Bizarre new bike day headache as excited cyclist takes Canyon Aeroad out the box… only to spot a rather strange mistake; Vuelta protest fallout: “The police did a very good job, we saw people trying to take the road” + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Reform council leader halts bike lane plans and announces county-wide review to see if they're "actually worth it"
Vuelta protest fallout: "The police did a very good job, we saw people trying to take the road"
There was only one story at the Vuelta yesterday — the pro-Palestine protests over Israel-Premier Tech’s presence at the race. It was the second day of protest in the Basque Country, the race leaving the area today and moving on to Cantabria, Israel-Premier Tech now releasing a statement saying they won’t pull out.
We’ll have more on that this morning, Ryan currently working through that, as well as the response of the UCI, the Vuelta’s race director and other figures.
Tom Pidcock had his say after the stage, saying the organisers and authorities “did what they could to keep us safe”.
He also said: “Bike racing has got nothing to do with what’s happening. Putting us in danger isn’t going to help your cause. That simply isn’t going to help what they’re protesting for. Everyone’s got a right to protest whatever they want, but putting us in danger is not the way forward. From what I was told, today was going to be the biggest day of protests, so I think from now on it might be better.”
The man Pidcock was leading the race with was Jonas Vingegaard, the Dane agreeing that “the police did a very good job”.
“The first time we crossed the finish line, we saw people trying to take the road. We were also blocked once on that other climb, but we were able to keep going.
“It’s my son’s birthday, he turned one today, so I really wanted to win for him, and we worked all day to achieve that. I think it’s a real shame that we didn’t get that chance. I would have loved to have had the chance to win the stage for him, but it is what it is.”
He also told Danish TV: “It’s unpredictable what will happen in the coming days. I hope we can keep racing, because this is the wrong place for them to protest. What do they want from us cyclists? I can’t do anything.”
We have plenty more reaction to bring you from the UCI, Israel-Premier Tech and the Vuelta’s race director, plus whatever else comes in before the start of stage 12 later, so stick with us for all that.
10 things I wish I'd known when I started cycling — from fuelling properly to brushing up on bike maintenance skills, get these things right to make your riding more enjoyable
Sustrans changes name to Walk Wheel Cycle Trust
Some quick active travel news. The charity Sustrans has been renamed Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, according to transport journalist Carlton Reid. The name change is not on the charity’s website yet, although we couldn’t access any of its social media pages this morning, suggesting something’s going on behind the scenes.
According to Reid the name change was decided at a general meeting in July, a filing stating: “The Company shall hereby adopt the name ‘Walk Wheel Cycle Trust’ in substitution for ‘Sustrans’.”
Sustrans, sorry, the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, is the active travel charity behind the National Cycle Network and runs various other campaigns to get people walking, wheeling and cycling around the UK.
"Britain’s illegal e-bike boom: desperation, delivery drivers – and unthinkable danger"
As kamoshika shared in the comments there’s actually quite a decent feature on illegal e-bikes in The Guardian today, a piece that actually understands EAPC requirements, shares various people’s viewpoints, and also explains the benefits of safe, legal e-bikes.
For the piece, Sam Wollaston spoke with City of London Police about how many bikes viewed as e-bikes by delivery riders and the wider public are in fact electric motorbikes. It doesn’t vilify those trying to make a living delivering for food delivery companies either and also hears from MP Fabian Hamilton, the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking, who talks about the benefits of legal e-bikes and their safety compared with the dangerous, illegal versions.
Maybe the BBC could take some notes…
Comment of the day
That’s given us all a great laugh this morning. On the subject of the Canyo, james-o reckons a better idea than buying a ‘n’ decal is to get a ‘u’… Canyou? “Well, yes — yes I can”.
Rendel Harris: “With the Canyon (sorry, Canyo) I think I’d just keep it as it is, ask the company how much it would cost them to order the new frame, ship the bike back, swap the parts over, send it out again and take that sum as a refund; got to be worth two or three hundred quid at least? Then you’re left with an amusingly quirky conversation piece and also a unique identifier should it ever be stolen.”
"Any other course of action sets a dangerous precedent": Israel – Premier Tech insist team will not quit Vuelta a España over Gaza protests – but race organisers hope "decisions will be made quickly"
Big news from Edinburgh... cycle lanes facing removal SAVED at last-chance committee meeting
More on this to follow, but cycling campaigners in Edinburgh have successfully saved the cycle lanes which faced removal. After months of deferral and delay, ultimately it was all approved and made permanent in minutes, cycling campaign Spokes explained. Some quick-fire reaction from Edi.Bike here, one of the other cycling groups which spearheaded the campaign to make the temporary cycling infrastructure permanent.
🎉 The East Area ETRO has been agreed to make permanent! And, moments later, so have the North and West Area Travelling Safely schemes. Many thanks to everyone who joined us and @spokes.org.uk in calling for scrutiny on this process and calling for sense to prevail at the TRO Sub-Committee.
— 🚲 edi.bike | weekly news digest (@edi.bike) 4 September 2025 at 10:51
BREAKING: Wild unreleased Giant road bike breaks cover at the Tour of Britain
Big news from HoarseMann live at the Tour of Britain. One lucky Equipo Kern Pharma rider will get to try out this never-seen-before Giant TCR Advanced (Hire Edition) on today’s stage to Ampthill. I wonder what the UCI will make of this?
Cadex Tri? Is that you?
Driver who almost hit group of cycling police officers head-on after being "taken by surprise" avoids conviction
Matthew Brennan wins again — sprints to Tour of Britain stage victory (+ Lorena Wiebes completes her hat-trick)
It’s too easy for Visma-Lease a Bike at the Tour of Britain. Remember back in 2023 when they won the first five stages and the GC with Wout van Aert? Well, two years later and they’re three from three again. After Olav Kooij won the opening two days, 20-year-old Brit Matthew Brennan was given the leadership today to take win number three of the week. Kooij keeps the race lead, Brennan 10 seconds behind in second place, things looking very rosy at the halfway stage.
Lorena Wiebes makes it 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 at the Simac Ladies Tour 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xIYO1weH0r
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) September 4, 2025
Over in the Netherlands there was another hat-trick, Lorena Wiebes taking her third stage win in a row at the WorldTour Simac Ladies Tour. She won’t win Saturday’s time trial but tomorrow and Sunday should be two more sprints. Could she go five out of six? We wouldn’t bet against it on this form.
How on earth has Scott worked out its brand-new Addict is now "50% more comfortable"?
> How on earth has Scott worked out its brand-new Addict is now “50% more comfortable”?
Juan Ayuso and UAE Team Emirates friends again as Spaniard takes second win of La Vuelta
No protest drama today, just racing action to focus on. Juan Ayuso, still a UAE Team Emirates rider for now, won his second stage of the Vuelta from the breakaway, comfortably beating compatriot Javier Romo in the two-up sprint in Los Corrales de Buelna.
It’s a fabulous FIVE stages for UAE-Team Emirates at La Vuelta 🖐️
Juan Ayuso wins the sprint for the line against Javier Romo! pic.twitter.com/waFOr1xvt1
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) September 4, 2025
Ayuso made it clear he was the strongest on the day’s big climb, poor Romo following up his third-place from two days ago with a second-place today. If he can go one better again before next Sunday then he’ll have landed the biggest win of his career, but this stage was Ayuso’s day in the sun once more.
He joins teammate Jay Vine on two breakaway stage wins at this year’s Vuelta, UAE Team Emirates having won five of the 12 stages so far. It was one of those Grand Tour days where the GC favourites behind let those with personal ambitions have their fun, everyone else getting an easy day. As easy as 145km and two major mountains can be, that is. I’m sure plenty on the road, in the team cars, and organising proceedings, will be glad for an incident-free day on the roadsides too.
The days since Ayuso and UAE spectacularly fell out, his team prematurely (in the Spaniard’s eyes) announcing his imminent departure at the end of the season, couldn’t have gone much better.
Credit where it’s due, Ayuso worked well for Almeida on Tuesday and has got his reward today, Marc Soler helping out where he could too. The rest day debacle may not have been the ideal PR episode, but the performances that have followed have shown plenty of maturity from all involved.
If today was an easy(ish) day for the GC favourites, then tomorrow couldn’t get much harder — the Angliru is calling…
"Sense prevails!" At-risk cycle lanes saved at last minute as temporary cycling infrastructure to be made permanent in victory for campaigners
Bizarre new bike day headache as excited cyclist takes Canyon Aeroad out the box... only to spot a rather strange mistake
You wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It turns out your shiny new purchase is not a Canyon Aeroad CF SL 7, but a Canyo Aeroad CF SL 7. Quick, check your emails and receipts, you didn’t accidentally buy a knock-off from a dodgy website? Nope, it really is a genuine Canyon product with a rather large error:
At least the drive side is all good for pictures. That’s the only side anyone will ever see… right?
This is the bizarre situation a Belgian rider found themselves in recently.
“I was super excited when it arrived, but there was a huge catch… it literally says ‘Canyo’ instead of Canyon. Big factory error,” they explained.
Naturally, they got in touch with Canyon Belgium, the bike brand immediately reassuring the customer they would order a new frame and swap it in September. The customer isn’t entirely satisfied with the situation, they told us they have an event this month and also a big bike tour, so the timing and logistics of the debacle are all a bit of a pain in the rear.
“So far it has not been resolved,” the rider told us. “I can still let them know if I don’t want the swap in the end. I do know it is a unique piece now, but if it gets through QC [quality control] like this, what else did they miss? That’s what caused me to ask for compensation in the first place.
“Not only were they quick to ask of me to bring in the bike, on my time and my inconvenience for the trip, they never said anything about the rest of the quality control. I can do my triathlon and bike tour in September and if any other issues pop up I can still request the swap in October. Would have been nice of the to send some gear my way or give store credit for the hassle and headache (and even some loss in trust), but no luck there.”
We contacted Canyon for a comment but have not heard back.
What would you do? I’d probably just go through the return, but then again I’d also be quite aggrieved if doing so was massively inconvenient and impacted some big riding plans. Some suggested the rider order a Canyon-style decal to fix it himself, but that feels a bit unfair too, fixing the mistake of a brand you’ve paid plenty of money too, even if it is a quick and easy solution. It’s a good story for the cafe in the meantime, at least.
It might make Rapha feel a tiny tiny bit better too, the premium clothing brand having last week recalled certain items from its Rapha Cycling Club x David Carson collection… after a major typo was spotted in the club crest.
No word if the unlucky person in Belgium has ever ridden to the Rapha Cycling Cliub on his Canyo Aeroad.
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49 Comments
Latest Comments
@60somethingcyclist Hahah, oh wow, I miss being this naive about the cops here.
@Mr Blackbird "our streets have become a freak show" - like his party.
This is disgraceful. If this had been a UK Police officer he'd be prosecuted and disciplined; quite possibly losing his job.
Have them and love them. run the 650 by 50mm on rough rides, bit of a slog on tarmac sections thou
Awful. Lovely kid from an amazing cycling family. RIP
@mdavidford I'm not sure its fair to say he was barrelling through when he was making a left turn after just starting when the light turned green, @LeadenSkies I agree Gove wasn't behaving illegally but it's surely wrong to walk out into the road against a red light without looking? The cyclist being slightly rude is the least he should expect in those circumstances.
Sherwen & and Liggett were the doyen of cycling commentators, Ned etc were poor replacements. Good to see the Tours back on terrestrial TV but I'm OK paying TNT for the whole coverage 3 times a year. Outside that you can watch the Classics, etc for free on Australian SBS on demand with English commentary via VPN.
I had been thinking of paying HBO for a month in order to watch the race but I may not bother now. I will look at my busy schedule despite being retired. Does anyone know if DMAX or Quest will also be showing highlights as in recent races?
(Going to be slow progress, as they have to take it in turns with the one hard hat and hi viz jacket, while the others sit and have a cup of tea.)
And for balance, here they are looking more cheerful as they get started building the A34 junction themselves.
49 thoughts on “Bizarre new bike day headache as excited cyclist takes Canyon Aeroad out the box… only to spot a rather strange mistake; Vuelta protest fallout: “The police did a very good job, we saw people trying to take the road” + more on the live blog”
Re Reform review of bike lane
Re Reform review of bike lane plans.
Before carrying out the review, the Reform led councils need to determine and publish the criteria they will use to evaluate positive and negative ratings for the schemes.
Unless of course, they have already made up their minds.
Agreed.
Agreed.
General reports and info on the benefits of cycling/good cycle lanes are already available, but they won’t match Reform’s views so will likely be ignored.
All viewpoints and actions
All viewpoints and actions within Reform UK boil down to whatever Oral Hygiene Farage tells them to do.
Even the half witted Lee Anderson, blindly follows his Oberfuhrer’s instructions, but tends to use a lot of swearwords to appear as a radical free thinker.
Mr Blackbird wrote:
There’s nothing illegitimate about them having already made up their minds though. I think Reform are terrible on about every level, but this is politics working as designed – it’s OK for politicians to have policies and for the electorate to choose the ones they want. Politics is about choosing how things should be, not just about selecting technocrats to manage the way things already are.
Being anti cycling isn’t some weird break from what anyone would reasonably have expected Reform to do in power so people are getting what they voted for and if they don’t like it they need to vote for someone else.
Being anti cycling would
Being anti cycling would certainly not be a shock.
However, there would be dishonesty in pretending that a meaningful evaluation of cycling schemes will be carried out, rather than just stating they will follow central (Nigel’s) policy.
Mr Blackbird wrote:
Exactly this. Reform UK Ltd can have its biases, prejudices and tendency to grift if it chooses; but it should not attempt to dress policy-based evidence as an objective assessment of what has categorically been assessed nationally and internationally as a Good Thing.
Now, if it wishes to assess the implementation of active travel measures in the county to see where it should be improved, taking into account all the available evidence and advice, then it could be an opportunity. I shall not hold my breath (unless a RUL politician is within olfactory range).
I suspect it’s also
I suspect it’s also supporters of Reform who have been tinkering with road markings recently. Cycling back from watching the start of the ToB in MK, I came across these modified give way lines at a mini-roundabout. Is it an attempt to change priority at a junction based upon nationality?! 😱
HoarseMann wrote:
Google “Private Eye give way to the right” for a suitable cartoon
GMBasix wrote:
That sums it up perfectly! https://share.google/images/Rn1LeMBK6oHuVvl02
HoarseMann wrote:
Perhaps merely street memorials for all those mown down at that junction?
Yes, I’m sure there is a
Yes, I’m sure there is a Reform element to this. very tempting to add “Farage” “Is” “A” “Wanker” in each quadrant of some mini roundabouts near me that have had the same treatment.
Really good and balanced
Really good and balanced article about the issue of illegal e-bikes on the Guardian website today – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/sep/04/britains-e-bike-boom-desperation-delivery-drivers-and-unthinkable-danger
Agree, far more balanced and
Agree, far more balanced and nuanced than most.
The only bit that felt a bit off was the comments by Christine White. Obviously a very sad incident, her calls for “proper regulations” seem poorly considered. For one thing, she openly admits that she has no idea whether or not the vehicle involved was a lawful EAPC or not – if it was not a lawful EAPC, then to be lawful used on the roads, it would already need to have insurance and a registration plate (much like a 50cc moped). Regardless, the biggest factor seems to have been the dangerous manner in which the vehicle was being ridden – and the culprit has been charged with various offences (still awaiting trial). There’s no suggestion there was any difficulty in identifying or apprehending the rider, or any kind of loophole in the law that means the rider is going to “get away with it”.
OnYerBike wrote:
The incident appears to have been recorded as involving a bicycle (rather than a motorbike), so I think it was a EAPC. The charges of manslaughter and wanton or furious driving also suggest that – death by dangerous driving would be the appropriate charge if it was a motor vehicle.
A good article, City of
A good article, City of London police seem to be a lot more on top of the problem than many forces, including the Met; I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen delivery riders on illegal electric motorbikes overtaking police cars that are doing 30 mph and being completely ignored by the occupants of the car.
My guess is the police
My guess is the police officers know that chasing an illegal e-motorbike user in a police car is a lost cause and waste of time as the criminal will almost certainly get away easily.
There are some clips available (on Road CC too, I think) showing police on foot/bikes chasing them down more successfully.
Why not just check bikes
Why not just check bikes waiting to collect orders outside food outlets?
That would be too obvious for
That would be too obvious for some within the police management…
Kapelmuur wrote:
They are too busy arresting many hundreds of pensioners and students for quietly sitting down and opposing genocide.
Fair point, though I wonder
Fair point, though I wonder what the excuse is for the officers who regularly stop to get coffee and pastries from the Pret a Manger at the bottom of my road, walking through a crowd of delivery riders collecting or waiting for orders, all of whom are riding illegal electric motorcycles, in order to do so?
I’ve long thought that if the police were really serious about dealing with the issue it would be a simple matter to set up a sting operation, order a few takeaway pizzas and collar the delivery riders’ bikes when they arrive.
True. You’d think someone
True. You’d think someone might have thought of that already… but dismissed it for some reason.
Doughnuts?
Doughnuts?
ktache wrote:
Chocolate croissants and pain au chocolats seem to be favourites; I don’t go in there much but I’m not sure they actually do doughnuts in Pret.
They do have a highly
They do have a highly concentrated area in which to focus their efforts, and around 16x the number of officers per square inch compared with the next densest (steady!) police force. As the national lead for fraud, they also have a lot more crime to ignore than other forces since it seems to be national policy not to do much about fraud.
Tiny area of course.
Tiny area of course.
And is the “ring of steel” still in place?
ktache wrote:
It is although quite often the sentry boxes are unstaffed these days, I assume CCTV and ANPR does quite alot of the work now.
The graund’s story eminded me
The graund’s story eminded me that yesterday I saw a ReadyBike parked up outside shops on the Caversham Road. Scheme failed 6 years back…
Annoying that they tag a
Annoying that they tag a small photo with the incorrect language:
“Christine White with her father, Jim Blackwood, who was killed after being hit by an e-bike.”
but the main text says
“Jim Blackwood was sorting the bins outside his house … when a man on an e-bike coming down the hill ran into him.”
With the Canyon (sorry, Canyo
With the Canyon (sorry, Canyo) I think I’d just keep it as it is, ask the company how much it would cost them to order the new frame, ship the bike back, swap the parts over, send it out again and take that sum as a refund; got to be worth two or three hundred quid at least? Then you’re left with an amusingly quirky conversation piece and also a unique identifier should it ever be stolen.
And possibly higher resale
And possibly higher resale value – or is that only stamps?
Does that make the Canyo an N
Does that make the Canyo an N – 1 bike?
HoarseMann wrote:
I’d get a decal made and have
I’d get a decal made and have a Canyou. “Well, yes – yes I can”.
I would keep the bike as a
I would keep the bike as a Canyo and leave as is. It will be slightly lighter than standard and may have a high future resale value if bikes are anything like stamps.
It’s quirky and a talking
It’s quirky and a talking point.
If it was mine I’d be tempted to badly do an N in electrical tape, for ironies sake.
‘The customer isn’t entirely
‘The customer isn’t entirely satisfied with the situation, they told us they have an event this month and also a big bike tour…’ Is it really worth spitting the dummy out? It’s not like they can’t ride the bike, is it? Some people
I thought that, it’s
I thought that, it’s obviously annoying but as they say themselves, “I can do my triathlon and bike tour in September and if any other issues pop up I can still request the swap in October.” So it doesn’t actually impact on their plans at all, in fact if they wanted to look on the bright side they can put a month’s worth of wear into the frame, including a big bike tour, and then swap it out for a spanking new one at the end of the month. None of that heartbreak of the first road chips appearing on your lovely new frame, you’re getting a replacement anyway.
Someone needs to put thé
Someone needs to put thé funding together to sponsor some sort of Gaza cycling team to ‘show their flag’.
In all fairness, they kicked
In all fairness, they kicked Gazprom Rusvelo (with a majority of non combatant riders) out of cycling because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. So it is not all that outlandish to ask for the same of the UCI to do with IPT.
Don’t quite sée thé
Don’t quite sée thé connection but once we start kicking teams out for political reasons we may never stop. That doesn’t mean that I have thé slightest sympathy for thé Israeli government’s evil actions.
darnac wrote:
I think the idea of “getting politics out of (top level) sport” is an illusion. It’s not “where would it stop?” – more “how would that start? ”
And wasn’t part of the reason for censure of the likes of Russia the fact that there was state-sponsored cheating going on also? Seems the Russian government wanted to take the sport out of politics…
I quite agréé it’s an
I quite agréé it’s an illusion, I don’t expect sport and politics can ever be separated, that’s thé depressing thing. Only I don’t have any virtuous statements to mâke.
darnac wrote:
That precedent was set years ago and will not go away anytime soon.
choose carefully…
choose carefully…
Why are the UCI bureaucrats
Why are the UCI bureaucrats entitled to politicize the pro peloton? Russia banned and Russian riders don’t have their national flag before their names. Now Israel is the stench of the month. But Gulf States, where women’s rights are trangressed and foreign workers abused, are clean and legit.
MaxiMinimalist wrote:
You will be soon be advised that what is happening in the Gulf States is not genocide and an internal crime against their own people so sorta kinda acceptable besides which, Pog rides for UAE.
MaxiMinimalist wrote:
You will be soon be advised that what is happening in the Gulf States is not genocide and an internal crime against their own people so sorta kinda acceptable besides which, Pog rides for UAE.
Selective outrage.
Selective outrage.
Canton to Canyo. It’s not a
Canton to Canyo. It’s not a QC issue. If they had tons of them then they just decided to go with it on the assumption that most wouldn’t be bothered enough to complain. If it was me I’d just ask them if I could have the entire logo sprayed out instead of a frame swap. I hate logos…