“You would think with the Tour Down Under, drivers would be more aware of cyclist safety… apparently not!”; Reaction to Lime’s hire bike expansion; Don’t behave like this if you spot Jonas Vingegaard; Cycling mythbusting + more on the live blog

Here’s some footage doing the rounds online, @artem4ik19 finding his way onto the wheel of yet more of the world’s best cyclists. If you haven’t seen his videos before, they’re something of top amateur rider meets private investigator, Artem seemingly every day tracking down a bunch of WorldTour pros to train alongside and film their workouts for social media.

Naturally, spending hours and hours filming means it’s not just the nuclear intervals and monster sprints he captures on camera, but also the head-in-hands moments like this, one over-excited fan a bit too keen to get a video of Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike.

The fan rides up the wrong side of the road, phone in hand and staring straight across at the Visma-Lease a Bike pros, apparently little concern for anything coming down the climb around the blind bend ahead.

From there, everyone involved deals with the situation about as best they could, the red helmet of Vingegaard politely pointing out to the filming rider that it’s a two-way road, the fan realising the error of his ways, dropping back with an apology, and getting a ‘thank you’ in return. 

“Please, don’t forget about safety on the roads,” Artem told his YouTube viewers, the video watched almost 100,000 times in a couple of days. 

The comments section dubbed Vingegaard ‘Jonas the traffic tutor’. The Dane will probably be hoping to add some more prestigious accolades to his palmares in 2026… but I guess it’s a start…

Other popular discussion points were whether “people’s obsession with celebrities is so freaky” and why the fan felt the need to risk sacrificing his body for a video. Anyway, thankfully no more than a little bit of harmless social media discussion came from this… maybe stick to the correct side of the road if you see any pro cyclists out training near you…

⚡Perfect timing, and a perfect execution from the guys at @decathloncmacgm!

A late comeback from Sam Welsford and Matty Brennan can’t challenge the Dane, and Tobias Lund Andresen takes Stage 1!

? Stream the race now on 7plus: https://t.co/k2Exq3GblT@vanguard_au |… pic.twitter.com/kqebbCDVb5

— Santos Tour Down Under ??‍♀️ (@tourdownunder) January 21, 2026

The first road stage of the men’s edition of the Santos Tour Down Under ended with new recruit Tobias Lund Andresen bagging his first win for Decathlon-CMA CGM and ruining the day for home favourite Sam Welsford and rising British star Matthew Brennan. Andresen reserved special mention for his “incredibly fast” bike, the Dane clearly very impressed with his shiny new Van Rysel, having swapped Picnic PostNL and their Lapierre rides for the French squad this winter.

“It feels amazing to win, I honestly can’t remember the last time I felt this way,” the stage winner said afterwards. “It’s unbelievable. The bike is incredibly fast, and my teammates did an exceptional job today. I truly enjoyed this finish. You could say it’s a bit crazy for a sprinter to tackle an arrival like this, but the preparation we did with our sports directors, Mark Renshaw and Luke Roberts, was perfect. It’s not often you can execute a plan so precisely, but today we managed to pull it off.”

Renshaw assisting a sprint victory, water is wet, the Pope’s a catholic, the bear shits in the woods etc. etc.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Human Powered Health Cycling (@hphcycling)

 Rounding up the news from Down Under this morning (apparently there’s some tennis tournament too, but we’ll leave that) Maggie Coles-Lyster kicked clear of a reduced bunch to win a crash-hit edition of the Tour Down Under Vanguard Women’s One-Day Race. 

The Canadian rider denied Tour Down Under winner Noemi Rüegg another victory in Australia, Britain’s Josie Nelson continuing her fine start to 2026 in seventh (for balance, after Tobias Lund Andresen’s post-Picnic Van Rysel love-in earlier, aboard her Picnic-branded Lapierre).

One of the most interesting aspects of Coles-Lyster’s win is the context of her 2025 season, her Human Powered Health team explaining how the 26-year-old was diagnosed with FILA, flow limitation in the iliac artery, last year and underwent surgery in the summer.

“As soon as the race would get hard, I just couldn’t keep up,” she explained. “I would just go out the back and couldn’t push any more than I was doing. It was kind of like, am I still sick? Is something lingering? Is this an energy thing?”

Her and the team questioned if she was sick, overtrained, undertrained, and the confusion increased when blood tests showed nothing.

“The only way I’ve been able to describe it is as if the blood down in my entire leg was aching,” Coles-Lyster said. “It wasn’t specific to any muscle, it was such a deep ache, and it would linger for days after races.”

A specialist clinic was ultimately able to diagnose FILA and the second half of 2026 brought surgery and recovery, her win today a fitting end to her comeback story. Human Powered Health have a really in-depth blog post looking at Coles-Lyster’s experience.

> “Physically it’s manageable, mentally it’s relentless”: Cycling the entire Festive 500 in one ride… around a McDonald’s drive-through?!

Simon Munk from the London Cycling Campaign reckons the classic ‘nobody cycles in the rain/winter’ anti-cycling bingo tick has gone out of fashion these days. I wonder why?

‘No one cycles in rain/winter’ – strangely not something usual anti-cycling suspects say in London these days. 08:52, heavy rain, C6 shot from Holborn Viaduct. More cycles than track can cope with & than motor vehicles. Yet we still are struggling to get enough capacity. @londoncycling.bsky.social

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— Simon Munk (@psimonk.bsky.social) 21 January 2026 at 10:27

> Canyon axes up to 320 jobs as part of “continued consolidation”, two weeks after claiming business not in crisis

Better Streets for Birmingham has welcomed yesterday’s announcement that Lime will take over from Beryl in running the West Midlands’ micromobility services from April.

It is expected that more than 2,000 new e-bikes and e-scooters will arrive in the region at no extra cost to the taxpayer or council, Martin Price the chair of Better Streets for Birmingham telling BirminghamLive the hire schemes have the potential to be the “backbone” of the region’s cities’ transport network.

“Lime has a great reputation – especially for getting to and from major events – and they fully understand the challenges under the old scheme,” he said. “We now need to see Lime drastically expand the scheme’s coverage and availability, along with councils helping to facilitate new virtual and physical docks at a pace that matches Lime’s ambition for the region.”

Mayor Richard Parker yesterday confirmed that the agreement comes with a commitment for Lime to freeze bike hire prices until 2028 and bring a brand-new fleet of hire bikes and scooters.

“By securing a partnership that operates at no cost to the taxpayer, we are saving the public purse more than £1 million a year,” he said. “This is money we can now reinvest back into our regional transport, delivering better journeys for everyone.”

> Yours for €950: check out Rudy Project’s new 3D-printed titanium glasses

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Lizzie Deignan MBE (@l_deignan)

Along with husband Phil, the Deignans have founded Deignan Performance, promising “world-class cycling coaching”… and who are we to argue? It’s not just for racers though, Lizzie writing on Instagram they’re open to anyone from beginners to professional riders, including new mums navigating a return to fitness, and amateur riders looking to set bigger goals to reach their potential.

Calling it the “obvious next step” to get into coaching post-retirement, Lizzie explained how supporting Ethopian rider Eyeru Tesfoam’s journey to the Paris Games was “one of my fondest Olympic memories and the start of my desire to coach”.

Former Team Sky rider Phil has been coaching for six years now, the couple bringing their combined 40 years’ experience in cycling together under one Deignan Performance brand.

Lizzie, thanks for the offer, but I think your knowledge and years at the head of the game would be wasted on someone who just needs to get out the door more often…

Leeds City Council has welcomed views from residents regarding new active travel measures on streets surrounding schools in the Middleton and Halton Moor areas of the city. The local authority points out that while the majority of students live within a 10-minute walk of their schools and colleges, a higher than average percentage of pupils still travel by car.

“The streets surrounding the schools suffer from high levels of congestion, driving and parking on pavements during school drop off and pick up times, narrow paths, and lack of safe and convenient crossings making walking, wheeling and cycling feel unsafe,” a spokesperson said. “The proposals aim to improve walking, wheeling and cycling routes to schools and reduce car dependency on these busy streets.”

Leeds City Council is proposing a series of measures, including widening paths and pavements “to make walking, wheeling, and cycling to school safer and more accessible”, junction improvements, more crossings, improved lighting, bollards to prevent pavement parking and increased enforcement of existing rules.

> “Hopefully they’ll soon be charged a traffic tax”: Lanzarote locals angered by cyclotourists after video shows cyclist drafting behind hire car

The good people over at camera brand Cycliq thought perhaps “with so many cyclists in Adelaide for the Tour Down Under, drivers would be more aware and appreciative of cyclist safety”? Well, in their own words… “apparently not!”

You would think with so many cyclists in Adelaide for the Tour Down Under, drivers would be more aware and appreciative of cyclist safety, apparently not!

Caught on the Fly12 Sport ? pic.twitter.com/WwQe5vGLfc

— Cycliq (@Cycliq) January 20, 2026

Given it’s Twitter we’re talking about here, probably best to leave the comments. The video did, however, give us access to one of life’s great pleasures — hearing the f-bomb in an Aussie accent never fails to raise a smile.

Anyway, ahead of the Tour Down Under this month, South Australia Police launched Operation Safe Cycling and “asked motorists and cyclist to share the road as the Santos Tour Down Under begins”. That’s going well…

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens told the public “cyclists are vulnerable road users, so we need everyone to share the road and be respectful”, advice this particular driver either didn’t hear or wasn’t too keen to take on board.

“If you’re on the road, be vigilant,” Stevens continued. “Drivers must pay attention for cyclists who can be difficult to see. Be extra careful around intersections and when executing left hand turns.

“Cyclists also have an important role in maintaining their safety by ensuring they are wearing appropriate protective equipment and high-visibility apparel.”

If only these riders were wearing hi-vis clothing, eh. Then this driver would have been magically calmed and instilled with the patience to wait 30 seconds to continue their day… or something like that…