Young cyclist chases “idol” Remco Evenepoel through bike paths of Valencia… but cycling club unhappy Belgian star “didn’t stop to sign any autographs”; Crumbling bike lane sparks “mountain bike route” jokes; RideLondon reaction + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Pro bothering, cycle lane edition: Young cyclist chases his “idol” Remco Evenepoel through the bike paths of Valencia… but cycling club unhappy as Belgian star “didn’t stop to sign any autographs”
The thorny topic of amateur cyclists following their professional counterparts around has been in the news quite a bit lately, following Jonas Vingegaard’s messy training crash in Spain at the end of January.
The two-time Tour de France winner crashed on a descent near Málaga after reportedly getting angry at a fan riding on his wheel, with the injuries Vingegaard sustained in the crash forcing him to delay the start of his season until March.
And while the overenthusiastic fan’s behaviour was the subject of intense debate on social media, it’s safe to say – thanks to cycling’s very nature – that it won’t be the last time we see fans straining to get close to their heroes.
That was certainly the case at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana at the weekend, where Remco Evenepoel laid down an ominous marker by dominating the GC and winning two stages, after an equally imperious showing in Mallorca.
And where Hugo, a young autograph-hunting fan and budding cyclist from Valencia, decided to chase his yellow-jersey wearing hero through the streets of the city – making use of its cycling infrastructure while doing so:
“Hugo didn’t get his reward yesterday despite chasing his idol Remco Evenepoel to the bus where he didn’t stop to sign any autographs,” the Valencia Cycling School posted on social media.
Unsurprisingly, especially in the wake of Jonasgate, the clip has divided opinion online.
One line of thinking centred on that rather unfair depiction of Evenepoel that just won’t budge in certain corners of the cycling world: namely, that he’s a spoiled brat.
“Typical of that Remco guy,” Javi wrote under the cycling school’s video.
“I don’t know Remco, but I do know Hugo and I prefer 20 times a photo with Hugo than with Remco. The human quality Hugo has, Remco will not have in his life,” Juan added. That’s a big statement Juan, are you okay?
Others, however, were keen to urge caution when it comes to riding after pro cyclists.
“It is advisable not to pursue and leave the professionals alone,” wrote Vicente. “Let them work and rest. We are not setting the best example.”
And Andoni asked: “Is this a thing now, chasing down the street?”
To be honest, if young Hugo desperately wants a souvenir from a pro cyclist, he’d be safer heading to the Tour of Britain and riding alongside the bunch for a few minutes – that plan is usually foolproof.
Reaction to RideLondon being placed on an "indefinite pause"
Anyway, on to your comments and initial reaction…
Mike on Bluesky: “That is not good. This was a legacy of London 2012. Those halcyon days for a few weeks And with the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes making an appearance on these shores next year then this sort of festival of cycling should be a priority.”
thereverent: “Not a surprise, the small but very vocal minority that always complain about the road closures made enough noise to the councils who chose the easy life.”
Michael Brown on Facebook: “Essex was never as good as Surrey…”
Whether that’s a sportive opinion or county cricket, we’ll leave things there before a Home Counties civil war breaks out.
And here's that RideLondon news in full
Dan here, dipping in with your full story…
RideLondon is no more: sportive placed on "indefinite pause" following "operational and financial considerations of event's future"
It was put on “hiatus” last year, but now it’s permanent.
The full statement from London Marathon Events is below, we’ll be updating with reaction later in the afternoon, and Dan will have a full story ready to go shortly:
RideLondon, the world’s greatest festival of cycling, has been placed on indefinite pause following operational and financial considerations of the event’s future direction.
First held in 2013 as a legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games, RideLondon has delivered ten successful editions, inspiring more than 500,000 people to take part in one of its mass participation rides. The event has also raised more than £85 million for charity, making a lasting impact on communities and causes across the UK.
RideLondon was originally held in partnership with Surrey County Council and ran annually until 2019. The event was paused in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, before returning in 2022 in collaboration with Essex County Council. The tenth and most recent edition took place in May 2024 – all editions have been delivered by London Marathon Events.
While RideLondon will not continue in its current format, its legacy lives on in the thousands of riders it inspired and the charitable contributions it enabled.
Future efforts will focus on expanding access to cycling and promoting active travel across London and beyond.
Dublin cyclists allowed to ride through red lights when turning left
Uno-X’s Erlend Blikra storms to messy sprint win at the Tour of Oman
After Mauro Schmid continued his lightning-fast start to 2026 as the GC battle erupted on Eastern Mountain yesterday, it was the turn of the sprinters once again at the Tour of Oman this morning, Uno-X’s Erlend Blikra timing his charge to the line to perfection in a chaotic bunch kick in Sohar:
Erlend Blikra 🇳🇴 wins the fourth stage of Tour of Oman! #TourofOman2026 pic.twitter.com/ZOLSFSwlES
— Eemeli (@LosBrolin) February 10, 2026
The Norwegian’s surge along the barriers was enough to narrowly hold off Pinarello-Q36.5’s Emmanuel Houcou, who powered up the other side of the road to take second, while stage one winner Juan Sebastian Molano was forced to settle for third.
Schmid, meanwhile, maintained his overall lead without any issues, taking a four-second lead over Christian Scaroni into tomorrow’s decisive final stage to Green Mountain.
Frog Bikes files to appoint administrators amid “series of significant challenges”
Frog Bikes has filed an intention to appoint an administrator, the children’s bike brand’s founder stating “all parties are committed to securing a positive outcome for the business, its employees and wider stakeholders”.
Read more: > Frog Bikes files to appoint administrators amid “series of significant challenges”
“These people are doing a good thing, but they shouldn’t need to”: Are your local cycle paths overgrown and unusable? Looks like you might have to start your own volunteer group to sort it out
A new cycling group has sprung up in East Sussex – specifically designed to make Lewes’ neglected bike infrastructure actually rideable.
The catchily-titled group of volunteers, ‘Cycle Lewes Quick Wins’, have been working hard to reinstate the width of cycling and walking route 90, along Brighton Road, which – it’s safe to say – has seen better days.
“We are a group of volunteers taking practical action to improve existing paths across Lewes for walking, wheeling, and cycling,” the group says.
“Where possible we want collaborate with those parties responsible for the maintenance of paths. However, where conditions are not improving, we are willing to take action.”
But should the maintenance of cycle lanes be left to local cyclists? That was a debate that raged on in the comments.
“These people are doing a good thing, but they shouldn’t need to,” said Roland. “The point of councils and the money we pay them is they should act on behalf of the communities they represent and have this work carried out.
“But because these days the money passes on to private contractors, who want to maximise their own profits by doing the minimum work that their contract allows situations like this arise.”
And Mike said: “I get the bit about volunteers/councils but thank heavens it’s getting done. The river path by Tesco is about two thirds of its usable width because of overhanging trees and spreading vegetation. I’d be happy to help a bit there if it didn’t involve too much bending!”
You and me both, Mike.
But if you’re from Lewes and up for some bending – and some overgrown bike lane clearing too – you can get in touch with the group at info@cyclelewes.org.uk.
From Eurosport to GCN+, back to Eurosport, then onto TNT Sports via the Discovery+ app, and now HBO Max: The cycling coverage merry-go-round stops again (and I feel a bit queasy)
In case you missed the news last night, bike racing’s on the move… again.
Well, I for one can’t wait to download another streaming app onto my phone in March. How exciting…
Look who’s back on the road bike…
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“They should rebrand them as mountain bike routes!” Cyclists slam “woeful” crumbling bike lane littered with stones and potholes, as locals argue “paint demarking a gutter is not a cycle lane” and ask: “Who’s this for?”
We’re kicking things off today with a textbook example answer to our favourite live blog rhetorical question: Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lanes?
Because, to paraphrase the Simpson family matriarch in ‘Marge vs. the Monorail’, they’re all cracked and broken.
Or at least the painted ‘bike lane’ on Cherry Hinton Road in the south-west of Cambridge is, anyway. If you can even call whatever this is, hidden beneath a litany of potholes, stones, and years of decay, a cycle lane:
“You can just make out the painted-on cycle lane on the eastern section of Cherry Hinton Road in that cycling city of Cambridge,” local historian Anthony Carpen posted on BlueSky this week, with a photo of the crumbling infrastructure.
“This is what happens when local councils are chronically underfunded and have no powers to tax excess wealth generated here.”
> Why don’t cyclists use cycle lanes?
Another fed-up local cyclist Emily Dourish added: You can see the ‘repairs’ where some of the worst holes have been filled up with uneven tarmac, but the edges just carry on crumbling and spreading gravel across the pavement and piling up in the bike lane.
“I go along this every day, very familiar with how it’s got worse day by day over the winter.”
And while Edward Taylor simply described the state of Cherry Hinton Road’s unprotected bike lane as “woeful”, Chris Wallace claimed the city’s “purpose-built cycle paths” are “no better”:
“Cambridge spends £££ to build these things with no money to maintain them. As a cyclist I would rather have (sufficiently wide, connected) lanes segregated only by a white line on properly maintained roads than current situation,” he said.
Or… how about properly maintained, fully protected cycle lanes? Now, there’s a suggestion.
> England’s first “Cycle Street” will give priority to cyclists and pedestrians over motorists
“And this is a city with a substantially above average per capita number of cyclists, too,” noted Adam Chapman.
“But paint demarking the gutter is NOT a cycle lane. Who’s this for? An inexperienced or nervous rider won’t use this. They’ll likely walk. Anyone who’s experienced will ride on the posh bit of the road.”
“They should simply rebrand them as off-road mounting biking routes!” suggested Andrew Jones.
Don’t give them ideas…
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@chrisonabike True, things went back to normal once the pandemic was over. In this case, however the problems are still ongoing, and aren't likely to be resolved in the near future. If anything, they're going to get worse. Food shortages are predicted because of the effect that the heatwave has had on crops. This is bound to push prices up. The Straits of Hormuz aren't likely to reopen anytime soon and the strategic oil reserves are running low. Russia is having to import petrol because its own refineries have been badly hit, so that's even more competition for an even more scarce resource. I think that more and more people are going to see cycling as a way of cutting household bills.
I think if "grown up" cyclists * are quibbling about ASLs we've very much missed the road safety point anyway. (Not to mention the wider "better transport choices" picture). ASLs are poor-to-useless "cycling infra", even for their design intent. If the idea is "for less confident cyclists" then a design that requires that you re-position in front of the motor traffic - waiting to accelerate - seems unhelpful. Of course they're only designed to help when traffic is stopped, and you can reach the front in time and if vehicles aren't already occupying them. As we're noting here drivers frequently ignore them - whether that be deliberate, a lack of road craft, because they were concentrating on following the vehicle in front, or because the paint has rubbed off. * Aside: shouldn't cycling also be safe and accessible for kids? Or should they only be allowed to do this when accompanied by sufficient qualified adults? Or be limited to parks and otherwise being driven around by their carers? Perhaps there is another way...?
Hi Bungle, I saw you follow-up comment. I can't imaging there's a tolerance of 4 seconds on camera enforced lights, seems an odd decision - an offence is committed if a vehicle starts crossing on a red, any tolerance is discretionary. There does seem to be some odd thinking about 'advanced stop lines' where the rules relating to them are identical to a regular stop line, as explained correctly elsewhere in the Highway Code. It does seem a regular offence. Where I live it doesn't help that some of them are very faint and disappear in rain.
@ktache Not sure he's totally ruled out of the worlds yet (though I think it would be best if he doesn't), normal recovery time is about eight weeks but surgery can halve that...depending on the nature of the break he could be just about fit to ride by the time of the elite men's race, but he'll have missed a lot of training. Hopefully his managers and team will persuade him to wait until Lombardia, if not just to knock it off for the rest of the year.
@Bungle_52 The Met told me a couple of years ago when rejecting a submission that they needed a clear three seconds of red visible before they would consider it for an RLJ prosecution. I pointed out to them that this meant that at 30 mph a driver could see a light change to red from 40 metres away and still get through without sanction, or 55 m if they accelerated to 40 as most do. They just replied "them's our rules..."
@Ben Graham I have just checked the footage from my report. The driver crosses the 1st stop line 4 seconds after the light turns red. All on camera from behind the vehicle. No further action. So I assume the margin is at least 4 seconds.
Oh, and active travel funding per head (in England at least) is laughable compared to other places. Plus it is delivered intermittently. It's more like a Blue Peter contest...
Yup, I see those opportunities being missed all the time in Edinburgh. When it gets really bad, dig it all up and put it back down again how it was. Contrast with what seems to happen in NL - when things are dug up the whole thing seems to get a "let's redo this according to the current standards" treatment. They even coordinate with the utilities, so that after a refurb the street isn't immediately dug up again because of leaking pipes / we suddenly realised the new estate being planned for round the corner will want broadband etc. Pros and cons of course - you may wait longer there for changes as smaller changes may be deferred until a major redo is due. (Though in the UK case you likely wouldn't get them at all...) It seems we "can't have nice things" in the UK in part because a) we have greater motor traffic speeds/volumes spead across "streets" / within urban areas b) the funding and organisational responsibility differs. Are we in the "Sam Vimes boots" territory (being too poor to afford better products which not only save money over time but actually work)? There is long term money pressure on LAs and it seems that due to poor construction and maintenance we have to regularly pour money into (pot-)holes in the road. And it seems there's no budget to check up on or enforce adequate standards from utilities work or even private building.
Shame about the world champs defence. Speedy recovery. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/aug/30/tadej-pogacar-vuelta-a-espana-cycling-crash-hospital-stage-nine
I believe the accepted form for this kind of argument is "I know you are, you said you were, but what am I?".
12 thoughts on “Young cyclist chases “idol” Remco Evenepoel through bike paths of Valencia… but cycling club unhappy Belgian star “didn’t stop to sign any autographs”; Crumbling bike lane sparks “mountain bike route” jokes; RideLondon reaction + more on the live blog”
Could Albert Bridge be the new Hammersmith Bridge…?
-Albert Bridge closes to traffic as ‘precaution’-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgml7mzd290o
I ride over the Albert many, many times a year and it always seems to vibrate rather significantly (from the weight of traffic, not my hefty corpse); I’ve also often wondered how reliable a bridge that has to have a sign telling marching troops to break the step so as not to set up damaging vibrations might be. However the report says that the bridge is open to pedestrians and doesn’t mention cyclists, are they really not allowing cyclists, who might often weigh less with their bikes than some of the pedestrians do, to ride over?
Just checked, still open to cyclists! A rare bit of common sense in London traffic management, well done whoever made that decision.
Link to confirm please.
Bridge harmonics do surprising things sometimes, as the Tacoma Narrows bridge and the Millenium bridge showed. Albert bridge seems to have a resonant frequency close to marching pace.
All marching groups should be instructed to skip across the bridge (you know they want to!)
Is anyone else on here surprised that the cycling media and Road.CC don’t seem to be running with the serious issues British Cycling are having with their website membership portal migration?
I’m wondering if it just me that is having significant issues, I’ve been waiting days for a response and there is a 45 minute wait if you call them to discuss.
Hmm. Website issues something something glass-houses something something stones. But I take your point.
When it exists, UK cycking infrastructure* is maintained by sub-contractors who happen to take short cuts but charge full rates. Then volunteers, who are likely to be taxpayers, do the maintenance and cleaning works. Is anybody asking councils for audit reports and sub-contractors performance reviews? Councils are responsible and accountable for the proper execution of contracts they sign with third-parties.
* this excludes unfixable gutters that are reassigned as “cycling lanes”
Sounds like suggesting some kind of … Reform … there?
We will always need people (journos, campaigning folks, ourselves) to keep those with motive and means for waste and corruption in check. Even if councils were only stocked by public-spirited selfless types all systems need feedback to keep folks honest.
But there’s the other side which is (as some of the Reform folks have found) that councils are under severe money pressures, much not of their making. That leads to things like getting in external folks to do things on the cheap… and sometimes that’s too cheap. Some authorities may lack money to fund staff to check the contractors’ homework. Or even follow up those who have been found wanting.
Or, indeed, not getting anyone in, because there isn’t enough money even to have it done on the cheap, it all having been spent on other things they’re expected to cover, despite not being properly funded to do so.
Well done to those volunteers in Lewes. Councils should be doing it, sure, but they don’t have the money. Because central government takes it away, annd has been doing so for over a decade. Councils have statutory requirements (check council tax bill for further info) so these will come first. There are certain politicians who speak of DOGE type intervention should they win more councils / national elections. Then when further cuts are made, and more redundancies issued, more bonuses for the super rich, those who voted for them complain even more about ‘the state of the country . . . . ‘. Dumb isn’t it? Luckily there are immigrants, trans, Muslims we can blame though.