Weirdest time trial helmet ever? Uno-X’s new Star Wars bee lid divides opinion; “Motorists want our parking spots back!” Angry drivers deflate hire bike tyres and tell cyclists to “buy a car”; Luke Plapp’s sweary post-race debrief + more on the live blog

Off with some recycling to the council tip. Should take me about, umm, 15 minutes to get there. pic.twitter.com/nP0Rmy7UYm

— Carlton Reid (@carltonreid) February 21, 2023

Suggestions on a postcard…

High-end department store Selfridges was last week hit with a £12,000 bill after one of its former employees was struck by a barrier while exiting the company’s car park on her bike.

The Times reports that Sonia Spasiano, who worked as a manager at the La Perla concession in the flagship Oxford Street branch of Selfridges, claimed that the barrier closed faster than she anticipated, hitting her helmet and her nose, leaving a scar.

Claiming compensation for injuries and minor scarring from Selfridge’s Retail, the 37-year-old’s case alleged negligence on behalf of the company’s management for failing to warn cyclists about the potential hazards of riding through the barrier.

Last week at Central London County Court, deputy district judge Adan Tear ruled that the store should have had clearer warnings, and did not give enough thought to how cyclists could enter or leave the car park – but that Spasiano herself was also partially at fault for the incident.

> Cyclist hit by truck driver has compensation cut after judge says lack of helmet contributed to injuries

“I am satisfied that Selfridges does bear responsibility for part of this accident but that doesn’t negate how this accident happened,” Tear said.

He added that the cyclist “must bear some responsibility herself for going under a barrier that was open, which then closed and so caused her injury”.

The court heard that Spasiano was hit by the barrier while following a motorist out of the car park. She said that she followed the vehicle as it would trigger the barrier to rise.

“She said that she normally followed the car one bicycle length behind, and would then follow it through the barrier,” Tear said.

“The barrier struck towards her helmet and then moved down, hitting the bridge of her nose, causing injury to her face.”

The judge awarded Spasiano, who has since left Selfridges, £3,060 – reducing the compensation by a third to account for her “contributory negligence”.

Selfridges was also hit with a bill for nearly £9,000 to cover the legal costs of the case, though I think with a revenue of £653 million for 2022 they’ll be fine.

Huge news. https://t.co/4AvDCePVNI

— Ned Boulting 🏳️‍⚧️ (@nedboulting) February 21, 2023

In what is undoubtedly the biggest cycling news story of the day, everyone’s favourite French soft drink, Orangina, has announced that it will become a partner of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes for the next three years.

The drink – which, incidentally, is one of cycling-mad comedian David O’Doherty’s gig ‘sponsors’ (just don’t ask him how to pronounce it) – will be sold at the Tour from this July, as well as featuring in the publicity caravan and in the race’s support cars.

To mark this most French of partnerships, the new official soft drink supplier will also launch three special edition cans later this year, based on this year’s stages, to celebrate “the most shaken roads of the Tour de France”.

It’s not yet known whether Orangina will also replace Coca Cola as the peloton’s emergency rescue fizzy fuel of choice, however.

In a not-at-all-overblown statement released this morning, ASO’s Yann Le Moënner said: “You can recognise a bottle of Orangina at first sight, or even in a blind test. Both the container and the drink inside it have become part of our collective psyche. It is hard to overlook its powerful synergies with the Tour de France, and the alliance between these two ‘monuments’ of French culture is only natural. We expect this to be a refreshing and bubbly relationship, of course.”

Hmmm, synergy…

The news has been welcomed with unfettered joy by most cycling fans, just happy that their sport is, for once, not being used by some moustache-twirling oil company for its latest greenwashing project.

Love Orangina and finally a new cycling sponsor that's not questionable

— Kate (@whatkatedidnext) February 21, 2023

However, some are concerned about the immediate threat posed by those famous glass bottles, soon to be launched from a moving publicity vehicle by an overzealous student towards an unsuspecting public…

Oooh, little orange hand grenades being lobbed from the caravan. Epic.

— AJ Witt @kiloran [at] mastodon.org.uk (@kil0ran) February 21, 2023

Look forward to them throwing glass bottles into the crowd!

— Sam Levey (@Pedal_Medal) February 21, 2023

Just going to pop down the shops. I'd obviously prefer them to be well over 15 minutes away, but I'll have to put up with it.

— Ned Boulting 🏳️‍⚧️ (@nedboulting) February 21, 2023

No idea what Ned could possibly be referring to…

Perhaps the young Australian’s bout of post-race effin’ and jeffin’ wasn’t actually about the TTT itself, but was instead referring to the manic scene in the team bus which resulted in him wearing his white young rider’s skin suit inside out…

Did they print Plapp's skin suit inside out? #UAETourpic.twitter.com/rQX6AoSdI2

— Dan Deakins (@DanDeakins) February 21, 2023

Or maybe the race organisers are just massive fans of Pringles?

They could've made Plapp's chamois a bit more discreet. #UAETourpic.twitter.com/jrlg9Aep5P

— Benji Naesen (@BenjiNaesen) February 21, 2023

We’re all used to frank and vitriolic exchanges between cyclists and motorists by now, usually exchanged out on the road or in a particularly toxic Twitter thread.

But we don’t often see those kinds of exchanges occurring via note form…

But that’s what is happening over in Canada, where a group of Vancouver-based motorists, apparently angry that a Mobi cycle share station has replaced a handful of car parking spaces on a relatively quiet street, has resorted to deflating the hire bikes’ tyres.

Someone's been repeatedly deflating all the bike tires at the Mobi station at Commercial & 20th.

Here's a conversation between a neighbour who relies on these bikes to get to work, and the (presumed) tire deflator. pic.twitter.com/keEr6Gnyjv

— Mihai Cirstea (@Mihai_Cirstea_) February 16, 2023

In response to this pro-car, less climate-conscious version of the Tyre Extinguishers, two locals attached notes to trees beside the shared bikes imploring the drivers to “stop taking the air out of the tires [sic]. I need these bikes to get to work”.

Intent on continuing this odd, and rather romantic (if you squint hard enough), pre-internet form of vitriolic road user correspondence, one of the apparent tyre slashers attached their own note to the tree soon after.

The Donald Trump-inspired motorist wrote: “Too bad, so sad. Us motorists want our parking spots back, bitch! Your options: Buy a car. Buy your own bicycle. Walk. Take transit. Join Evo [a car sharing platform in Vancouver].”

Very strange.

Has this person…not considered that if people take him up on his suggestion to buy a car, there will be far far fewer spots??

— jenn kauffman (@jennaudrey) February 17, 2023

As cyclist Mihai Cirstea, who posted the notes on Twitter, acknowledged, it’s not as if the bike share station takes up the entire road, a road which doesn’t appear to be jam-packed at the best of times:

The station in question. It takes up 2-3 parking spots to make room for 20 bikes. We've given drivers the expectation that they deserve free parking on public land for their private vehicles and this is one result. Photo credit to @julian_mentastipic.twitter.com/9K0ktSf7qx

— Mihai Cirstea (@Mihai_Cirstea_) February 16, 2023

Some on Twitter have speculated whether the whole ‘Super polite cyclist v driver debate’ is simply a well-executed guerrilla marketing campaign from either Mobi or Evo.

For some reason the writing on that note just seems fake to me. Feels like a viral marketing campaign for Mobi or Evo

— Xylin Hawkins (@TimmyWolfie) February 17, 2023

Others, meanwhile, have taken the whole thing very seriously, and are advocating for escalation, disproving once and for all the notion that Canadians are unfailingly nice.

Gosh, I sure hope no one figures out who is doing this and deflates their car’s tires. That would be a damn shame.

— Robin Richardson she/her 🚲 (@CanadaRobin) February 16, 2023

“If they want war, give them war. Their tyres are just as vulnerable. The deflating of the neighbourhood cars will continue until behaviour improves,” wrote one presumably battle-hardened cyclist on Twitter.

Oh dear, think of all the notes littering the streets…

Haha you're bigger dorks than triathletes now. pic.twitter.com/s8lXnEqGTA

— Brad Culp (@bbculp) February 20, 2023

Ouch, that one stings…