Cyclists are particularly vulnerable on our roads – do you pass safely? 🚲
The risk of a cyclist suffering a serious injury in a collision is high. You can make them safer by driving patiently
Be a better driver - give cyclists a minimum 1.5m gap when passing#2WheelOperationpic.twitter.com/KLrhq3pWvq
— Cumbria Police (@Cumbriapolice) April 6, 2021
A quick scan of Cumbria Police's tweets will tell you nothing gets the angry comments flooding in quite like asking motorists to give cyclists 1.5m space when overtaking...Once again, they got complaints from motorists about cyclists: two abreast, riding too fast, riding too slowly, red light jumping. Not the full set but most of the big ones...
In fairness, Cumbria Police also received lots of praise for being proactive about educating motorists. However, the majority were from people like 'Dashcam man' who chucked in his two cents...
I drive a large vehicle for a living they frighten the crap out of me. One minute on the pavement, next minute in the red. They ignore red lights, cycle at night with no lights. Weave in & out of traffic. The law needs to get tough on them
— Dashcam Man (@dashcam_man) April 7, 2021
Even more surreal was the reaction to the accompanying pictures of a close pass used to demonstrate the problem...
Here are some stills of footage sent to us by a cyclist in which a motorist doesn’t give sufficient room.
Luckily the cyclist wasn't injured.
Remember - give a cyclist or other vulnerable road users at minimum 1.5 m#2WheelOperationpic.twitter.com/igbewB85gN
— Cumbria Police (@Cumbriapolice) April 7, 2021
Surely nobody could take issue with being asked not to drive like this...Or not...
Difficult one really, looks very close, but how wide is the road, was there oncoming traffic and car pulled back in ?, plus cyclist is the the cyclist too far out for the road ? Need more info to decide who's in the right or wrong.
— Paul Smith (@PaulSmi92021859) April 7, 2021
Well unless the pictures are in the opposite order to what I think and the driver is reversing, that's a rear wheel.
— Oli (@dudeoli) April 7, 2021
Yet another example of bad driving that needs tackling. You get it with bad drivers overtaking other cars too.
Bad drivers are a danger to everyone, not just cyclists, which is why it's so weird when police flag up bad driving that so many jump straight to the drivers defence.
— cyclinggrump (@cyclinggrump) April 8, 2021
🚩Ze nolako amaiera bizi izan dugu!
🏁¡Final de infarto en Hondarribia!
ION IZAGIRRE!!!!
🏆 @BancoSabadell#Itzulia2021pic.twitter.com/2GueaCA5h7
— Itzulia Basque Country (@ehitzulia) April 8, 2021
Ion Izagirre nabbed a stage win from under Pello Bilbao's nose on day four of Itzulia Basque Country. The two Basque riders came away with first and second from a six-man breakaway that formed over the final climb of the day. Brandon McNulty was third, Jonas Vingegaard fourth, Emanuel Buchmann fifth and Esteban Chaves sixth.
The 49 seconds the group took on the rest of the favourites puts McNulty into the leader's jersey for stage five tomorrow.
Any excuse to get this back on the live blog...That sprint was the best Izagirre/Bilbao link-up since this banger dropped...
Final kilometre - Stage 4 - Tour of the Basque Country pic.twitter.com/NddjLmlmke
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) April 8, 2021
🥰 @PelloBilbao1990 eta Ion Izagirre.
Amigos ante todo.
🏆 @BancoSabadell#Itzulia2021pic.twitter.com/cDRnEfnBCh
— Itzulia Basque Country (@ehitzulia) April 8, 2021
Turkmenistan's president went on a low-key bicycle ride this morning.
And by low-key I mean he was greeted by many hundreds of people forced to stand clapping for him and to join him on his ride as dancers and singers performed along his route pic.twitter.com/DAI7cF2t3d— Peter Leonard (@Peter__Leonard) April 7, 2021
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov loves bikes...In 2013, he decreed a month of cycling and ordered the entire country to buy a bicycle...Although, as pointed out by John Stevenson in the original road.cc story, it helps when you're a totalitarian ruler backed up by a one-party state and 97 per cent of the electorate...
Berdimuhamedov is back with another of his 'low-key' bike rides this morning taking the applause of hundreds of 'adoring spectators'...
The UCI World Track Cycling Championships are to take place in the nation's capital, Ashgabat, later this year. Something that has been widely condemned by human rights groups who say Turkmenistan has one of the world's most repressive regimes.
Last June, the UCI defended its decision to honour the dictator with the UCI Order, the governing body's highest distinction, saying President Berdimuhamedov had shown "a particular commitment to cycling"...
— Jenny Attack Helicopter McKinnon (@JennyMcKinnon_) April 8, 2021
What I expect when I get a new PR on my local hill. https://t.co/XoiBUVqxgD
— Alex King (@Alextheeking) April 8, 2021
Must be putting down some serious watts. Looks like the bunch are really struggling to reel him in https://t.co/VcTPF2qSJp
— Huw Saunders (@huw_writes) April 8, 2021
Shimano's 100-year anniversary book has landed in the road.cc offices today...Now, we'd rather have an update on the new Dura-Ace too, but this'll have to do...
It features a history lesson on the brand and just about everything else you could ever want to know about Shimano...
It even has the infamous Shimano poetry in print...Because who doesn't want to read component-inspired lyricism?
Officers are currently on scene dealing with a collision between a cyclist and child in #RichmondPark. Please be careful near the entrance to Roehampton Cafe due to the emergency vehicles in the road. pic.twitter.com/0ryUqwjMVG
— Royal Parks Police (@MPSRoyal_Parks) April 7, 2021
MyLondon reports a 12-year-old child was taken to hospital following a collision with a cyclist just before 3pm on Wednesday April 7 at the Roehampton Gate area of Richmond Park. Paramedics treated the cyclist and the child at the scene before the child was taken to a West London hospital with injuries described as not life-threatening or life-changing.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "We were called at 1.18pm today (7 April) to reports of a collision involving a cyclist and a pedestrian in Richmond Park. We sent two ambulance crews. They treated a child and a man at the scene, and one was taken to a hospital."
A Met Police spokesperson confirmed it was the child who was taken to hospital.
Don’t text and bike... pic.twitter.com/ejg8DrySSS
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) April 7, 2021
10/10. Solid impact, sticks the landing, takes the laughs from those watching...
On a more serious note, a few people in the comments talking about everyone's favourite topic – insurance...
In the Netherlands, where this video is from, all damage from cyclists is automatically covered in car insurance without penalty.
— Mark Wilson (@TravellingSouth) April 8, 2021
🤣This video is from the Netherlands and also forbidden by law. You get a fine of EURO 95 when you are riding a bike and using your phone (calling or texting)👮
— Editorspapillon (@editorspapillon) April 7, 2021
Cycling opinions that get you into this situation. pic.twitter.com/wJgVdJRZJQ
— Edward Pickering (@EdwardPickering) April 7, 2021
Roll up, roll up...Give us your most unpopular cycling opinions. Whether you think rim brakes are better than discs or the Tour de France is rubbish, let us know...
I'll get you started: Paris-Roubaix is overrated. There I said it. Too heavily influenced by the luck of crashes and mechanicals and not a proper climb in sight. Give me the Tour of Flanders over it any day of the year...
Tubeless are hugely overrated and still puncture at the same rate as tubed tyres. It's hard to beat Schwalbe marathon pluses.
— Jon (@samuriinbred) April 8, 2021
Disc brakes are 100% a marketing scam orchestrated by the companies to make people buy new bikes when the ones they had were just fine.
— Simon Warren (@100Climbs) April 8, 2021
I like Carlton Kirby’s commentary and find it relaxing to listen to https://t.co/8byA8cV1lj
— Lanterne Rouge (@LanterneRougeYT) April 7, 2021
Myprotein has taken a look at people's lockdown exercise habits to put the increase in cycling during the past year into context. In a survey of 2,000 people they found that cycling was the fourth most popular form of lockdown exercise with almost 16 per cent of Brits using the bike to stay fit.
In the breakdown of UK cities, Southampton came out on top with 23 per cent saying they'd rode a bike during lockdown to keep fit. Second was Glasgow with 21 per cent, ahead of Bristol and Sheffield both on 20 per cent. Leeds was fifth at 18 per cent, London and Belfast had 17 per cent and Brighton, Birmingham and Norwich rounded out the top-10 with 16 and 15 per cent.
The current standings!📊 Choose your favourite Black and Yellow👇🏼#chooseourblackandyellow
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) April 8, 2021
You have the power to choose what jersey Primož Roglič and the rest of the Jumbo-Visma squad will be wearing at the Tour de France this summer. Well, the power to vote for one of three very similar dark-coloured kits would probably be more accurate...
All three designs came from fans and if you choose to pick up the winning effort then you'll get your name on the team's jersey this July. Currently, the grey design is beating the grey and black design with the black design in last. Yeah, there's not too much choice here...
We are happy to give you our team for the @tourofturkeyTUR, where @FabioJakobsen will make his first appearance in more than seven months for #TheWolfpack: https://t.co/Xzm5dC0RMvpic.twitter.com/fvqYUdcNRS
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) April 8, 2021
I'm sure cycling fans everywhere will be glad to see Fabio Jakobsen back in the peloton next week at the Tour of Turkey. He'll be making his long return from the serious injuries he sustained on the opening stage of the Tour of Poland. Now more than nine months on, Jakobsen will be joined by a strong Deceuninck-Quick-Step sprint line-up including Mark Cavendish and Alvaro Hodeg as well as lead out men Shane Archbold, Iljo Keisse and Stijn Steels...
"We are happy and excited to have Fabio back with the team. Of course, he was with us at the winter training camp, but now it’s different and we are glad to see that the progress he has made over the past months has brought him here, at the start of his first race since last August. It goes without saying that the most important thing for him will be to take it day by day, find his rhythm again and ease back into racing after the long break he had," said team sports director Rik Van Slycke.
Feast your eyes on this beauty...What a kit. The Qhubeka Assos Bicycles Change Lives limited-edition jersey features artwork from a contest winner and is available for pre-order or from Assos' London store from 3 May. All you need now is a reason to justify dropping €150 (£130) on it...So very tempting. For every five jerseys sold, one bicycle will be donated to the Qhubeka Charity and €60 of every purchase will go directly to the Qhubeka Charity, supporting their aim of changing lives with bicycles.
The striking design was the idea of competition winner Gianluca Tirassa who says, "the patterns and colours of the African fabrics have inspired the design of the jersey, with the hand serving as the icon of the Qhubeka Charity."
"I can imagine riders going on training rides and smiling when they see another person in the same jersey knowing that they are connected by a common purpose to mobilise people on bicycles in South Africa. By owning one of these you are truly changing lives with bicycles," said Qhubeka Assos team principal, Doug Ryder.