‘You can’t drive there mate!’ Amusement as driver ploughs through busy cycle lane; Lavreysen to race Richardson in London; One pound forest bikes get a song; Reaction to Gent-Wevelgem + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
'You can't drive there mate!'
People often moan about cycle lanes, but clearly there must be something appealing about them, otherwise how else would you explain this mildly amusing video of a Mini driver who found the smooth, segregated path irresistible…
Kudos to the original poster who humorously suggested that the driver thought Vehicle Excise Duty, the charge often erroneously described as ‘road tax’, gave the Mini the right to use any and every bit of the road. That’s excellent comedy, the sort of knowing joke ripe for a road.cc audience, I think…
My favourite bit is the extended ‘Oi!’ on the part of the cyclist forced to stop pedalling momentarily.
A second biathlete is hitting the pro peloton
We know a lot of these pro cyclist back stories by now. Primoz Roglic was a ski jumper, Jonas Vingegaard worked in a fish factory. But one story slightly still slightly under the radar is that Florian Lipowitz, third in last year’s Tour de France and third in the Volta a Catalunya yesterday, is a former biathlete.
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That may seem unusual but the German was also young, and only converted full-time to cycling in 2020. What is unusual is an Olympic Gold medallist choosing to become a cyclist just weeks after his greatest sporting triumph. Enter, Émilien Jacquelin.
Decathlon-CMA CGM have announced that Jacquelin will join their development team in May, a move that the Frenchman says is his “childhood dream”.
The 30-year-old will be the oldest rider on the development team by some distance and Jacquelin says he is “eager to share [his] experience with the younger riders.
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We actually had an inclination the Frenchman was something of a cycling fan after Escape Collective did a great story on Jacquelin and Marco Pantani during the Winter Olympics. Jacquelin approached Pantani’s family asking for permission to wear il pirata’s iconic gold earring during the games in Milan-Cortina. The family approved, and the rest is history!
“Most dangerous spots for cycling in UK” sees £600,000 worth of fines issued
The wonders of FOI requests strike gold once again…
Facebook commenters doing Facebook commenter things in reaction to shocking truck close pass
Uploaded by bike camera manufacturers Cycliq, the footage shows a truck driver dangerously close-passing a cyclist with inches to spare on a narrow country lane. The experts on social media had other ideas:
“Do what we used to do and pull over to let the wagon pass”, says one.
“How long was the truck stuck behind you for him to go past you dangerously”, says another.
Unfortunately, these are some of the more sensible comments under the post.
STEP BACK!
When at a bike race, lean back, don’t stretch your arm over the barrier.
Admittedly, this footage, which I think comes from the China Road Cycling Open, shows a distinct lack of infrastructure designed to protect spectators and riders alike. And the crash is caused in part by a rider clipping a traffic cone shortly before colliding with an oustretched arm
But this footage, uploaded by former Ukrainian Time Trial champion Vitalii Novakovskyi, does a good job of re-iterating the importance of respecting the riders, and their space!
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Upcoming road.cc events and socials
Whilst we have your attention, if you want to find out more about physical, IN-PERSON events we’re doing, and events we can do, you can read about them here:
> BikeLive is back for 2026, including the revival of the big road.cc Rideout!
North Yorkshire lined up for Tour of Britain
I remember the glory years of the Tour de Yorkshire, when the Tour of Britain was practically allergic to visiting God’s country. Since then however, amends have been made, with Redcar in particular becoming a favourite destination of various British Cycling events.
And, after a 2025 Tour of Britain that went from East England west to Wales, for a certain someone’s homecoming, the race looks set to head back ‘up’. York and North Yorkshire’s Local Democracy Reporter says the North Yorkshire Combined Authority has signed off on a deal to bring the UK’s flagship race to the region both this autumn and in 2027.
It’s not clear if the proposals would be for the men’s or women’s races (which are each five stages long and scheduled a week apart in late August and early September). Still, organisers are optimistic that the hosting, which would cost various local authorities around £750,000 in total, could generate between £2 and £12 million for the local authority.
Lavreysen vs Richardson coming to Britain
The unstoppable force is meeting the immovable object. The titan takes on the giant, making them both seem normal-sized.
Anyway, Harrie Lavreysen and Matthew Richardson will go head-to-head at the London 3 day track meet on Friday 13th November.
Lavreysen, who has 41 Olympic, World and European track cycling titles will take on the Aussie turned Brit who bested the Flying Dutchman in last month’s European Championships, Lavreysen’s first defeat in major competition seven years.
A special race programme has been compiled for the pair, comprising a 200m flying time trial, a 500m time trial and a best of three match sprint. As you might expect, the London 3 day organisers are quite excited:
“This is a rare opportunity for British fans,” Tony Gibb said.
“Lavreysen has dominated the sport for years, while Matthew Richardson has emerged as the fastest rider in the world. Seeing them race head-to-head in London will be something special.”
And if that’s not enough to get you excited, here’s a clip of Lavreysen breaking a watermelon with his legs.
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I’m reliably informed that a pop culture reference from before my time about crushing a grape could be made here. I’ll leave that to you…
Hard bike cases for the win
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I’m going to do that rare thing of defending a luggage handler here, I don’t think they could have been *that* much more careful without a colleague’s help, and I don’t think there were any fragile labels on the case.
Anyway, hard bike cases for the win!
Boardman backs new active travel funding
Good news for those of you who like cycling…
Philipsen wins Gent-Wevelgem
I could have put In Flanders Fields in the headline of the blog but no one would know what I meant. So Gent-Wevelgem it remains, and frankly I’m tempted to continue to use the term here.
But anyway, Mads Pedersen was unable to defend his Gent-Wevelgem In Flanders Fields – from Middelkerke to Wevelgem title, meaning when Wout van Aert pushed the pedals on the second ascent of the Kemmelberg, only Mathieu van der Poel (fresh but possibly tired from his nail-biting E3 victory on Friday) and Florian Vermeersch could follow. The trio caught the day’s early breakaway before the Van Aert/Van der Poel battle rolled the clock back by going free as a duo.
Their advantage over the peloton exceeded a minute with 30km remaining, but Van der Poel chose not to fully commit, and the gap steadily decreased. Down to 30 seconds with 14km to go, 10 seconds with 6km. A late flyer from Alec Segaert saw him bridge to the duo and inject a little more life into the chase but it was in vain as they were caught under the flamme rouge.
Despite having a respectable sprint himself, Filippo Ganna was the rider who almost single-handedly brought the peloton to the finale, hoping to set up teammate Sam Watson. But the British national champion was unable to come around Tobias Lund when the Dane launched his sprint, and eventually finished outside the top-10.
Ultimately, Van der Poel’s teammate Jasper Philipsen launched his sprint on the left-hand side of the road, coming past the Dane and Christophe Laporte to take his second classics win of the campaign after Nokere Koerse. And, if my description wasn’t vivid and colourful enough, you can watch short highlights below:
An honourable mention goes to Bob Donaldson, the young Brit and former runner-up in the under-23 Paris-Roubaix. In his second season at Jayco-AlUla, the Manc sprinted to fifth place, a fantastic result he’s “pretty chuffed with” and rightly so.
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2012 called...
I don’t know how else to describe it, but around a decade ago, One Pound Fish was inescapable on certain corners of the internet. You probably don’t know how much you want to hear a Pakistani fishmonger attempt to attract women to his market stall with cheap produce and a siren-like voice. The answer is more than you think. I’ll show my age by saying this song was EVERYWHERE in my junior (primary) school playground.
And, it seems the marketing people at Forest Bikes know that nothing attracts clientele like nostalgia, so we have this fantastic little ditty to get stuck in your head for the rest of the week…
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The day may have peaked, and it’s only 11am. Also, we need to normalise content creators standing still before walking off camera. It gives closure to what would otherwise be a constant stream of algorithm-crunching content.
All aboard the Pozzovivo hype train
We all have riders we have somewhat inexplicable attachments towards. One of the first riders who caught my affection was Domenico Pozzovivo. Maybe it was the surrealness of his ambition, a barely 5’5″ climber weighing barely over 50kg who year after year would aim for the general classification despite some of the weakest time trialling in the peloton, and a distinct lack of punch. But still, he would achieve it.
Eight Grand Tour top-10s including a 5th place behind Chris Froome in the 2018 Giro and an 8th in 2022 at the age of 39. Pozzovivo rode for four different teams in the final four years of his career, and was often a late signing, picked up by teams in February or March when they realised they needed someone to climb for them in the Giro d’Italia. I watched his last Giro participation in 2024 closely, desperately hoping the 41-year old could recapture his best form before bronchitis and 71km of time-trialling derailed his ambitions. Why the hell am I talking about him now? Because, if the rumours are true, he’s back!
Ciro Scognamiglio has broken the story in Gazzetta dello Sport, that the 43-year old is planning a comeback with the Italian second-tier Solution Tech team, and is targeting the Tour of the Alps. However, the ever-reliable Inner Ring blog points out that Pozzovivo must square the circle of registering with anti-doping authorities first. Sadly, Solution Tech are without an invite to the Giro d’Italia so there won’t be a record-breaking 19th appearance there. But keep your eyes on Il Lombardia later this autumn, where the Italian could rival fellow veteran Bauke Mollema for more records…
In case you missed it: Pidcock injuries confirmed, Uttrup Ludwig interview and casquette reminiscence
Ryan was holding the fort this weekend at road.cc towers, and his output was rather prolific.
We have confirmation of Tom Pidcock’s injuries after he fell (unseen!) down a ravine at the Volta a Catalunya. GPS tracking can’t come soon enough.
We also had the bizarre scenes at the weekend of intoxicated fans trying to steal bikes from the Visma-Lease a bike car rack. Mid-race…
It wouldn’t be a road.cc weekend without highlighting a moment of madness or prejudice on our roads, only this time it came from a driving instructor!
The latest road.cc podcast is also out, and features an interview with one of my favourite riders, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. Funny, sweary, but also reflective on the crashes and setbacks in her career. It’s a great listen, that you can also read:
> Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig: “I’m a bit silly, I’m a bit weird but, you know, it’s what you get”
And finally, our top story on the website this morning is Ryan’s deep dive into all the precious aesthetics of our sport that have gone good and bad over the past century of societal advancement. Alas my humble suggestion, that podium baseball caps should be banned and replaced by casquettes, doesn’t appear to have made the cut.
Sort it out Visma.
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Latest Comments
@ChrisA the surface make up of a path bears zero relationship to it being a footpath/suitable. I once got lectured on why I shouldn't be riding a footpath by a driver of a Range Rover on a lovely tarmacked road. Another time I was lectured by someone blocking my way on a singletrack path that was built by cyclists, who said I should only be on large wide paths. The parallel wide path was a footpath. But these are very rare exceptions. I ride sensibly and most folk are usually entertained by my polite presence. Also most footpaths would have been paths used by horses in ye olde days, they often conveniently got mislabeled/demoted by rich landowners who failed to get path denied altogether when rights of way were being drawn up.
@SecretSam Hence the rise of gravel bikes, which are just less capable drop barred bikes.
You state for the audio for the baofeng that they use an in ear design however they don't ship with any headphones with a mic. What did you use for this?
@eburtthebike One of my best mates, a former rugby teammate of mine, is a Kiwi and a teacher (over here). I can imagine him making precisely that joke and he's a mad keen cyclist! Honestly, if this is the whole story it's a hell of an overreaction to a remark that deserved a mild reprimand about appropriate conduct if that (different if it was coming from a police officer or a driving instructor or similar, maybe). Having worked in a number of schools it's my experience that when senior management take agin someone they'll grab any excuse to get rid of them, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the situation here.
Hi I wasn't implying the ramps were equivalent to a pump track. I was saying many forestry trails are pretty hairy rather than a well designed pump track. The ramps are definitely not suitable and need replacing, but they are replacing with a new design. I suspect much more tame.
Oh dear! With my sense of humour, I should have been sacked a dozen times: every year. The Kiwis I've met all seemed to have a reasonable sense of humour, and one was excellent, but perhaps they weren't working for a school.
"neither student laughed..." Well, it elicited a wry smile from me...
@60somethingcyclist Unfortunately there are a couple of problems with that: firstly in order to try to manage some of the chaos in the Italian political system, for several decades when a mayor wins an election in large towns they are automatically given a guaranteed majority of 60% of the council seats, and also if a decree of the mayor's is overruled by the council that automatically triggers a no-confidence vote which then dissolves the council and forces a new election. So in order to vote down this decree not only would opponents need to persuade a considerable number of the mayor's own party to vote against him but also effectively to vote themselves out of office with no guarantee of return.
My first road bike was a Raleigh, too. A 1976 Raleigh Record. I dragged it out of the shed a few years ago and got it working again. 14kg it weighed! A 52/42 crank and a 14-28 five speed 'cluster' at the back made hills pretty hard work...
14 thoughts on “‘You can’t drive there mate!’ Amusement as driver ploughs through busy cycle lane; Lavreysen to race Richardson in London; One pound forest bikes get a song; Reaction to Gent-Wevelgem + more on the live blog”
There needs to a bollard in the middle of that cycle lane entrance to stop drivers doing this. I would bet this isn’t the first time it’s happened here.
A bollard would present a hazard to cyclists. Maybe a ‘cycles only’ road marking would be better. Needs something extra, as the small bollard with a cycle symbol on isn’t really good enough.
It can be confusing sometimes. I got caught out in Cambridge when exiting a car park – I went to turn left but it looked so much like a cycle lane I decided to turn right instead. Turns out it was actually a road and I could have driven down it – thankfully it was only a short detour!
Decent surface colouring would help. If that was a nice clear red along the cycle path and across the junction it’s highly unlikely even a relatively inattentive driver would make that mistake. Instead you’ve got a slightly different colour grey that only covers the bit across the junction – it just looks like where some utilities company has dug up the road.
I’ve suggested in the past that all bike lanes should be painted a solid bright green to highlight the environmental benefit, apposed to the usual dark grey/black roads.
This should be consistent around the country (if not the world) so drivers everywhere know it.
That is how they are painted in New Zealand. Makes it very clear to see what is and isn’t bike lane.
Universal clear cycle path markings? Are you quite mad?
Meanwhile in the Netherlands *: continuous footway / cycleway at minor road junctions. So it’s bloody obvious when you’re crossing “non-motorised vehicle space” and shouldn’t be tempted to turn and drive in it. And also making it very friendly for pedestrians and cyclists going straight on (no kerb or level change at all).
* And increasingly in the UK, although we almost always mess these up… Robert Weetman’s got an entire article on getting it right (with counter-examples).
I use cycle lanes with bollards in the centre to fulfil this function. As far as I know nobody has ever hit one.
May have amused some, not quite so amusing when someone comes round the corner at speed and starts driving straight at you as you are waiting at the lights…didn’t report this one as after I shouted a warning he pulled over, jumped out and just as I was bracing for an assault began a fulsome apology, explaining that he hadn’t driven that road for years and didn’t know the new cycle lanes were there, and we parted on good terms.
Looks a genuine mistake and I am glad after making it they drove more sensibly and no one got hurt. Maybe the authority wants to look at how they demark the entry to the cycle track.
Not your usual driver awareness course:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyxpxx4xllo
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/03/30/speeding-drivers-in-co-tyrone-hauled-up-before-kids-court-to-explain-themselves/
[Not particularly clear how they plan to assess how effective this is, though.]
“Damage to London buses from crashes rising
TfL said the data “includes all incidents where damage has been reported, including minor damage to the vehicle” such as paint scuffs, mirrors, and lights but “does not imply which road user’s behaviour or error may have led to the incident”.”
So what the heck is causing the damage?
Bus fairies?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd7jxwyw5ewo
“A second biathlete is hitting the pro peloton”
It’s a good thing the USA isn’t hosting the winter Olympics any time soon. I hear Trump wants to ban all the bi-athletes and he isn’t too keen on the tri-athletes either.
I’m surprised Jacquelin did so well in the Biathlon. I’ll admit I’m no expert, but his gun grip looks all kinds of wrong there to me.
With that awfull close pass by the lorry driver…
( https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=embed_video&v=1238425968459940 )
Why is it even being driven on that narrow road?
If the driver ends up faced with a similar sized vehicle going the other way they are both screwed?