“Why, Manchester, why?”: Cyclist blocked from dedicated cycle route as cargo bike won’t fit through barriers; Gruesome 50cm splinter surgically removed from track cyclist’s leg; Flèche Wallonne + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Why, Manchester, why?": Cyclist blocked from using cycle route as cargo bike won't fit through barriers
It’s the latest bike path barrier shocker, this time from Manchester where this rider found their cargo bike access to an off-road cycle route blocked by some extensive barrier-ing. Worse still, they tried a different entrance to the route and found the same problem.
What a way to ruin a cargo bike IKEA run.
We’ve reported on numerous of these cases across the country over the years. It’s often outdated barriers from years gone by that council’s haven’t got round to removing yet.
In some cases that’s giving the local authority in question too much credit… yes, some are still installing barriers like these on their cycle routes. The reason for more recent installations is often given as ‘to stop anti-social behaviour such as kids on motorbikes, quad bikes or any other vehicle that shouldn’t be on a cycle route’.
However, as happens here, it means anyone on a cargo bike, or in a wheelchair, or on a mobility scooter is left with no access too.
Wheels for Wellbeing, the charity campaigning for inclusive cycling and the enhancement of disabled people’s lives and journeys through cycling and wheeling, has spoken extensively about the issue.
Encouragingly, on this post too, someone saying they are a volunteer with the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust commented offering some support and advice.
“As others have said these are slowly being replaced. As volunteers we are regularly tasked with checking access points like these. Please report this to Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (formerly Sustrans),” they said.
Let’s hope this cycle path gets its much-needed upgrade soon…
Vollering holds off Puck Pieterse... (just)
Demi Vollering holds on after a HUGE long-range effort to take her second win at Flèche Wallonne 🙌✨ pic.twitter.com/kHmcZwgtLh
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) April 22, 2026
A more established star took the women’s edition of Flèche Wallonne, Demi Vollering just having enough to see off Dutch compatriot Puck Pieterse. After winning this race back in 2023, Vollering has finished second twice in the past two editions, last year behind Pieterse.
This year, Vollering went early and looked the winner for most of the final fearsome ramp to the line, but then Pieterse got closer… and closer… and closer. At the line the comfortable gap had disappeared, but Vollering had just enough momentum to roll across in celebration while Pieterse slumped behind.
Surprise Amstel Gold Race winner Paula Blasi proved that win was far from a fluke, the Spaniard taking third.
Paul Seixas becomes youngest ever winner of Flèche Wallonne
Paul Seixas conquers the mighty Mur de Huy 🙌⚡️
The young Frenchman continues to impress this season! 🫡 pic.twitter.com/vOdLvl43cD
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) April 22, 2026
Cycling’s hottest prospect, the 19-year-old wonderkid Paul Seixas, has continued his meteoric rise to cycling’s elite, winning Flèche Wallonne and becoming the youngest winner in the race’s history. A mouth-watering showdown with Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel and Tom Pidcock now awaits at Liège–Bastogne–Liège on Sunday.
At Seixas’s age Pogačar was still riding for a Continental team in Slovenia, the Frenchman’s signature now the one every top-level team (including UAE Team Emirates) is after.
Following on from his Itzulia Basque Country win earlier this month, Seixas was the strongest on the famous double-digit ramp atop the Mur de Huy. He will face tougher opposition than Mauro Schmid, Ben Tulett and Benoit Cosnefroy on Sunday, but this looked a comfortable win against a peloton full of seasoned pros, in some cases 10 or 15 years Seixas’s senior. The French press will be salivating…
Bike lane scenes in London as latest Tube strikes hit
With the RMT Tube strike, it’s even busier than usual on London’s bike lanes.
Not all lines are impacted so check before you travel.
If you’re on a bike, take it easy & look out for others.
If you haven’t cycled for a bit, refresh your skills online:https://t.co/gQb7yjIfnE pic.twitter.com/WcomNC28XI
— Will Norman (@willnorman) April 21, 2026
Mallorca hotels boss sticks up for cycling tourism ahead of Mallorca 312
It’s Mallorca 312 week, which means amateur riders from across Europe are flocking to the Balearic Island (more so than usual). Mallorca’s influx of cycling tourists has become a point of much debate within the wider tourism discourse that has hit parts of Spain in recent times.
However, as the president of a Mallorca hotel association pointed out, the island’s popularity with cyclists brings much investment, especially with 8,500 people expected to take part in the iconic Mallorca 312 gran fondo this weekend.
“Cyclists spend more than people realise and generate longer stays,” Pepe de Luna told the Majorca Daily Bulletin, before explaining how the start town’s hotels are at 99 per cent occupancy this week as a result.
“[The Mallorca 312] is one of the most important events on the cycling calendar, it positions us globally, and since we started working with them thirteen years ago, time has proven right all of us who believed in it,” he continued.
Tom Pidcock wins Tour of the Alps stage, after racing briefly neutralised following major crash
Perfection from Pidcock 🤩
Tom Pidcock aces his sprint in Stage 3 of the Tour of the Alps to take the win 🙌 pic.twitter.com/3AIWp0qXeO
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) April 22, 2026
Tom Pidcock was victorious at the Tour of the Alps this afternoon, sprinting to win on the third stage of the race. The stage was somewhat overshadowed, however, by a major crash which saw racing halted after just two kilometres.
It occurred before the TV pictures were live but the Tour of the Alps organisers described the neutralisation as coming because of “a big fall in the peloton”.
Around 30 riders were affected, U23 world champion Lorenzo Finn abandoning the race along with several other injured riders.
After racing resumed it was Pidcock who got his arms in the air, the Brit himself just back from a frightening crash at Volta a Catalunya recently.
Stage one hero Tommaso Dati was second, while Egan Bernal took third. Yesterday’s stage winner Giulio Pellizzari remains in the leader’s jersey and has a four-second advantage over Thymen Arensman, and a six-second advantage over the Dutchman’s Ineos teammate Bernal.
Cycle Speedway to “decouple” from British Cycling, as governing body accused of treating sport as a “poor second place to more glamorous disciplines”
Parents of Muriel Furrer accept findings of criminal investigation into World Championships death
Muriel Furrer’s parents have told The Athletic they “must accept the outcome” of a criminal investigation into their daughter’s death at the 2024 UCI World Championships and will not pursue any further legal action.
In what is quite a tough read, but an excellent interview with journalist Jacob Whitehead, the family of Furrer explain how they “have found a way to live with the grief and the immeasurable loss and suffering”.
Furrer’s parents, Christine and Reto, accepted the investigation which found neither emergency responders nor course safety were criminally liable for her death during the junior road race.
The incident shook the cycling world, Furrer having died in a crash on a descent at the World Championships just 15 minutes from her childhood home. It was later revealed Furrer was not found for around an hour-and-a-half, the case acting as a catalyst for the UCI and organisers seeking more access to GPS tracking technology in pro races.
“(We) are particularly concerned that Muriel remained undetected for so long,” Furrer’s parents said. “It is important that the right lessons are learned from the incident and that similar situations are prevented in the future.”
The family accepted the investigation has reached its conclusions and “acknowledge no criminal conduct has occurred”.
But what if you need to transport four kids' bikes and eight helmets? Good luck doing that by bike
How to choose the right bike for cycling to work — what’s the best bike for commuting duties?
> How to choose the right bike for cycling to work — what’s the best bike for commuting duties?
"Only a few centimetres could have meant a career-ending injury": Gruesome 50cm splinter surgically removed from track cyclist's leg after crash
View this post on Instagram
Moritz Mauss, the German track rider who also races on the road for UAE Team Emirates, crashed out of a Madison race in Gent.
During the crash, the 18-year-old ended up with some fairly gruesome splinters in his leg and hip, injuries so bad that the wood had to be surgically removed.
Sharing the wince-inducing snaps on Instagram, Moritz said he weighed up whether he should post it, but believes it’s “important to also show these sides of the journey and the sport”.
“I slid across the track, and a 50cm-long piece of wood splintered from the track (shown in slide 3) and went directly through my hip and upper left leg,” he explained. “I was taken directly to the hospital and had surgery only about two hours after the accident. Everything went smoothly, and I am already back home now.
“I got really lucky because the splinter missed my nerves and most of my leg muscles. I will be out for a while now, but it could have been A LOT worse. Only a few centimetres could have meant a career-ending injury.
“Thanks for the amazing support from my national team and the people at the hospital. I am really grateful to be in such good hands and to have so many supportive and loving people around me.
“Among all the wonderful moments this year and everything this sport has already brought me, those low points are also part of it. We have to accept what happened, and I will make the best of it. The work I have put in over the last few months is definitely not lost, and I am certain there is still a lot to come this season. Time to enjoy some unexpected days off the bike now.”
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Not talking about just bikes shops, but any business that cannot afford to pay its staff a living wage, is not a viable business. Big companies whose staff have to claim benefits despite working full time are exploitative. And yet it's 'benefit scroungers' that get attacked and demonised by the press, not the extremely wealthy, tax dodging companies not paying their staff properly. Oh, like large say newspapers businesses.. Smaller businesses like your LBS, are like poor Vs rich folk, their existence costs them more than big businesses it does due to economies of scale etc, just like rich folk can afford to buy better quality suff that lasts longer or stockpile food when it's on offer whilst poor people have to scrape by.
The problems mentioned in this article are far more wide-ranging than simply affecting the viability of hiring Saturday lads/lasses. Fixing bikes or selling bikes now requires so much more skill and knowledge than it did 10-20 years ago, but the pay is still rubbish, partly because public perception is that the job is easy and is just a hobby. Therefore people with the ability to be good at the job are not encouraged to stick around and they look elsewhere for a career that can earn a decent wage. I don't enjoy the fact that half the bikes that I work on have almost-unique parts that requires odd techniques, tools, or parts to repair and I first have to research what I need for many of them (despite having 20 years of experience). I'm now getting so much work that I could consider hiring someone else, but it would be impossible to find a skilled person who would work for the wage I can offer and it would take far too much of my time to train someone to a level where they can do more than the simplest 10% of the jobs that come in (whereas 10-20 years ago, after a small amount of training they probably could have done 30+% of the jobs). The complexity and uniqueness of modern bikes is apparently necessary to sell them, but soon there are going to be no mechanics left who will work for the wages that people are prepared to pay. At some point, people are going to have to admit that bike mechanics and salespeople are highly skilled and knowledgeable and should be reimbursed accordingly. Or, everyone can just order bikes online and watch YouTube repair videos and end up with a bike that barely works and isn't safe; but that's fine because they're just simple kids' toys, right?
I think the author is trying too hard to "both sides" this one. The basic error is Gove's - he was wandering across a pedestrian crossing on red for him with his head in a cup of coffee, and started well after it was on red. The Highway Code says "should not cross" in these circumstances. He then tried to excuse this by red herrings. Conservatives, including Gove, are supposed to have taking personal responsibility for their actions as a core value. Perhaps having the crooked coward Boris Johnson and Fruit Loop Liz as elected leaders demonstrates that this is merely historical. Gove is permitting a culture war being fought in the pages of his magazine; that is a war where Conservatives are demonising cycling because they hope it will save the rump Conservative Party. One example was their sudden reversal of support for the Welsh 20mph default limit. Should noodles have reacted less sharply - perhaps. A chat with Michael Gove to stop him wandering around the streets like a lobotomised koala may have been beneficial.
@mdavidford Funny, as soon as I saw your comment on the ticker on another article I knew to whom you must be replying.
@mctrials23 People have been suffering for years because they have been unlucky enough to have been hired by bad people, or had the bad luck to become ill. This is just bringing the system more into balance. I don't have a problem with encouraging people to start businesses but I don't agree with doing it by letting them exploit the poor and the desperate, if they need encouragement then offer state benefits for small businesses and use the claims process to make sure that they are doing everything they should to run the business properly including paying and training their employees. If they just want to get rich quick by exploiting others then they should be in the USA.
One may wonder why you've brought up DEI when it has nothing at all to do with anything in what Lappartient said. Or why you care about the state of the women's sport if you're so down on diversity, equity and inclusion. 🤷♂️
Not quite the first time, I rode over it back in the late twentyteens, just happened to see it was jammed nose-to-tail so thought it would be fun to filter along...turned out there was an overturned lorry at the eastern end blocking all carriageways. I honestly didn't know cycling was banned (the signs aren't very prominent), just assumed nobody rode on it because it would be suicidal in normal circumstances. Fortunately the weary copper at the other end who saw me just cut off my apologies and said, "Fuck off over there [a gap in the barrier to a slip road] and don't do it again."
They're not slalom barriers, they're Sheffield stands for parking your bike.
@momove I would think that spending time training someone up, putting the time and effort into that only to have most people move on relatively quickly isn't a great business model. I know there is the argument that "if your business has to take advantage of people to run then its not a viable business" but thats the reality of some of these shops. Up to a point, thats exactly what apprenticeships have always been. A business get cheap labour that might help them a bit and the apprentice learns something.
One may wonder why bureaucrat Lappartient wants to reinvent the wheel with a massive injection of DEI and drastic reduction of money. Let the best cyclists win, period. Meanwhile, women's pro peloton needs means and support to attract new sponsors, increase TV coverage, improve salaries and prize money.
17 thoughts on ““Why, Manchester, why?”: Cyclist blocked from dedicated cycle route as cargo bike won’t fit through barriers; Gruesome 50cm splinter surgically removed from track cyclist’s leg; Flèche Wallonne + more on the live blog”
Just be thankful you didn’t go over it face down, Moritz; career-ending injury would be very bad, crown-jewels-removing injury would be significantly worse!
That looks as if it could have been life-ending in the wrong place – never mind career-ending or, er, procreation-ending.
The stacked cargo bike is impressive, but why does Anna make the kids wear two helmets each?
*Cyclist blocked from using cycle route as cargo bike won’t fit through barriers*
presumably this news/headline also falls under the topic of
*Why cyclists don’t use the so-called “cycle lane”*
That barrier in Manchester has obvioulsy been there for some time, and that bit off to the left is a chicane to allow wheelchairs through. Is it reasonable for one person to want or expect £2- 3 K to be spent so they can occassionally ride along that path?
Why would you assume it’s only one person who’s being obstructed? And even if it were the case that they’re currently the only cargo bike user in the area, maybe they wouldn’t be if people could reliably access the local routes.
In any case, what if this were not a cargo bike, but an adapted cycle. Would you still think it was unreasonable to spend the money for one person to go about their business.
All a bit academic anyway since, fortunately, WWCTrust seem to think that, yes, it is worth spending the money.
One person = every cargo bike user, everyone on an adaptive tricycle, mobility scooter, tandem, anyone with strength and walking issues riding a bike, potentially hundreds of people who would want to use the path blocked off. Utterly absurd to try and frame this as just one malcontent selfishly demanding their own way. As for your statement that the bit on the left is a chicane for wheelchair users, that’s going to be pretty much impossible for anyone in a large powered wheelchair, people pushing someone else in a wheelchair, in fact for any wheelchair user apart from a very skilled one in a narrow lightweight wheelchair with good upperbody strength.
Which wheelchairs would that allow through exactly? I doubt the last wheelchair I used would have fitted through that gap, and even if it did width-wise I’d have had trouble bending down my head low enough to get through (if possible at all).
I think they mean they reckon you could do this, as opposed to going underneath the bars.
Which… hmmm…
.
Where on earth do you get £2-3k to remove those barriers? It’s 30 minutes with an angle grinder, a saw, a lump hammer and a bag of cold set asphalt. You only need to remove enough to keep cars off.
You haven’t accounted for tea break costs. Have you seen the price of chocolate digestives recently?
Clearly needs removed on accessibility grounds, but I think it could be recycled as a giant croquet pitch, or used for gymnastics by the very short.
Might have been good to mention the team he actually is riding and winning for, as well as those who’d like him to be.
Thames Valley Police looking to spray tag criminals to avoid having to chase them on ebikes (and emotos) and escooters.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn9qww09p5po
Bit confused – so you spray tag them, then what? Presumably you still have to catch them at some point to pass the blacklight over them and seize the scooter etc?
Whole thing is a bit confused as to whether it’s talking about illegal use of the vehicles, or other criminality being facilitated by their use.
My suspicion is the police want to use it for the latter – so that if they later find someone matching the description in the vicinity they can prove whether it was them, whereas the PCC (and the BBC) are fixated on the former.
With the evident increase in cycling because of the tube driver strikes…
It might be worth comparing if the weather is better now than last time in September and considering if that also makes a difference in how many people consider cycling as an alternative.