Taron Egerton fined after CyclingMikey catches Eddie the Eagle star using phone at the wheel; Two people arrested blocking Toronto bike lane removal; Team Picnic PostNL’s “toxic” culture; GB golds galore in track worlds + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Eddie the Eagle star crashes back down to earth
The UK’s favourite Eddie the Eagle impersonator has been caught using his phone at the wheel. And yes, we could lead with Kingsman or Elton John, but none capture the road.cc hivemind’s imagination quite like the 2010’s Brit-flick about the second greatest sporting underdog story of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics made into a feel good comedy drama film. But I’d like to see the Jamaican bobsleigh team captured on GoPro by CyclingMikey.
Our latest incident from the capital’s most notorious cyclist sees Mikey (Michael van Erp) riding on a cycle path when he spots a dark blue Land Rover Defender driver using his phone in the oncoming direction. Cue an abrupt turn and cross over to engage with the driver whilst traffic is slow-moving.
If anyone can prove it isn’t a young wannabe ski-jumper, we will gladly amend our claim but it looks a lot like him, in a car that we would expect someone throwing themselves down mountains for film studios to drive. It’s big enough for the skis at least.
The exchange is brief and civil, Mikey informing Egerton that you’re not allowed to use your phone at the wheel of the car, regardless of the speed of traffic. It’s hard to tell if Egerton’s “Ok, thanks very much” is sincere or sarcastic, though the post-script to the video confirms that for his distractions Egerton has paid a fine and earnt some points on his licence for his trouble.
Maybe he’ll have to hire a troubled American to guide and mentor him along the roads for the coming months, with Christopher Walken and Keith Allen also involved in this educational journey for some reason. There, that’s enough ski-jumping film talk for the day, as you were…
LadBible jump on police's "sin bin" red-light jumping
It’s been amusing today seeing various outlets catch on to yesterday’s revelation that the City of London Police were offering red light-jumpers the chance to watch a safety film rather than pay a fine. Particualrly considering we covered the original announcement months ago. But you know it’s getting serious when LadBible cover the trend…
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Did Pogačar’s absence make racing more exciting?
Ryan’s only gone and had some thoughts about racing! Encroaching onto my vulnerable medium-length mild takes territory with each typed sentence…
Lime jousting!
If you’re in Shoreditch on Saturday, a knight of fun awaits…
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I’ll get my coat.
Protest works!
That appears to be the conclusion from over the pond, where cyclists have blocked, for now, attempts by the provincial government to remove 19km of bike lanes on some of the busiest roads of the city.
A little bit of context, the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, has long called for the removal of the bike lanes which were installed by the mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow.
Justifying the removal of the bike lanes a few weeks, Ford’s Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria told media, “These are some of the busiest streets in all of North America. We need to restore them to vehicle lanes to stop the congestion. That’s exactly what we were elected on and that’s the exact mandate we got.
Chow has fought back, arguing she has presented plans to the provincial government that would add an additional vehicular lane whilst keeping the protected bike lanes in the city. But she says Doug Ford hasn’t listened.
“Doug Ford should stay in his own lane. Stop interfering in this city, whether it’s bike lanes or speed cameras […] because you’re trampling on the rights of local democracy and the people of Toronto.”
So on Tuesday night, campaigners decided the best thing they could do was physically block the lanes from being removed. And it worked!
First and second truck have left. LFG🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
— Tom Flood (@tomflood.bsky.social) 14 October 2026 at 00:55
It must be said this is a long battle. The first trucks were only to put out construction work barriers, before they were escorted away by police. Also escorted away were two protestors who were arrested. Amusingly, both protestors have been charged with “mischief”, according to CBC.
What’s striking is that such a protest feels unlikely in Britain. We have of course countless cycle campaigners and organisations such as Critical Mass who organise rides of rebellion, but I can’t recall action as direct as this when it comes to protecting cycle infrastructure.
What helps/hinders is that the major cities we do have tend to favour expanding active travel networks, rather than being stuck in battles of devolved powers over who can remove it.
And where we do have cycle lanes removed, like in Middlesbrough or as looks likely in Exeter, there are fewer campaigners able to mount a disruption as significant as what we’ve seen in Canada.
Instead, in our murky world of which powers are actually devolved to who and where, we have a system that favours legal actions in court than direct action on the street. But kudos to the campaigners of Toronto, who might now be bracing for a long winter of protests ahead of them.
Gold for GB in Women's Team Pursuit
Wow wow wow! Maybe gold medals and buses have more in common than you think. Erin Boothman, Millie Couzens, Anna Morris and Josie Knight started slower than Italy in the final and their deficit extended towards a second at the 1km mark. But then the catch began.
Tenth by tenth, a few hundreths by a few hundreths, the British quartet caught their rivals a kilometre later and after pulling ahead they never looked back, eventually winning by around 4 seconds. A fantastic result!
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That also ends today’s medal exploits. In other events, Lotte Kopecky triumphed in the elimination race for the third time, Harrie Lavreysen won gold in the keirin for the fifth time to take his 22nd rainbow jersey, and we had some heats in the women’s individual sprint, where Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane both progressed to the semi-finals, with the latter knocking out defending champion Hetty van de Wouw in straight rounds!
Remember you can catch up with all the coverage on iPlayer…
Gold for Bostock in the scratch race
Our first gold of the games comes courtesy of the Manxman who rode a fantastically brave race. After European Champion Alex Vogel attacked solo in the early stages, Bostock tried a couple of times to form an alliance with other riders to reel him in. When that didn’t work, he went and did it himself!
Once catching Vogel, Bostock then attacked again and hung on to his advantage of three quarters of a lap to take his first world title and the biggest win of his career after his Commonwealth points race triumph earlier in the year. But those final laps must have been agony. Remember he was in the team pursuit squad earlier today…
Bostock is world champion! 🌈
Matt Bostock masters the men’s scratch race to claim the world title in Shanghai! 🇬🇧 https://t.co/HvprSVjUPz
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) October 15, 2026
Brits back to Netcompany-Ineos amid glacial transfer moves...
Yesterday, Netcompany-Ineos did something we haven’t seen the British team do all that often, announce the signing of multiple British riders! James Shaw has become a Grand Tour regular at EF Education-EasyPost and has an interesting background having bounced back up to the WorldTour via what remained of the British domestic racing scene.
In the press release announcing his arrival, Geraint Thomas says Shaw’s “got a diverse skill set and brings valuable experience to the team. He’s also someone who will contribute to the strong British culture we have within the squad, both on and off the bike.”
Meanwhile Joe Blackmore experienced a breakthrough season in 2024, winning the prestigious Tour de l’Avenir as well as the Tours of Czechia and Taiwan. But the Brit has since struggled with injury at Israel-Premier Tech (now NSN). He admits “It’s been a tough 2026 for me with injuries, but it’s made me even more motivated to reach my full potential.
“Joining a team that operates at the highest level gives me the perfect environment to keep developing. I can’t wait to get started and contribute to the team’s success.”
Netcompany-Ineos have been remarkably slow at announcing their roster for next season, and currently have only 19 riders confirmed for 2027. In contrast, UAE have 30, Visma 29.
Interestingly, there’s an interesting piece in the Athletic today that paints a picture of a very hierarchical structure at the team, with Dave Brailsford calling the shots and not exactly moving quickly as he does so. Parallels to the ailing Manchester United are aplenty.
British Cycling's toxic culture
If yesterday’s live blog was quite red light-heavy, today’s is becoming quite toxic management culture-heavy. The long arc of history bends towards Victoria Pendleton…
> British Cycling still suffering from “toxic” culture, new rider and staff survey reveals
Bronze for Britain in the men's team pursuit
Having trailed France after 2500m, the British quartet of Noah and Henry Hobbs, Matt Bostock and Ethan Vernon pulled clear in the final third to take GB’s second medal of the games.
Timed to perfection! 🔥
Great Britain’s men’s team pursuit squad claim bronze at the UCI World Championships after a perfectly-paced final kilometre! 🥉 https://t.co/F7KwLrHjDR
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) October 15, 2026
In the men’s gold medal match up, Denmark have just romped to victory, beating an Italian quartet including Filippo Ganna and Jonathan Milan by nearly five seconds!
We’ve got the women’s team pursuit finals later, along with the men’s keirin and scratch race. In the meantime there are some women’s sprint quarter finals and the elimination race!
Team Picnic PostNL deny "toxic" allegations, announce independent commision
Blimey, some utterly extraordinary news is hot off the press this morning. When I woke up, Dutch broadcaster NOS and podcast In de Waaier had dropped one of the most in-depth analyses of any team I’d seen short of a doping investigation.
Speaking to more than 70 people connected to the team in recent years, a picture is painted of a toxic culture leaving riders and staff members demoralised, disconnected and unsafe. One former rider, Martijn Tusveld says he felt depressed and at one point contemplated self-harm. He retired last season at the age of 32.
Other extraordinary revelations include head coach Rudi Kemna telling a rider “I don’t believe in psychologists”, riders not being allowed to talk with coaches, or coaches with one another, and feelings of paranoia and working within a dictatorship.
Whilst we’ve known for quite a long time about the “strict” management of the team, formerly known as DSM, Sunweb, Giant and Skil-Shimano, this is a step up and has led the team to come out with a statement addressing the allegations. Here’s an abridged version:
The accounts shared by current and former riders and staff members affect us. At the same time, we do not recognise ourselves in the overall picture presented in the publications.
The fact that experiences differ does not diminish the seriousness of the accounts that have now come to light. We will therefore commission an independent investigation into how our team culture is experienced in practice and to what extent it reflects the culture we strive for.
Since the team was founded in 2008, three promises have formed the foundation of our approach to professional cycling: fair, healthy and responsible sport, safe collaboration based on shared values, continuity and job security.
We have made a commitment to do everything we can to secure the future of the team and, in doing so, preserve jobs within professional cycling.
Every year, several teams disappear, with the associated loss of jobs. This has become almost normal, even though it should never be the case in a sport of this scale. That is why we have been working to secure the future of the team since 2008. Over the years, we have provided employment for hundreds of people.
According to NOS, it spent months trying to speak with current and former riders and staff members. As soon as we received indications that the investigation was taking place, we offered to meet with NOS to discuss our philosophy and vision, and to give the broadcaster the opportunity to speak with current team members and colleagues. NOS chose not to take up that offer. We regret this.
In a performance-driven environment such as professional sport, things can go wrong. That is why there are several ways for people within our team to raise problems and concerns. If people have felt unsafe within our organisation or have felt they lacked sufficient opportunity to raise concerns, we want to understand how that could have happened.
We will therefore commission an independent, professional investigation into our team culture. We will take its findings seriously and implement any improvements that may be needed, out of respect for everyone who is, or has been, part of Team Picnic PostNL.
Denials, surprise and pledging an independent review. Where have we heard that before?
Box ticking bike lane?
The same lane which has long been opposed by local Green Party councillors looks set to go ahead despite only having the approval of 16 percent of residents according to a consultation
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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.
9 thoughts on “Taron Egerton fined after CyclingMikey catches Eddie the Eagle star using phone at the wheel; Two people arrested blocking Toronto bike lane removal; Team Picnic PostNL’s “toxic” culture; GB golds galore in track worlds + more on the live blog”
I’m sure I remember protesters managed to delay the removal of the Kensington High Street cycle lane, even if only for a couple of days?
@NickSprink Didn’t some people successfully threaten – er .. I mean protest – a council’s installation of bike hangars?
(I can’t recall how this one ended but the IIRC the council contractors decided that discretion was the better part of valour, at least at the time).
On Picnic-PostNL, some interesting details from Nicolas Roche in NOS,
“I think this management is not suitable for cycling. In cycling, we deal with a lot of variables. It’s not a predictable sport. The body is not a perfect machine. We have to contend with weather conditions and also the tactics of 24 other teams. I understand that people want a master plan to be prepared, but they can’t already be planning the seventeenth stage of the Tour de France in May. And that’s what they did.”
What did it mean to you that the bond between the coach and the rider wasn’t appreciated?
“It wasn’t valued to maintain friendships. I find that strange. I remember that during the big tours, I got a different masseur every three days. For every rider, that massage is a moment of rest, or a chance to open up, call your wife, or just go over the day.
I strongly disagreed with making changes with the sole purpose of ensuring we wouldn’t develop a friendly relationship with the masseur.”
Why were they so fixated on breaking those strong personal relationships?
“A mystery. Maybe because in the past, masseurs often transported doping for riders? But I don’t know the real answer.”
“Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria told media, “These are some of the busiest streets in all of North America. We need to restore them to vehicle lanes to stop the congestion.”
It beggars belief that in this day and age, a ‘transportation minister’ can spout such incredible lies. Anyone with the faintest appreciation of transport knows that cycle lanes don’t cause congestion: in fact, they alleviate it.
Still, it’s nice to know, well, not that nice, but interesting, that the utter incompetents aren’t restricted to the UK. Is Doug Ford the Canadian equivalent of Trump or Nigel? Full of fake news and excrement.
We could learn a thing or two from our Canadian cousins though, and start organising protests to stop the removal of bike lanes. If we can present some convoluted reasoning which showed that cycle lanes were bad for asylum seekers, we’d get lots of blokes wearing black with balaclavas supporting us.
@eburtthebike some cyclists already wear black shorts, we really don’t want the Blackshorts joining in…
@chrisonabike Any excuse to repeat my favourite quote from Bertie Wooster, when he took on Spode (Lord Sidcup) who had started a fascist movement called the Blackshorts:
“The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you’re someone. You hear them shouting “Heil, Spode!” and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: “Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?”
Please spear us the jousting puns – it’s just throwing down a gauntlet for some greaves abuse of the comments section, and there’s no excuse for tilting things in that direction.
@mdavidford more cheap lists-icles.
@mdavidford You’ll need a strong arm to carry that lance…