Passers-by lift car off injured Wirral cyclist; Ethan Hayter signs for Team Ineos; Argon 18 and Astana part ways; Velolife wins Cycling Café award; Goldsmith on Hammersmith Bridge closure; Stevenage cycling crackdown + more on the live blog

One of Great Britain's top up-and-coming prospects in cycling, Ethan Hayter, has signed for Team Ineos on a three-year contract.

The 21-year-old was previously a stagiaire at Team Sky at the end of the 2018 season and this year, riding for Great Britain, won stages of the Tour de l'Avenir and the Baby Giro.

His greatest successes to date have come on the track. He has won numerous titles at national level and above, and last year helped Great Britain win the team oursuit at the world championships, and also won the omnium at the European championships.

“It’s the best place for me to begin my career as a professional road rider and the best place for me to be with the Olympics coming up next year too," he said. "This team has lots of riders for me to take inspiration from and there’s so much young talent in the team as this season has shown."

He added: “The Baby Giro and Tour de l’Avenir are the biggest races at Under 23 level and I won stages in both of them so that was a massive confidence boost heading into the new season.

“At the Baby Giro I was sixth on one of the mountain stages so I was right up there on the climbs and the sprints, so I will have to discover which type of race suits me best. It means I can look at most race profiles and still have a go.”

Team principal Sir Dave Brailsford said: “Ethan is an exciting, young rider who has already had significant success at a more junior level. His signing is a further commitment to our long term-future as Team INEOS.

“We now have a really exciting group of young riders who all have the chance to compete and train with more senior and experienced teammates – and who can learn from them what it takes to win. Ethan is at a key stage of his professional development and we are all excited about what lies ahead for him as part of the Team.”

Gerechtigheid is geschied. Wat een opluchting! Het geeft me een enorme boost om verder te werken aan mijn comeback en me hier 100% op te kunnen concentreren. Ik wil graag iedereen bedanken die me heeft gesteund, in het bijzonder @VanSteenbruggeP& @iseasportm.

— Wout van Aert (@WoutvanAert) November 26, 2019

Van Aert took to Twitter to speak of his relief at winning a court battle over alleged breach of contract from his former team. Van Aert left Verandas Willems-Crelan for Jumbo-Visma, but the former's team manager Nick Nuyens said van Aert was contracted to them until the end of 2019; however, van Aert maintained he made the move while the team were negotiating a merger with Dutch team Rompoot. 

The tweet translates to: "Justice has been done. What a relief! It gives me a huge boost to continue working on my comeback and to be able to concentrate 100% on this. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me."

Van Aert will avoid having to pay the 1.1 million euros demanded by Nuyens, and the Nuyens camp will now have to foot the legaal bill. 

The Canadian brand Argon 18 will no longer be the bike sponsor for Kazakh team Astana, with the partnership ending by 'mutual agreement'. Astana general manager Alexandr Vinokurov said: "It was a great pleasure and honour for us to work with Argon 18. We have spent three fantastic years, full of success and high sports achievements. I would like to thank Argon 18 for the sponsorship, support and contribution to the development of Astana Pro Team. After these three years of close collaboration we part as good friends. I wish Argon 18 all the best in the future and I am sure that the company with see more beautiful successes in their current new projects."

The 32-year-old Belgian, who rides for Team Parkhotel Valkenburg, has been suspended by the team after testing positive for exogenous steroids during an out-of-competition test back in September. De Vuyst has strongly denied any wrongdoing, and according to Nieuwsblad she posted on her Facebook page: “Ethical and responsible 'clean' exercise has always been paramount. I am therefore completely in the dark as to how this could have happened. I am completely devastated, the worst possible nightmare has happened to me. People who know me well know how I feel about doping and cheating. I now scream my innocence. I'm going to do everything in my power to clear my name." 

The national Belgian cycling coach Ludwig Willems also expressed his surprise: "Sofie is the last person I would expect this from", he commented. 

Your good news for the day comes from Cycling UK HQ, who have just announced that Velolife has won the People's Choice category in their Cycling Café of the Year Awards. 

It's fair to say it's been a rough year for the Berkshire establishment, who have spent months fighting against an injunction brought by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead that would have stopped Velolife from using their café as a 'meeting place' for cyclists, following alleged complaint(s) from residents. 

Finally RBWM withdrew its application two weeks ago, which was hailed as a “victory for common sense” by Chris Bordman and an "insane waste of public money” in the first place by British Cycling. 

The Cycling UK  Cyclist Café awards are now in their second year, and invited cyclists throughout the UK to choose their favourite coffee and cake haunts. Other categories were chosen by an expert panel including Celebrity Masterchef winner and cycling enthusiast Angellica Bell, with the new People's Choice category being won convincingly by Velolife - receiving 20% of all votes. 

It's the icing on the cake for Velolife after a tough few months as owner Lee Goodwin explained: “We have been through a lot this year and to be a part of such an amazing community, that is so much bigger than us, is amazing! It’s an honour to serve such an incredible community and we are very proud to be chosen for the People’s Choice Award! Thank you.”  

Other winning cafés included The Feed Station in Somerset, The Auction Room in Derry, Lanterne Rouge in East Lothian and Pedal Power in Wales, with South Yorkshire's Bank View Café winning the Lifetime Achievement award. 

@CyclingScotland@CyclingEdin@SpokesLothian@Cyclesouthedin 1/2 today I witnessed a cyclist tailgating one of our tractors and trailers through Winchburgh to increase his speed. Tractor travelling quickly and completely unaware of the cyclist. This is extremely dangerous. pic.twitter.com/Wiiaj4a033

— RM & JF Seed (@RM_JFSeed) November 27, 2019

Whoever is behind the RM & JF Seed twitter account said the tailgating was "extremely dangerous", and continued in another post: "This must be highlighted and discouraged, very irresponsible. As farmers, we are often blamed by cyclists for large machinery on roads, etc. This is probably the most reckless road use I have ever seen."

We can think of more reckless road use examples, but even so the rider's actions are definitely on the daft side. 

GT Bicycles recently released a modern version of the iconic 1979 26” BMX Cruiser frameset to celebrate the brand’s new partnership with original GT Bicycles founder Gary Turner and his son Craig. There will only be 100 of the limited edition bikes on sale, off-road.cc have all the details here. 

Officers from the #Stevenage Safer Neighbourhood Team joined forces with the Stevenage Borough Council Town Centre Warden to tackle anti-social cycling in the Town Centre.https://t.co/TnNIeqNtjL#StevenagePolicepic.twitter.com/dFAUmp45it

— Stevenage Police (@StevenagePolice) November 25, 2019

Stevenage is the latest town to launch a 'crackdown' on dangerous cycling, stopping anyone "riding a bike where they shouldn't be" between the hours of 9am and 3pm. Officers from the Stevenage Safer Neighbourhood Team joined forces with the Stevenage Borough Council Town Centre Warden to tackle what they said was 'anti-social cycling' in Stevenage town centre, and insisted that Stevenage is still "cycle friendly". Neighbourhood Inspector Simon Tabert said: “Stevenage is a very cycle friendly town and a vast number of residents use the cycle ways to get around in an environmentally friendly way. However a small percentage of cyclists insist on riding through the pedestrian areas of the town centre where cycling is banned.

“This understandably results in a large number of complaints to us. Cycling in pedestrian only areas is extremely dangerous and we are committed to tackling the issue. We will continue to monitor the town centre in this way.”

Meanwhile in Oxford, the Oxford Mail report that the city council still say cycling is banned on Cornmarket Street and Queen Street, but a public space protection order which would have allowed them to fine rule breakers expired in January. 

Nigel Chapman said: “Oxfordshire County Council’s Traffic Management Order governing cycling is still in place in Queen Street and Cornmarket Street.

“The County Council remains responsible for enforcement.”

Are dangerous cycling crackdowns a sensible use of police resources? Let us know your thoughts... 

A striking 80% of Dutch youth (age 12-17) cycle to places (school, park, shop, friend’s) at least three days per week.

This does not differ between males and females; each of whom spend an average of 150 minutes cycling per week.

More facts and figures: https://t.co/TarohVLN1epic.twitter.com/hHCLNYNSV9

— Dutch Cycling Embassy (@Cycling_Embassy) November 26, 2019