“The hardest days of our lives”: Tarling family mourn death of Fin as GoFundMe for Welsh cycling legacy fund exceeds £40,000; Westminster Council impounding electric hire bikes… again + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Our broken hearts will never be fixed"
There is, sadly, only one place to start today, as reaction continues to come in following the tragic death of Fin Tarling at the Volta a Portugal.
> Teenage British cyclist Finlay Tarling killed in crash involving driver at Volta a Portugal
The crash occurred when a driver on the course was travelling in the oncoming direction and struck the 19-year-old who was riding behind the peloton. CNN Portugal captured footage showing the aftermath of the crash, including the broken windscreen and the broken bicycle frame strewn on the ground.
Tarling’s death prompted his NSN Development Team to withdraw from the race, whilst the Volta a Portugal continued and was marked by both stage winners over the weekend dedicating their stage victories to the Tarling family. The decision to continue the race was reportedly taken after consulting with the family, although the question of whether it was appropriate to continue racing in light of such safety deficiencies should be addressed at some point.
In the meantime Tarling’s parents, Michael and Dawn, released a statement on Instagram yesterday morning:
“This has been the hardest couple of days of our lives and it’s taken us a bit of time to be able to post this.
“One of the things that has helped carry us through is the wave of posts, messages, emails, articles and calls from across our family, friends, team, local and sporting communities. Hearing how lovingly and fondly Fin was thought of has been a huge help to us.
View this post on Instagram
“We simply can’t thank you all enough for the support we’ve had.
“I don’t know how we carry on from here but we’ll figure out with the support of all of our family, friends and community.
“Whilst our broken hearts will never be fixed, he was not only our son and brother but our best mate. Gentle, loving with the driest sense of humour we will miss him terribly.
“Whilst he was only 19 his short life was packed full of wonderful experiences and achievements and we couldn’t be prouder of him.
“If you’re heading out on your bike in the next few days give him a thought as you clip in.
“We will of course share funeral details as soon as we know.”
In the meantime, a GoFundMe page has been set up with the support of the family, “In Loving Memory of Finlay Tarling.”
Supporters are invited to donate to create, “a legacy project providing an opportunity to help future generations of young Welsh riders discover the freedom and confidence that a bike can give a child.
“We hope it can also bring some small measure of comfort and peace to Dawn, Michael and Josh, as well as to his extended family and loved ones.”
In the time since we started writing this blog entry, the total donation total has exceeded £27,000 from around 750 donors.
Everyone at road.cc would like to send their condolences to the Tarling family…
£41,644
A truly stunning amount of money has been donated to Fin Tarling’s legacy fund to support young Welsh cyclists. 940 people have donated in the last day and a half and you suspect that number will keep rising into tomorrow. A phenomenal sum…
"I can’t even begin to comment on this level of insensitivity.": EF boss calls out Hansen's helmet suggestions
Well, that didn’t take long!
Jonathan Vaughters has commented on our Instagram post of Hansen’s interview discussing proposed safety measures cycling could adopt. Specifically, the General Manager of EF Education-EasyPost has criticised Hansen’s description of the circumstances leading to Fin Tarling’s death as “a bit of a hole in the system” and has called for stricter safety standards for helmets to be introduced.
“A bit of a hole in the system? Really?” Vaughters wrote.
“A car going straight into riders full speed opposite direction and the problem is the helmets? I can’t even begin to comment on this level of insensitivity.”
Rain at last... when it's wanted least
Happy Women’s Tour of Britain Eve eve (that definitely makes sense and does not require explanation) to all who celebrate. Unfortunately, it appears those of you marking the occasion appear to have chosen to incorporate a rain dance into your celebrations…
Forecast for Lloyds Tour of Britain Women stage 1…
Bring yer brollies.
— Dan Challis (@globalpeloton.bsky.social) 17 August 2026 at 16:10
Riders’ union president calls for “major upgrade” on helmet safety standards after Finlay Tarling killed by van driver
As the cycling world slowly begins the process of coming to terms with the death of another rider in the peloton, conversation is turning to what can be done to prevent such tragedies re-occurring.
Given the fatality wouldn’t have happened without a car on the course going the wrong way, you might have expected the riders’ union to start there, but Adam Hansen has largely defended the ‘rolling road blocks’ seen at most races. Instead, he’s calling for better, safer equipment. Could we see rider air bags also enter the conversation more seriously? Any excuse to reshare Van Rysel’s latest innovation…
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There’s good reason to be sceptical however, given calls for GPS tracking on all riders, following the death of Muriel Furrer, have gone unheeded in most races.
First Brits confirmed for the Vuelta
A lot of riders may be provisionally listed to ride the final men’s Grand Tour of the season, but it takes a proper social media post to finalise the line-up. We’ve known UAE’s Pog-headed roster for a little while for instance, and over the weekend we’ve received a few other teams, mainly from the ProTour. Today though, we’ve got two more World Tour teams announcing their squads, including our first British riders!
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Winchester man Paul Double lines up for only his second Grand Tour, and is described by the team as “spear-heading” a squad hunting stage wins. Fellow climber Finlay Pickering is also among the eight riders selected.
Notably, this time last year Pickering was an extremely late call-up to Bahrain-Victorious’ Vuelta squad, travelling from Andorra to the race start in Italy without any luggage after flight difficulties and a 200km taxi ride. He went on to ride positively, getting in several breakaways during the race.
Meanwhile, Team Picnic PostNL have had a rotten season results-wise and face an increasingly uncertain financial future. Max Poole has not raced since February, reportedly due to illness, and will not line up at the final Grand Tour. 11th at last year’s Giro d’Italia, at his best he would have been his team’s best shot at a result of any kind.
Instead, the team are also full of stage hunters, and includes Keighley’s own Oliver Peace. Having spent much of the year working as a domestique, the 21-year-old makes his Grand Tour debut without much personal expectation will no doubt be keen to get round in one piece.
An MP's rude awakening
Having been in Edinburgh last week, I can confirm the city is in its usual August state of Fringe-mania. Incidentally whilst there I captured a performance of Cadel, the one-man show profiling the life and career of Cadel Evans, performed in large part on Evans’ own bicycles!
It was great, and carries my recommendation to anyone yet to see it. Ryan was on the ground with the mind and muscles of the show Connor Delves at this year’s Tour de France, so any excuse to plug his in-depth interview he did with us last autumn.
Anyway, that’s not what brings this blog entry… instead, one of the city’s MP Scott Arthur posted on Bluesky a fairly anodyne picture taken from the front of one of the city’s double-decker buses…
Best seat on the bus!
— Dr Scott Arthur MP (Edinburgh South West) 🌍🌈🌹 (@drscottarthurmp.bsky.social) 11 August 2026 at 15:43
However, the responses showed a feeling of injustice among many locals towards Arthur, particularly given his former role as the council’s Transport convenor…
“A perfect example of how Edinburgh prioritises cars at the expense of active travel and pedestrians. Hundreds of people have to navigate around signage designed for cars and haphazard measures that put cyclists at risk. Glad you had a nice view, though.”
“SUV driving too close to cyclist ✅
Redundant painted ‘cycle lane’ ✅
Pedestrians having to walk on road ✅
Bus lanes full of other vehicles ✅
Free parking for coach & shop owners✅
A mess you oversaw & husnae changed since Scott ✅”
“Great opportunity to see how bad the bike and pedestrian provision is, and to kick your former colleagues in the council to get on with closing that road to private motor vehicles.”
Meanwhile self-described “recovering urbanist” Dave McCraw posted a video highlighting the pressing need for serious active travel investment showing the teeming pedestrians walking over a painted cycle lane further up the road whilst the adjacent vehicular lane is, understandably, avoided at all cost…
The same street during the festival FIVE YEARS AGO.
Imagine if politicians put just a fraction of the effort they spent dismantling the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route into protecting and improving the 2021 layout on George IV Bridge.
— Dave McCraw (@davemccraw.bsky.social) 11 August 2026 at 23:30
Once again for the people in the back:
Tarling fund races past £30k
Wow, the GoFundMe set up to support young Welsh cyclists in honour of Fin Tarling has now exceeded £30,000. The donation total stands, at the time of typing, at £33,014. Alex Dowsett, Luke Rowe and the family of Ethan and Leo Hayter are among those publicly listed to have donated.
A truly phenomenal and very moving sum. In an update posted this morning, GoFundMe organiser Jamie B, a family friend, wrote, “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who has donated, shared, and shown such incredible support in memory of Fin.
“The kindness and generosity shown in such a short space of time will be of great comfort to his family.
“Your support will help honour his legacy and create opportunities for future generations of young Welsh cyclists to experience the freedom and joy that cycling brought him. If you can, please continue sharing this fundraiser with your friends, family, cycling communities, and wider networks so Fin’s legacy can reach even more people.
“Thank you for standing alongside Fin’s family and loved ones and for helping create something meaningful in his memory!”
British Cycling CEO announced
A sustainable development professor who has worked at the the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, could Bonfield’s appointment signal British Cycling becoming a stronger voice in road-safety and active travel debates? Welcome if so, but you also wonder what he thinks of the organisation’s Shell sponsorship agreement…
A very scary Swiss close pass...
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A new deal for the Westminster people?
I blame the Americanisation of our society and, to a lesser extent, Franklin D. Roosevelt for the phrase ‘First Hundred Days’ creeping its way across the pond. Sure, if you’re a transformative US President elected on a mandate of enacting sweeping changes to bounce back from the Great Depression, maybe it’s a useful turn of phrase and barometer of progress.
But if you’re Westminster City Council, governed by the Conservatives for all but four of the past 60 years, I think you’re taking the mick.
Still, as part of the local authority’s 100 days initiative, fresh from wrestling Labour out of power after one term, the council is taking action to ‘protect’ Westminster’s streets… by impounding electric hire bikes.
Westminster’s streets are not a free-for-all 🚲
During our first 100 days, we’ve stepped up enforcement against badly parked dockless bikes to help keep our pavements clear and our streets safe.
We’ve:
✔️ Started seizing and impounding bikes left dangerously across… pic.twitter.com/r9s2CGXyry— Leader of Westminster City Council (@Leader_WCC) August 17, 2026
In a brief video, the council’s deputy leader Caroline Sargent, explains that e-bike operators, including Lime, Forest and Voi, will have to pay to get their fleet back.
“In our first 100 days, we’ve made one thing clear: Westminster’s streets are not a free-for-all.” Sargent says.
Sargent’s words are accompanied with footage showing e-bikes parked at pedestrian crossings in Piccadilly, some on their side. The e-bikes are not on the road but are blocking pedestrians from crossing the road. Despite their being no mention of e-bikes on the council’s 100 days policy pledge, such a policy move is not particularly surprising.
The borough’s MP has lobbied for action to be taken over e-bikes on pavements, whilst the council itself has hinted it would support the introduction of national speed limits for all cyclists, only for statutory restrictions to prevent the council imposing stronger measures. For context, all legal e-bikes have a motor restriction of 15.5mph (25kph).
Interestingly, the council, under Labour leadership, has previously championed creating e-bike parking bays to combat rising demand causing obstacles for pedestrians, but there’s no mention of any such proposal in the council’s latest video.
Meanwhile e-bike impounding isn’t new, not even in Westminster where the practice was first reported almost four years ago the day…
> Westminster starts removing hire e-bikes from central London streets on safety grounds
It should also be said that councils are responsible for mandating the use of e-bikes in their borough. If they’re that unhappy with a ‘scourge’ of e-bikes in the borough they could either cut the number of operators, the size of an operator’s fleet, or up their contract price. Instead they’re charging the e-bike providers for their service, then charging them to have their bikes back.
E-bike providers are far from blameless but without authorities providing them parking spaces there are limitations as to how and where they can instruct users to leave their parked bikes. So we’re left with a snazzy policy announcement targeting e-bike providers that actually continues an existing initiative, worsens active travel availability, and doesn’t adapt to Londoners’ changing, more sustainable transport habits. Top marks all round…
Mudslides on the Tourmalet
We’ve seen mudslides affect the Tour de France route in previous years, most notably in 2019. And it turns out we were only a month away from the Tourmalet wreaking an entirely different kind of havoc…
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Nice to see it’s raining somewhere at least…
Jonas Vingegaard ends season
It feels a little jarring to move back to the world of racing, but the world continues apace.
Visma-Lease a Bike have announced Jonas Vingegaard will not race again this year after his recovery from injury took longer than expected. The Dane enjoyed a successful spring, winning both Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya before cantering to a maiden Giro d’Italia title. The honour made him the eighth male rider to win all three Grand Tours.
But a chastening Tour de France followed where, after taking the yellow jersey in the opening team time trial, the Dane repeatedly lost ground to Tadej Pogacar, finding himself 2’42” behind the Slovenian after the race’s first mountain stage and far closer to the podium battle behind than the race for the top step.
Then on stage 15, after he was disturbed by a 2am anti-doping test earlier that day, Vingegaard crashed and broke his collarbone, ending a run of 5 consecutive years Tour de France podium appearances.
In a statement, the 29-year-old said, “After a long and intense racing period, a recovery period was planned after the Tour de France anyway. Due to the collarbone injury, the start of my training has been delayed and it is not possible for me to get back to top level in the coming period. The focus is on preparing optimally for the goals of the 2027 season. I will discuss these specific goals with the team in the coming period.”
It’s unclear which races Vingegaard may have targeted, with the Dane not renowned for his ability in one-day races and no mountainous major stage races planned for the autumn. Rest seems like a very sensible decision…
Department for Transport admits illegal electric motorbikes “cannot be identified” in UK road collision statistics
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@Psi163 yeah, I rode on Tenerife at Easter and have never experienced such amazingly considerate drivers. Morocco is also good, if chaotic.
Schrödinger’s traffic laws? Is there something fundamentally unknowable about them?
@goodolfin No, it could have been phrased more clearly but Spain already had a law mandating helmets for under-sixteens at all times in all areas; helmets for adults were only mandatory outside urban areas and could be removed for long climbs, in times of extreme heat or if the rider could produce a medical exemption. Now those exemptions have been removed. For U16s it's status quo, helmets everywhere without exemption as it was before, for adults no more exemptions outside urban areas though they can still ride helmetless in towns.
@goodolfin No, it could have been phrased more clearly but Spain already had a law mandating helmets for under-sixteens at all times in all areas; helmets for adults were only mandatory outside urban areas and could be removed for long climbs, in times of extreme heat or if the rider could produce a medical exemption. Now those exemptions have been removed. For U16s it's status quo, helmets everywhere without exemption as it was before, for adults no more exemptions outside urban areas though they can still ride helmetless in towns.
They do a light version of the shoe for those concerned with weight, but it's not leather.
SPD-SLR uses the standard 3 bolt design, but because it does away with adjustability on the cleat, this needs to be on the shoe. Some existing shoes have this, some don't. You'd want to take care of you're upgraded from SPD-SLR, but you're not locked into a closed ecosystem. The Ekoi is different, but that's the price of innovation. As someone who has used MTB systems on the road for years for the walkability, I'm tempted by the Ekoi system. The downside for me is ordering from France, as for orders over £135 they don't add VAT, so you get charged this plus duties plus an admin fee by the delivery company. But that's down to Brexit (and some other technical VAT changes), not Ekoi.
@andystow not so helpful for current US cyclists or some UK ones * but I suspect the greatest safety benefits would come from a (conceptually) simple "separate modes where the speed / mass difference is significant, only allow mixing where the more dangerous is significantly slowed and not numerous compared to others". Note no references to skill or careful use in that formulation. That's certainly needed for best results but the system better not *depend* on humans being on their best behavior... * lots of people "have to drive" in the US, even more so than the UK (major generalisation but while public transport is fairly rubbish in much of the UK it *exists* to a greater degree than in much of the US).
@andystow as you subtly didn't spell out ... ... the best bit about the second is that cycling (and walking) also looks safer if you remove those drivers. The opposite doesn't make much difference to drivers.
I have cycled in many countries and found the Spanish to be the most considerate road users to cyclists, whatever their laws say.
If I'm reading this article correctly, this new law only applies to cyclists under 16 years old. Is that correct ? If so, then it makes perfect sense.
19 thoughts on ““The hardest days of our lives”: Tarling family mourn death of Fin as GoFundMe for Welsh cycling legacy fund exceeds £40,000; Westminster Council impounding electric hire bikes… again + more on the live blog”
I’m surprised there’s no coverage of the Lib Dem imposed 15mph cycle lane speed limit which is taking effect in Cambridge. The Sunday Telegraph reported it yesterday.
I’ve seen several articles on road.cc celebrating 20mph speed zones. Usually these articles are accompanied with a chorus of praise and applause by the usual groupthink contributors. Personally, I’ve always thought 20mph zones are the thin end of a wedge, a slippery slope designed to limit freedoms and lock people into their locales. I don’t believe in most cases they involve a rational decision making process, and often have zero evidence behind them in terms of accidents averted or safer streets.
Now we see part B of the plan: 15mph speed limits for cyclists, along with readily available QR scanners next to the cycle path in question to grass people up for breaking the speed limit. I’m not quite sure how they can prove that cyclists know they are going above 15mph given there’s no mandatory speedometer on a bike, but I’m sure they’ll give it a go. Quotes from the local police force state how seriously they take infractions… I know certain YouTubers who must be salivating at the prospect of more arguments and more clicks.
My point is this – be careful what you wish for. We are creeping into a dystopian society where clipboard-wielding maniacs patrol the streets, sneaking around looking for people committing minor infractions such as enjoying a bike ride or a car journey. Before you know it we’ll all be living in a permanent lockdown, where Louise Haigh sends you a daily national emergency text message, telling you to be in bed for 9.30pm.
The clipboard wielding maniacs will be employed by multinational corporate organisations. The sole purpose of leisure activity will be to ensure that you are rested, bored and ready to return to work. All sport and physical activity will be banned, along with alcohol and drugs. The only allowable leisure activities will be shopping and eating in order to fuel the economy. There will be an obligation to consume a set amount of junk food per week to protect profits of organisations like McDonald’s, Greggs etc. Being overweight will be seen as the mark of a good citizen
And posting provocative nonsense in comments on the internet – got to keep the attention economy afloat too.
You’re working for them!
My comments were tongue in cheek, but my home city has lost its speedway track, showground, its only public indoor swimming pool, public all weather football pitches, a huge public playing field and it’s athletics track is under threat.
Lots of supermarkets and fast food takeaways have been gained.
Work/life balance is being eroded.
I do worry about what life in the UK will be like in say 50 years time.
And all citizens will be implanted with 5G tracking devices to keep them within their 15-minute cities.
And all cycling infrastructure will continue to be shared-use cr@p to give the dystopian overlords an excuse to bring in new 15mph speed limits.
15mph. 15-minute cities. Coincidence?
@lesterama Wait a minute… I found some of those- on my bike! The Lib Dems are tracking me too! I’m worried now that they’ll know when I’ve been bungie-jumping or on a waterside…
Fortunately since the air won’t stay in either of my tyres since I removed the tracking devices they’ll think I never leave home now…
@jackcycles Ah, I remember seeing Clipboard Wielding Maniacs at one of their early gigs in the long hot summer of 1976. Great times.
Didn’t their keyboard player go on to be in Groupthink Contributors? Now that was one hell of a supergroup. I still remember the astounding experience of hearing their seminal ‘Thin End of a Wedge, a Slippery Slope’ for the first time.
@mdavidford I only discovered GC during their (not short-lived enough) prog rock phase. “The False Equivalence of Conspiracy Theorists and Electronic Charlatans” (you remember, the 97 minute disco funk opera) was pretentious, confused and self indulgent, yet entertaining, albeit at times extremely repetitive.
Seen at Brixton Academy in the mid 80s. The PA was awfully distorted & the merch overpriced. I did get into a fight with a yuppie over a pint of Mild though, so every cloud…
@Clem Fandango – I feel like some of the bands at ArcTanGent belong in this discussion
@hawkinspeter – oooh Mol. Must be Tom Boonen’s current hustle?
@hawkinspeter Isn’t the whole road.cc comments section the Mass of the Fermenting Dregs, at least in the eyes of certain commenters?
@Nigel Garage So they’re locking me into my locale…by only allowing me to ride fifteen miles away from my home in an hour, a time and a speed that from my inner London abode can put me into any of London’s thirty-two boroughs, the City of London and five adjoining counties. I’m not feeling that claustrophobic, to be honest.
Bloody 15-mile-an-hour cycle limits why can’t we drivers in central London get to go 15mph it’s not fair? Next thing the cabbies will be demanding 5mph limits (it’s on the meter mate)…
U ok, hun?
Hmm – more lazy AI nonsense from Greenedge there. Either that, or whoever designed it has never seen a pack of cards before…
@mdavidford The J – Ʞ combo with the picture of a Queen is the best one, followed by the Λ of clubdiamondspades, then the 8/7 of hearts.
@andystow I think that hand beats the house, but I still wouldn’t raise the bet. The only way to win is not to play
Mötorheadlamp’s “The Ace of Clubdiamondspades” is a seminal piece of AI crock music…