“Obstacle course” on car-free cycle street slammed after complaints of “speeding” cyclists on “bicycle-shaped objects” – but council says “slalom” barriers “little impediment to cyclists at normal speed”; Red Bull Tour civil war + more on the live blog

Fancy cycling to work on a handy car-free road in the city centre? Well, you’re going to have to work on your bike handling skills first.

At least that’s the message currently being shared by Dublin City Council, who this week have decided to spruce up Capel Street and Parliament Street – which for the past four years have been a car-free shared space for pedestrians and cyclists – by adding a few slalom-style obstacles to keep you on your toes.

Earlier this week, 14 of the chicane-style barriers (most of which are essentially made up of a few cones and a bit of tape) were installed in very close proximity to each other on the two streets, in the space of around 500m.

As the brilliant Irishcycle.com reported, the barriers do not comply with the Irish government’s national guidelines on ‘Access Control of Active Travel Facilities’, which require a five-metre gap between chicanes or gates.

According to the council, the chicanes have been put in place temporarily to deal with the “behaviour of a small cohort of people using quite large and powerful e-bikes, and e-scooters”.

Since it was made permanently car-free in 2022 following a Covid-era trial, Capel Street has been the centre of complaints about so-called “speeding cyclists”, though as Irishcycle points out, most of these ‘cyclists’ were referred to as riding “bicycle-shaped objects”. So make of that what you will.

Meanwhile, misreporting and confused signage have led to a misunderstanding among some of the streets’ users over whether they are designed purely for pedestrians.

Following the barriers’ installation, one local wrote on BlueSky: “They’re ugly but they should put something like them permanently on Capel Street to stop those on wheels using it like their own personal race track. some tables and benches or seating and planters all the way up the street maybe?”

Meanwhile, many Dublin cyclists are baffled by their introduction, who claim they have caused more problems by creating conflict with pedestrians at the narrow gaps between the chicanes, forcing them to use the footpath.

Asked for the reasons behind the move, a spokesperson for Dublin City Council said: “The Capel Street Parliament Street route has rapidly become a very key cycle route in the city since the two-way link was put on Capel Street Bridge linking the two sections, and cycling numbers have increased substantially as a result.

“However, along with this increase in cycling numbers has been some problems caused by the behaviour of a small cohort of people using quite large and powerful e-bikes, and e-scooters, and Dublin City Council has become increasingly concerned that the behaviour of a minority of users will lead to unsafe interactions with pedestrians and other users of the street.

“Therefore, a number of measures have been considered, including targeted messaging about the appropriate speeds to use on the streets, increased signage to remind users that pedestrians have priority on the street, and cyclists should slow and give way to pedestrians as required, and these will be rolled out over the next number of weeks.”

The spokesperson continued: “Alongside these measures we are also looking at what may be put on the street to assist in keeping speeds at a reasonable rate commensurate with the usage of the street by all and to inform this we have been trialling putting in some temporary measures to slow speeds and see configurations can make a difference, the chicanes that are being temporarily trialled provide little impediment to a cyclist travelling at a normal speed, but do require the faster users to slow down.

“These are only temporary measures to guide our process for considering if more permanent changes could or should be made and what, if any, these should be.”

You have to feel for Torstein Træen. The Norwegian’s extremely popular spell in yellow – which many of us, including myself, expected to last quite a while – was curtailed first by the might of UAE Team Emirates and Tadej Pogačar and then by a nasty crash on the descent of the Col du Tourmalet.

In what now appears to be a rather foolish decision, Træen was allowed to continue to the finish in Gavarnie-Gèdre after seemingly passing a roadside concussion check.

However, following a check-up by his Uno-X Mobility medical team last night, along with analysis of the data from his helmet sensor, and X-rays, the former yellow jersey was diagnosed last night with a concussion and multiple rib fractures, ruling him out of the rest of the Tour.

“This is really not the ending we wanted for this yellow adventure,” Uno-X manager Thor Hushovd said in a statement.

“Torstein has given the team a historic moment, and what he and the whole team have achieved these past days is something we will always be proud of. But after the further checks this evening, it was clear that he could not continue.

“To wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France is massive for any rider and any team. For Torstein to do that, and to take the jersey over the Tourmalet today, is something very special. It is of course disappointing to leave the race like this, but now the most important thing is that Torstein gets the care and recovery he needs.”