Driver on race course AGAIN days after rider protest; News site criticised for rehashing year old survey on cyclists and red lights… then filming in car; Cyclists offered police film viewing or fine; First GB track worlds medal + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Unacceptable vehicle infiltration
How many times does it happen? Two days after Lombardia saw the start delayed due to a rider protest over inaction on race safety, it’s happened again. And in the Netherlands no less.
Stage one of the Eneco Tour (that’s the revived Tour of Holland, not the same race as a decade ago that now call itself the Renewi Tour – cycling is fun) and a small breakaway up the road avoids an incident after the driver of a large car pulls over, presumably having pulled out from one of the houses on the left.
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On a not particularly wide road, imagine if it were the peloton approaching, some of whom may not have seen the car until the last moment. Or imagine if the car pulled out and started driving in the opposite direction.
To recap, there were three separate instances of driver enterings the race course in Italy last week, several on circuits. Most notably, a police motorcycle going the wrong way collided with two riders in the peloton, one of whom required stitches to his knee.
Tom Pidcock, Ben Healy and Remco Evenepoel subsequently led Sunday’s protest at Il Lombardia, whilst yesterday I asked Thierry Gouvenou and Fabian Wegmann their thoughts on rider safety and race organisation. You’ll be able to hear their thoughts in the coming days, including a small scoop on a SafeR cycling initiative. Emphasis however on the word small…
Racing round-up: sprints, climbs, and still McNulty falling short
Seems like the off-season hasn’t quite arrived in Europe yet. In the Eneco Tour, subject of the driver on the course leading our live blog at the moment, Tim Merlier took his 13th win of the season by outsprinting Dylan Groenewegen. But after winning yesterday’s prologue, Jakob Söderqvist retains his race lead by less than a second.
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The same can’t be said of the women’s race though, where Sandrine Tas won today’s stage and took over the race lead from Lieke Nooijen in the process. With another time trial planned for both races tomorrow, much could change however.
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They’re also still racing in Italy, and Brandon McNulty is still trying to get a win in the rainbow bands. He attacked today in the Giro del Veneto but couldn’t stay away, leaving Alessandro Covi to take the win in a reduced bunch sprint.
In the women’s race Liane Lippert dropped her rivals, including Elisa Longo Borghini, on the final climb to cross the line solo…
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Is it a hack?
If you have more time and money than sense, then you never need to pump up your indoor trainer front tyre again.
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As editor Jack observed however, “Think I pump up the tyre on my trainer bike about once every six months, takes just over a minute each time. So it would take over a decade to make the time back, not to mention the cost of the fancy vinyl tubing.”
Red light reporting warning
Cyclists jumping red lights is a never-ending subject. In contrast it feels like the topic of drivers jumping red lights is seldom discussed, but what can we do?
WalesOnline has jumped on this topic however, spurred on by the darkening nights and the descent towards winter. “As the nights start to get darker, now may be a good time to revisit some of the rules around cycling – especially if you’ll be riding on early autumn mornings or evenings and need lights and reflectors.”
Fine, whatever. This is the click-driven economy after all, we know how this works. So what new angle and insight are they going to bring to this story?
“In July 2025, a survey of London cyclists found that more than half admitted they regularly jumped red lights.”
A year-old survey of London cyclists propping up a WalesOnline article? Doesn’t feel ideal, but hey, data gathering is hard. Maybe there’s a new angle they can apply, maybe some new legal opinions/insight that can be added?
“Barrister Daniel J. ShenSmith addressed this very question in a 2021 video for his YouTube channel.”
2021! That’s four Prime Ministers ago, come on! Heck it’s three Welsh First Ministers ago.
The law hasn’t changed, to be clear, but surely that’s also a reason it’s not story-worthy. But WalesOnline have decided to make a social media video summarising the article. Besides, people don’t have the attention span to read anymore clearly, so a video is clearly the way to go. Now, where shall they film their video?
A car. You couldn’t make it up. The video also refers to last year’s survey as recent and the results in the present tense, which seems somewhat dubious – and doesn’t make reference to who the legal expert is. It’s disappointing all round.
Of course, we’re not ignorant of the forces at play driving this sort of content. The free journalism economy demands attention-grabbing stuff like this, and receives exactly some of the comments you might expect, though there’s also a fair share of pushback thankfully.
In a similar way, our live blog often does well when we dissect how other outlets report about cycling. Today’s case study, and this blog entry, are just the latest example of the way the wind is blowing. A pity…
Cargo bike calculations
I’m a fan of a ballast as much as the next person, so an 11kg rock on the back wheel is eminently sensible if also a slightly annoying addition here…
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But it seems to me like our rider can’t properly see where he’s going! Hopefully the traders still satiating themselves with AI monstrosities from last week don’t see this…
GB settle for silver after mechanical
We have our first medal, though it’s not the colour Emma Finucane, Sophie Capewell and Rhianna Paris-Smith would have wanted.
In the team sprint final against China, Britain started quicker only for Sophie Capewell’s saddle to break, allowing China to take a lead they couldn’t haul back on the final lap. If you watch the race back you can just about see Capewell wobble on the bike before the camera cuts around 23 seconds in.
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Still, the result is nothing to be ashamed about and puts GB on the medal table in these championships.
In the men’s sprint, without Matt Richardson, a hastily assembled trio of Harry Leddingham-Horn, Edward Lowe and Joe Truman lost their heat to Australia and finished sixth overall. Australia’s time qualified them for the final where they lost to the unstoppable Dutch trio of Van den Berg, Hoogland and Lavreysen.
I should add that these championships are on BBC iPlayer for the rest of the week and will be on free-to-air linear television over the weekend. Lovely stuff!
Anti-doping agency apologises for "disrespectful" testing
When news broke of Valentina Cavallar’s anti-doping ordeal, we were keen to see if the authority had anything to say. It turns out they certainly do…
Britain fighting for bronze in men's Team Pursuit
Happy Track World Championships day to all who celebrate, and with the racing taking place in Shanghai we can tell you live what is happening!
Sadly the British quartet of Noah and Henry Hobbs, Ethan Vernon and Matt Bostock lost their qualifying heat to a Filippo Ganna-led Italian quartet.
But their 4km qualifying time was good enough to fight for the bronze medal against France a little later this afternoon. Earlier today, the women’s quartet of Erin Boothman, Anna Morris, Millie Couzens and Josie Knight qualified fastest and will face the Netherlands in their heat tomorrow.
Meanwhile, remember Lorena Wiebes winning every stage of the Tour of Chongming Island last week, often beating Lara Gillespie? The Dutch sprint supremo has done it again to win her third rainbow jersey in the scratch race. But she had to work for it!
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Roadside instructions
It’s turning into an unexpectedly red light-heavy live blog today, with news that City of London Police are holding roadside presentations for offending cyclists at Bank Junction, with the aim of deterring them from such behaviour in the future.
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The alternative, if they don’t fancy taking a few minutes out of their day is a fine issued on the spot. We actually covered the announcement, and what had spurred it on in some detail earlier this year, though this is the first time I recall seeing the strategy in action.
Here’s the force’s own description of their activity:
“The film showcases the potentially devastating consequences of dangerous cycling, as well as highlighting the very real dangers faced by visually impaired and blind pedestrians when cyclists fail to stop at red lights.
“The initiative forms part of the force’s engagement, education and enforcement approach to road safety and builds on the work of the City of London Police Cycle Team.
“Sergeant Stuart Ford, Cycle Team lead at City of London Police, said:
“We want cyclists to stop and take a moment to see the danger, listen to the experiences of those who have been affected, and think about the consequences of their behaviour. Going through a red light might save a few seconds, but it can change someone’s life forever.
“This does not replace enforcement or mean all cyclists who go through a red light will avoid a fine. It is an additional tool for our officers, reflecting our approach of engagement, education and enforcement. The intervention will be incorporated into our patrols and operations, with officers using their discretion on when it is appropriate. Cyclists will not always be offered this option – where enforcement is necessary, we will enforce.””
It should be said that the City of London Police only covers the Square Mile in the centre of the capital, and that the force tend to be markedly better resourced than many other forces when it comes to road safety-related policing. They also have a reputation for being rather harsh when it comes to punishment…
Outstanding knitwear
Before piloting an aquatic Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me and a Volvo P1800 in The Saint, Roger Moore rode a bicycle in the Sirdar Knitwear catalogue, and wore a magnificent turtleneck sweater while doing so.
Happy #BicycleBirthday, Roger Moore!
October 14 (1927-2017)— Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 14 October 2026 at 05:01
Having spent quite a bit of time with Castelli folk in brand new gear yesterday I can confirm none of them were quite as cool as Roger Moore looks here…
Picnic win a race!
I don’t think many people expected this, given we reported last week on suggestions Team Picnic PostNL might voluntarily demote themselves following a torrid season – the team have since denied the suggestion.
But Frits Biesterbos (excellent name) has managed to beat the likes of Paul Magnier, Olav Kooij and Max Kanter to win stage two of the Tour of Guangxi…
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That win is only Picnic’s third of the year (men or women), their first at the WorldTour (the last WT team to get off the mark on that front) and the first ever pro win for the young Dutchman. Congrats to him…
Richardson pledges cooperation with investigation over discrimination allegations
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@chrisonabike ...have impersonated Dutch bike shop owners, people with disabilities, and possibly different genders / sexualities. And have gone from broken English to perfect fluency in a week or so Only a few of us remember those hilariously inept impersonations!
@belugabob Unfortunately going down this route is likely to be a missed opportunity. "Safer streets" can be done in a way that allows access to a virtuous circle with whole suite of benefits. But ... that would mean following something like in NL. So "sustainable safety" - a different philosophy of transport, plus gradual infra and organisational changes over decades. Generally opportunities for concentrations of money beat that. So it looks like we'll get "probably safer on average" but with who knows what side effects, while concentrating insane amounts of power (money) in the hands of a very few. And those will be effectively unaccountable, being almost all overseas, and not having to live in the same streets as their products (they may be flying)...
@Fursty Ferret "...regulator" That should be little comfort, because during previous scandals it became clear that in many cases the regulators were easily hoodwinked, or (especially US) they rely on the companies themselves to mark their own homework. (And in the case of SUVs/light trucks, I heard the US government has been hard a-lobbying the likes of Europe and the UK for "reciprocal recognition" e.g. to accept their product as is without further checks). Needing the makers to help / do the checks is even more likely given the complexity of self-driving vehicles. I suspect self-driving vehicles will likely soon be safer on average than human drivers (a low bar). Of course I think other potential consequences are also a matter of concern (not least - in *theory* humans can be held accountable, but holding humans in large companies accountable for their tech is a *lot* harder)...
@mdavidford Celebrity traitors with Lance? Worse - some of these slippery lycrist quislings deceive people that they're a) pedestrians - by getting off their bike and b) drivers - by getting into their cars! It's all on display in this forum, where IIRC such cyclists have appeared under multiple names, have impersonated Dutch bike shop owners, people with disabilities, and possibly different genders / sexualities. And have gone from broken English to perfect fluency in a week or so...
Politician in "fixing things for my mates / companies I have an interest in" shocker!
@mdavidford Could make that shorter - "we’re letting too many people drive" * I would bet to a first approximation the "damage" could be predicted by number of humans times time driven. Most effective way to fix that - without the UK's "just get rid of the vulnerable road users" - is to remove the motorists, to padded individual lanes, far away from vulnerable road users. Though they'll still crash (and into each other). * Should be "we have incentivised people so that most of them see 'driving' as the solution to most of their transport needs, as well as being part of their status as adults, and we could usefully change that *and* it would also improve health, the economy, the environment..."
@This Wreckage The other point is the observation that efforts to fix the transport systems which reduce motoring convenience almost always meet with very noisy opposition. But when a lot of motor (through) traffic has been removed it turns out that people don't want to go back. They don't all necessarily say how much nicer it is or connect that to the lack of motor traffic. But this experiment has been run in many different localities in different countries and the results seem to hold. Caveats as usual - it's always possible for authorities to bungle things terribly - or even deliberately mess things up with ulterior motives. And people have to have enough time to adapt to the new situation, which is probably nearer a year or two.
@This Wreckage And yet - in the poorest parts of where I stay (Edinburgh) it's not uncommon to see bikes with flat tyres rusting in the closes of flats, or on balconies, and they aren't all kids' bikes... I do agree that storage is an issue. IIRC some places (Edinburgh now) are starting to bring in guidance on having some cycle storage for new flats. Nothing like NL though where for decades it's been a part of the building regulations. I think most people who don't own a bike have simply never considered owning a bike as adults, because they're not "cyclists" (e.g. not practicing a sport) and transport cycling isn't "a thing" for most people in the UK currently.
It's really not smart to alienate so many potential buyers by putting hookless rims on a road bike. I personally don't think it's safe, but everyone can agree it greatly limits tire choices and inflation pressures. Both very important things on a road bike.
@This Wreckage I think we've covered that one. (It's the what the young (18-20s) adults are doing on social media isn't it...) You certainly have to engage with people, but if you ask people about something - like transport cycling in the UK - that they don't do (and more importantly *others* don't do) and have probably never thought about doing ... you have to take the answers with a large pinch of salt. Indeed even for things people *do* you might not get immediately helpful answers. Witness people being interviewed in NL about why they cycled to the shops to do the shopping: very few of them mention the infra or motor traffic reduction (or even the bike...). In that case you'd hear the truth e.g. "it's the easiest way" / "I like to go with my friends" - but *why* that is the case would need further investigation.
12 thoughts on “Driver on race course AGAIN days after rider protest; News site criticised for rehashing year old survey on cyclists and red lights… then filming in car; Cyclists offered police film viewing or fine; First GB track worlds medal + more on the live blog”
‘News website criticised for reheating…’
You’re doing the same thing as them.
@HarrogateSpa No they’re not, they are reporting on a new video giving opinions on the old one, not just recycling the old one.
Roger Moore does indeed look very cool in that jumper. I do fear how authentic the image is, given that the cyclists appear to be doing a team pursuit.
More than that, I really, really want that jumper.
@the little onion Don’t do it!
The turtleneck has since become associated with useless ex Health Secretary, Matt (“I fell in love.”) Hancock.
@Mr Blackbird always heartwarming! ❤️
Do you remember Nick Clegg declaring his love for David Cameron in a rose garden? No, wait, was it his love of a better seat in parliament and more solicitous lobbyists?
Or more recently Nigel Farage declaring his love for strong, manly figures like D. Trump, V. Urban and V. Putin, before declaring his love for money and his lack of snobbishness about its origins?
(Would that some of the others were so candid – although eg. Lord Mandleson didn’t need to declare his love for wealthy, dodgy businessmen).
@the little onion I attempted to persuade my mother to to knit this one for me, preferably in a merino heavy yarn, unfortunately she refused, claimed it would be too small for me (she might have had a point…). The pattern bit would have been a bit challenging for her, but she might have given it a go, she is quite an accomplished knitter, I have many of her Arron knits, one even in Arron wool, for best like. And I inherited all of my father’s when he passed.
Cyclists complain about close passes, then ride through red lights, doing a close pass on pedestrians.
@kingleo I admit that I have on occasions ridden through green lights, doing a close pass on pedestrians.
In contrast it feels like the topic of drivers jumping red lights is seldom discussed, but what can we do?
Correct- the police (Lancashire Police anyway) refuse to prosecute even gross driver red light offences at the only permanent lights around here ‘because everybody does it’. It is, as I keep saying, difficult to fail to despise the police.
ttps://upride.cc/incident/sc21zsx_niro_redlightpass/
And as for close-passing! (full disclosure: I haven’t reported these, because they’re always ignored)
ttps://upride.cc/incident/ya22rdo_bmw_closepass/
ttps://upride.cc/incident/gx63scv_discovery_closepass/
There are variations on the saying…
-Punishable by a fine… means “legal for the rich”…-
And given how much some people in that area might be earning, I assume it is worth it for them to just accept the fine and be on their way.
@mitsky If I were a police officer involved in implementing the scheme I think I would find it very hard to hear the details given by those self-important/rich/arrogant (in the City these terms may be synonymous) enough to accept the fine, meaning they had to be repeated multiple times. I might also experience frequent pencil lead breakage and a difficulty in finding the right form to fill in, perhaps also frequently breaking off to use my radio (“Excuse me sir, it’s an important message from my superintendent. What’s that sir? Soya latte, a pain chocolat and a blueberry muffin, right you are sir”), so that by the time the paperwork was completed and they had been sent on their way with a fine those who chose to stop and watch the video had already departed.
I ride & walk across the road where the Guided Busway (yes, the one where lots of motorists go into the ‘Car Trap’) crosses the A1096 in St.Ives, Cambs. Red-light jumping motorists are frequent & I have lots of videos to prove the point. However, they are too short for the police! So today I’ve submitted a video of a driver going through a double set of red lights at this crossing point – I’m waiting to see what happens!