“What a lovely car park”: Tailbacks force cyclists onto grass at Richmond Park; Spaghetti-gate: Van der Poel offends all of Italy; Cavendish closes in on the greats – again; Politicians and pro-car messages; Giro rest day blues + more on the live blog

Before we all head off for a final spot of rest day recuperation before tomorrow’s assault on Mount Etna, here are some of your thoughts on Richmond Park’s sunny day traffic jams:

Like, Bute Park makes it a bit inconvenient to get from east to west in Cardiff in the car, but I think I speak for the entire city when I say we'd much rather have the park not spoilt.

— Josh Owen Morris (@JoshOwenMorris) May 9, 2022

That tweeted photo – Richmond Park – is just so depressing...

Cars have no business being in Richmond Park... just ban them.

Surely a glance at Google Maps would show a solid red line on the routes in question? I guess people know the way, so they aren't using Google Maps to get there, and don't pause to think.

Or maybe they just enjoy the experience Safari-style, looking at the wildlife from their stationary vehicle? Beggars belief.

And taking pot-shots at herds of passing cyclists?

They really need to get on and build a dual carriageway in Richmond Park.

The tweet from the Royal Parks Police neatly sums up their attitude to cycling, by what it omits rather than what it says.

“Please avoid the area and consider public transport or walking to the park.”

Leicestershire Police have appealed for help after eight Santander electric hire bikes were stolen from a Leicester leisure centre.

The bikes, which were secured to a stand at Braunstone Leisure Centre, were taken in the early hours of Friday morning.

Officers discovered one of the bikes hidden in a nearby park.

Anyone with information has been asked to call 101 and quote crime reference 22*257272.

The e-bike hire scheme is run by Leicester City Council, in partnership with Santander UK and operator Ride On.

According to Leicestershire Live, the bikes have been used by more than 19,000 people since the lifting of lockdown restrictions in April 2021, with almost 47,000 e-bike trips made during that period.

He may be the current pink jersey wearer and one of the best riders in the world, capable of doing extraordinary things on a bike, but Mathieu van der Poel has a long way to go if he wants to win over the tifosi.

Especially once they’ve seen this video of the Alpecin-Fenix rider committing what Italians everywhere will regard as a cardinal sin, by pouring red sauce all over his spaghetti:

How to destroy your good name in one single move! https://t.co/qTtHg9Cegc

— Matteo Trentin (@MATTEOTRENTIN) May 7, 2022

As Paris-Roubaix winner Elisa Longo Borghini would say any time someone insults her home cuisine: “After that, I don’t know what there is. Probably only death”.

They might not let him into Italy for tomorrow’s stage…

Officers at #RichmondPark have now closed the road to Broomfield Hill car park at the request of @theroyalparks There is currently a long tailback of all vehicles. Please avoid the area and consider public transport or walking to the park. pic.twitter.com/V2Bvymdop1

— Royal Parks Police (@MPSRoyal_Parks) May 8, 2022

Ah, it’s a lovely sunny Sunday – let’s spend it sitting in our cars at Richmond Park then, shall we?

Let’s just say that this rather striking image, posted by the Royal Parks yesterday as it announced that police officers had closed the road to Broomfield Hill car park due to heavy congestion, didn’t go down too well with those who believe that cars are ruining London’s green spaces…

It was so lovely this morning before the cars turned up

— Stefan Velo 🚲🥷 (@velostefan) May 8, 2022

Cyclists have to cycle on the grass as cars take all the road… Richmond park roads are actually busier than around it. Makes no sense, people should walk, take a bus, cycle and stop this obsession of driving everywhere.

— GHY (@Guihemery) May 8, 2022

There is another way 🤷🏻‍♂️ https://t.co/VyxN7iejVl

— 𝔅𝔞𝔡𝔤𝔢𝔯 RPR 🔱 🄹🄰🄼🄴🅂 (@badgercyclist) May 8, 2022

Please, please just ban cars (excepting blue badge holders) from all internal roads. Let them come into the gate carparks if you must, but outside that, no.

— Rendel Harris (@Rendel_Harris) May 8, 2022

Too many cars try to use a car park > Builds bigger car park > More people drive to use the bigger car park > Too many cars try to use the bigger car park > Builds even bigger car park. Repeat. Bigger car parks are not the answer. Reducing vehicles numbers in the park is.

— Ollie (@ohbee07) May 8, 2022

A beautiful park absolutely ruined by cars

— Keith’s Gone AWOL 🌻 (@eirestudio) May 8, 2022

As you sat back and enjoyed what could be conservatively described as a promising opening Hungarian weekend to the Giro for its Team GB contingent, here’s a quick roundup of the weekend’s stories that you may have missed…

Mark Cavendish proved his spectacular return to the top of the sport at last year’s Tour de France was no late-career fluke, unleashing a monster 300 metre-long sprint (after yet another textbook lead out by the one and only Michael Mørkøv) to take his first Giro stage since 2013 and the sixteenth of his storied career.

“It was really nice. We wanted to get good in this first sprint, we did and I'm very happy,” the resurgent Manx Missile said after the finish in Balatonfüred.

“We've got half a team for the climbs and half a team for the sprints, but everybody committed. Ballerini, Van Lerberghe and Mørkøv, I've got an incredible final group there, and they delivered today.

“In the end I had to go long. I went at 300m to go. I had to hold a side and I'm just happy I could hold on for that long.”

While Fernando Gaviria and Arnaud Démare took second and third behind Cav, a boxed-in Biniam Girmay – second to Mathieu van der Poel on the opening stage’s uphill finish – was the only rival who looked like he had the speed to challenge the Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl rider if given the chance. The next few stages will be interesting…

On Saturday, Simon Yates was as equally impressive in the 9.2 kilometre time trial around Budapest, beating pink jersey Van der Poel by three seconds and 2017 Giro winner Tom Dumoulin to win his first ever grand tour time trial and send an ominous warning to his GC rivals.

Can the man from Bury banish the memories of 2018 and ride into Verona in pink in three weeks’ time?

Simon Yates took a BIG surprise victory ahead of Mathieu Van der Poel in the Stage 2 ITT of the Giro d’Italia 👏

Watch 👇
__________
🇮🇹 #Giro pic.twitter.com/WLJoWCmCpj

— Velon CC (@VelonCC) May 7, 2022

Perhaps Yates’ biggest GC challenge will come from the course-invading cat who ‘dropped’ Jumbo-Visma’s Edoardo Affini during the stage two TT – prompting a few playful digs from his teammates about Affini’s climbing ability…

As is tradition every time Mathieu van der Poel wins a stage, we also took a nosy at his insane power numbers – which peaked during his sprint against Girmay at 1,116 watts. Easy.

Away from the Giro, we reported that a bike thief was sentenced to 160 hours of unpaid work after bizarrely claiming that he took the bike simply so he could “get to his house”, while an angry motorist – distraught that cyclists were “taking up the road” – was fined £1,000 for careless driving after sounding his horn and shouting abuse at the riders.

At the local elections, anti-LTN candidate Lutfur Rahman was elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, despite being removed from the same post in 2015 after being found guilty of vote-rigging, buying votes and religious intimidation.

Finally, a study from injury compensation site Claims.co.uk found that Chelmsford was the safest city for cycling in the UK, while Birmingham came out top in the ‘most dangerous category’ – though as Dan explained in the article, the study’s methodology was shaky to say the least…