“Use COMMON SENSE”: Woman on mobility scooter hit by onrushing peloton, causing spectacular crash + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
A racing crash to forget
We start today with what can be diplomatically described as some “underthought out” spectator behaviour. You’re using a mobility scooter, you’ve popped out to see the local junior race and you think “I’d like to move forward to get a better view.”
Only you make the decision to reposition yourself as the peloton is flying past you. The outcome, I suppose, is inevitable.
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The video was shared by FirstCycling’s Eemeli, who follows the European junior scene closely and could provide some useful context…
“This older spectator caused a seriously dangerous incident today at Saarland Trofeo Juniors by trying to get a better look and entering the course while riders were flying past at full speed.
“Fortunately, the riders involved escaped without serious injuries despite some spectacular crashes.
“…but it should go without saying: please NEVER enter the RACE COURSE while riders are approaching. Even a small step onto the road can have serious consequences at these speeds. This was not even the first incident of this kind during the race. Junior racing is already dangerous enough without spectators making it even more dangerous.
“Obviously, incidents like this are almost impossible to eliminate entirely, which is why spectators also have a responsibility to use COMMON SENSE and stay off the race course.”
Hear hear!
Dutch react to 12mph cycle speed limits
Remember the story of 20kph (12mph) speed limits in the Netherlands? Well, the trial has started and residents aren’t yet decided on how they feel.
The Guardian has been to Houten, near Utrecht, which was the first town to volunteer for the trial. The town’s transport chief told the ‘paper one of the reasons the town put its hand up was the difficulty they had re-organising the urban environment to maximise bike safety.
“Here, you can’t widen the cycle lane, otherwise you’d be in people’s living rooms.” Wouter van den Berg said. 80-year-old JanPeter Westein from the local cycling association also supported the trial.
“I avoid the busy times because I’m an older chap. But pretty much all of the primary schools in Houten are on the bike paths … and you don’t want parents to say they will take their children by car because it’s not safe.”
Others are annoyed however that they’ve been lumped in with ‘motorised cyclists’, one wondering why the authorities can’t “Make a rule for them and not for all cyclists.”
Another campaigner warned that “Safer cycling requires a package of measures, including a minimum age of 16 for e-bike riders, e-bike registration and licensing, better infrastructure and greater use of cycle helmets.”
No mention of speed limits there though. Amsterdam’s trial is due to start in September, whilst fines could at some stage be introduced for speeding cyclists, though authorities for now are settling on additional signage and cameras.
“Sometimes I wish I had died”
Judge Cohen told Craig Frewin, “You were fly-tipping asbestos to avoid having to pay to deal with it properly. I am satisfied that you committed this offence deliberately and cynically.”
Love in the Ventoux air
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It remains embarrassingly notable that no male professional cyclist in the peloton has come out as gay, a statistical improbability that means its highly likely many people in the peloton are continuing to lead closeted lives.
It’s notable therefore that Uno-X Mobility have, across all their teams, acknowledged and celebrated Pride this June, with their riders bringing rainbow flags onto the podiums during their recent rider presentations.
Such displays of allyship in pro cycling are rare. Notably, former lead-out man Jacopo Guarnieri wore a wristband in the colours of the trans flag during the Giro d’Italia’s 2022 Grande Partenza in Hungary, a country which has rolled back various LGBT+ protections in recent years, as well as banning the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality to under-18s.
On the podium at the Giro team presentation in Budapest, Jacopo Guarnieri wore a trans rights wristband. #Giro105
He spoke with us about it on the Giro’s rest day. https://t.co/t7H8QmYfKs pic.twitter.com/JRznBfpYDh
— CyclingTips (@cyclingtips) May 9, 2022
Thankfully, in the women’s peloton, attitudes are much better with several ‘out’ riders, perhaps most notably the best rider of them all, Marianne Vos. And yesterday we received some rather lovely news that Belgian champion (and former mountains jersey winner at the Tour de France) Justine Ghekiere has gotten engaged to her girlfriend Charlotte. That in itself is cause for celebration, but the choice of location truly is the icing on the cake…
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If you can think of a better place for a pro cyclist to propose than Mont Ventoux, I’d like to hear it. And yes I know Quinn Simmons proposed on the Champs-Élysées. I said what I said…
Naked Bike Ride London returns!
If you were in the capital yesterday, you might’ve noticed some cyclists baring all. If not, then Euronews have put together a very delicately edited short montage that passes all our pre-watershed checks.
This year’s ride took place on a Sunday for the first time to avoid clashing with Trooping the Colour. I know which one I would have rather watched…
Brompton rust
I presume the original poster’s question is rhetorical. But it’s the internet in 2026 so who knows…
Bike advert of the year!
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Brussels bans hired e-scooters
A bit of cycling-adjacent news that dropped on Friday was that Brussels is to ban the use of hireable e-scooters from the new year. French-language DHnet reports the decision is due to rising accident rates and their frequent use by suspected criminals. Hired e-bikes will remain.
Given that e-bikes can also be crashed and used by suspected criminals, could this be a first warning for restricting active travel options in cities? After all, we reported last week on Barcelona announcing a ban on e-bike hire.
> Barcelona to ban private bike share schemes from 2027, as mayor slams e-bike parking “mess”
Or is it the opposite, is this the bike cementing itself as the micromobility mode of choice for locals and tourists alike?
Reacting to the news, industry insider Prabin Jones criticised the decision, writing on LinkedIn, “While safety and enforcement are important issues, it’s difficult to understand why the conversation focuses so heavily on e-scooters when other transport modes with higher accident rates are rarely subjected to the same scrutiny.
“Brussels has long been viewed as a model city by policymakers and mobility leaders across Europe. This decision risks setting a troubling precedent for other cities considering the future of shared micromobility.
“If we want cities that are more livable, accessible, and less dependent on cars, we should find ways to improve and integrate new forms of transport, not banning them altogether.”
Wes Streeting slams "bad policy" of £4.5bn cycling and walking investment
Of all the places to get your latest dose of Labour leadership drama, I’m not sure you had road.cc on your shortlist. In all honesty, neither did we. But, when a former Health Secretary is dismissive of the health benefits of cycling, and the public spending which has been shown to encourage it, we’re on the case.
I hope for (y)our sake that the people of Makerfield don’t get drawn into this debate between now and Thursday.
Incidentally, Ryan reliably informs me he spent far too long trying to find a photo of the former Health Secretary on, or even near a bike, hoping that he might have once encouraged people to cycle. Alas, the above will have to do. I mean if we could find a photo of the Prime Minister on a bike, surely you’d have thought the Secretary of State might’ve touted the credentials of the velocipede? But no.
Bodge quality out of 10?
Is it a bodge if it works?
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Romain Bardet's return?
I miss Romain Bardet. The plucky French climber who tried to topple the Sky train, fell short but delivered some spectacular stage wins and finally got his hands on the yellow jersey in his final Tour de France in 2024. Good times.
The good news is he’s back! Not content with rocking around on the gravel train, L’Equipe report that the Frenchman is set to join Decathlon CMA-CGM in a staff role supporting Paul Seixas as he prepares to tackle the Tour de France for the first time, with aspirations on the overall title. Bardet knows a thing or two about carrying the nation’s expectations on his shoulders and, be it as a coach or mentor, might be a useful friend to the 19 (Nineteen!) year-old.
Bardet rode for the team for several years under its AG2R-guise, but the team has since internationalised and become one of the wealthiest in the peloton – thanks to all those trampolines, squash rackets and *checks notes* international shipping demands. The team has already moved to sign a squad of experienced domestiques and climbers, and might even drop their star signing, sprinter Olav Kooij, for the big race in July to accommodate Seixas’s rider support. Meanwhile, the team has also made moves off the bike to support Seixas, hiring a veteran L’Equipe journalist to be the Frenchman’s personal press officer. Bardet’s appointment would represent the next step on that journey.
A viral finish line photo
There was one another notable result from the weekend, over at the GP Gippingen in Switzerland. I’ve got a feeling the photos might not end up on Liam Slock’s wall anytime soon, despite it being his first pro victory.
Still, if you’re named after Liam Neeson, how else do you expect to win a race?
Weekend racing round-up: Dauphiné drama, Sprint honing and Blasi's not so blasé rise.
It’s that time of year where there’s loads of racing happening, but it’s all viewed through the prism of the bigger race in a couple of weeks time.
The race formally known as the Criterium du Dauphine wrapped up on the weekend and Isaac Del Toro made history, becoming the first rider in history to win both Tirreno-Adriatico and the *Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes* in the same season, taking back to back summit finishes in a way that reminded me of Mark Padun – something of a deep cut there.
🏆 #TourAuvergneRhoneAlpes 2026 💐
🥇🇲🇽 Isaac Del Toro
🥈🇬🇧 Luke Tuckwell
🥉🇪🇸 Juan Ayuso👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/Y9GPvaMHef
— Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (@tourauverhalpes) June 14, 2026
The weekend was dampened somewhat by a crash involving Paul Seixas, with the Frenchman spending most of the penultimate stage chasing on before losing time to his rivals on Grand Colombier. He abandoned the race not long into yesterday’s final stage. Instead Juan Ayuso was the weekend’s main combatant. First to attack on Saturday, he was caught and passed by the Mexican before riding a more measured race the following day to again finish second up to Plateau de Solaison.
But it wasn’t enough to try and overtake Luke Tuckwell, who started the weekend in yellow after a fantastic ambush on Friday, and then excellently limited his losses to finish second. An outstanding result for the young Aussie.
Meanwhile in Denmark, Jasper Philipsen suggested he’s once again peaking nicely for July, taking victory at the Copenhagen sprint ahead of Tobias Lund. And he didn’t even have Mathieu van der Poel there to lead him out. It should be added though that neither Tim Merlier nor Jonathan Milan could contest the sprint after being caught up in a crash.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) won the 2nd edition of Copenhagen Sprint ahead of Lund and Welsford! 👏🇧🇪 Sadly, Milan and Merlier were caught behind a crash and didn’t contest the sprint. Another ruined race.#CPHSprintpic.twitter.com/Z81NJWU8OM
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) June 14, 2026
In the women’s peloton, it’s been impossible to ignore the rise of ex-triathlete Paula Blasi. First came Amstel Gold, then an unexpected overall victory at the Vuelta a Espana ahead of Anna van der Breggen. And Blasi’s stock continues to rise with her latest victory at the Tour of the Pyrenees. Blasi made her move on Saturday with an attack on the Col du Tourmalet, and won by two minutes. Her teammate Dominika Wlodarczyk won the sprint of the small group of favourites behind and hung on the following day to complete a UAE 1-2. It’s all hotting up!
Paula Blasi wins Stage two of the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées! 👏
A superb ride on the Queen’s stage earns the Spanish rider a solo win over Col du Tourmalet 🗻 pic.twitter.com/whCxNQDTA2
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) June 13, 2026
No one tell Jeremy Vine
London’s Nocturne returned at the weekend and, for all the highlights of criterium racing, this might be the best achievement of them all: a 100-inch (2.54m) high penny farthing. I suspect some stilts are involved somewhere, I just can’t prove it…
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Your road.cc weekend
We may not run the weekend live blog but that doesn’t mean we were busy ruining our sleep patterns trying to watch people kicking pig’s bladders. Not all of us anyway.
Firstly, just as I was clocking off last week, Jill Scott was just getting her weekend’s party started, having finished her utterly bonkers Sport Relief challenge riding and running from London to Sunderland (via Liverpool) in just five days! Find out more about her challenge, and the customised Mercian bike used to do it, here:
Remember when we covered a Reform UK-run council endorsing active travel plans? Well the work has started and the residents aren’t happy…
Why accommodate active travel infrastructure when your car boot sale is being held in a car park that’s been there since before I was even born? Ryan tries to find an answer…
And we’ve got a blog on ebiketips from a rather unpleasant collision involving an illegal electric motorbike:
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Latest Comments
"attributed by experts", yeah sure, ok! Citing 8 year out of date per capita figures shows the weakness of your argument. Here's a couple of reasons I believe that the Netherlands fatality rate might be higher than the UK (independent of the crappy Dutch infrastructure), none of which you and Chrisonatrike suggested or mentioned: 1) not enough people wearing helmets in Netherlands. All sane people know that wearing a cycling helmet can potentially save lives, yet the Dutch seem to think themselves too special to wear one. Despite the fact the Netherlands has a superior privatised health system compared to our rotten, inefficient NHS, post-crash options are limited for people with severe head trauma which will inevitable lead to increased fatalities in the Netherlands. 2) Risk compensation by drivers and cyclists. Cyclists are lulled into a false sense of security thinking that segregated cycle lanes are their special infrastructure which insulate them from accidents. They don't. Then, car drivers take more risks due to increased congestion caused by the same cycling infrastructure, leading to a double-whammy of risky behaviour. 3) Cultural issues. People in the UK are renowned for their stiff upper lip, stoic, courteous behaviour. They naturally protect more vulnerable road users. I, myself, had a magnificent cycling experience earlier today on the local country lanes, waving and saying hello to the locals and cyclists alike. There really isn't a place like the UK (well, outside London anyway) that matches our hospitality and camaraderie. P.s. I'm not sure who Nigel is, I assumed you meant Nigel Farage but I can assure you I'm not him and that he has more pressing things to do than write responses on a cycling website. I hope that's helped your understanding a little, and enabled you to think a little independently rather than just suck in information that self-described "experts" want you to believe. Oh and Norway et Al are terrible comparators as hardly anyone lives there (and who'd want to to be honest? Lol!)
Yup. The UK has latterly tried add the safety back in after it was lost for vulnerable road users. (And after giving all the direct routes / valuable space over to motoring). But it's offering a modicum more safety in return for them losing a lot more convenience - so that has been reducing the "problem" also! Plus we lean heavily on "but people can be trusted to be reasonable" and "for any misbehaviour police it better". Unfortunately those are not good assumptions or choices for safety in a motornormative environment. (And road policing isn't a priority anyway). NL isn't the only place in Europe they've realised that mass motoring the old way is unsustainable (for lots of reasons). They're just the furthest on. In NL they still have some challenges because the (larger - thanks US!) car strikes back, and there are some questions about the impact of e-things. But they're *still* investing in improvements, and proportionally significantly more than the UK, even though they're already far ahead...
The Stockton Hub which I used occasionally (I don't live in Stockton) was open only during standard office hours, Mondays to Fridays, rendering it useless for families and leisure cyclists. It's a standard problem for a lot of government-funded or charity-run public services which close when many people most need them, presumably because staffing costs would rise substantially. The article also mentions cycle hubs in Redcar and Darlington which, so far as I can tell, have never existed.
Ho ho ho! No, we need to stop these idiotic cyclists completely (or limit them to velodromes, parks and maybe "rail trails") - that way there won't be any cyclist road fatalities! Simples! Meanwhile in many parts ofEurope they're finding the benefits of making it such that lots of people don't use cars for every journey - by fixing it so it's convenient and increasingly safe - despite much larger numbers of people getting around outside of cars than in the UK...
The fatality rate in the UK has fallen five years in a row during a period, starting with the Covid years, in which building of "idiotic Dutch roundabouts and segregated cycling infrastructure" has massively increased, so in fact using your own benchmark the statistics clearly show the benefits of increased cycling infrastructure. Not quite the gotcha you seem to think when viewed through non-troll lenses, Nige. The stupidity of your "argument" is further clearly illustrated by the fact that the list-topping Norway, Sweden and Denmark all have massive segregated cycling networks. The Dutch model used to demonstrate clearly the safer nature of the Dutch system, e.g. in 2018 the Netherlands had 8 fatalities per billion kms ridden compared to 21 in the UK; the primary reason for the increased fatality rates in the Netherlands has been attributed by experts to the massive uptake in ebikes (47% of new bikes sold in NL are now ebikes compared to 10% in the UK), particularly amongst the older population, nothing to do with the infrastructure.
It used to be great price this, but they played the ace marketing card and got the popularity and now...
Many thanks for posting these statistics and showing the downward trend in fatalities. One thing that stood out for me when clicking through to the government statistics page is the UK's exemplary record on this Vs other European countries, especially the much-vaunted record of The Netherlands, which actually shows twice as many fatalities as the UK per million of the population. The question that arises is therefore: why are the greens and other left-wing parties so keen to adopt an inferior and more dangerous road system when ours is obviously working well? It smacks of a need to regulate people's lives and curtail freedom. We need to stop these idiotic Dutch roundabouts and segregated cycling infrastructure, and get people sharing the road in a fair and equal manner, when the statistics show it's safer to do so. (Chart shows road fatalities per million population)
That's where the convertible aspect comes in. I've got a gravel bike but the canal I sometimes commute on has roots under the tarmac and barriers. The mtb with 'drops' is more comfortable for this and fits through the barriers. If I want to do something more technical I can put the flat bars on.
@FionaJJ These officers deployed next-level stupidity, and it must be difficult for the police to find people this dim. It doesn't even need rolling-roads or whatever, just a reputable bike computer on a quickly changed mount for the difficult cases where a proper EAPC has been modded, although you would need to look hard in Lancashire to find a police officer who knows how to make a pedal cycle go. Most illegal electric motorbikes are immediately obvious, not least because the crim is wearing a face mask. I saw an obvious one tonight coming out of Garstang Sainsbury's, not pedalling but without a face mask because everybody knows that the police only come into the town to hide away in the police station 200 yards away.
17 thoughts on ““Use COMMON SENSE”: Woman on mobility scooter hit by onrushing peloton, causing spectacular crash + more on the live blog”
I think that’s a crown farthing, isn’t it?
Regulation isn’t required for the illegal e-motorbike issues – they’re already illegal to use on the roads/pavements, so it’s a question of enforcement. Tougher (or at least some) traffic law enforcement is required, but the police should focus on the biggest problems which to my mind are drivers who are not paying attention or speeding etc.
@hawkinspeter The scrotes will find a way around any rules regardless. I frequently see riders speeding along with bicycles with enormous motors in the rear wheels where the chainsets have been removed altogether and foot rests have been installed into the bottom bracket.
The bill being introduced under the 10 minute rule is about the marketing, sale and supply of them including conversion kits. I suspect it will be difficult to write a bill that simultaneously allows the sale of motorbikes whether electrically powered or not for private off-road use whilst restricting them for on-road use.
Better surely to make it really hard to buy any kind of motorbike without it being registered with the DVLA and the keeper having the correct licence and insurance.
But the police need play their part as well in stopping the riders and confiscating what they are riding. It is not like they are difficult to spot.
@Pub bike – stating “the scrotes will find a way around any rules regardless” is pretty much agreeing with me that introducing new rules around the sale/purchase is the wrong way to tackle the issue. With sufficient traffic policing, the scrotes will get nicked, whereas introducing additional rules is pointless without increasing the enforcement.
I’m all for converting the unlawful scrotes into lawful ones, but
a) that would appear to be an endless task which might simply absorb any (reasonable) resources thrown at it, and partly because
b) where it’s not manifestly clear that the illegal thing is really illegal AND people care about it, the continuum from the “outlaw and don’t care” via the “yeah it’s illegal but everyone’s doing it” to the “but I hardly ever / I didn’t know I was doing wrong” may be towards the latter end and thus we have far more offenders to deal with.
I hope amending the law in this case pushes mean away from “but you can buy it in Currys/PC world how was I to know?” end and perhaps that makes this illegal behaviour a bit less prevalent. Eventually…
(I don’t know if the forthcoming law changes are necessarily the *best* … and it isn’t the greatest issue we face. OTOH this appears to be a lot more useful harm reduction than stopping cyclists and handing out cheap lights or creating the “death by dangerous cycling” legislation – though I’m not *against* that…)
@hawkinspeter I think my point buried in there somewhere is that the law being devised is too narrowly focused around electric bikes/motorbikes and it should encompass the sale of any kind of motorbike. The wording talks about “electrically assisted” which would seem to exclude throttle controlled bikes. The bikes I saw that had no pedals – and therefore the electricity does not assist but is the sole source of propulsion – would fall outside of this legislation, so already there is a loophole. It would probably help to have some technical input to this bill by people that actually understand the differences between bicycles, e-bikes, EAPCs and motorbikes before it goes too far.
@Pub bike – well, off-road (ICE) motorbikes have been available for decades, so you’re right about the proposed law being too narrow. I’ve seen scrotes riding them in parks and on the roads, but they’re much less common than the newer e-motorbikes.
Accusing that penny farthing rider of using stilts is a bit of a stretch.
Re the mobility scooter / road race incident.
What are the chances of the Daily Telegraph running with this one? :
“Disabled Pensioner Mowed Down By 85mph Speeding Cyclists.”
“How many more pensioners must be killed or injured before number plates and insurance are made mandatory for cyclists, asked Nigel Farage, from his £5m crypto donation enquiry hideout?”
And a transponder
On the subject of rust – an ode to the shed bike: https://soundcloud.com/friko-music/dear-bicycle
More cars in playgrounds, alas.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4eldkpxgwo
@chrisonabike and it takes a headline, a photo caption and four paras before there’s a driver involved. Two earlier opportunities to be clear but no, they went with “a car crashed” and “the vehicle drove”.
Thanks BBC.
@momove
You beat me to it.
Be who you are. Absolutely. Provided you don’t annoy the rest of mankind with pronouns and gender ideology.
As a side note. Last year we saw the Palestinian flag. This year, the trans rights colours. But no support for the brave Iranian people.
Haven’t you just contradicted yourself? As I understand it (not greatly…) the problem is exactly that some (few) want to be themselves absolutely (including pronouns etc.) and “mankind” (including yourself it seems) won’t have it because it’s “annoying”?
Actually I think a number of those people wouldn’t mind being left to be themselves quietly and eg. just not be harassed or worst… because some of *man*kind (much of the abuse and almost all the violence… ) sees this as far more than “annoying”.
(Though not all want tacit toleration – and there does seem to be irreconcilable conflict on eg. “who is a woman”)
Anyway – the law’s in now. There shall generally be male spaces for males, female spaces for females, and those who choose (or were given?) a gender divergent from sex “should be accommodated”.
@MaxiMinimalist Be who you are. Absolutely. Provided you don’t annoy the rest of mankind by blathering on a load of bigoted old shite regarding what people choose to call themselves and how they choose to identify when it doesn’t affect you in the slightest.