“Moronic” cyclists should pay road tax and have number plates, demands one newspaper reader; Macron intervenes to keep Paul Seixas at Decathlon; Wout van Aert’s bikes go on sale as Visma auction away their clothes + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Road tax? Tick. Number plates? Tick. Insults? Bingo!
Yep, unfortunately we couldn’t keep talking about Paris-Roubaix all week, not when other more pressing matters came to our attention, like this belter of a letter published in the Wirral Globe.
The reader wishes to remain anonymous, as would I if I were peppering local legacy media outlets with such ramblings, but doesn’t wish to offer the same such privacy to cyclists on the road. Morons and fools, the lot of them.
“Aside from all the e-bike/scooter complaints/issues,” our author writes, “there is an ever growing dangerous issue of the normal bicycle, being ridden by either moronic, uncaring or uneducated cyclists.
“Seemingly, it is legally an offence to ride on public footpaths unless 10 and under. Well, tell that to all the numerous teenagers / older cyclists who are committing that offence, with no thought as to pedestrians / other road users, plus riding straight through red traffic lights.” The reader goes on to stress that these are things he has seen first-hand and not just gossip on the street. But then comes the slam dunk…
“Speed cameras very rarely catch those moronic actions, cyclists, especially the teen agers need to be educated on the use of bikes, by the Sellers of bikes/other agencies or should all bikes have registration plates like vehicles, pay road tax/insurance to cover is sues they may cause.
“As they are deemed as legal road users, should they not contribute for the roads upkeep?”
Incredible content, no fact-checking, naturally. Why let facts get in the way of a nice bit of rage-excision? But, for the record, road tax has not existed in Britain for around a century, Vehicle Excise Duty – the tax which I reckon the reader is thinking off – cannot be paid by cyclists because a bike is not a motor vehicle (thanks Pub bike in the comments). Unless of course a cyclist is also a driver, which most of them are! And you’ll never guess which road users are causing damage to the surface and requiring repairs…
Our thanks to letter sections, giving us a mild chuckle in the morning when we need it most!
Resident backlash over Mallorca cyclotourists but minister plays down concerns of littering and bad manners
Today's racing: Johansen wins as Yates stays in contention
In the week between the end of the cobbled classics and the start of the Ardennes Classics, the racing schedule is rather light, but before the Tour of Hainan gets underway in the early hours of tomorrow morning, we’ve got O Gran Camino stage race to kneel before.
You may remember it as the weather-affected stage race that Jonas Vingegaard used to kick-start his season a couple of years ago, before Derek Gee-West won last year’s edition. This year, to solve the persistent weather-inflicted truncations, they’ve moved the race from February to April, albeit still with a short time trial to kick things off.
At the age of 37, having not won a time trial for the best part of a decade, Nelson Oliveira looked close to victory before being pipped by compatriot Rafael Reis, himself a former national time trial champion and riding for the Portuguese Continental Anicolor team.
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But then came Julius Johansen, a blonde Danish rouleur with long hair who was himself plucked from Anicolor by UAE Team Emirates last year. After leading at both time splits, Johansen completed the 15km TT in 17’43” to take his first professional victory. With a hillier parcourse later in the week, Adam Yates rode well to finish 6th. The veteran Brit looks well-placed to battle with Visma’s young Norwegian Jørgen Nordhagen for the overall, after the 21-year-old finished 4th.
Insane volcano climbing
Today’s bit of long-form video content comes from Mauna Kea, the massive Hawaiian volcano that has seen several pros past and present attempt to climb it as fast as possible.
The climb starts in the ocean and is a whopping 89km long and involves more than 4000m of elevation gain, with many of the steepest gradients coming on gravel sections near the top. Taking on the mountain is former Leadville MTB champion Hannah Ott, aiming to set a new Fastest Known Time in the process…
By order of Le President
Blimey, a hell of a story from Spanish Eurosport this morning.
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Paul Seixas, the 19-year-old prodigy who romped to victory in the Itzulia Tour of the Basque Country last week, might need some presidential intervention to be persuaded to stay at his current (French) team Decathlon CMA CGM, according to Edgar Saiz Pernia.
With his results and trajectory currently outstripping Tadej Pogacar at his age, there is unimaginable hope and expectation that Seixas could be the rider to break the more than 40-year barren spell of French riders failing to win the Tour de France. And it seems as though several bigwigs are anxious to ensure that such a feat would happen on a French team.
Eurosport say that Macron, who is due to leave office in May 2027, is keen to “offer his full willingness and support to the Decathlon team to tackle the renewal” of Seixas’ contract, which is due to expire at the end of next year. They add that Macron, a regular at the Tour de France as a guest of the race organisers, has even spoken to Seixas’ manager about his contract.
Whilst Decathlon, who replaced AG2R as title sponsor, are investing heavily in their squad, including with the formation of a women’s team next year, there are concerns as to whether the team can match the support and resources of other teams, with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Ineos Grenadiers and even UAE Team Emirates-XRG linked with the Frenchman.
Eurosport have drawn a comparison with Macron’s previous intervention in the contract negotiations of Paris Saint-Germain footballer Kylian Mbappé in 2022, convincing the French winger to renew his contract with the team. Mbappé was later quoted as saying “it really is crazy. The president calls and asks you to stay.”
But, if the Decathlon bosses are looking for an omen, they might prefer to look away, with Mbappé leaving the team to transfer to Real Madrid just two years later, with a year remaining on his contract.
£500,000 cycle lane criticised as “dangerous”... because delivery lorries and buses stop in it
> £500,000 cycle lane criticised as “dangerous” as delivery lorries and buses stop in the lane
Yellow jerseys for sale!
I didn’t expect to be writing about so many auctions today but here we are! But at least this one is mildly affordable, for now at least.
Visma-Lease a Bike have put their skinsuits, jerseys and memorabilia up for auction. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot’s yellow jersey from the Tour de France podium is there, as is Jonas Vingegaard’s skinsuit from his winning at Paris-Nice last month. There are also skinsuits from the entire men’s team that rode the Tour of Flanders 9 days ago, and a hospitality day at the Giro d’Italia. There’s something quite surreal about the whole auction, both that cycling – such a niche sport here – has enough of an audience to sell their worn wares, and that Visma, as big and successful a team as they are, are feel the need to sell so much of their stuff to the highest bidder.
Anyway, Wout van Aert’s skinsuit from his oh-so-close second place in Dwaars door Vlaanderen currently leads the bidding, but there are currently some rather cheap offerings further down…
Timo Kielich and Per Strand Hagenes’ signed bib numbers are currently under £30 whilst Olympic Gold Medallist Owain Doull’s signed skinsuit is currently going for less than the retail price!
What a time to be alive, although that’s probably enough auction content for not just today but probably this week.
Tubolito adds real-time pressure monitoring to its TPU inner tubes with new SYNCD system
Bluetooth in the bicycle!
> Tubolito adds real-time pressure monitoring to its TPU inner tubes with new SYNCD system
ReCycle Hubs to refurbish and redistribute unwanted bikes
We reported at the weekend on increasing numbers of cyclists in major cities, but persistent issues of affordability and accessibility. It seems like a good time then for this initiative to be launched.
The Lloyd’s ReCycle Hubs, launched by British Cycling will encourage people with unused bikes in the home to donate their bikes to local shops and community hubs where they can be refurbished and distributed to those who will benefit most from them. The British Cycling Foundation can provide grant funding, guidance and mentoring for the scheme that has already experienced a successful pilot in five locations across England and Wales, including at Ay Up Community Bikes in Derby, pictured above. They say the project’s aim is “to change lives by improving people’s social mobility whilst also bringing about positive environmental impacts to local communities.”
One of the pilot locations was the Re Cycle In’ Cafe in Stockport, where Sandra Davenport volunteers. She says “Re Cycle In’ was born from a passion to help our community fix their bikes instead of throwing them away. Since May, we’ve been repairing wheels in Heaton Norris with a focus on both bicycles and the environment. This funding gives us the chance to grow, support even more people, and inspire our community to embrace the power of pedal-driven change.”
And, if you, or someone you know, might be interested in starting a hub, either within a bike shop, club or community organisation, you can read more details here.
Pogačar's ripped Milan-Sanremo jersey sells for €95,100
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Signed by his teammates, lightly coated in blood, sweat and Italian road rash, the jersey will raise nearly €200,000 for his own foundation after the World Champion pledged to match the winning bid in donations. The lot had been hovering around €72,000 before a late surge from an anonymous bidder.
Could we see a similar auction if the Slovenian can complete the Monument set at Paris-Roubaix in the future?
One more slightly different race recap...
You’d hope there would be a similarly ingenious women’s recap as ingenious as well, if only the broadcasters had shown more than the last hour and a half.
The attention to detail here though is fantastic…
Fancy a Paris-Roubaix winner's bike?
Ok it’s not Sunday’s winning machine, but Visma Lease-a-bike and Bikeroom have used Van Aert’s weekend exploits as the perfect excuse to put two of his 2024 Cervelo S5’s up for sale. That year, Van Aert bounced back from injury in the cobbled classics to win three stages and wear the leader’s jersey in the Vuelta a Espana. He came close to winning the points and mountains jersey in that race before suffering a terrible knee injury (whose scars remain to this day) in the final week.
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The bikes themselves? Yours for £11,721…
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And I don’t know when you wrote this but I think it was published 9 days after Onley was confirmed out of the Tour.
Paul Seixas’ team is Decathlon CMA CGM
The best thing about the TTT as Stage 1 is that it emphasises the fact that cycling grand tours incl the TDF are a team sport.
If you click through and read the story you'll see that the first motorist hit the cyclist, and the second, following, motorist then also hit them while they were lying in the road - both were convicted of causing the cyclist's death.
I may be reading far too much into it, but I felt as though Pogacar and UAE weren't actually that bothered about winning today. Not having yellow to defend and all the extra press etc to do this early in the race is an indisputable advantage; I just got the impression that they were out to lose no more than a handful of seconds but not to bury themselves for the win. With about 2.5kms to go I thought that if Pogacar really wanted it he would have gone from there, but he stayed with Del Toro for nearly another kilometre even though the body language was saying that no way was Del Toro in as good shape as Pogacar. Even after the finish he didn't seem as wiped out as Ganna (whom I don't think I've ever seen quite so shattered) or Jonas. As I say, might be reading too much into it but I would not be surprised if UAE had played a very clever hand not to lose any meaningful time but to avoid the burden of yellow from the get go.
@tomlew It's not his youth so much as his inexperience. He's never ridden a race longer than eight days before. Pogacar won his first Tour, it's true, but he'd already finished a Vuelta. There's simply to much for him to learn and become accustomed to in my opinion for him to have a realistic chance of victory, particularly as he's up against probably the greatest of all time and a double Tour winner, both of whom seem to be at the peak of their powers. It's not entirely beyond the bounds of possibility but he'd need a hatful of luck and something fairly catastrophic to happen to both of those guys before he'd realistically be in with a shout. Don't forget nobody has won their first Grand Tour since Hinault in 1978, forty-eight years is a hell of a lot of precedent.
There is no rational reason for a rider this young not to dominate the race, other than some of us believing this is "not right" based purely on opinion. Younger athletes recover much, much faster. They adapt more easily. They are typically more eager to take risks, which is... well, risky, but could pay off big time if the stars align. Burnout? Yes, that is a risk. But it's not a given. See how long Leo Messi has been absolutely top-notch. The risks are high, but the potential is even more so. And even if Seixas does burn out early, it may just be his choice despite the awareness of the risk. If I were a prodigy cyclist youngster with a realistic shot at winning, I might take it even if I knew it might be the end of my career. After all, it's winning the TdF we're talking about!
@Rendel Harris Let's turn this around. One can hack their electronic shifting and nobody will believe them!
I’m confused: “ A driver who took a selfie, watched videos and sent messages at the wheel before killing a cyclist was jailed for five years, whilst a hit-and-run motorist who subsequently struck the same rider….” How does that work? Resurrection? Did the poor unfortunate cyclist recover from his/her case of death, only to be hit by a motorist again? Please, I don’t mean to make light of either case, merely to point out the poor/lazy journalism….
It was certainly an exciting watch today. Surprised that INEOS selected Ganna and Tarling. It felt like win at all costs and they didn't quite manage it. Personally I would rather see more riders having to stay together till the finish. It will reduce opportunities for teams to "rest" climbing domestiques and it preserves the spectacle and identity of the TTT discipline. Great start to the tour. Vingegaard is obviously in outstanding shape, but will he pay for today's effort later on.
34 thoughts on ““Moronic” cyclists should pay road tax and have number plates, demands one newspaper reader; Macron intervenes to keep Paul Seixas at Decathlon; Wout van Aert’s bikes go on sale as Visma auction away their clothes + more on the live blog”
Road.cc wrote “Incredible content, no fact-checking…” “because a bike is not a vehicle”
Are you sure about this? A quick check would suggest that bicycles are considered vehicles by the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of which the UK is a signatory and under the Road Traffic Act 1988.
Do you mean “motor vehicle”?
Yes….
Bicycles are indeed vehicles, as per the Oxford dictionary definition, and RTA 1988 etc.
Which is why I utilise EV charging stations for my (road legal) pedal-assist electric bicycle (aka e-bike) 👍
Meanwhile in other news “Eleven Metropolitan Police officers are being investigated by the police watchdog for their handling of the initial inquiry into a crash in Wimbledon that killed two schoolgirls three years ago, the BBC has been told.” See BBC article “Misconduct inquiry over fatal schoolgirl crash” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1d96220wyro
If this is how the Met Police treat very serious road traffic incidents I wonder how close passes are dealt with?
I’m not sure what to think about this tragedy.
It will be interesting to see what other facts come out.
It would appear that the police investigation was substandard and complacent. The police response could well have been dictated by the wealth and background of the driver and bereaved parents.
Had the incident taken place at a school in a deprived run down part of the UK, the investigation would have been closed a couple of years ago and not reopened.
I think it is appalling that police response varies with wealth of those involved and likely media response.
If this is how the Met Police treat very serious road traffic incidents I wonder how close passes are dealt with?
Wonder no longer, because I can tell you! They’re either blatantly ignored by the police as in Lancashire or various standard dodges are deployed to ensure that nothing serious happens to the offender: such as Gloucestershire Police’s ‘there must be proof the cyclist was inconvenienced’ and Kent Police’s ‘if there’s no KSI ‘d cyclist, there was no offence’ (to be more accurate, I think they said that if there’s no collision, they’re not interested in looking at the video and they do nothing at all’. Sometimes, the police make up stories about taking action, but they won’t tell you what it was which probably means they spoke to the driver, sent him an advice letter or even (shock, horror! arranged for them to attend, in person or online, the joke driving course). What they don’t do is prosecute anybody (of course, prosecution must have happened VERY rarely), so don’t believe any of this ‘we’ve sent a NIP, so you won’t hear any more’. They have loads of standard tricks to abandon a NIP!
Video reports recently ignored by Lancashire Police :
ttps://upride.cc/incident/hk21rxt_focus_dangerousdriving/
ttps://upride.cc/incident/sk19evu_stagecoach42_closepass/
ttps://upride.cc/incident/yx68uwz_stagecoach42_closepass/
To view, just add ‘h’ to the beginning of the URL
Or, indeed, at all, when it came to the women’s race.
Well said.
If I look at all the storys and reviews (On this site and other rival pages) There is hardly any content exclusively talking about the Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
I can see story after story about the mens race, the riders, the bikes, the tyre glue or pedal f*** ups but hardly a thing on the womens race.
Yet all these cycling pages like to bang the drum on equality and promoting women cycling yet ignore it totally when one of the biggest races of the calendar happens.
“Seemingly, it is legally an offence” – “I didn’t bother looking this up because I’m better than everyone else and the law follows my whims”
Isn’t it getting a bit old hat just to recycle the dribbling of gammons from local newspapers? We can see great slicks of this verbal diarrhoea anywhere on the Internet where cycling is mentioned, not sure we need to see it repeated on such a regular basis on the live blog, especially when there are certain other things that are rather important in the world of road cycling such as the Paris Roubaix Femmes which, unbelievably, still haven’t warranted a mention here (apart from one small item in the live blog about the 10th place finisher crashing).
Hear, hear!
I’m going to speak up for the site management here! I agree with the criticism of the failure to report the women’s Roubaix, but I certainly don’t blame them for a short piece reminding us of just how dim the anti-cyclist commenters are. Not all of us spend a lot of time on social media, so some of these gems would pass us by- even though they are clichéd, repetitive and unimaginative.
Occasionally, fine, or if there is something particularly foolish or notable about the ranting, but it’s pretty much weekly if not more often now and it’s the same thing over and over again.
The site silence almost implies that they know they have made the mistake but are just ignoring the comments in the hopes that everyone will forget.
I don’t recall them even mentioning who won the race.
Number plates for cyclists? Seems about as reasonable as having someone with a red flag walk in front of every car. Seems a reasonable quid pro quo to be honest, where do I sign up for it?
one imagines they mean for the bike being ridden, much like motor vehicles have a VRN. neither must openly identify the operator without a V888 or s172 request.
I suspect you’re giving them just a little more credit for having thought through the details than they deserve.
i’m trying optimism. limited results so far.
I’ve heard of that – it was a thing in the 90s, right?
Can mine be 1.6m wide and stick out to the side?
In case anyone is interested the UK Government is consulting on proposed tougher penalties for driving offences. Link and some guidance on how to respond from CUK here :
https://www.cyclinguk.org/campaigns/safe-roads-traffic-offenses-and-law/road-justice/respond-motoring-offences-consultation
That’s a great shout, Bungle. We should all be interested.
I would add that the ‘hardship’ defence/loophole should be disallowed
They do mention that in their suggested response for the last ‘any other evidence or comments’ question.
As always, tougher penalties might sound great (and in theory should have some deterrent effect) …
… BUT the police have to bother to bring it to the CPS, the CPS have to bring it to court (on the actual “tough” charge rather than the lowest “should be able to get *this* “careless driving”…) AND the court has to convict.
If most drivers even thought about punishments (open question…) those who spent more than a second or so on research would see their chance of serious sanction will still likely be minimal.
Here: driver didn’t secure his crane.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgk39n05yyo
Result: one death, and he was convicted of death by *careless* driving – 13 month sentence.
If cyclists killed and injured thousands of people a year, like motorists, they would be admired and respected like car drivers.
The so called Road tax pays for big road infrastructure like bridges and motorways, goverment pays county councils out of a central fund and they decide each year where to spend that cash to the road agency.
The local councils pay for local road upkeep from the council tax.
So if you pay council tax you are already paying to ride on public roads.
Perhaps the car user would like us to pay his “road tax” which would then then allow us to hold him up on a motorway ?
Nah I did not think so LOL
Not quite true. Local roads are paid for by council tax and government funding to councils (paltry admittedly).
How about “Moronic newspaper reader should pay for a brain with enough cells that would allow him/her to focus on the number of people killed and seriously injured by drivers and the fact that what is being called for doesn’t exactlt work well with vehicles.
Did you really type that with a straight face and a clear conscience, Callum, given the complete lack of any reports on the women’s race on these pages? Sorry to sound like the teacher I once was but I’m really disappointed with road.cc on this one, you’ve paid much lip service to equality for women’s racing in the past and yet you’ve completely ignored one of the biggest women’s races of the year.
Point of order – there were two preview articles about it on Sunday:
But limited / no reporting of the actual race.
Macron is becoming the European version of a mini-Trump who fails to attract attention.
If Seixas wins 3 or 5 more races this year, his agent will likely ask for 2 or 3 million euros per year. The man with the deep pockets is Franco-Lebanese billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of CMA CGM group. One shall bear in mind that, due to the American war in the Middle East, GCC sheikhdoms and shipping companies will see revenues and profits drop significantly.
Yeah, because Decathlon, with their $15.6 billion annual revenue, will have real trouble coming up with a couple of extra millions to keep the hottest prospect in French sport and if they did have to ask their co-sponsor for a sub, with $52 billion revenue last year they’d definitely say no.
Perhaps the headline should read moronic drivers don’t realise it’s illegal for drivers to drive their cars on the pavements, like most do these days to park.
Nothing like the sound of a stroppy scouser in the morning.