Pedestrians told to “leave cycle paths free for cyclists” after ‘distracted’ walkers cause two crashes in minutes on same bike lane; Tour de France boss slams “dirty” hotel complaints as Van der Poel “angry” at organisers’ chateau + more on the live blog

Quick, someone alert the Daily Telegraph, I have a story for them… Oh, wait.

In news that almost certainly won’t get published on the front page of your favourite anti-cycling broadsheet, Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner’s office has called on road users to “leave cycle paths free for cyclists”, after two crashes took place within minutes of each other on the same bike lane last week.

Both incidents took place last Wednesday on the protected cycle lane on the Cheltenham Road in Gloucester, and involved pedestrians who stepped out into the path of oncoming cyclists.

The first crash saw a schoolchild walk out in front of a cyclist, leaving the rider with a cut elbow, Gloucestershire Live reports.

And while that cyclist was being attended to by passers-by, another pedestrian, reportedly wearing headphones and using their phone, walked onto the same cycle lane without looking, causing a cyclist to crash into them.

In response to the two back-to-back crashes, Nick Evans, the chair of Gloucestershire’s Road Safety Partnership and the county’s deputy police and crime commissioner, called on all road users to avoid distractions and look out for each other.

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“It is tempting to be distracted or let our impatience get the better of us while we’re using the roads, but some consideration and tolerance for others helps avoid injuries and prevents tensions running high,” he said.

“Whether it’s leaving cycle paths free for cyclists, or hard shoulders free for emergency vehicles we all know the rules of the road. Allowing a little extra time, not being distracted by mobile phones and showing consideration for others ultimately helps keep our roads safe.”

Meanwhile, Roger Whyborn, the cabinet member for road safety at Gloucestershire County Council, added: “Road safety is everyone’s responsibility. Whether you are driving, cycling or walking, paying attention to your surroundings and showing consideration for other road users can make a real difference.”

> Council that rubbished “completely untrue” claims about controversial cycle lane being too wide set to begin work on next section

In case you were wondering, yes, the cycle lane on the Cheltenham Road in Gloucester does sound familiar.

That’s the stretch of infrastructure which found itself at the centre of unfounded social media speculation and some conspiracy theories back in 2024, after residents claimed that the new cycle lane was too wide and had made the road too narrow for vehicles, meaning it would need to be dug up again.

However, the false claims were promptly rubbished by the local authority who said there was no such issue, though that didn’t stop some disgruntled locals from claiming that the project, part of the council’s ambitious ‘Gloucestershire Cycle Spine’ cycle lane scheme, “had caused nothing but problems and stress”.

More recently, the scheme sparked another social media debate, when one van driver (on his phone, unsurprisingly) filmed a cyclist “ignoring” the Cheltenham Road cycle path by riding on the road and “holding up traffic”.

However, some local cyclists were on hand to point out that the loose stones used to surface that section of the bike lane may have inspired his choice of route. Or the threat of oblivious pedestrians walking out in front of him, too…

It turns out Christian Prudhomme hasn’t taken too kindly to all the accommodation-related complaints at this year’s Tour de France.

The controversy surrounding the state of some of ASO’s chosen team hotels for the race – sparked by clips and photos of Uno-X Mobility’s dingy but admittedly spacious lodgings in Le Lioran (and some of their riders’ decision to sleep on the balcony instead of their hot, cobweb-infested room) – continued last night, with Alpecin-Premier Tech joining the chorus of sanitary disapproval.

> “It’s hard being a cyclist”: Tour de France riders forced to sleep on balcony as “dirty” hotel room covered in cobwebs and dust – after Tadej Pogačar endures night without air conditioning

Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad, Alpecin manager Philip Roodhooft, whose team also stayed at the Village Montanha hotel in Le Liora alongside Uno-X and Picnic PostNL, said: “I don’t want to make too much of a fuss about it, and until two days ago the general consensus was that the hotels weren’t too bad this year, but this was still below standard.

“I fully understand that there aren’t many places to stay in this region, but there are certain things that are easy to fix. Make sure it is clean and that there is some decent protection against the sun and insects. And when you see the efforts the riders have to make, air conditioning really should be standard. It is a matter of respect from the organisation towards the riders to do something about it.”

“You surely saw in the photos what the bedrooms looked like,” Mathieu van der Poel’s father Adri, who works for Alpecin at the race, added.

“There were photos of cockroaches. When you see all the investments teams are making, I don’t think this fits the Tour. I understand that we are in a region with limited accommodation, but you still have to ask yourself if there isn’t a different solution. Perhaps the organisation should have stopped by themselves.

“We bring our own mattresses and portable air conditioning units, but there were plenty of other things wrong. Mould, cockroaches, the food for the staff. The team arranges meals for the riders, but not for the support staff.”

Mathieu himself, meanwhile, was said to be “super angry” when he discovered that the Tour organisers were staying in a chateau just down the road. Perhaps he could have slept in his Lambo, instead?

In any case, Tour chief Prudhomme has defended ASO’s booking system for the race, the organisers responsible for booking and distributing the hotel rooms for the entire race, securing around 1,900 beds for the entire three weeks.

As part of that system, ASO tries to dish out the rooms equally based on quality, though in some parts of France that balance can be skewed at times.

“If we want the race to visit beautiful parts of France and have beautiful stages, it means that sometimes there aren’t five-star hotels everywhere,” Prudhomme told French radio station ICI.

“We’re the only ones who can guarantee equality amongst the teams at the Tour,” he added, noting that leaving squads to book their own hotels would give an advantage to the richest teams.

“At the end of the Tour, all the teams will have the same number of hotel stars.”

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