Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lane? Because it’s like a “BMX track”; “It’s a rough sport, but this was not an accident”: Vuelta crash controversy rumbles on; Boardman talks declining cycling distance stats; Must-have tools + more on the live blog

Big drama at La Vuelta yesterday evening, the fallout from Richard Carapaz’s crash rumbling on and turning into everyone’s favourite form of post-stage analysis — social media outrage.

Accidents happen in cycling. We all know that. It’s a rough sport. But this was not an accident: pic.twitter.com/0PorhVlASy

— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) August 28, 2024

The EF Education-EasyPost climber’s crash was caught by the TV cameras with around 93km to go, Carapaz seen picking himself up and quickly getting back on the bike, a replay (frustratingly blocked by a tree at the crucial moment) showing the moment he fell from his bike having left the road. Why the rider, who dropped to fourth on GC, fell was a matter his team boss Jonathan Vaughters had an opinion on, taking to social media and sharing the footage with the caption: “Well, that was pretty mean.”

Just 20 minutes later he shared a slightly longer video again, this time saying: “Accidents happen in cycling. We all know that. It’s a rough sport. But this was not an accident.”

The tree blocking the footage makes it hard to say if it was just a touch of wheels or something worse, although EF’s team boss is fairly confident in his take on events. Race leader Ben O’Connor is fairly confident in his too, the Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale rider posting three minutes after Vaughters, and wrote: “We never tried to cause a crash, and never pushed someone off the road.”

O’Connor’s Twitter account has since been deleted, the Aussie climber’s post also addressing the fact the UCI gave yellow cards to four of his teammates (Victor Lafay, Cyril Dessel, Bruno Armirail and Geoffrey Bouchard) for obstructing the road, the team spreading across the road in order to prevent more riders joining the breakaway.

It’s fairly standard practice and while Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale may feel unfairly singled out for something that has gone unpunished more times than it’s worth remembering, the fact is the UCI rules state it is an offence, namely: “Obstruction by a rider or vehicle in order to prevent or delay the movement of another rider or vehicle.”

Plenty pointed this out to O’Connor during last night’s social media discussion, the team not getting much sympathy from fans watching on. O’Connor tagged the UCI in his post and asked: “What kind of dangerous move do you think my teammates Bouchard, Lafay and Armirail [did] that merited a yellow card? The road was blocked by us, like in every race after the breakaway leaves. We never tried to cause a crash, and never pushed someone off the road.”

The answer to O’Connor’s question is likely the six words that begin his second sentence, although the team will probably still have questions about the consistency of enforcement of the ‘blocking’ rule considering, as O’Connor pointed out, they’re far from the only team to have ever spread out across the road at the head of the peloton.

Quite amusingly, given all the drama elsewhere, Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale’s social media admin summarised their team’s day out as: “After a splendid job by the team to filter out the breakaway, Ben was unfortunately just a hair’s breadth away from finishing the last climb with his rivals for the Red Jersey. He gives back 37s to Primož Roglič.”

Needless to say, there were more than a few people responding to that post too…

Scary footage from the US city of Milwaukee where a doorbell camera captured the moment a tree fell during a storm, the cyclist riding along the street unable to react in time and crashing into it. The owner whose camera filmed the incident thankfully reported the rider was seen getting up and didn’t appear to be injured.

You might have seen Emily’s tools feature on the site this week…

> A beginner’s guide to building your first bike tool set — the essentials you need to start your journey towards becoming a home cycling mechanic

Well, I thought I’d share some of your thoughts on the discussion starter, not least because a couple almost made me spit out my coffee. Very relatable indeed…

jaymack: “Don’t forget a mobile phone so you can call your local bike shop from the privacy of your garage to organise an emergency appointment to sort out the mess you’ve just made of your pride and joy.”

PRSboy: “Also useful for enthusiastically watching a video about the job you’re about to do, then revisiting forlornly when surrounded by springs, ball-bearings and a mystery washer which you can’t recall where it came from.”

Yep, that sounds familiar. Interestingly, roboito suggested the “greatest investments” he made in the maintenance department weren’t tools, but actually a couple of cheap second-hand bikes…

“The first one, a folder needed new tyres, tubes and chain. I was OK with tyres but the rest was new to me at the time. The next bike was a big old hybrid for carrying a child seat, needed the same as the folder, a new freewheel and wheel bearings. This was another jump for me. These bikes were important and in regular use so needed to work when I wanted them to but I wasn’t as worried about having a go at working on them in the same was as I was on my more expensive road bike. They allowed me to build confidence, knowledge and skill without worrying about destroying my pride and joy.”

Nice. And any excuse for a couple more bikes is always a win…

We’ll also point you in the direction of a thread on the road.cc forum where plenty of you have been sharing your go-to tools.

Changing the Cycle, a bike shop run by the Oswin Project charity and based in the grounds of HMP Northumberland will give prisoners and prison leavers bike maintenance training in the hope of giving “people a second chance”.

The charity hopes it will help people with criminal records find employment, training and support, the BBC visiting to hear how it is hoped three people will be allowed to work in the shop at any one time, rotating every six months.

“All the prisoners tell us the one thing they need most when they get out is a job,” the shop’s manager James Teasdale, who will also train staff said. “We want to create a bridge between prison and life outside and give people a second chance. Many people who leave prison end up going back inside because they have so few opportunities to build a new life for themselves.”

The shop will operate by accepting donations of pre-loved and unwanted bikes from the public that will then be refurbished and repaired before being sold on.

> “UK’s transport system is broken and stacked against poorest in society”: Government urged to quickly deliver on its active travel promises after official figures reveal average cycling distances have fallen to lowest levels in a decade

Reacting to the news in the last post, Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman called the decline an “unsurprising dip” and urged policy makers to “start building something better”.

“A sadly unsurprising dip in today’s stats,” Boardman wrote on social media. “We’ve been building health out of streets and baking pollution in. It’s a road we can’t afford, that takes us to a place we don’t want to live. We get what we build for, so let’s start building something better.”

Together with mental health charity Beder, e-bike brand Volt is launching the #BreakTheCycle campaign to raise awareness about the importance of good mental health, using the power of cycling to make an impact. The campaign is challenging the public to 5.284km each which, if 10,000 do, will see a collective distance of 52,840km ridden, the numbers in memory of the 5,284 people in England who took their lives last year.

Mr Motivator, artist Stuart Semple and LBC presenter Natasha Devon have joined the campaign, along with live blog favourites Travis & Sigrid. It is hoped the 52,840km target will be hit by World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September. Participation is simple, with riders logging their ride on the #BreakTheCycle custom Strava page.

“Mental health struggles are one of the biggest issues facing society today, and with cycling scientifically proven to help, we’re excited to continue our work with Beder and get the important message out further with this new challenge,” Volt co-founder James Metcalfe said. “We want to drive positive action across the UK, raise awareness about these vital issues, get more people active, and show them you can have fun while doing it. I hope everyone in the UK can join us and help #BreakTheCycle around mental health.”

> Evans Cycles set to open two new stores as brand aims to become “go-to destination for cycling”, just weeks after reporting £22.8m loss and slashing bike prices in 70% sale

Speaking to the TV cameras ahead of the stage, a smiling Ben O’Connor was very patient with the inevitable questions debriefing yesterday’s crash drama, the Australian again insisting his teammates did nothing wrong and also explaining that conversations with EF took place and there is “zero animosity”.

“I really think we did absolutely nothing wrong,” he told Eurosport’s TV coverage. “We’ve spoken to EF together and everything is clear and it was absolutely zero animosity. Geoffrey [Bouchard] really did absolutely nothing. So, I don’t really understand the sanctioning between all the other boys in my team as well because we didn’t do anything wrong.

“Yeah, he [Carapaz] may have hit the pedal or the wheel, but my teammate did not move at all. He was there on the left, he didn’t swing left, he was just riding. So, I don’t think it’s very fair to be honest.”

If only that blasted tree hadn’t been in the way of the helicopter shot…

> A more sustainable future for the bike industry? Hunt introduces recyclable carbon fibre to new gravel wheelsets and plans to implement tech more widely “over time”

The velodrome action at the Paralympics got underway today, ParalympicsGB already with two silver medals on the board. Kadeena Cox, a major gold medal hope, was not one of them however, the six-time Paralympic medallist wobbling out of the gate and crashing in her women’s C4-5 500m time trial.

Instead it was Daphne Schrager who won Great Britain’s firt medal of the 2024 Paralympics in the track cycling, taking silver in the women’s C1-3 3000m individual pursuit. 

Not long after, the second medal was delivered, Steve Bate and pilot Chris Latham winning silver in the men’s B 4000m individual pursuit final.

> Allowing “speeding” cyclists to ride on “struggling” high street would lead to “carnage” and “frighten” elderly, say traders opposed to lifting cycling ban in pedestrianised shopping area

Cycling lawyer at Leigh Day and road.cc regular Rory McCarron spotted some people complaining about cyclists riding in the road when there was a cycle lane (of sorts) right there, a cardinal sin in the book of society’s most easily annoyed…

We say “of sorts” because, as Rory pointed out in his post, there appears to be part of a “BMX track” randomly stuck in, potentially because of a driveway on the left, although the angle makes it quite hard to see. Needless to say, it did apparently cause plenty of “people on Facebook complaining these road cyclists are not using” it, as well as these ones about Rory’s “BMX track” assessment too…

“Looks like a cycle calming scheme to make cyclists slow before the crossing. Probably been some complaints about cyclists not stopping for pedestrians,” one comment came. I guess it’s just as well there’s a pedestrian-calming hump too to prevent complaints about pedestrians not stopping for other pedestrians.

“Roads have speed bumps pal. What’s the issue with cycle lanes having them?” another asked.

Incredible patience from Rory on display to reply explaining that speed bumps would require “proper design and signage”, which, well, this bump/lump/jump is certainly lacking. The consensus seems to be that this is from Ireland, the “awful engineering” on display another fairly well agreed upon point among those not most concerned by… CYCLISTS IN THE ROAD!

Pretty sure the first one is … pic.twitter.com/1I11v0u2dz

— Callum (@rapiddescentsco) August 29, 2024

There’s a cycle lane near me that’s actually pretty good but has speed bumps (raised crossings possibly more accurate) at the extreme end of the scale, the ones that have a flat top for a couple of feet then drop down the other side. I’ve actually grown to quite like them as you can click down a gear on top and steal a bit of momentum on the way down. Not like this one admittedly. Try to roll your momentum over one of these and you’d probably find yourself somewhere near the ozone layer.