Telegraph claim Jeremy Vine’s “favourite” cycle lane is controversial… for making drivers look both ways at junction; Cabbies welcome free Boris bikes for Knowledge candidates; GC action expected at Dauphiné + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Anti-cycling articles? From the Telegraph?
Long time readers of the live blog might be a little weary of Steve Bird’s antics. If you’re not, then as Bluesky user Still last identified, he has a track record of anti-cycling infrastructure articles for the Telegraph. And a lot of articles…
His latest work is aimed once again at undermining the cycling credentials of Jeremy Vine, a man who last year said he would stop sharing his home-edits of bad driving encountered on his cycle to work due to the online abuse he received, but has continued to discuss the matter on his morning Channel 5 phone-in show. I’m afraid I’m not a regular viewer.
“Jeremy Vine’s favourite cycle lane causes 500 percent increase in accidents” goes the headline. The article leans heavily on a petition by David Tarsh, a man who is also behind several other anti-active travel petitions. The cycle lane targeted this time is on King Street in Hammersmith, part of Cycleway 9 which runs from the town centre to Waterman’s park. But as Leo Murray observed on Bluesky, the Telegraph’s data is rather selective to include this menace of a junction.
“The 0.8m stretch of Cycleway 9 on King St selected by Tarsh includes a notoriously dangerous junction where a side road gives access to the A4: Weltje Rd. Weltje also lies between two large secondary schools, and schoolchildren crossing it as well as cyclists in C9 are routinely hit by cars here.” Murray writes.
“This junction has been an obvious fail since day one of C9 opening. As the casualties racked up, the council carried out some minor tinkering to the junction design. It didn’t help.
“We (local Evil Cycling Lobby) have written to [Hammersmith and Fulham Council] & discussed the problems here with cabinet members & officers constantly for the last 5 years. But they are too afraid of the motorist backlash that Tarsh et al will whip up if they do the obvious thing to fix it: close Weltje Rd to the A4.”
Bird, for his part, writes that the bike lane “has been controversial because it involves a two-way cycle track built on a one-way street.
“The council was forced to install signs warning motorists joining King Street that they should look both ways for hazards, despite the route still being one-way for cars.”
I’m not quite sure why a warning sign constitutes such a disaster, but anyway. Vine is somehow relevant to the story because he once described the roundabout, before the Cycleway was opened, as resembling a scene out of Ben-Hur. Good to know the Telegraph understand their audience demographics.
Maybe the last word should go to Vine though, who shows some rather effective restraint.
“Causes a 1,000 per cent increase in cycling journeys” would be a better headline
📻 ‘Jeremy Vine’s favourite cycle lane causes 500pc increase in accidents’https://t.co/LiSfaR0Npr
— Jeremy Vine | Here, on Tiktok, Insta & Facebook (@theJeremyVine) June 6, 2026
Rohan Dennis in trouble again...
Police said officers stopped a 36-year-old man shortly after 4 pm on Thursday after observing him driving a vehicle, with two children as passengers.
The UCI confirms its place among the top International Federations for governance
Yep, as subject headings in an email go, that’s a mildly amusing one to receive!
The UCI is apparently oblivious to its inconsistent rule applications, its use of funds designated for Safer racing for dubious legal challenges and the general economic instability that continues to plague the sport, coupled with a head-in-the-sand attitude to race protests. But all hail the Sixth Review of International Federation Governance conducted by the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF). Because according to them (that?) everything is top notch.
“The results of the sixth edition of the ASOIF International Federations governance review once again confirm the UCI’s position as one of the leading sports organisations in terms of governance.” Director General Amina Lanaya says.
“We take great pride in this recognition and will continue to strengthen our governance standards in order to build on our progress in the years to come.”
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Onley finishes stage
And breathe…
Tombé dans la descente avant la montée finale, Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) en termine à 29’17” de Maxim van Gils sur cette 6e étape du #TourAuvergneRhoneAlpes.
Au général, Netcompany Ineos va devoir miser sur Kevin Vauquelin, 15e à 3’50”, et Carlos Rodriguez, 20e à 4’22”. pic.twitter.com/CKO4FcNAXY
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) June 12, 2026
Netcompany-Ineos have since confirmed that Onley crashed and that he “will be further assessed by our medical team”
Dauphiné: Stable splinters
What a ride by Luke Tuckwell! The Aussie made his way back to the front and set a pace he knew he can hold, he was riding into yellow after all! Torres dropped away, setting up a mountain sprint-a-trois. Led out by his teammate and new race leader, Van Gils was the favourite and duly delivered, kicking past the Norwegian Johannesen to take victory.
What a day for Red Bull Bora-hansgrohe! 🥳
Maxim van Gils takes the stage win and Luke Tuckwell moves into the leaders jersey! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/mZ6H4wl8kF
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) June 12, 2026
Meanwhile, Matteo Jorgenson dropped away with 1.7km remaining, and finally Del Toro started co-operating with Seixas. The two needed to work together if they’re to limit the losses and contest the overall. They come over the line 3’14” behind Van Gils, with Jorgenson a dozen seconds or so behind just ahead of the Lidl-Trek pair of Ayuso and Skjelmose. What a complete masterclass of an ambush by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and serious concerns have got to be raised of Netcompany-Ineos who were completely absent when it mattered most!
Update: In his post-stage interview, Matteo Jorgenson mentioned that Oscar Onley crashed and went over the road-side barriers on the final descent. We don’t have any more information yet, but we will bring it to you if we hear anything in the next hour or so.
Dauphiné: Break break the race
Georg Steinhauser, a Giro stage winner a couple of years ago, was first to attack but he was countered and passed by Tuckwell’s teammate Maxim Van Gils and Tobias Johannessen, who had been hiding very well in the big bunch and is not a threat for the overall. UAE’s young Pablo Torres later bridged to them.
Meanwhile in the peloton, Dorian Godon has set such a pace he seemed to lose his teammates behind. The acceleration is enough though to distance Alex Baudin from the peloton.
Here comes Seixas! No violent acceleration, not even a lift out of the saddle, just a move to the front and head down. Away drops Netcompany and Lidl-Trek, only Isaac Del Toro and Matteo Jorgenson can keep pace, and suddenly the gap to the front is down below 4 minutes. We have a race!
Bad news from Cannondale
It’s looking more and more likely that one of Luke Tuckwell or Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet could take the race lead today. For most of the climb, the gap between the Tudor/Astana/Movistar-led break and the Ineos led peloton has been static. That’s until with 1.5km to go of the first climb when Valentin Paret-Peintre attacked from the peloton, and joined two teammates who have been dropping back from the break.
An imaginative move from the diminutive French climber, and one that Carlos Rodriguez has latched on to. For now, they’re only 10-15 seconds ahead of the peloton but the attack has spurred a slight acceleration from the peloton, but only bringing the gap down below 4’30” over the top of the penultimate climb. Now a short, technical descent before a punchy final climb.
The front break is now 22-strong and comprises Bruno Armirail, who’s actually very close to Tuckwell on GC, Quinn Simmons who won earlier this week, and Jordan Jegat, 10th in the Tour de France last year.
Dauphiné: 55 running riot!
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have ridden themselves into the ground for Luke Tuckwell, and have stretched out the break’s lead to 4’50”. By the lower slopes, the break breaks up immediately, by my rough count down to around 20 riders. Meanwhile in the peloton, Lidl-Trek take over on the front, but again the peloton immediately fragments. Netcompany-Ineos are also moving up to position themselves for Onley and Vauquelin. Still no sign of the time gap moving though. 16km to go, 7km left of the first climb for the break.
When you need to carry s***, pedal!
> 120 redundancies at Cannondale as production facility to close
Wout van Aert out with injury, Alzini wins Tour des Pyrenees.
We have pictures and it’s true! Is it a 55 rider breakaway or a 70-odd strong autobus? Best placed on GC among the escapees is Red Bull’s Luke Tuckwell, a young Australian who was second in the baby Giro d’Italia last year. And with the break currently holding a 4 minute advantage Tuckwell is comfortably in the virtual race lead, his nearest rival being his companion up the road in Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet.
None of this is particularly to Alex Baudin and EF’s liking, who have put everyone’s favourite Black Country-Irishman Ben Healy on the front to help Decathlon in trying to peg the break back.
43km remaining, 4’10” the gap, and around 25km from the start of the finale.
Cycling UK "disappointed" by lack of commitment in new CWIS
Dear oh dear, Wout van Aert can’t quite catch a break. The morning after taking his first victory in Paris-Roubaix, the Belgian has withdrawn from the Dauphiné Tour Auvergne Rhône Alpes due to an elbow injury that the team say isn’t healing as intended.
“We don’t really understand why it has suddenly gotten worse than it was earlier this week. He will now go back to Belgium, where further medical tests will be carried out in hospital.” Maarten Wynants told Sporza.
At what point do we start putting Van Aert’s place on the startline of the Tour de France in doubt?
Meanwhile, we’re around 20 minutes from the first live pictures from the race formerly known as a Criterium. But it seems like there’s a 55 (Fifty-five) rider breakaway! More shortly…
One final bit of a racing round-up to bring you is the women’s Tour of the Pyrenees which got underway today. But despite the race’s name, today’s stage ended in a bunch sprint with Martina Alzini winning ahead of Federica Venturelli. Paris-Roubaix champion Franzi Koch was 4th.
Free Boris bikes for Cabbie candidates - as requested by the drivers themselves!
This Banksy-style mural of artist David Hockney, a native son of Yorkshire, UK, was painted on the wall of the Cross Roads Inn in West Yorkshire in anticipation of the region’s hosting of the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ
🎨Stewy
#RIPDavidHockney
— Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 12 June 2026 at 13:43
Dauphiné preview: surely a GC day
Today is Megan’s last day, but that’s no reason to take it easy just yet. Not when the fall-out from the Government’s latest Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy is continuing apace!
A factory error to end all factory errors?
Blimey, some unexpected good news for your Friday afternoon.
Candidates studying the Knowledge, the famous test required of all licensed taxi drivers in London, will be entitled to a year of free hire of a Santander Cycle, though perhaps better known as a Boris bike.
Starting next Monday, Knowledge candidates will be entitled to a free annual subscription that provides unlimited 60‑minute rides across the capital. And e-bikes are included! The offer will apply to around 1,300 students and aims to reduce the cost of training – which typically takes around three years – while also helping candidates build practical experience on the roads by learning central London’s road network more efficiently.
And the move has been championed by the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ association. General Secretary Steve McNamara says, “This is a fantastic initiative that will be welcomed by everyone in the Knowledge community.
“The process of learning every street, building, restaurant, club, pub, theatre, hospital and place of public interest is arduous, costly and very time consuming, this scheme will enable students to get around quickly, easily and for free at various times in their journey to becoming a London Cabbie.”
You know what else can be arduous, costly and very time consuming? Trying to navigate London by car. Maybe this partnership will cultivate a new generation of considerate taxi drivers, and encourage more understanding between different road users! One can dream…
Barcelona bans private bike share schemes from 2027, mayor slams e-bike “mess”
This has been one of the strangest Dauphiné’s I’ve seen, a race with only one bunch sprint, and with both pre-race favourites behind a host of other favourites for the overall victory. But today is an ideal chance for both Isaac Del Toro and Paul Seixas to start clawing back time on the likes of Matteo Jorgenson, Kevin Vauquelin and even Oscar Onley, whilst Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose will surely try and get in on the action.
Race leader Alex Baudin might fancy his chances of limiting his losses and remaining on GC, especially with a short descent breaking up the final hour of otherwise pretty relentless racing.
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@Global Nomad "’m still disappointed by some of the comments. I wonder if products from the US of Trump will get the same doubts, and perhaps we’ll soon be wondering about Germany too" Here is my take. There are lots of chinese wheels available nowadays, to the point its becoming over saturated with choice. And there are a lot of wheelsets that look a bargain and it would , on the face of it, appear so. But, I mention hubs as being an area that never spoken about, I almost think deliberately so. I will use this brand as an example only because they are one with a good reputation. - Roval CLX III retails price £2998 per set. Roval CL III retail price £1008 (prices from Specialzed website) Now the differences between the CLX and the CL? Spokes and hubs. That is it. The CLX have carbon composite spokes and proprietry hubs and the CL have steel round spokes with DT Swiss 350 hubs. Now the spokes will not be cheap but they aint costing 2 grand more. Where is that extra money going? its the hubs. The rims are identical. Same as they were on the CLX II & CL II . So if one brand can have a 2 grand difference in its wheelsets from the premium to the 'affordable' where do you think the Chinese brands are making their big savings? And when they are not branded and generic hubs you could pick up off Aliexpress its no wonder. So its down to hub quailty mostly, imo, and we have been told for years if not decades, a set of rims laced to top quality hubs - possibly handmade- will provide the best performance. Or was this all a lie?
@kingleo Not to condone not stopping, as I always stop, but no vehicle driver/rider actually has to stop if pedestrians are waiting to cross, it's a "should" not a "must" in the Highway Code and not stopping is not an offence. If pedestrians are on the crossing then it becomes a "must" and it is an offence not to do so. It's a confusing distinction and in my opinion could well be done away with to make it compulsory to stop in both instances, but at the moment it's not. (HC Rule 19, zebra crossings: "Drivers and riders should give way to pedestrians waiting to cross and MUST give way to pedestrians on a zebra crossing.")
I hope the third rider recovers ok. But they will always remember that day. I think the motor cycle and car driving tests Should include a practical test that lorry drivers do to (SUD) appreciate how vulnerable you are as a cyclist. Put everyone on a cycle stationary with your food on the kerb and have a vehicle drive past them at various speeds 20/30/60mph at 1.5 meters from the handlebars.
@mdavidford Pay me the same money for cycling as an MP, lawyer or banker and I'll take the hatred…
@belugabob Shurely numbered tabards, speed limits, licencing and insurance?
NFB UK - beetlejuice! (IIRC someone did a look at their campaigns and while noting they actually did the work of looking at this, noting that the selection of the very worst-looking things into brief clips could be used to suggest that it's terrible all the time, rather than say 1 or 2 close calls per day and a handful of people having to wait for say 10-20 sec. (Try that on a main road!) What we have here is "cycling growing in a 3rd or 4th class environment". So pedestrians and (some) cyclists expect cyclists to behave rather like drivers of motor vehicles. Hence "cross only at marked crossings, don't start to cross until all traffic has come to a stop". And also probably cyclist ignorance / confusion about the rules on "new" infra. (Plus it's just bad engineering to require cyclists to stop completely too often. It's the equivalent of requiring drivers not just to stop but turn the engine off and get out of the vehicle). Having a large number of cyclists in one place may be because they've been channeled there by the infra - or rather the lack of it elsewhere. * If the Dutch case is anything to go by "behaviour will adjust" as things improve for cycling and more people do so. The average speed of cyclists will come down with a wider demographic and people cycling getting out of the mentality of "gotta keep up with the motor vehicles" **. People on foot and on cycles will learn to negotiate with each other - so those cycling slow a little, and those waiting to cross learn that it's feasible and safe to cross when those cycling haven't all come to a stop. (This is something which simply doesn't work safely enough with motor traffic but is possible with the (bio)mechanics of cycling / cyclists). * Problems of success - in some places in NL they do think there are too many cycling at certain times ... so they don't put up signalised crossings or "cyclists must stop" signs, they add alternative routes! ** This is assuming we do a bit more about keeping the numbers and speeds of "e-things" down...
Whilst I agree that six seconds improvement and the logics of this review are flawed, I'm still disappointed by some of the comments. I wonder if products from the US of Trump will get the same doubts, and perhaps we'll soon be wondering about Germany too. There are plenty of better reviews out there and places where individual manufacturers are considered rather than stereotyping by nation.
Personally, I am a bit puzzled. These wheels are Chinese, but not directly of the most affordable kind. So what is now the take of this article? Checking whether expensive Chinese wheels can match expensive known-brand wheels? You didn't do that. Checking whether changing the wheelset can transform an affordable bicycle? In that case, it's more logical to go for more affordable wheels. This article only proves that if you replace pedestrian stock wheels with lighter and more aero wheels, that you get a nicer bike. And that it is maybe a questionable decision to upgrade an affordable bike with expensive wheels.
I lead Sunday morning rides through Sole Street sometimes, and I've hardly seen a car at all on those roads. On the A and B roads, yes, but on those little roads, no. it's so sad and horrible to hear about this.
It's much more serious than that. I recently had a text from a Chinese number suggesting that I transfer £500 to a Chinese govt bank account, or they would let all of my Wattsap contacts know that in July, I rode 593 miles at an average speed of 16.8 mph and didn't use a heartrate monitor. I had no option but to pay up. I am terrified that they will come back with more demands.
9 thoughts on “Telegraph claim Jeremy Vine’s “favourite” cycle lane is controversial… for making drivers look both ways at junction; Cabbies welcome free Boris bikes for Knowledge candidates; GC action expected at Dauphiné + more on the live blog”
0.8m of cycleway does seem an extremely selective focus. Do we know which side of the junction those 80cm fall on?
@mdavidford
I’m not familiar with Jeremy Vine’s favourite cycle lane. However I do have sympathy with drivers if they have to deal with “Look both ways for cyclists” as well as “One Way” and “No Entry” signs. Especially if the driver is not familiar with the junction.
In principle, it shouldn’t matter if you’re familiar with a particular junction – that’s precisely why we have (relatively) uniform signage across the country (I had this from a driver recently – Him: sorry, I don’t know the area. Me: but a no entry sign is the same everywhere…). But in practice in a busy environment like this, simply adding another sign saying look out for cyclists is limited help.
I don’t love cycling on contraflows / a two way cyclelane on a one way street for that reason. In fact there’s a crossing I don’t love as a pedestrian which is look right (bikes) look left (bikes) look right (cars), island, catch breath, look left (cars), look left (bikes). (Yes, you could wait for a green man, but then it’s still look everywhere (Deliveroo)).
You are quite correct about uniform signage.
However this seems to be a fairly atypical set up. Having experience and knowledge of it would in theory make mistakes less likely.
Part of my job involved writing operating and maintenance procedures for food manufacturing machinery. I quickly learnt that people need to be given direct, simple, non-conflicting, non-ambiguous instructions. If it is possible to make mistakes, then they will be made. The best of of avoiding a mistake is to design flaws out of the system.
Alas it’s another part of “because cars / ‘change’, we can’t just copy a well-proven design eg. from NL”
On top of this is the UK “not invented here” making it up / no expertise or standard designs AND a “we must fit cyclists in around existing road space” causing strange contorted layouts.
So what happens is we get things like bi-directional cycle *lanes* (not separated cycle paths) because cheapest / easiest to patch in. So that means that pedestrians don’t have a space to wait *after* crossing the cycle space and *before* they have to deal with the road.
(It also puts another block in the way of cycling convenience at traffic lights – say at a T-junction – because unlike NL the lights then apply to cyclists going straight on, whereas in NL that would be an informal cycle path crossing for pedestrians with no lights applying to the cycle path part – so cyclists just keep rolling).
I do not in anyway support the Daily Telegraph’s continually mad anti-cycling journalism but, it must be said, that this particular section of cycle lane on King Street in Hammersmith has been an absolute disaster ever since it re-opened. It certainly wasn’t perfect for cyclists before but ever since they remodelled the cycle lane to run as a two way lane on one side of the road it has become much much more dangerous and confusing for pedestrians, drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists alike. I’m not saying that all cycling infrastructure is badly designed but, on my 12 mile commute from home in South London to work at the West end of King Street, this cycleway is where I feel most unsafe. It’s not an inditement on active travel but it should be a lesson in planning because it’s been closed on 5 or 6 occasions since to be remodelled to correct issues that should’ve been obvious before it opened. I have been using this road to get to work since long before the re-modelling and it has definitely, in my opinion, worsened not just the safety of cyclists but also the relationship between drivers and cyclists in this area.
So we can add time travel to his list of talents? Is there nothing the man can’t do?
I think the Santander / Knowledge hook up is great. Hopefully a lot of potential cabbies will use it and thereby get some empathy with their ‘knowledge’. Cabbies think they own the roads in London. They are not the worst, but they do like to pass very close, manoeuvre without signalling and just stop wherever it suits them. A year on a cycle might help them to understand what it’s like when a line of waiting cabs is idling on a cycle route blocking the lane as they wait for a fare.