“Safer, less polluted, easier to cross”: Campaigners call for blanket 20mph speeds divides city residents; Kasia Niewiadoma snatches Tour de France Femmes yellow jersey on Ventoux + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
20mph blanket across Bath
When the media reports a 20mph ‘blanket ban’ it’s often misleading, presuming that even the A-roads are now forced to limit you to a more pedestrian-friendly pace. That’s never been quite true, although for campaigners within the city limits of Bath, that’s the goal.
We met campaigner Guy Hodgson at our last ride out, and he last month launched a petition to make Bath a fully 20mph city, highlighting the remaining 8 miles of city roads that have a 30 limit, and their proximity to various schools and student halls.
> Reducing speed limits to 20mph protects cyclists and doesn’t delay traffic, new research finds
He estimates the cost of creating a ‘blanket’ 20mph limit would be around £15,000 and that the policy represents, excellent value for money. 30mph where people live, work and play is akin to indoor smoking. When it is no more, we will look back and wonder how we tolerated such a harmful situation for so long.”
Transport academic Pete Dyson, supports the proposals, noting, “Bath has been fortunate to maintain a largely traditional street design and there is just one mile of dual carriageway. We have already seen 20mph works well for people on places like London Road, which is now safer, less polluted and easier to cross. We need to roll out those benefits to all communities.”
Hodgson also has the tentative support of the city’s council’s cabinet member for sustainable transport delivery. Lucy Hodge said, “We are committed to putting in 20mph speed limits where they are requested by residents, recognising how much safer they make our streets for school children.”
The challenge, however, might be convincing residents to request it. Since launching the petition he has attracted, at the time of writing, 321 signatures. Had he not launched the campaign during the Tour de France we may have given it a little more attention – Bath is after all home to road.cc HQ.
But a write-up of his efforts by the Local Democracy Reporter on Somerset Live seemed to quickly attract hundreds of critical comments.
“258 people signed the petition. If there was a petition to not have 20 mph limits, I am sure that would garner much more support.”
“And the war against the car gathers pace…”
“How about this for an idea: instead of listening to the ‘campaigners’, who are often very vocal, but only represent a small minority of the community, invite every resident of Bath to vote on whether they actually want this. I suspect that the result would end this pointless little drama pretty quickly.”
“I’m sure I’m not the first to say that if the traffic seldom moves faster than 20 you don’t need a mandatory 20 limit. Unless, of course, you want to get lots of lovely income from speeding fines.”
Some residents were also worried about the possible increase in emissions from cars driving slower for longer, although those studies tend to test cars driven on ‘steady-state’ rolling roads and not in the open when cars repeatedly accelerate and decelerate.
Altogether, it seems like this campaign might be facing an uphill battle to win over residents’ approval…
She's done it! Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney snatches yellow from Marlen Reusser on the Ventoux
💥 𝐊𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐙𝐘𝐍𝐀 𝐍𝐈𝐄𝐖𝐈𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐌𝐀-𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐘 WINS STAGE 7 ON MONT VENTOUX!
KATARZYNA NIEWIADOMA-PHINNEY REMPORTE L’ÉTAPE 7 AU 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓 𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐗 ! 🏆#TDFF2026 #WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/yPe361ydS9
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) August 7, 2026
What. A. Ride. When Niewiadoma wins she wins big, and this might be the best of the lot, making up over a minute on the slopes of the Ventoux to go into the virtual lead. Believe it or not, it’s also her first ever stage victory at the Tour de France Femmes. What a way to do it!
Can she stay in yellow all the way to Nice to claim her second Tour de France Femmes victory? You wouldn’t bet against the Polish rider now.
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney moves into the virtual overall lead
Blimey! If Canyon//SRAM’s Niewiadoma holds this gap of around 1:30, she’ll take the yellow jersey off Reusser
In position for the Femmes Ventoux epic
There’s under 15km to go at the time of writing, and any hope of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot pulling off the unthinkable appears to be over as she’s dropped from the yellow jersey group.
Noemi Rüegg (EF Education–Oatly) is currently setting the pace, with 10 other riders currently sticking in the yellow jersey group among overall leader Marlen Reusser at our last count.
Hope the cycle lanes aren't ridiculously narrow...
Today at the Tour
Happy Mont Ventoux day to all that celebrate!
The iconic mountain is so deeply etched into cycling history that Ryan has written an excellent deep dive on Nicole Cooke, the growth of women’s cycling, and what the mountain means to the current generation of professionals…
As for today’s race, the surrounding roads should in theory be empty after race organisers requested fans stay away from certain sections of the course, including the village of Bedoin at the bottom of the mountain, due to ongoing wild fire risk. However, our man on the ground says “there are still fans around” on the designated sections, suggesting the organiser’s pleas may have fallen on deaf ears.
Remarkably, this is the Femmes’ only summit finish of the race meaning if Demi Vollering wants to overhaul the 12 seconds separating her and Marlen Reusser, today is probably the best day, even if the stage itself is not as difficult as Sunday’s finale. As for the podium battle behind, Kasia Niewiadoma has 1’11” and 1’37” over the UAE pair of Elisa Longo Borghini and Dominika Wlodarczyk, with teammate and best young rider Antonia Niedermaier nestled in between. Isabella Holmgren, teammate Niamh Fisher-Black, Cedrine Kerbaol and Nienke Vinke might be outside contenders – the latter set free following confirmation this morning of Anna van der Breggen’s withdrawal from the race.
It should be a fantastic spectacle, with a worthy backdrop awaiting the day’s winner and yellow jersey wearer…
Yesterday's racing round-up
We were so transfixed on the Tour de France Femmes yesterday that we never got round to looking at the men’s peloton.
One of the reasons the Tour of Poland didn’t get covered was because the stage was suspended after a large crash ran the race out of ambulances, leading the stage to be shortened by 15km.
When the racing got underway, Visma’s Bart Lemmen attacked on the final climb and held off Christian Scaroni to take his first ever pro win and the leader’s jersey off the shoulders of Jonathan Milan. Not bad for a man who was a full-time captain in the Dutch air force until 2022.
🚴🇵🇱 | Bart Lemmen wint in de Ronde van Polen zijn eerste profzege. Wat een ontknoping! 🤯🇳🇱 #TDP26
Koers 👀 HBO Max pic.twitter.com/P2YsLXWmrT
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) August 6, 2026
Meanwhile in the Vuelta a Burgos, which had been a storming race so far for Brits. Race leader Oscar Onley reacted well to the moves but was ultimately dropped by Felix Gall inside the final 5km, with the Austrian then solo-ing to the line. Onley was meanwhile caught by the Italian Giulio duo of Ciccone and Pellizzari, and dropped to third overall on bonus seconds.
2️⃣ Felix Gall venceu a etapa três da @VueltaBurgos e assumiu a geral. Uma senhora performance. pic.twitter.com/SRBIQmauyi
— O País Do Ciclismo (@opaisdociclismo) August 7, 2026
That race will likely come down to Saturday’s summit finish to Lagunas de Neilia, though we’ll probably be distracted by the women racing in the neighbouring country…
Lapierre launch legal action to continue after parent company enters administration
As you might expect, yesterday we were pre-occupied with what the Accell group’s insolvency proceedings meant for Raleigh, the iconic British bike brand.
> Raleigh faces administration after parent company starts insolvency proceedings
But as reported, Raleigh aren’t the only brand affected. And Lapierre, who provide bikes for WorldTour Team Picnic-PostNL, aren’t happy with the way things are panning out.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the French brand say “At Lapierre we believe in being transparent with our community. Today, we want to share an important update: Lapierre has initiated legal proceedings to enter judicial reorganisation following the cessation of activities of Accell Group, the parent company we were previously part of.
“Our teams are here, continuing to design build and support the bikes that bring people together on every road, trail and climb.
“Every great ride includes challenging peaks. We know the road ahead will require determination, but we are ready to keep moving and to write the next chapter of the Lapierre story together.”
Of course what isn’t clear from that statement is how they intend to keep running, or whether they have a buyer of their brand lining up to take over. If we hear any similar statement from Raleigh we’ll let you know.
Penny Farthing Hill Climb alert!
People of Eastbourne and the surrounding vicinity! If you have Sunday plans reschedule them, unless of course you plan on attending the Penny Farthing hill climb world championships…
View this post on Instagram
4.7km, a whopping 150m of elevation gain. Be there or be square. Sadly our VecchioJo, he of 59 Flandrien bergs fame, failed to snap up an entry this time.
View this post on Instagram
Slightly insane rear bike light spotted
View this post on Instagram
You wonder what went through Specialized’s heads to come up with this. Thankfully Mat will have a more thorough explanation in our Tech of the Week.
Bike shop-turned detective agency
This story has been a little all-consuming for Ryan at times over the past couple of weeks, which is all the more remarkable considering he’s been chasing it whilst at the biggest bike races in the world. Kudos to him…
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comparable blue-sky lunacy, apparently a small keychain pendant is going to save lives. i was going to reply on fb with images of stationary police vehicles that other motorists collided with despite being festooned in hiviz markings, but y'know .. jail time for hurt feelings. https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/be-bright-be-seen-inverness-schools-to-receive-7500-keyrin-448570/
I could wear a giant Las Vegas neon sign on my back and a driver looking at their phone still wouldn't see me.
@kingleo He also drives. I've heard him talking about his car. His family has also been deeply affected by bad drivers. He seems extremely well qualified for the position he's in and I think we're lucky to have him. I'd like to see The Spectator employ better journalists but there's Bob Hope of that.
A cautionary tale for anyone relying on public consultations as an indication of public opinion, given that BH12 apparently had a population of 36,169 at the 2021 census, and only 31 bothered to respond.
I wonder what would happen if some random pleb decided to suplex Sheriff Fergus Thomson randomly for no reason on his way home from work. I have a sneaking suspicion it wouldn't involve them "avoiding jail by the narrowest of margins", no matter how many crocodile tears they might shed in court.
It would also be nicer if it dropped you out more parallel, so that you don't have to make a turn into the path of any oncoming bus - something like this (there are other versions that have a tapered merge after the drop).
Maybe they should make the bike lane a different colour to the road to make it clear that it's not part of the road. Oh, wait, they already did. There is no hope!
@Rendel Harris Yeah, I can see the logic, just seems a bit over-engineered for that purpose! The surfacing in particular seems unnecessary - you can have the dropped kerb and painted markings without the little patch of red asphalt.
I'm not generally a fan of emulating American approaches, but I do think local authorities need to be much more willing to tow and impound illegally parked vehicles, with all costs involved recovered from the owner before they get their vehicle back. (Maybe it's just a TV trope, but in American films and TV shows, improperly parked cars always seem to get towed away pretty quickly, especially when inconvenient for the protagonist!) Most of the time illegally parked cars just get a PCN, which a) is regressive (impacts poor people most; for rich people it's a minor annoyance at most) and b) does nothing to alleviate the harm done by the illegal parking - i.e. the parking restriction exists for a reason; leaving the car there means that reason continues to be undermined.
I'm in no way whatsoever justifying the car being parked in the scooter bay, but as it is a 'classic car' from 1972 it doesn't actually need an MOT. It does need to have current VED, although again due to the age, this is a cost of £0 per year, so there's no excuse for not keeping the VED records up to date.
17 thoughts on ““Safer, less polluted, easier to cross”: Campaigners call for blanket 20mph speeds divides city residents; Kasia Niewiadoma snatches Tour de France Femmes yellow jersey on Ventoux + more on the live blog”
“…when cars repeatedly accelerate and decelerate.”
and
“… from cars driving slower for longer…”
Come on Callum.
Do better.
I once had a “chat” (/argument) about residential/side roads in my area going from 30mph to 20mph.
The other party, who only drives, was against it.
I challenged him to work out the difference in journey time it would mean for him, given he usual travels during rush hour anyway.
He didn’t do so.
Not heard any complaints about it since implementation…
I need to check if he has noticed a difference and if so can prove it and complained to the council.
Never mind that – far more egregiously, what’s that comma doing in “the policy represents, excellent value for money”?
@mdavidford 😀
@mdavidford The Commer was a van whose only aspiration in life was to reach 20mph.
Makes a nice change from abusing apostrophes?
“I’m sure I’m not the first to say that if the traffic seldom moves faster than 20 you don’t need a mandatory 20 limit. Unless, of course, you want to get lots of lovely income from speeding fines.” [Petrol sniffer]
Schödinger’s Motor Vehicles: seldom exceed 20mph but invoke lots of fines for doing so.
@GMBasix amazing isn’t it. Driving is full of these little mysteries isn’t it. Like how you can not be done for dangerous driving when clearly your driving was dangerous because someone was hurt or killed. Or when you use the defence that you are an incompetent driver who didn’t see someone for hundreds of metres to prove that your driving wasn’t unsafe.
@GMBasix No shite. Moronically contradictory. Should someone so mentally challenged even be allowed to drive?
@GMBasix Fine people for _wanting_ to go faster than 20mph of course.
Today’s TDF Femmes stage was a great watch and good to see Kasia get the win.
And almost as impressive was her performance in Tuesday’s TT.
The GC contest will be pretty exciting.
[Petrol sniffer]
Disappointingly illogical and rude comment. You’ve cheapened yourself there I’m afraid with a primitive lack of manners and understanding.
To address the quote, of course lots of revenue can be gained by prosecuting people in a 20 zone, despite the fact that traffic speeds may only sometimes go above it. You might not have noticed, but traffic moves at different speeds depending on time of day and road conditions. For example, on a rainy morning, traffic tends to move very slowly due to congestion and safety concerns (both for the conditions and school children being dropped off). This is where a 20 limit would be appropriate, but also unnecessary due to self-regulation by responsible road users.
Contrast this to when plod might be out, ambushing motorists with their speed guns: on a nice sunny clear day outside of peak times, looking to sneak out on an unsuspecting driver, driving down a nice straight hill, who’s erred above the now arbitrary and unnecessary limit.
This is why I favour dynamic speed limits, like they have in some parts of Europe.
I like to be courteous to correspondents.
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Sometimes people have a different perspective.
Some people have a lived experience that explains their world view.
But nothing explains your response more readily than it is the contrivance of an inveterate contrarian or a befuddled idiot.
@GMBasix Well normally I’d go for inveterate contrarian but on this occasion I think I’d go with befuddled idiot.
@perce Bit of both, our Nige isn’t scared of multitasking!
Unfortunately you’ll be aware that the UK already has “dynamic speed limits”.
Before we even start, people should be dynamically *lowering* their speed anyway as the conditions dictate (restricted visibility, narrow carriageway, darkness, low sun, certain weather etc.)
We have variable speed limits on motorways. Requiring people to check signs in a fairly “low distraction environment” is reasonable. Plus there’s relative homogeneity of mass / speed / vulnerability of those thereon (excepting possibly motorbikers…)
There are “please don’t go faster when the lights are flashing” ones around schools. That is maybe not so good, eg. when children have to leave outside the regular times. Schools tend to be in “high mental workload for road users” urban environments also.
Then there is the regular bad old UK habit of “the maximum is more of a target” and “I’ll chance it because I’ve always got away with it and it’s only taking the mick of you’re more than 10mph over” “dynamic limits”.
Twenty is plenty.
Fight me.
If you wish to sign our petition for 20mph in Bath, here is the link: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/bath20mphcity