Police launch road safety operation… by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge; Reaction to government’s Active Travel Strategy; Dauphiné sprint + more on the live blog

It’s a story as old as time, when we are obliged to wonder how well police are effectively utilising their resources.

West Mercia Police have confirmed they are supporting the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) “Two Wheels” campaign which aims to improve road safety for motorcyclists and cyclists. Thankfully I don’t need to run through the whole shebang, when Ryan has done a whole write-up on the hypocrisy of double-standards-ing of the operation.

> “Drivers kill five people every day. Cyclists hardly kill anybody”: Police chiefs accused of ignoring “massive imbalance” as new campaign brands road safety “a shared duty” and officers crack down on rule-breaking riders

But there was one nugget of the story that caught our attention, in Hereford. The best way officers could be deployed to promote road safety that they could think of? Patrolling a Victorian footbridge.

“Officers will be carrying out targeted patrols and engagement to:

 Encourage safe, responsible riding and driving
 Educate riders on skills, knowledge, and protective equipment
 Promote awareness of the Highway Code and road user hierarchy
Remind everyone to share the road safely.

“This morning, officers were out on Victoria Bridge, speaking with members of the public about the No Cycling Zone.

  Over 30 people were stopped and spoken to
  Cyclists were reminded to dismount and walk their bikes across the bridge
  Advice was given around the reasons for the restriction and the consequences of not following it

“We’re here to keep everyone safe – whether you’re walking, cycling, riding, or driving.”

It’s clear cyclists aren’t permitted to cycle over the bridge – and shouldn’t. But does an officer being there make a substantive difference compared to the multiple signs? Does their presence significantly reduce the danger risk to all drivers, cyclists and motorcyclists? Thankfully many Facebook commenters think not:

“How about they stop the people in cars and vans from shouting abuse at people trying to get to and from work on a cycle on the roads it’s really upsetting and unnerving.”

“Have they nothing better to do, it’s not the best way of using limited resources”

“Well if this action doesn’t resolve all these deaths then I don’t know what will, obviously a well thought through operation by the geniuses at Hereford Police.”

The mind boggles sometimes…

It’s been a frantic morning for our Ryan, after details of the government’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, which we reported yesterday was “imminent”, have been leaked. But he’s done a sterling job, of summarising everything that you can read in full here:

> “No war on motorists”: Dividing cyclists and drivers “a complete waste of time”, insists transport chief – as government pushes for 60% of children to cycle or walk to school with new £4.5bn active travel strategy

The short version is that the government is pledging lots of money to focus on changing “everyday” travel needs. Specific targets include constructing 5,000 new cycling and walking routes in England by 2030, and 10,000 safer crossings. The £4.5 billion pledged to do it is a marked increase on the £3.78 billion last pledged in 2022, although when adjusted for inflation, the increase is around £90 million. But that’s enough of the details, you know where you can find them above.

Already, reaction is trickling in, the headline proposal being getting 60 percent of children walking, scooting or cycling to school.

Motonormativity man Ian Walker was among the first to look at the government’s new targets and said, “I shall watch this with interest. There’s no way to get 60% of kids actively travelling to school without disrupting current patterns of car-based mobility. This includes making all urban streets safer, not just those right outside schools.”

Martin Price, former chair of Better Streets for Birmingham, wrote “I suspect the big numbers will rely on existing urban grant funding that has to fund all modes [of travel].”

Active Travel Planner Mark Strong also crunched the numbers and tried to apply the travel habits to children in both rural and urban areas. Having identified 16 percent of children live in rural areas, he wrote “even if *all* rural under-18s are driven to school, reaching the 60% of all children using active travel would only push the target up to 71% for urban children!”

“This goal is very much achievable,” wrote John Munro. “If they don’t achieve it, it will be because the relevant authorities prioritized the existing goal of maintaining maximum convenience for car owners above all else instead.”

On the other hand, Bluesky user Rich wrote “The scale of increase they want requires complete transformation of streets/infra & I’m not sure the signs yet show that level of commitment.”

Meanwhile Peter Walker, who broke the initial embargo, wrote, “it’s interesting that part of the reason for focusing on schools is – and this is unspoken – that it’s harder for the anti-bike zealots to object to routes for kids.”

That may be true, but a government policy shaped around “anti-bike zealotry” might not be quite what the doctor ordered. Particularly when we know what doctors want is people exercising. Still, campaigns to get children cycling have worked in the past…

As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome! We should say as well that we have reached out to Cycling UK for comment.

Expert work from the Belgian who, with a lead-out from Edoardo Affini, made no mistake to take his first win since that famous victory at Paris-Roubaix!

Hugo Hofstetter was an impressive second for NSN ahead of Bahrain’s Phil Bauhaus.

Never doubt Wout! 🙌

The Belgian delivers a huge sprint to win the bunch sprint, for his first victory since Paris-Roubaix 💪 pic.twitter.com/L9eDP13UZo

— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) June 11, 2026

“Car drivers kill around five people every day in Britain and seriously injure dozens of others. Cyclists, by contrast, hardly ever kill anybody else.”

> “Drivers kill five people every day. Cyclists hardly kill anybody”: Police chiefs accused of ignoring “massive imbalance” as new campaign brands road safety “a shared duty” and officers crack down on rule-breaking riders

It’s one thing focusing on getting children to school, but if adults can be convinced to travel actively, that’s surely more effective?

Bike parking at a small urban festival in Denmark
by
u/kaptajn-idiot in
bikecommuting

This Reddit poster said the festival organisers provided low fencing so cyclists could both lock their bikes to something and move through the space to find their bike in the middle of the parking.

Not too much to report from the Dauphiné, where live coverage got underway a little while ago. Six riders are up the road including former Tour de France stage winner Hugo Houle and Thibault Guernalec, who suffered a horrific injury in the off-season when he was hit by a driver.

The sextet have an advantage hovering around a minute and a half with just under 65km remaining. It’s all still going to plan for the unexpected race leader Alex Baudin…

👋 @Alexbaudin73 💛#TourAuvergneRhoneAlpes@MaillotjauneLCL pic.twitter.com/UZssScTfLg

— Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (@tourauverhalpes) June 11, 2026

I’m actually quite fond of this comparison…

 

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And, just in case you need the context:

> Jan-Willem Van Schip’s manager blasts “inhumane” treatment over latest disqualification

Do you ever look at a piece of cycle infrastructure and wonder if the designer of such a thing has ever ridden a bike? Has a local authority, in a desperate plea for funding, mocked up a dreadful design without thinking what it might be like to use a cycle lane or a shared-use path? Reassuringly, it’s good to know that some planners are better than others…

“Hi all, I won’t be giving away too much information but I am an Active Transportation Planner with a London Borough,” writes one Reddit user.

“Looking for feedback from cyclists as I have a tricky section of a future shared use path that I am struggling to engineer around. Essentially we want to build a shared use path in a more ‘rural’ area, 90% of this path can be built to standards I.e. 3m minimum however there is one small (26m long section) that is 1.6m wide with no option to widen.

“Anyone have any examples of ‘pinch points’ on a shared use/ cycle path that they like/love or hate. Looking for good ideas or bad ideas to avoid, otherwise the options include a ‘cyclists dismount sign’ which I don’t want to do or abandon the path entirely. Thanks!”

Unsurprisingly, the top-ranked comment is short but sweet: “Just want to add that it’s great to be asked!”

So starts a rather nice conversation about the perils of current planning decisions, namely what the original poster describes as “the ‘anti- bike’ ‘it’s a war on cars’ ‘stop being woke’ brigade” who tend to hijack any public consultation. A cyclist themself, the planner is “just [a] fellow cyclist who wants safer and more efficient cycle infrastructure.

“The best designers are those that use this type of infrastructure daily.”

We couldn’t agree more, and today is a day where the internet delivers. Nearly 100 comments have been left for users expressing their concerns over “shared-use” paths, the difficulty in enforcing “cyclists dismount” signs. Among the two most popular positive solutions is one user who highlighted the benefit of additional lane markings, and another who recommended a small chicane to slow cyclists down through the narrow section.

Your own thoughts are, of course, more than welcome. But how good/refreshing is it for a cycle planner to go out of their way to consult fellow cyclists?!

 

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Imagine cycling to Villa Park or Hampden Park through Cannon Hill Park or Kelvingrove…

Everyone has a Remco Evenepoel opinion, I even managed to squeeze him into my latest medium-length mild take.

And where I earlier mentioned his commercial assets as a Red Bull athlete – a big part of that stems from the fact he’s actually a YouTuber with a new video out! In his latest production, we see the Belgian at altitude camp in Tenerife, training for the Tour de France having decided not to race a warm-up event between now and July. We get a glimpse into life in cafes, on yoga mats and, as you might expect, on a saddle. We also get some nuggets of data!

In a four-and-a-half hour “controlled threshold” session, we see Evenepoel performing repeated interval efforts between 8 and 15 minutes in length. His threshold on the mountain? 425 watts.

I think I could just about best that on a short sprint, for that to not even register as one of his most “explosive” days is a pretty good reminder of how utterly good at cycling elite cyclists are. And how my chances of turning pro get slimmer with each passing biscotti.

The organising committee of the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles have announced that both the road race and time trial events will finish in Griffith Park, with the Olympics finishing up at the Griffith Observatory, nestled in the Hollywood hills.

The latest news confirms what has been rumoured for some time, that the race organisers are planning a rather brutal course with plenty of climbing. The Olympic Games are, after all, one of the few big races that Tadej Pogačar has yet to win. In 2021 he was denied by a perfectly timed Richard Carapaz attack on the lower slopes of Mount Fuji, and then forced to sprint for the lesser medals, finishing third.

Then, in 2024 he skipped the Games entirely, blaming both fatigue and the non-selection of his fiancee Urška Žigart, despite her being the reigning Slovenian champion. With Pogačar’s contract only running until 2030 (by which point he’ll be 32) and him having hinted at not exactly stretching his career out that long, it might be now (then) or never for the two-time World Champion.

Maybe it’s the first sign that we’re not in the Dauphiné era anymore, as much as we deep down want to be, that we’re halfway through the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and have yet to have a single sprint stage.

Finally though, we should have a day for the fast men, although you have to wonder how many fast men there actually are in the race, given most teams are smart enough to look at a stage profiles before rocking up on the startlist. Wout van Aert is here though, and after a couple of ropey days earlier in the week, including being the first Visma rider dropped on the Team Time Trial, he was the fastest sprinter in the peloton behind the breakaway yesterday. A good Tour de France needs a Van Aert in-form, so fingers crossed he can be in contention today.

Other fast men include Dorian Godon, who has won consistently since switching to Netcompany-Ineos, and surely two of the great nearly men of this sprint generation in Bryan Coquard and Phil Bauhaus. We’ll bring you the race updates a little bit later…

I quite like the normal Red Bull ads to be honest. The 2-D, seemingly hand-drawn stories illustrating how the disgusting drink can give you wings. Reminds me of Rhubarb & Custard.

Na na na NAHH! Na na na NAHH! NAH ner ner ner NAHH!

But this is Red Bull, and eyeballs need captivating, just ask Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert or any members of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe (although Remco Evenepoel is probably a better bet than… Ben Zwiehoff – that’s an example, sorry Ben)

So of course we have a video of a bike flip across two moving boats. Because why not…