Anti-cycling bingo cards ready? @JeremyVineOn5’s “nightmare” phone-in; road.cc hack’s partner surprised at sudden tattoo conversion; Dutch hackers hijack traffic lights via cycling app; More fallout on Jakobsen crash + more on live blog
SUMMARY
Fabio Jakobsen in induced coma following horror crash at Tour de Pologne
The condition of Fabio Jakobsen was last night described as serious but stable following his horrific crash during yesterday’s sprint finish at the Tour de Pologne.
The crash happened metres from the line in Katowice in a fast, downhill sprint, with Jumbo-Visma rider Dylan Groenewegen appearing to move across Jakobsen’s line, flicking an elbow at him to send him into the barriers, which immediately broke apart.
The UCI has said it “strongly condemns” the “dangerous behaviour” of the Dutch sprinter.
Jakobsen’s team, Deceuninck-Quick Step, said that diagnostic tests didn’t reveal brain or spinal injury, but because of the severity of his multiple injuries he is being kept in an induced coma.
He has undergone facial surgery and doctors will try to wake him later today.
Fabio Jakobsen had facial surgery during the night. His situation is stable at the moment and later today the doctors will try to wake Fabio up.
More information will be published when available.
Again, we want to thank you all for the huge support!
Photo: @GettySport pic.twitter.com/aVK6HakIwk
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) August 6, 2020
Deceuninck-QuickStep boss says rival sprinter should be jailed
Deceuninck-QuickStep manager Patrick Lefevere says Dylan Groenewegen should be jailed for the manoeuvre that caused Fabio Jakobsen to crash.
They have to put this guy of @TeamJumbo in jail 😡
— Patrick Lefevere (@PatLefevere) August 5, 2020
Groenewegen’s team has said that “crashes like these should not happen” and offered “sincere apologies”.
Our thoughts go out to Fabio Jakobsen and other people involved in today’s terrible crash in the Tour of Poland. Crashes like these should not happen.
We offer our sincere apologies and we will discuss internally what has happened before we may make any further statement. #TDP20
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) August 5, 2020
Alessandro De Marchi calls for zero tolerance of dangerous riding and evolution in safety measures
Italian rider Alessandro De Marchi of Team CCC has called for an evolution in safety measures in light of the “absurd” speed of modern riders.
He went on to call for the CPA, the professional riders’ union, to take ‘concrete action’ on the matter.
— Alessandro De Marchi (@ADM_RossodiBuja) August 6, 2020
In rather less bleak news… cycling in Paris!
My colleague Simon MacMichael is out and about on a bike in Paris today.
We should have plenty from him throughout the day.
I didn’t think I could love Paris more.
Then the bikes and scooters came. pic.twitter.com/soz3IigWJC
— Simon MacMichael (@simonmacmichael) August 6, 2020
i’ve never seen this in London.
But today I have seen dozens of couples zooming along together on electric scooters and oh my 🥰 pic.twitter.com/LuMYerJcMI
— Simon MacMichael (@simonmacmichael) August 5, 2020
Seriously unconvinced you can just Park your camper van and go to sleep in the middle of the Rue St Antoine in the 4eme like it’s a field in the Auvergne pic.twitter.com/hgiBglSuVx
— Simon MacMichael (@simonmacmichael) August 5, 2020
Pascal Ackermann reportedly hit 83kph in the same Tour de Pologne finish two years ago
With regard to Alessandro De Marchi’s comments about “absurd” speed (see below), Daniel Friebe reports that on the same slightly downhill Tour de Pologne finish two years ago, German sprinter Pascal Ackermann hit 105kph.
Two sobering details, reading about previous Katowice finishes in the Tour of Poland: Pascal Ackermann’s reported top speed of 105kph two years ago, and the use of 55-tooth chainrings by some riders.
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) August 6, 2020
Here’s footage of that one – which you have to say had its fair share of close shaves.
Update: Apparently it wasn’t quite that quick, but still…
Ackermann’s data suggests he wasn’t quite *that* quick in 2018, but still pretty terrifyingly fast. https://t.co/N0RX392uBh
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) August 6, 2020
It’s Cycle to Work Day (although it’s not being observed quite so rigidly this year)
As many of us return to the daily commute, this #CycleToWorkDay we’re sharing tips to help you make the trip by bike:
🗺️ Use a route planner & try it at the weekend
📆 Don’t book meetings first thing
👔 Take spare clothesAny other ideas? More advice: https://t.co/ulrMd70R0n pic.twitter.com/1MBWrvYuf3
— Cycling UK (@WeAreCyclingUK) August 6, 2020
🚴 It’s #CycleToWorkDay and we’ve teamed with @WeAreCyclingUK to help you find convenient places to park your bike at our stations. 🚉
You can also use a journey planner to help find a cycle-friendly route from each station:
➡️ https://t.co/vUYfpDvPVo pic.twitter.com/Yc2gqN5xJK
— Network Rail (@networkrail) August 6, 2020
The 9th Cycle to Work Day. 🤗
This year it’s, ‘Cycle to…Who? What? Where? Day’.❤
Ride anywhere, for any reason & with anyone.
I’ll be riding to work, home & to play squash…cycling for work, rest & play. 🚲
Stay safe & make the miles count. 🙏#CycleToWorkDay #CycleSelfie pic.twitter.com/pfSDcqRKJX
— Alison Insley (@alisonnakra) August 6, 2020
Not in work today, so I did a ride along the river Trent before breakfast for cycle to work day.👍 #CycleToWorkDay @WeAreCyclingUK @ThatCountsGM @TamesideCouncil pic.twitter.com/lfItME2ryv
— Phil Allen (@philantony77) August 6, 2020
It’s the Mont Ventoux Challenge today
#MVDC2020
🚩 Vaison-la-Romaine
🏁 Mont Ventoux
🚴🏻♂️ 178.5 Km
Route: https://t.co/gMBa1Pn9cw pic.twitter.com/FDXkxhhLmt— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) August 6, 2020
The start list includes Nairo Quintana, Romain Bardet, Fabio Aru, Miguel Angel Lopez and Richie Porte.
Tête de course à Puymeras, départ tres rapide pic.twitter.com/c1REipKoXw
— CIC – Mont Ventoux Denivele Challenges® (@MontVentouxDC) August 6, 2020
Dutch hackers hijack traffic lights via cycling app
Security researchers in the Netherlands have found that by reverse engineering cycling apps, they can hack into traffic lights and cause delays.
Wired reports that a pair of researchers, Rik van Duijn and Wesley Neelen, exposed vulnerabilities in an “intelligent transport” system used in 10 Dutch cities.
A number of apps share a rider’s location with traffic systems and, whenever possible, switch lights to green as they approach a junction.
By spoofing non-existent cyclists, van Duijn and Neelen were able to trick the traffic management system into showing a green light and therefore a red for vehicles travelling in other directions across the same junction.
“We were able to fake a cyclist, so that the system was seeing a cyclist at the intersection, and we could do it from any location,” said Neelen. “We could do the same trick at a lot of traffic lights at the same time, from my home, and it would allow you to interrupt the traffic flow across a city.”
Neelen and van Duijn say they’ve warned the makers of the apps in question.
They have however warned of the security risks of ‘smart’ traffic management systems.
“Imagine you could create hundreds of fake trucks across cities. If the wrong traffic lights start turning red, you have an issue, and it would cause huge delays,” said van Duijn. “Now that we’re talking about building these intelligent transport systems, we need to be damn sure to think more about security.”
Sarah Mitchell appointed Cycling UK’s new Chief Executive
“We have a massive opportunity to support more people from communities all over the UK to get out on their bikes.”
At a time that is so important for cycling, we’re thrilled to announce that Sarah Mitchell has been appointed as our new Chief Executive: https://t.co/QfQgzoYG5i pic.twitter.com/V77h2a7gNG
— Cycling UK (@WeAreCyclingUK) August 5, 2020
Mitchell is standing down as the chief executive at Heart of the City, a social business which advises on responsible business, to become CEO at Cycling UK.
She is a former chief executive of Carers Network and head of housing at Crisis, the national charity for homeless people.
She will take over from interim chief executive, Pete Fitzboydon, in October.
“’I am thrilled to be joining the Cycling UK team at this really important time for cycling,” she said. “We have a massive opportunity to support more people from communities all over the UK to get out on their bikes and I look forward to being part of the movement to make that happen.”
Groenewegen comments on Jakobsen crash
The UCI has said it “strongly condemns” the “dangerous behaviour” of Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen after he sent Fabio Jakobsen into the barriers at the end of yesterday’s stage of the Tour de Pologne.
Jakobsen is reported to be stable following surgery overnight.
Commenting today, Groenewegen expressed sorrow without apologising for his actions.
Twitter’s in-built translation has his comments down as: “I hate what happened yesterday. I can’t find the words to describe how sorry I am for Fabio and others who have been dropped or hit. At the moment, the health of Fabio is the most important thing. I think about him constantly.”
Ik vind het verschrikkelijk wat er gisteren gebeurd is. Ik kan de woorden niet vinden om te beschrijven hoe erg ik het vind voor Fabio en anderen die zijn gevallen of geraakt.
Op dit moment is vooral de gezondheid van Fabio het allerbelangrijkste. Ik denk aan hem, constant.
— Dylan Groenewegen (@GroenewegenD) August 6, 2020
Cambridge's Dutch-style roundabout from above
We posted a video on this the other day, but the overhead view’s worth a look.
The UK’s first Dutch-style roundabout which prioritises cyclists and pedestrians over motorists has opened in Fendon Road, Cambridge pic.twitter.com/cYi2Ikz2z5
— Joe Giddens (@jjgiddens) August 6, 2020
Scot smashes West Highland Way cycling record, powered by jelly babies
Scottish cyclo-cross champion Gary Macdonald has ridden the 96 miles from Milngavie, near Glasgow, to Fort William in nine hours, 28 minutes and 34 seconds.
The previous record, set in 2015 by Keith Forsyth, was 10 hours and 27 minutes.
Macdonald had never cycled the West Highland Way before.
“By the time I reached Bridge of Orchy, I had hit a brick wall and my legs didn’t feel attached to my body,” he told the Daily Record.
“I had many ups and downs to Fort William, my body shutting down, but thankfully the jelly babies kept me going.”
Macdonald’s time may not immediately strike you as being especially quick, but the West Highland Way was designed as a long distance walking route. Anyone riding it therefore has to tackle challenging terrain as well as gates which were designed for walkers.
Aleksandr Vlasov wins Mont Ventoux Challenge
“@ale_vlasov has conquered this spectacular mountain!” ⛰
The @AstanaTeam rider is victorious on Mont Ventoux 💪#MVDC2020 pic.twitter.com/ITliZ2qwNq
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) August 6, 2020
The 24-year-old Russian finished second to Nairo Quintana in the Tour of Provence earlier in the year and third behind Egan Bernal and Pavel Sivakov in La Route d’Occitanie earlier this week.
Richie Porte was second today, 18 seconds back. Frenchman Martin Guillaume was the only other rider within a minute. And only just.
Cyclist airlifted to hospital with possible spinal injuries after sheep leaps into his path near Keswick
A 60-year-old cyclist had to be airlifted to hospital on Monday after a sheep leapt into his path near Keswick.
The man was riding down the main track from Force Crag mine towards Braithwaite when the incident took place.
A nearby group of walkers called emergency services. One was a doctor who ensured his spine was protected from movement until Keswick Mountain Rescue Team arrived.
Incident Number: 35
Location: Force Crag Mine, near Braithwaite
Callout Date: Monday 3rd August 2020
Callout Time:…Posted by Keswick Mountain Rescue Team on Tuesday, 4 August 2020
Jakobsen’s team boss says he will report Groenewegen to police
We reported earlier how Deceuninck-QuickStep manager Patrick Lefevere had said that Dylan Groenewegen should be jailed for the manoeuvre that caused Fabio Jakobsen to crash.
Just in case you thought he’d only said that in the heat of the moment…
I go to court this kind of actions have to be out of cycling. This is an criminel fact mister @GroenewegenD
— Patrick Lefevere (@PatLefevere) August 5, 2020
Lefevere told Belga News Agency: “I am still very angry and stay behind those Twitter messages. It was a very dirty action by Groenewegen. You don’t do that. We have already lodged a complaint with the UCI and will also do so to the police in Poland. We will not just let this pass.”
Free minor bike repairs during Bike Week later this month
We estimate there are over 16.5 million unused bikes in England – most of which have simple fixes. 🔧
From 15 August, across the country, Cycling UK’s #BigBikeRevival will be providing free minor repairs to help people get back in the saddle: https://t.co/wmEZIHdXc1 pic.twitter.com/87OdmWZ6Ny
— Cycling UK (@WeAreCyclingUK) August 6, 2020
Anti-cycling bingo cards ready? Jeremy Vine's "Nightmare" phone-in
Tired anti-cycling arguments remain tired anti-cycling arguments.
Given the fact he hosts shows on TV and and is happy to talk about cycling on them and on his Twitter feed, Jeremy cops a fair bit of flak.
And boy, did he cop some today.
This item was like waking up inside a nightmare. And all the callers too! https://t.co/aAZy5JehWT
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) August 6, 2020
Keep going, Jeremy, we get it even if they don’t.
road.cc hack's partner surprised at his sudden conversion to tattoos
So as may have been mentioned once or twice on the blog in recent days, I am in Paris as I slowly … well, high-speed train for actual journeys … head towards Milan-San Remo.
My partner is from Milan, but is back in London, her home city for 25 years, looking after our dog.
I went for a lovely bike ride in Paris this afternoon, and here is a brief summary of part of our phone chat afterwards … if you are a fellow cyclist whose partner is a non-cyclist, I think you can relate …
On phone to GF, glance down at leg, notice something.
"Oh BTW I got a tattoo in Paris today."
"A what … ?"
"Tatuaggio."
"I am so surprised. You? A tattoo?"
"I'll send you a picture."
She isn't a cyclist 🤣 pic.twitter.com/eDHZJIKdWC
— Simon MacMichael (@simonmacmichael) August 6, 2020
6 August 2020, 08:33
6 August 2020, 08:33
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £2.49. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
19 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
Agree that cycle lanes are pretty poor "infra". But although that "taking away and suffocating the freedom of other road users" is a weird phrase *... ... there is a "fairness" perception at work here. But simply "riding like a car" won't fix it at all! That means cyclists fall foul of the psychological "cheater detection" mechanism: we're using the same space but not playing by the same rules (not paying "road tax", we can filter past etc. ) Cyclists are visibly an "other" and people have been shown to expect "respect" (submissive behaviour) in those circumstances. But cyclists can't help being "provocative" - we're "in the way"! People may tolerate cyclists where they're a rare occurrence. But for mass cycling either the cyclists have to be in their own distinct space OR motorists have to be cued to be "guests". So not many of them, cyclists likely to be in the majority, speed reduced to that of cycling, in environments where there isn't an expectation of rapid progress such as residential areas with plants etc. * I think that's not even in the heads of most who are irked by cyclists. Reminds me of Monty Python - "Help, help, I'm being repressed!" For one it sounds like that concern is only for the road users who are a lot "more equal than others" (by design) - the motorised ones. And in reality NO "freedoms" are being lost! In fact the reverse is true: the growth of mass motoring has literally taken away freedoms. Like the freedom to get places - other than by driving (dual carriageway in the way now). And the freedom from serious "inconvenience" - but not "being delayed by a few seconds" / having to walk a few extra tens of meters than the minimum possible - inconvenience to vulnerable road users includes injury to health or even death...
If there is an issue with water ingress as the review suggests, forking out another £500 on ceramicspeed bearings will be £500 down the drain. The response of Scope doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either.
The Grimsby man's views are symptomatic of the inherent unfairness of cycle lanes taking away and suffocating the freedom of other road users. If you're on wheels, you should generally share the same road space (except for designated off-road areas). It annoys other road users if cyclists don't use the rubbish, unfit for purpose nonsense that councils have installed at great expense. Because many drivers haven't experienced these awful facilities themselves, they mistakenly identify cyclists as self-entitled wind-up.merchants, rather than people just trying to avoid poor infrastructure.
And even swung in as they passed 🤦♂️ Police action - warning letter to the company, didn't even identify the driver. This is in Kent - they seem as bad as Lancs.
Some of their drivers are feckin dangerous.
He "never thought of that" and "some of my best friends are" . Sounds like he doesn't think of much and is just blinded by his hatred into inventing things. Why is road.cc giving him air space!
Barry Shitpeas (Philomena Cunk's sidekick) was a very prescient character. Basically a quarter-wit expressing ignorant opinions without any understanding of the issues at hand, with ample doses of Dunning-Kruger.
Never mind the police - many cyclists (at least in the UK) would be totally unfamiliar with a velomobile, so perhaps police can be forgiven for ignorance there. (I've "normal" recumbents and even those cause lots of head-turning). And for "e-things" the tail of the market is very much wagging the dog of regulation. Or rather there's almost zero political interest in that. In an ideal world someone would find the money and time to get the police trained - but I wonder if most of them even keep abreast of things like the highway code wording tweaks? (Do those not specialised in road policing / pursuit driving get any more training than the average driver eg "enough to pass the test, once per lifetime"?)
I thought that the lengthy technical downhill section on narrow roads was a poor piece of organisation. It was inevitable that faster riders with their team car would catch up with team cars of slower riders. Riders passing each other was a bit of a lottery at times. The camera motorbikes struggled to get out of the way at times.
It's not a 'statement' though - it's road.cc's words, based on l'Equipe's interpretation. The actual statement issued on it said that the judge authorised it "guaranteeing strict proportionality between the infringements on the rights of the athlete and the stakes of the fight against doping in terms of fair competition and protection of his health."
19 thoughts on “Anti-cycling bingo cards ready? @JeremyVineOn5’s “nightmare” phone-in; road.cc hack’s partner surprised at sudden tattoo conversion; Dutch hackers hijack traffic lights via cycling app; More fallout on Jakobsen crash + more on live blog”
The news on Fabio Jakobsen
The news on Fabio Jakobsen sounds a little more hopeful today. Wishing him all the best for a recovery.
Any news on the photographer
Yes, sounds good. I thought he had gone straight into the stanchion full speed but might have been slowed down before then by the barrier AND the person standing there. I wonder if there is any news on that person because it looks like he takes the full force of Jakonsen and the barrier and also hits the stanchion.
Of the official that was hit,
Of the official that was hit, BBC sport said “the race official struck in the incident suffered head and spinal injuries but was speaking when he was taken to hospital”
There’s a simple way of
There’s a simple way of eliminating barrier crashes: all finishes should be on roads wide enough to give a good racing width and 2m each side to the barriers. In the finishing straight, a line would be painted 2m out from each barrier. Any sprinter crossing the line demoted to last on the stage and fined.
roubaixcobbles wrote:
Yes, but that would have been Jakobsen as he was on the outside.
WDG wrote:
Clearly if someone is pushed into the safety zone the pusher would be sanctioned; the point is that Jakobsen would have gone into the safety zone and not the barrier.
So everyone in the safety
So everyone in the safety zone is punished except those who are forced into it, in which case the forcer is punished and the forcee not
Ride London races frequently
Ride London races frequently demonstrated that even with a road as wide as the Mall,it could still lead to serious injuries and major crashes in bunch sprints. in fact there was a view the wider the finish the more likely a crash was in a bunch sprint as riders would push more for position. The issues here were clearly speed caused by a down hill finish,so any crash was likely to lead to serious injury for riders and the barriers didnt seem to hold up under impact,but then when you are dealing with the forces/energy involved,which is directly correlated to the speed,they may not have been remotely designed to.
Awavey wrote:
Actually RL only used half the Mall so not hugely wide (with barriers maybe 2.5 lanes), but my point is that if there’s a 2m DQ zone between the barriers and the racing zone, riders won’t go into that zone and so chances of hitting the barrier are minimized.
Well look how successful
Well look how successful track limits is in motor racing to see how effective a painted line will be,its not, in F1 theyve had to go to computer gps technology every 200metres to get it to stick,and you still get 3 if not arguably 4 goes at it before they’ll penalise it,riders will be the same always push the limits,bend the line gain as much advantage you can, plus in the wet your lines will be just as likely to cause crashes as prevent them. it just needs race organisers to pick suitable finishes,think about the risks and mitigate them and commissaires to crack down hard on riders who put others in danger. even if there hadnt been a resulting crash Groenewegen should have been expecting an automatic relegation from the sprint at the very least and anything upto DSQ from the race completely.
Not sure a 2m zone like that
Not sure a 2m zone like that would work, but certainly there should be much more robust and prescriptive regulations placed upon the race organiser regarding the barrier setup and the premitted road furniture on the run-in to the finish. If nothing else they should make sure the finish gantry posts are set well back (2 or 3m minimum) from the side barriers. At least then the riders are far less likely to impact such an immovable object as the finsh gantry if they were to crash inside the finish chute. The barriers should also have smooth and continuous facings so that riders may slide along them, and be fixed to the ground so that they wont be pulled into the road like those yesterday. It seems the loose barriers were the reason so many other riders came down.
It might be terminology, but
It might be terminology, but spoofing instances of imaginary cyclists using this traffic light app,to my thinking isnt quite hacking,they havent done an Italian job on it,though for sure the point they raise out of it is still totally valid.
more ‘ Dieselgate’
more ‘ Dieselgate’ developments today on BBC news, I see, our favourite car manufacturer in the news again for all the wrong reasons…
Quote:
Well, yes – that shouldn’t really have come as any surprise…
BTW – that’s Guillaume Martin, not Martin Guillaume.
Patrick Lefevre is an idiot,
Patrick Lefevre is an idiot, a fact he’s proven time and again (take his defence of Iljo Keisse last year as an example). I completely understand that he’ll be emotional in the immediate aftermath of Jakobsen’s crash but a man with his experience and his position ought to be better able to control himself. I imagine Groenewegen feels terrible about the outcome of his line-change but demanding he go to jail is just stupid.
Is this all you have to say
Is this all you have to say about it? Blaiming everybody else except for the person who actually caused the accident because of his criminal behaviour.
I replied previously but some
I replied previously but some footballers have been arrested and charged for GBH when they have elbowed another player. Granted it is rare but this was as deliberate a cheating as an elbow in football and was designed to look “accidental” when he knew it could cause serious injury. Granted even he probably did not realise the extent but that is no excuse. As a pro cyclist he would know what could have happened that close to the barriers.
The Jeremy Vine clip is both
The Jeremy Vine clip is both hysterical and deeply worrying, and there are a lot of people who think like that woman; utterly obsessed with everything being the fault of the cyclist and totally unable to see the problems of her own behaviour. How do we change their views, and make no mistake, we need to.
These are the kind of people who oppose any provision for cyclists and shout very loudly, and never mind that their logic and arguments are spurious, they do have an effect.
I watched it and it was
I watched it and it was predictable and disturbing. A bit like watching a car crash. As soon as the panalists and commentators opened their mouths you knew exactly how poorly thought through their rants were. And that’s all they were. Rants. And none were prepared to listen to objective comments based on real information rather than hysteria.
One classic was ‘they go over zebra crossing’. Of course we do. They’re road markings. We all have to go over them!
It is now getting to a stage where I see a cycling thread online or segment on tv I now just sigh resignedly as I know how pointless it will be countering the rants because I will be met with ‘yes, but’ and a stubborn refusal to listen!
ive suggested to Jeremy that he get Chris B and Carlton Reid on the panel and hopefully something positive out of it all may come about.