Pro cyclist caught bunny-hopping across raised lane divider into oncoming traffic during training ride ‘disciplined’ by team; London e-bike fires “worryingly common”; Israel-Premier Tech withdraw from Italian classics + more on the live blog

I’m a big fan of tangential storylines, things to watch for during the cycling season that have little to meaning all but a handful of people. Alexander Kristoff was the subject of one of these storylines this season, the big Norwegian declaring in the winter that this season would be his last and that his primary goal was to secure 100 professional career victories.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Uno-X Mobility Cycling (@unoxteam)

For a man who has won Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and both the first and last stages of the Tour de France, it was unusual for any rider to chase a specific number of wins but the Norwegian was dead set on his goal.

But despite taking two wins this year, the Stavanger Stallion has fallen short. In truth it’s been a season of seconds for the 38-year-old, including at both his homecoming stage at the Tour of Norway, and earlier this week at the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia. His Uno-X team has also started to move beyond their marquee signing with Magnus Cort and Søren Wærenskjold taking on sprint duties. Even this week, after narrowly missing out to Matteo Malucelli, Kristoff turned lead-out man for his teammate Erlend Blikra for the remaining stages.

With only one bunch sprint looking likely before the race finishes on Sunday, whether he’ll pilot his decade-younger mentee or seek to round out his career with a sweet 99 remains to be seen.

This might be preaching to the converted but it turns out bike lanes do encourage more people to cycle. Glasgow City Council have announced that across the 88 cycle counters scattered across the city, there has been a reported average increase in recorded cycle journeys by a whopping 43 per cent.

The council’s data arrives at a time when the city is continuing to expand its Active Travel Network, with plans to further connect Govan through segregated bike lanes and connecting Yorkhill and Kelvingrove. In the last year, work has completed on the South City Way linking Queen’s Park to the city centre, and on new bike-friendly infrastructure on the George V bridge. 

“These figures show that more and more Glaswegians are choosing active travel to get about the city – a clear sign that our investment in walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure is making a real difference,” said Cllr Angus Millar, the city’s Transport and Climate Convenor. “We know that when we build safer, high quality cycle infrastructure, many people feel more confident to choose the bike as an option for everyday journeys.

Our thoughts exactly…

The popular London hire bike service turns 15 this week. Currently sponsored by Santander, to mark the anniversary they’ve released some rather snazzy photos showcasing how the bikes embedded themselves into everyday London life…

In case you missed it, last week we reported that Santander have extended their sponsorship to 2032.

Israel-Premier Tech have announced they will not be taking part in a series of Italian one-day races next week “in light of security concerns”. 

The move comes after the organisers of the Giro dell’Emilia withdrew their invite to the team following protests by the local authorities regarding the team’s initial inclusion. That race will take place tomorrow as planned.

> Israel-Premier Tech argue “threats of violence have disrupted our sport” after team removed from major one-day race over protest fears

But now the team has voluntarily withdrawn from the start list of the Coppa Bernocchi, Tre Valli Varesine, and Gran Piemonte, a series of one-day races that lead up to the final Monument of the year, Il Lombardia.

The warm up races are all part of the second tier ProTour of racing, meaning that the team’s participation is not mandatory and the team will not face sanctions for their withdrawal. It will inevitably disrupt the team’s preparations ahead of the biggest remaining one-day race of the year though. 

> “The name of the team is no longer sustainable”: Israel-Premier Tech’s title sponsor joins calls for team to drop ‘Israel’ from identity and brand image

Previously, several team sponsors have demanded a name change, including title sponsor Premier Tech. Riders’ union president Adam Hansen suggested earlier this week that races ought to shorten to avoid mid-stage disruption. The team has responded by removing the word ‘Israel’ from team kit, and has said that the team’s identity for 2026 is “currently in the planning phase”.

The government are being asked to intervene to stop a sharp rise in e-bike fires in London.

The Standard reported earlier this week that 165 e-bike and e-scooter fires have been reported in London so far this year, an increase of 28 percent compared to last year. But whilst the two vehicles are lumped together for data gathering purposes, The Standard reports that most of these incidents are caused due to faulty lithium-ion batteries that are installed and adapted to regular bicycles.

Lesley Rudd from the charity Electrical Safety First says “If these batteries are substandard they risk causing a catastrophic fire, releasing toxic fumes and heating up to temperatures above 700 degrees in seconds.”

“We urge the Government to be brave and bold when considering what regulations they will introduce to tackle these fires and continue to advocate for the introduction of third-party certification for e-bike batteries to ensure they are safe before they can be sold on the UK market.”

Earlier this year, our sister site ebiketips reported that London Underground had not banned e-bikes on the Tube due to “superior manufacturing standards” compared to e-scooters. However, the rise in second-hand or homespun bike modifications has increased the risk posed by defective batteries on e-bikes, renewing questions about their safety. A representative described the decision by Transport for London as “absolute hypocrisy”.

The modified ‘push bikes’ are popular among ‘gig economy’ courier services, such as food delivery companies like Deliveroo and Uber Eats, where freelance delivery cyclists are rated for delivering their goods as quickly as possible. A fire in a Wood Green flat earlier this year was occupied by gig economy workers when one woman died.

> Dangerous “fake” e-bikes undermining UK’s cycling efforts and putting industry at risk, say MPs calling for clampdown

London Fire Brigade have urged these companies to share fire safety advice with their riders. Assistant Commissioner Pamela Oparaocha also said they have worked with London Trading Standards and Deliveroo directly to share safety advice for e-bike riders.

An additional complication in the matter is the blurred line between employees and freelance contractors across the industry that impacts who bears legal repsonsibility for these incidents. A series of court rulings have found that Deliveroo riders were not employees due to the lack of specified hours and non-exclusivity of employment. The move meant cyclists were not able to unionise for purposes of collective bargaining.

> Are e-bike batteries safe? What’s the difference between a safe battery and a fire risk?

During trial, the court heard that Hill was “engaged with his phone” for 10 seconds while driving his blue Citroën Dispatch van before the collision at 9.35am on the A11 dual carriageway. In the immediate aftermath, a woman who stopped at the scene reported that Hill said he “was looking for my drink. I didn’t even see her. What will I get?”

> “Distracted driving is deadly, and sentencing must reflect that reality”: Driver who killed cyclist on dual carriageway after “flurry” of phone activity avoids jail

It’s been a pretty rosy season for Brandon McNulty, with the American winning the Tours of Poland and Luxembourg whilst winning his first major one-day race with Tadej Pogacar at the GP Montreal and landing a top-10 overall at the Giro d’Italia. And suffice to say he’s showing no signs of counting down towards the off-season yet. McNulty has just taken victory on the first hilly stage of CRO Race (Tour of Croatia), winning by 1minute 40 ahead to take a commanding lead in the race that finishes on Sunday. He made his move 23 kilometres from the finish, benefiting from teammate Tim Wellens in the group behind disrupting the chase efforts. His victory is also another tally in a record-breaking season for his UAE team.

Update: The one-day Münsterland Giro also took place in Germany today. The flat parcours was always going to end in a bunch sprint, where Jasper Philipsen won ahead of Arnaud de Lie and Pavel Bittner. Tim Merlier’s sprint was derailed when he came down in a crash in the finale.

We reported earlier today that Alexander Kristoff has missed out on his chance for a 100th career win. That’s because Tudor’s Arvid de Kleijn came out on top on the penultimate stage of the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia. Frenchman Joris Delbove retains a six second lead overall with two stages remaining.

And in the European Championships that are ongoing in France, it was double Paula delight for Spain as they took gold in both the women’s junior and under-23 road races. UAE Team ADQ’s Paula Blasi won the under-23 race whilst 18-year-old Paula Ostiz won the junior race to add to her European TT and World road race title. Oh and she was second in the Worlds TT in Rwanda as well! 

Just a week after the Worlds in Rwanda, the continent’s best are descending on (or should that read ascending to?) the Drome-Ardeche region of France for a hilly course that has already put off Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, while Lotte Kopecky and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will miss the race through injury and illness respectively.

The women’s 117km course has a flat finish but with the short steep Val d’Enfer (valley of hell) climb coming inside the final 10km, the winner be a rider with punch and likely a reasonable kick on the finish. Expect the usual favourites of Demi Vollering, Marlen Reusser and Elisa Longo Borghini to be there or thereabouts, whilst home favourites of Juliette Labous and Cedrine Kerbaol will be sure to try and animate the race at some point. My personal outside pick is Spain’s Mavi Garcia, fresh from a surprise bronze medal in Kigali and a stage win in the Tour de France Femmes in July, the 41-year-old is showing no sign of slowing down.

The men’s race is similarly punchy and will tackle the Val d’Enfer six times in total including thrice in the final 40km. Attention is focused on Jonas Vingegaard, out of curiosity if not favourite status. The Dane is riding only his second one-day race in three years, and shook off the ill-effects of a cold to win the final stage and overall at the Vuelta a Espana last month. But he’ll be up against his usual rivals, not least the reigning world champion Tadej Pogacar who defended his title by attacking with 104km remaining last weekend.

If any rider has demonstrated the hunger to take him on however, its Remco Evenepoel. Second to the Slovenian and an animated figure in Kigali, the Belgian is already a national, World and Olympic champion across both the Time Trial and Road Race. After brushing Filippo Ganna aside in the European TT on Wednesday, he only needs Sunday’s title to complete the most incredible set. Don’t kick him down, whatever you do…

Rather than take on the world’s best, the multi-disciplinary star seems to be taking it easy on the roads of Los Angeles…

 

 

 

 

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After the season he’s had, we can’t exactly blame him.

The group says an emergency ride “in response to the military being deployed in our city” will take place in the next two weeks, as Trump claims to have already deployed up to 200 National Guard troops in the Democrat-run US city.

> ‘Emergency’ World Naked Bike Ride planned for US city of Portland in response to Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and claims of “violent riots” around immigration row

Kiko Galván has had one of the best seasons of his career on the road, the 28-year-old Equipo Kern Pharma rider in contention in a series of one day races, including a third place at the Grand Prix la Marseillaise in February. But he’s now landed himself in hot water after social media footage emerged showing him bunny-hopping over a raised lane barrier, jumping into the oncoming lane round a blind bend. Have a look for yourself…

La temeridad de Kiko Galván (ciclista profesional del Kern Pharma) mientras entrenaba en una carretera de Cataluña, que le puede costar muy caro#kikogalvan #equipokernpharma pic.twitter.com/UOeMVhKs43

— Avituallamiento Ciclista (@EVTMO_) October 2, 2025

His Spanish team were quick to condemn Galván’s behaviour saying in an Instagram comment “We deeply regret and apologise for an action that does not reflect the values we promote: respect for road safety, which is fundamental to our sport and central to our work both competitively and educationally. We take full responsibility.”

In a longer subsequent statement, the team added, “We will be taking disciplinary measures with the cyclist involved to ensure situations like this are not repeated in the future.”

The incident occurred on L’Arrabassada in Catalonia, a locally renowned dangerous road. The raised divider and bollards and intended to reduce driver speed and the risk of oncoming collisions.

It is unclear if Galván’s ‘disciplining’ will result in a suspension or just a road safety education course which Kern Pharma said they would offer all its team members. Either way, this sort of dangerous behaviour going viral is the last thing that helps the images of cyclists on the open road.

Kiko Galvan at the Vuelta a Burgos in 2020. (Gomez/Cor Vos/SWPix.com)