with a tailgating motorist (Twitter: @GoingDutchDEN)
27 June 2024, 08:07
“This is why we ride in primary position”: “Impatient” driver (unsuccessfully) tries to pass mum and daughter cycling with oncoming traffic, but social media thinks they “should get the hell out of the way”

We know how things are for cyclists for over in the States, but every once in a while, I get a harsh reality check. This time around, it came through a mum and daughter riding their Dutch bikes with front carrier and even a cargo bike in the sun — you’d look at the scene and almost be forgiven for thinking that can’t be the US.

Until you hear the rumbling of an oncoming car, before realising that another driver has been tailgating, and even trying to overtake them this whole time.

“This guy was getting ready to pass you with oncoming traffic”, says Nicole to her daughter cycling behind her. Another driver makes their way from the other side, as the cyclists then hold out their left hand to indicate that they are going to make a turn.

But the driver, instead of slotting behind and waiting for the cyclists to turn, once again tries to pass them right when they are about to make a turn, bringing out a “Yooo!” scream from the mum and a really ugly, grating honk from the driver as a response.

“Just trying to get coffee with my daughter on her last day in town when this impatient driver tries to pass us with oncoming traffic and then again when we’re signalling a left turn. This is why we ride in primary position. We’re not moving over if it’s unsafe to pass!” wrote Nicole, who lives in Denver and describes herself as “transportation cyclist, crossing guard and proponent of compact urbanism”.

If I were you, I would stay off the Twitter comments to the video, but as we like to say to cheer ourselves, it wasn’t all doom and gloom, with several cyclists coming out and batting for the pair.

> Near Miss of the Day 891: “Inconsistency” of police response to dangerous driving slammed as driver avoids punishment for squeezing between cyclist and oncoming car

“This is as clear bad driving as you’ll see. No dispute - 100% driver is the problem. The replies tell you that a huge number of drivers don’t understand that, and will consider this justification for their moaning about cyclists. A pitiful state of affairs.”

“A thread in which tons of people who've clearly never travelled in anything other than a car in their entire adult lives argue that a mother and daughter should get the hell out of the way so they can go as quick as possible down a quiet residential street.”

“The replies to this are INSANE. Seems like hardly anyone is trained well enough to be driving any type of car on the roads. Zero patience and ignorance behind a wheel is deadly. That’s why people are killed or maimed at an alarming rate. Ugh. We need bike/ped infrastructure asap.”

It may not come as a solace, but it might be fair to point out that this sort of driving is not endemic to the USA, with road.cc reporting on plenty of such “impatient” drivers over the years, particularly in our Near Miss of the Day series.

Just yesterday, we reported on two cyclists being squeezed by a campervan driver in a very dangerous move that forced an oncoming driver to almost come to a halt to avoid a collision. It seems that all of us have a long way to go…

27 June 2024, 09:44
When Jeremy Vine met Greg James: They got reversed into by a van driver

What happens when two leading broadcasters meet on the road on their bikes? Of course, the got clipped by a van driver, almost reversing into the back of James.

The Channel 5 presenter and the BBC Radio 1 DJ met up on the roads of central London and decided to go for a little ride on the cobbles (not before Vine was mightily impressed by James’ blue helmet).

As they were making their way into the cobbled street, they followed a red Urban Foodservice van in, and straight away, like an omen from a bad horror flick, the van driver ran over a stranded Lime bike while turning in.

“If a car gets very close to you, do you kick it?” asks James. Vine replies: “No I haven’t done that either, but I do stay very vigilant… See this guy, I mean we’re seeing it all here, because he just ran over that bike!”

> “You’ll get ten tickets a day doing this”: Motorbike rider in cycle lane almost sweeps oncoming cyclist and close passes Jeremy Vine

As they come to the end of the cobbled street, they pass the driver who’s stopped while making the turn. Just as Vine passes the van, the driver starts backing up, while James is still stuck behind the van, nearly pushing him into a street sign and only realising what he’s doing when the DJ smacks on the vehicle.

“Oh shit!” exclaims James, as Vine shouts: “God, for f**** sake man! What the hell man? It’s the guy from Radio 1, you can’t back into Greg James!” The driver promptly apologises saying: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Just a normal day in London then?

Analysing the near-miss with James, Vine said: “You did nothing wrong there but you will be blamed for that. When that happened to me, someone backed into me, I was told I was hovering near the back of the van.”

Vine could be heard telling James “I never get this many incidents” as they continued to cycle, with the Radio 1 presenter quipping “after him Vine” as they witnessed a driver on the wrong side of the road.

As the clip ends, Vine notices another driver going up the wrong way in the street, to which James quips: “After him Vine!”

I agree, this might be one of Vine's finest works so far!

Recently, ex-footballer Joey Barton apologised and agreed to pay Vine £75,000 in damages and costs to settle part of a defamation case lodged by the Channel 5 presenter in the wake of a string of social media posts which saw Barton label Vine a “bike nonce” and a “paedo defender”.

27 June 2024, 16:08
Illi Gardner is not playing around! British pro posts incredible Alpe d'Huez ride on Strava, claiming several QOMs

Hell of a ride, that, with several segments even faster than Tour de France pros! Chapeau Illi!

 
27 June 2024, 15:14
27 June 2024, 14:31
"Even the police were shocked": Bike thieves screw family's front door shut before smashing into van to steal bicycle
Bike thieves screw family's front door shut during theft (Facebook)

A cyclist has warned of the lengths criminals are now going to steal bikes, thieves screwing the family's front door shut so they could not get out before smashing into the van parked on the driveway to take a mountain bike.

> "Even the police were shocked": Bike thieves screw family's front door shut before smashing into van to steal bicycle

27 June 2024, 14:10
Is this pro cycling or Mission Impossible? Visma-Lease a Bike launch Control Room, the “first-ever command centre in cycling”

Imagine telling Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor that 60 years later, there will be “command centres” to monitor cyclists’ performances, analyse data and make tactical decisions.

Now see, I love the tactical aspect of sports, it is one of the most enjoyable things about any game really! But the latest debate in football about relationism versus positionism, sparked by Pep Guardiola’s reliance on data, control and stability — and other managers desperately attempting to imitate it, most recently seen in the drab affairs in the second and third week of the Euros — has really left me burned and hopelessly seeking flair and style in the beautiful game.

I digress, but it looks like this is where sports is headed: Intense number-crunching and data analytics. And in lieu of that, Visma-Lease a Bike has a new weapon in its already stacked arsenal — no, not a new rider, but a ‘Control Room’ instead.

It looks almost like out of a Mission Impossible movie, the van in which you’d expect Benji and Luther to do their hacking stuff while Ethan Hunt goes and does the cool things outside — probably the same parallels can be drawn here too. Only that this van is draped in the Tour de France special “Renaissance” livery of the Dutch team.

“Thanks to Visma’s expertise in data collection and visualisation, all our data will now be analysed in one place. So that we can make the best tactical decisions, quickly and accurately — play smarter — all in one control room,” says the team, referring to its title sponsor Visma, a privately held company headquartered in Oslo, that provides cloud accounting, payroll, invoicing, and HR business software products.

Does anyone know if Pogačar is worried about Visma’s Control Room?

27 June 2024, 13:47
Tour de France bikes on a budget* — pro race bikes without the pro price tag from Specialized, Canyon, Trek, Pinarello and more
2024 budget Tour de France bikes

Perhaps one of the most appealing things about professional cycling is that you can buy pretty much the exact same bikes and gear as the pros. These days, pro bikes are essentially the same as those you can buy in a bike shop, aside from individual modifications that some riders might request. Fortunately, you can also find bikes that are very similar - not just in appearance, but also in construction - to those ridden by cycling stars.

We've searched for some of the best deals we can find at the moment. There are often some good deals on the exact framesets but you can also find more affordable alternatives that incorporate much of the same tech. Okay, these bikes aren't cheap, but they are less expensive than the top-end models. 

> Tour de France bikes on a budget* — pro race bikes without the pro price tag from Specialized, Canyon, Trek, Pinarello and more

Which of these (almost) pro team bikes would you choose? Let us know in the comments section below.

*To address the asterisk in the title: we mean relative to the actual bikes the pros race, of course. We know that these still aren't cheap by any stretch of the imagination!

27 June 2024, 13:28
Anthony Gordon falls off electric mountain bike in England's Euro training camp in Germany and suffers grazes on his face and hands

Is there anything this side can do?

Well that's me being way too harsh on the Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon, who hasn't had much chances to impress, or perhaps disappoint — if you weigh in how even Champions League winner and Ballon d'Or contender Jude Bellingham has played in the last two matches.

If you'd missed it, currently the most hated man in England (don't quote me on that), Gareth Southgate has been making use of electric mountain bikes as post-training warmdown for his squad, which has scored two goals in three games, while playing some really non-descript football, struggling to find any sort of rhythm to get going.

> ‘England being rubbish again at the Euros’ jokes, cycling-themed edition

And now, based on the latest pictures from team's training, it looks like Anthony Gordon, who came on in the final minutes in the 0-0 draw against Slovenia, has suffered a graze on his nose, chin, knuckles and fingers after falling off his MTB at the team's Spa & GolfResort Weimarer Land camp.

Well that might give Southgate an excuse to not include him in the lineup for Sunday's Round of 16 knockout stage match against Slovakia, after calls for him and Cole Palmer to start, in place of Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka, were made by many pundits and fans alike.

27 June 2024, 12:31
road.cc tech editor Mat Brett seriously injured in cycling incident
2024 Giant TCR Advanced Pro 0 AXS - riding 4.jpg

A news that has had us shaken to the core... Mat is a gem of a person and has been an incredible colleague, besides obviously being a very skilful and adept rider. We are all keeping our fingers crossed and praying that he recovers back to his best self super soon.

> road.cc tech editor Mat Brett seriously injured in cycling incident

27 June 2024, 11:55
Cycling market "significantly worse than expected", Halfords warns — with "high-profile failure of Wiggle" and widespread sales evidence of "another year of decline"
halfords-store-front

Publishing its preliminary financial results for the year to March 2024, Halfords has seen its profits slashed amid "significantly worse than expected" cycling performance and bike sales dropping to 30 per cent below pre-Covid levels.

The major retailer, the largest provider of cycling sales and services in the UK, highlighted the "high-profile failure" of Wiggle Chain Reaction as evidence of the "challenging" market and noted that "significant pressure" was being felt due to widespread industry sales.

> Cycling market "significantly worse than expected", Halfords warns — with "high-profile failure of Wiggle" and widespread sales evidence of "another year of decline"

27 June 2024, 11:40
Team Jayco-AlUla 2024 Tour de France kit
❗️New Tour de France kit klaxon❗️: Jayco-AlUla's not-blue jersey

Now that's how you do a special kit! The kit draws inspiration from its second naming rights partner, AlUla, the ancient oasis city located in the northwest of Saudi Arabia. 

The team website, says: "The kit design represents a drastic departure to the team’s usual colour palette and branding, with dark green derived from the verdant green oasis of AlUla taking centre stage, while the vibrant golden orange draws on the stunning desert colours and landscape of the destination.

"Amidst the lively green and orange, a bold graphic pattern can be found throughout the jersey, derived from the architecture of Design Space AlUla. The eye-catching pattern is representative of many traditional architectural designs that can be found across the AlUla region."

Wow, that's a beauty of a kit... And look at that bike! Perfection, in my book.

27 June 2024, 11:07
Ineos Grenadiers Gobik kit 2024
“It probably made a good episode, but I was the bad guy”: Pidcock brushes off Ineos Tour de France leadership rivalry as Netflix documentary drama, as Geraint Thomas says he’ll be riding to “help Carlos Rodriguez and the team”

There are a lots of jobs I wouldn’t envy in this world, and one of them is surely those managing the Ineos Grenadiers squad. The British team finds itself in a weird, precarious spot — going into the Tour with 2019 winner Egan Bernal, 2018 winner Geraint Thomas, the young promising stage racer Carlos Rodriguez, as well as the talented all-rounder Tom Pidcock.

And of course, where there’s even a whiff of competition, you know that Netflix is going to squeeze every last drop and then some more out of that bag. In the streaming platform’s latest foray into cycling documentaries, the Tour de France: Unchained, now in its second season, Ineos was portrayed as a team made up of riders not getting along with each other and having bad blood.

And that’s not sat well with the 24-year-old Tom Pidcock, who in the Netflix show was shown to defy team orders during the 2023 Tour de France and ride his own race, only to suffer in the third week, leading to suggestions of an internal Pidcock-Rodriguez rivalry.

Tom Pidcock, 2024 Strade Bianche (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

> “Is Tom Pidcock wasting his talent and time racing off-road?” asks former Vuelta winner – after British star dominates mountain bike races a week before Tour de France starts

“I was portrayed as the bad guy…,” Pidcock said, adding that he had not seen the Netflix episode. “It just makes a drama you know and it's not even in chronological order. But at the end of the day, we're racing. 

"At the start of the [2023] Tour, me and Carlos were both going for GC. Then at some point, someone comes out on top, and they're the person who's the leader at that point. And that was Carlos. So, it's just a drama. It probably made a good episode, but I was the bad guy. Whatever…”

Rodriguez also dismissed any talks of bad blood between the two, reports Cyclingnews. He said: “Unfortunately they wanted to make it entertaining. Maybe they even put some things out of context to create more audience but the relationship between Tom and me is good.

“I hope this year Netflix isn’t about us anymore. It’s not about us fighting or anything,” he added. “The feeling in training racing is better than last year and the year before. That's why I feel that I made the state step forward. But we'll find out during the race. I will give my best and try to do everything I can to try to beat them.”

Meanwhile, at least one Ineos rider has cleared up that he won’t be going for the GC, and that Geraint Thomas, fresh off riding the Giro. Speaking on his and his teammate and fellow Welshman Luke Rowe’s podcast Watts Occurring, he said: “I think I’ll be there to help Carlos.

“I think he’s all guns blazing for this. And yeah, [I’ll] just look for a stage at some point. But mainly there for the team. I’m not going to sit up and lose minutes straight away, but no stress, just get into the race and see how I am.”

27 June 2024, 10:26
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Tour de France squad (+ tactics leaked?)

If you can't already tell, I haven't slept well last night knowing the fact that I'll have to see the Red Bull livery on a cycling team's kit now. But hey, the team with the most boring design team on earth, has somehow managed to absolutely knock it out of the park with its livery on the S-Works Tarmac SL8...

That bike is gorgeous!

Oh and if you didn't miss, that's the team that will be going to Tour de France, with a decently balanced squad consisting of sprinters, climbers, domestiques and Primož Roglič.

Meanwhile, looks like some of Red Bull's tactics might have got leaked too!

27 June 2024, 09:22
The most iconic trio you said?

As they say, this photo lives rent-free in my head...

27 June 2024, 09:47
Teenage motorist who hit and killed cyclist two months after passing test banned from driving for a year, ordered to complete 180 hours unpaid work, and fined £240
Chester Road A452, Walsall (Google Street View)

An “inexperienced” teenage motorist who pulled out of a junction and fatally struck a cyclist, just two months after passing his driving test, has avoided jail, and has instead been banned from driving for a year and ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to causing the cyclist’s death by careless driving.

> Teenage motorist who hit and killed cyclist two months after passing test banned from driving for a year, ordered to complete 180 hours unpaid work, and fined £240

Adwitiya Pal

Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.

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39 comments

Avatar
wtjs replied to HoarseMann | 5 months ago
3 likes

I do get the feeling that the police are not actioning the vast majority of Op Snap submissions

A feeling is not required- it's a simple fact. Most reports go unexamined straight in the bin because the police have the obvious dodge lined up at all times- if there's ever a question about a particular report they just say 'resource limitations made it impossible for us to look at that one'. 

Avatar
Mr Anderson replied to wtjs | 5 months ago
6 likes

What really convinced me there is something stinking at the heart of road traffic enforcement, was the pursuit of the cyclist Dave Clifton in March 2024.

If Police resources are the reason why CyclingMikey rarely receives updates on his reports, then why were these valuable resources deployed to prosecute this cyclist?

The prosecution of Dave Clifton was pursued by the Police right up to the day of the trial.

Yet the driver that Dave reported was given a written warning, for an offence that carries a 6 point penalty!!!!

Who is running Marlowe House?  Nick Ferrari?  Well he did grow up in Sidcup!!!

 

Avatar
I love my bike | 5 months ago
0 likes

USA, spearated cycle infructucture is great, but like motorways for motor vehicles; it's never going to be the only road you use, so driver behavior must to be made to improve.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to I love my bike | 5 months ago
1 like

Yes, but the question is "how". There are some practical solutions (which are a mix of measures including engineering, route planning, psychology and enforcement)

Also you might find this interesting:

https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2012/04/100-segregation-of-bikes-a...

Avatar
brooksby | 5 months ago
1 like

Can I ask for an opinion? 

Riding into work this morning along the side of Victoria Square in Clifton, Bristol.  Was close passed by a driver in some sort of what used to be called a hot hatch (who immediately had to brake because an SUV was coming towards us and he couldn't fit through).

Reached this junction - https://maps.app.goo.gl/EQZuRe3K2pni4jje8

The car was waiting right over toward the right hand side of the lane, right up against the centre-line.  No indicators being used.

I presumed he was turning right since there was such a wide gap toward the left as the corner angle is pretty wide, and I went into that gap to go left.  As I was alongside the car the driver started to move LEFT.

I don't know whether he changed his mind at the last moment or what - the front of the car was actually pointing slightly right so he would have really had to yank the steering wheel over to make the move that he did.

Was I really that stupid to assume that a car at the right of a lane, actually pointing slightly right, but not using indicators - was going to go right?

Avatar
mctrials23 replied to brooksby | 5 months ago
8 likes

Nope, everything suggests he was going right. If he started to turn left I would just have either let him go or I would have been out and gone by the time he joined the road. Bit of a non event usually. Drivers do stupid and unexpected things all the time. You just have to keep your wits about you and compensate for them. 

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to brooksby | 5 months ago
5 likes

No. You have to make assessments. But some will give misleading or incorrect signals and i try to remember that my assessments of likely behaviour are not binding on others!

I try to be aware where I'm unclear what others might do and wait a moment or two to see if the picture gets clearer. Perhaps "no turn signal" might suggest that? I'm not sure I'd haven't done differently in the moment though.

Avatar
Mr Anderson replied to brooksby | 5 months ago
8 likes

Assume Nothing - Expect the Unexpected

One example:  If i were waiting to turn right at the junction pictured, and a car was approaching me from the right with the left indicator in use, I wait until I know that car is actually turning left into Lansdowne Rd before emerging.

Avatar
brooksby replied to brooksby | 5 months ago
1 like

Thanks for your feedback, everybody! 

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