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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Just call them electric motorbikes, or e-motorbikes. Stick a battery in a car and your still a motorist, but stick a battery in a motorbike and suddenly you're a cyclist - why?
Note: These saddles might not work for you if you don't meet all of these requirements: A. Ride at least 30 hours per week. B. Have a minimal amount of your weight on the saddle because 1) your bars are super-low for maximum aerodynamics, 2) you're pushing 300+ watts into the pedals most of the day, 3) you weigh at most 65 kg. If these things aren't true for you, then you should ignore what saddles pro' riders are using and find something that's more appropriate for your type of riding style, frequency and physique.
The last competitive cycling event I entered also happened to be a warm-up for the Paris Paralympics for Sarah Storey. She had the quickest time in a 10-mile time trial. It's fair to say I didn't trouble the leaders' board (something of an understatement...). A legendary athlete. I'd have Pogačar, though, obvs!
@ktache Sickening, ain't it? Someone should take him aside and say look mate, you're already pretty much guaranteed GOAT status, do you have to be the coolest and seemingly one of the nicest as well? Didn't go to my predictions today, anyway, I thought he and Jonas would summit Tourmalet together and then Pogacar would take maybe 25-30 seconds on the final climb. He's unpredictable in his predictability, shall we say!
It may be a little predictable, but he is magnificent. He even looks good in white shorts...
This is an expensive vacuum flask, and as a water purification system, it's a non-starter compared to: https://www.pureclearfilters.co.uk/filters/ This also deals with viruses
@GravelIsNothingNew Just finished watching the whole stage today flag to flag, really enjoyed seeing Pogacar showing us how he thinks winning is irrelevant. Definitely couldn't have cared less about winning, no sir.
Unfortunately while we (probably) know what he means, technically if " BBC amends the language in the article so that it refers to ‘illegal e-bikes’ throughout, rather than just ‘e-bikes’ "... ... then they'll still be inaccurate. As (last I checked) it's the use of the machines for riding anywhere other than on private land that is illegal *. ... although that might be good propaganda? Certainly I wouldn't mind at all if there was also more done to steer sellers away from flogging them to the public with nothing but possibly a warning buried on page 94 of the manual. * That is, without them being type-approved. And then assuming that's done and they fall under the motorbike rules getting a suitable licence (driver would need to be old enough), insurance, paying any tax, then riding them *only* in accordance with those rules eg. only on (some) roads always wearing a suitable helmet and having the machine pass MOTs as required ... is this right? Obviously you could still legally use them as eg. a paperweight most places...
Presumably that just reflects what they normally get sent in for review, and this just got reviewed because the maker decided to send it. One of the first few reviews on their site is from someone who uses it for cycling, but they're using it as storage, and then filling bidons from it when they want to use it.
The technology works, has been in use for decades (e.g. google 'steripen'). That one got me safely through India over a 3-month period. Trust me, it works. The water has to be potable because if flocculent material is present, all bets are off (should be pre filtered first). Also, the liquid has to be clear (transparent to visible light). It works not by outright killing micro-organisms but by damaging their DNA/RNA so they can't replicate anymore. The idea is good but obviously, this has never been developed for on-bike use.
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.