Cycle path blocked for two years – and no one knows why; Dramatic E3 finale; Scottish Labour leader criticised for proposed raiding of active travel fund for road repairs; Goats on the Paris-Roubaix course + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Cycle path blocked for two years - and no one knows why
What good is a resurfaced canal path if people can’t access it?
That’s the conundrum Huddersfield residents are facing after a locked gate has remained in position for more than two years!
Yorkshire Live has this strange story on the blocked access to the Huddersfield Broad Canal on Leeds Road in Cooper Bridge. To be clear, the canal isn’t fully blocked, just at its most convenient entry point for many commuters.
To compare and contrast, you can see screenshots taken from Google Streetview showing the path blocked in 2025, but open in 2020.
One told the publication that the locked gate has remained in place despite the Canal and River Trust confirming in writing that access was permitted from the road to the canal. But three months later, “nothing has happened”, Steve Shaw said.
The awkward blockage, but legal right of passage means that Steve is among many canal towpath users who have taken to ducking and squeezing their bikes and person(s) underneath the metal gate. The canal towpath is an increasingly popular commuting route that avoids the busy Leeds Road heading into and out of the town centre.
A luxury that isn’t available to many less mobile or disabled towpath users for whom the path resurfacing was primarily intended to improve access for. Talk about an inconvenience…
“Ouch”: Football legend Alan Shearer crashes into pothole while cycling, suffering nasty cuts to arm and leg
Van der Poel holds on after late trickery
3km: 8 seconds
2km: 6 seconds
1km: 3 seconds
Just as it looked as though Mathieu van der Poel was about to be caught, the quartet stopped working, and the Dutchman counter-attacked, gaining enough of a gap to sit up and bask in his achievements as a three-time winner. Late drama, but a total screw-up from the rouleurs behind.
Ils sont 4 prêts à rentrer sur Van Der Poel après des kilomètres de poursuite et il n’y en a pas un qui branche son cerveau si proche du but ptdrrrrrrrr allez bravo Mathieu pic.twitter.com/OkVl6Bbofz
— Cycling Legend (@CyclingLegend_) March 27, 2026
Per Strand Hagenes took second ahead of Florian Vermeersch. Poor Stan Dewulf has to settle for fourth ahead of Jonas Abrahamsen…
Late drama
Blimey, 7k to go, Van der Poel’s lead below 20 seconds. Meanwhile Red Bull are towing the peloton to within 40 seconds of the front of the race.
The person towing Van der Poel back? His former teammate, Gianni Vermeersch. Visma-Lease a bike also contributing.
6k, gap down to 12 seconds. Van der Poel’s shoulders are just starting to rock…
Pidcock finished Catalunya stage; Van der Poel lead decreasing
We still have no news on Tom Pidcock’s condition after the Brit crashed on today’s stage of the Volta a Catalunya, but we do have confirmation that he finished the stage, some 30 minutes behind Jonas Vingegaard and just minutes inside the time limit.
In the meantime, Mathieu van der Poel’s margin has shrunk down to 30 seconds, with 13km remaining. The quartet of rouleurs are working well behind, including poor DeWulf who has spent all day at the front of the race. Could we be on for an upset? Van der Poel has just taken another gel…
Van der Poel Unstoppaboel
It was all almost perfectly synchronised. Just as Jonas Vingegaard was sweeping to a comfortable victory, Mathieu Van der Poel could’ve attacked from the peloton just then. Except the two-time defending champion couldn’t wait.
Instead, by the time I switched over he was bridging to the first of two breakaways up the road ahead of him, reuniting (briefly) with Alpecin teammate Edward Planckaert. Van der Poel attacked again on the Boigneberg climb with more than 60km to go, and then spent a solid half-hour catching up to the front of the race.
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Then, on the Paterberg, Van der Poel went free, and he’s barely looked back. Flandrien Stan DeWulf put up a brief fight and is now in the second group on the road alongside Florian Vermeersch, Jonas Abrahamsen and Per Strand Hagenes. With 22km and one major cobbled section and climb still to come, the gap is 50 seconds to Van der Poel and only 20 seconds on a reduced, Mads Pedersen-led peloton.
A rather sticky bottle...
Wouldn’t be surprised if news comes through of Axel Zingle’s disqualification from E3 at some point this afternoon.
Shame on you,
Axel Zingle..
🤮
#E3SaxoClassic pic.twitter.com/raxeGVfIud— Lv Cycling 🇧🇪 (@Lv_Cycling) March 27, 2026
We’ll save race spoilers just for now, but not much longer, the front of the race currently has 37km remaining.
Council accuses young cyclists of “criminal damage” and reports them to police for digging small bike ramp
I get the impression that the people complaining about children playing outside are not dissimilar to the people who complain that children spend all their time indoors and don’t go out anymore…
Vingegaard unstoppable uphill
There was a brief period where it looked like we could be on for an upset at the Volta a Catalunya.
Giulio Ciccone was putting up a decent fight having made the day’s break, a group of contenders including Florian Lipowitz had gained a 20 second advantage on the peloton.
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Then, with 7km to go, Jonas Vingegaard launched. Within a kilometre he’d caught the front and he soon went solo, taking the stage win and race lead. Decathlon’s Felix Gall was best of the rest 50 seconds behind.
The expected battle with Evenepoel and Pidcock didn’t materialise, the Belgian unable to match any of Vingegaard’s accelerations, ultimately finishing more than 90 seconds down. Pidcock meanwhile crashed before the final climb and his condition isn’t yet known. If we get an update we’ll bring it to you.
A deal is a deal...
Fresh from her first pro victory in the Tour of Bruges yesterday, Carys Lloyd duly got her reward…
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A racing car is a pretty cool gift, but with a Danish two-time Tour de France winner doing more for Danish global power than anyone bar the cigarette and pipe-smoking foreign minister, surely Lego could muster up a pro cycling kit?
Road closures blamed for lack of women's Il Lombardia
We’ve become accustomed in recent years to Tadej Pogacar running away with Lombardia, but it’s still the only men’s monument without a women’s equivalent.
Now, CyclingNews report that race organisers RCS do ‘want’ to organise a Lombardia Donne but say the major difficulty would be closing the roads.
“We know that there should be a women’s Il Lombardia,” a source said. “It’s the only Monument without a women’s race. However it’s important that the race is sustainable for the long-term, sponsors and budgets are needed and we need to strengthen our organisational team too.
It’s a frustrating, recurring issue for the women’s peloton that is told it must demonstrate immediate profitability to justify its existence, at a time when much of ASO’s race portfolio, including races like Paris-Nice and Paris-Roubaix, rely on the profits of the Tour de France to fund their existence, and it took a hell of a lot of campaigning to restart the Tour de France Femmes.
Still, the source seemed upbeat that a women’s Lombardia could be introduced by 2028. Better late than never…
ROUBAIX GOAT ALERT
No, not John Degenkolb, or Lizzie Deignan…
The queens are back 🐐
📍 Trouée d’Arenberg pic.twitter.com/qEcu078kj7— Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix (@A_ParisRoubaix) March 27, 2026
Cycle lane plans branded dangerous due to “cars reversing into road” – but council tells drivers to be “on the lookout"
It's a Friday, who needs to work anyway?
E3 and Catalunya MTF same day pic.twitter.com/SPrALtjHUh
— Matthias #SiempreGino (@NairoInGreen) March 27, 2026
We’ll have a racing-round up a little later on from both World Tour races. The Volta a Catalunya has once again been affected by wind which has seen the final climb cut short by 2km. It’s still probably too long for race leader Dorian Godon but will the shorter climb make it harder for Jonas Vingegaard to distance Tom Pidcock and Remco Evenepoel, both of whom have opened a gap on the Dane courtesy of time bonuses?
Meanwhile, Mathieu van der Poel and Mads Pedersen will go head-to-head at the cobbled E3 Classic in Belgium. it’s both men’s first race since Milan-Sanremo where the Dutchman sustained a hand injury, and Mads Pedersen made an astonishing comeback from a broken collarbone and wrist to finish fourth. Biniam Girmay is also racing and would be a contender if the race comes down to a sprint. If the weather is anything like yesterday though, that might be unlikely…
We’re hoping that the weather at @E3SaxoClassic today is nicer than it was for our recon yesterday 🥶 ❄️
🇧🇪 #E3SaxoClassic #WeAreNSN | @weare_NSN pic.twitter.com/3LsILB2GOX
— NSN Cycling Team (@NSNCyclingTeam) March 27, 2026
Scottish Labour leader criticised for proposed raiding of active travel fund for road repairs
Election season is upon us which means it’s the time when various politicians make lots of claims which it’s everyone’s job to scrutinise in a short period of time. Just last week we got bogged down in a war of words taking place in Edinburgh over cycling levels in the city.
Thankfully, Spokes are on the money when it comes to active travel north of the border.
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The Edinburgh organisation called out the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar last week after the party pledged to create a new £350 million ‘Pothole fund’, by repurposing funds allocated for active and sustainable travel funding.
In response to the funding pledge, Spokes labelled the plan “absolutely disastrous,” telling the Edinburgh Evening News adding that “there is no rationale whatsoever in using the active travel budget for this purpose, rather than from the vehicles causing the potholes.
“We cannot believe Anas Sarwar has consulted properly with his own transport-specialist colleagues… nor can he have looked at Labour’s proud history on active travel funding.”
But the policy was defended by Edinburgh Council’s Transport Committee convenor Stephen Jenkinson who said “In Edinburgh we see first-hand how potholes and deteriorating road surfaces affect residents, bus passengers, cyclists and drivers alike. Any renewed focus on supporting councils to tackle the repair backlog is therefore very welcome.”
The Scottish Parliament election, alongside its Welsh equivalent, will be held on Thursday 7th May. Opinion polls suggest that the SNP, which has been in power since 2007, is set to be re-elected as a minority government. Having experienced a polling surge in 2024, Scottish Labour are currently polling in third place, closely behind Reform UK.
The news we've all been waiting for...
Stop press! The Giro d’Italia has unveiled its official wine partner, and it’s a Pinot Grigio!
The wine industry representatives of Trento, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia have come together to ensure they can bring the wines of North-East Italy “into a narrative that unites sport, territory, community and lifestyle, consolidating our role as ambassadors of an authentic and contemporary Italian spirit.” I couldn’t agree more…
So if you’re watching England toil against Uruguay tonight or still grieving the shortcomings of your respective nation last night, and wishing for Grand Tour season to spare you from the monotony of pig-skins in nets, now you can already start to dream ahead… (a quick google search shows me you can have your own glass of the Giro d’Italia for just £6 from Aldi and Sainsbury’s alike, so there you are)
The perfect Cargo Bike doesn't exi....
Some fantastic engineering is being captured on Bluesky…
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Latest Comments
You'd have to be mad to back this
New party game. Find a generative AI picture and the first team that circles 10 obvious problems wins a shot of rum.
Say what you will about the braking efficiencies of both rim and disc brakes. Or of seemingly having only one pedal and crank. Or of the angled-in brake hoods on flat bars. Let alone the rearward facing handlebars. I'm so impressed though, by the chain that traverses one side of the bike, to switch side somewhere around the dropouts, to the other side of the bike! Every side's a drivetrain side!
@chrisonabike We live in terraced houses, so no garage.
@Shades They have a 5 bedroom house for the 4of them (2 parents, 2 children). Admittedly, the hall isn't wide but it's not as if they're short of space. I keep 2 of my bikes in the cellar.
In other news, researchers prove beyond doubt that water is indeed wet.
And why are they not heavily de-starred by NCAP? The rot started with the Nissan Qashqai which used loopholes on bonnet safety regulations that didn't adequately include the headlight lenses, they put deep soft tissue penetrating ridges into the lens mouldings that increased their height and the aggressiveness of the look of the car but made it much more dangerous to any vulnerable roaduser. Unfortunately the raised stance and batmobileish looks appealed to buyers, particularly women and the whole industry surged in that direction. Now much worsened with the seeming unstoppability of the Range Rover look.
@mdavidford Most importantly, will someone name a range of exotic (well, exotic for the 1980s) snacks after me?
@mctrials23 Nerdy sort of fact, if the RTW challenge was to cycle round the equator, which would make sense in a way with that being the longest circumference of our oblate spheroid, it would only take 8,714 kilometres of cycling as the rest of the 40,075km would be by boat.
15 thoughts on “Cycle path blocked for two years – and no one knows why; Dramatic E3 finale; Scottish Labour leader criticised for proposed raiding of active travel fund for road repairs; Goats on the Paris-Roubaix course + more on the live blog”
“Fantastic engineering” – well yes, if the engineering brief was “design me an absolute death trap”!
Fantastic
adjective
imaginative or fanciful; remote from reality.
Seems about right…
The more I look at it, the more is going on. Double bikes at back. Steer by rope. What’s with the loose chains?
I admire the whimsical engineering, but concur: death trap.
I’d still like to try it.
I always believe cock-up over conspiracy, but…..
From my unfortunately extensive experience of engaging with the Canal and Rivers Trust, they love getting grants relating to cyclists and cycling infrastructure, with their tasty overheads, but hate actually having cyclists on their towpaths. I’m tempted to think that there is a distinct lack of desire to solve this on their part and allow cyclists back on the towpath.
Confused, although the September 2025 Street view, the latest available, which you have used to show the footpath blocked, does have “footpath closed” signs the gate is actually wide open – see screenshot from another angle below.
So wide open that someone appears to have driven a car down there…
Pet peeve – can people stop talking about ‘fixing potholes’?
If you ‘fix’ a pothole (by filling it in) you will then need to do it again in a little while, after the vehicles erode the new surface.
Instead, people should be talking about resurfacing the roads. It costs a lot more up front, yes, but the savings on maintenance costs make up for it.
I dunno, around here they resurfaced roads and within a couple of years they crumbled into the same holes that were there previously. I don’t know if there’s something eroding the base of the road away underneath (burst pipes?).
Empty wrote “Instead, people should be talking about resurfacing the roads. It costs a lot more up front, yes, but the savings on maintenance costs make up for it.”
Well it would if they didn’t come along and dig it up a few weeks later which always seems to be the way with resurfacing. Perhaps it’s just Gloucestershire.
Sarwar can suggest anything he likes. He’s about as likely to be in charge come May as I am to win the TdF for the next 5 years…
@bigfoz suspect you’re right, but since the break with the Greens the SNP have also “got with the program” on “giving the people what (our economic masters think) they want” eg. taking money from active travel stuff if we can.
MVDP wins E3 – luck is part of talent and success, but it greatly helps when the competition plays stupid.
One may wonder why a foursome of professional cyclists ride the last km to secure second place, crickey!
Dunno if road.cc picked this up earlier, but another classic – a councillor apparently driving while virtually attending a meeting discussing (along other topics) a road safety issue and school crossings…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/czjw3en28pjo
(Probably some other outlet / social media have some actual context – not on beeb ATM).
A bit of bike art for you.
https://hannahayre.com/light-installations#/fluorecycle/
Big album releases may be killing people on the roads (AKA stop playing with your bloody phone!)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/do-taylor-swift-and-bad-bunny-have-blood-on-their-hands/