Road cop tells close pass driver to hand in licence (video); Journo stumbles across his nicked bike; Zwift does UK crap infra; Telegraph cites ‘safety fears’ over lack of helmets on Bikestormz rides; €200 fine for killing cyclist + more on the live blog

A Plymouth journalist has written of how he stumbled across his stolen bike – and managed to retrieve it.

Max Channon says the bike, which he bought for £50 a couple of years ago and refers to in his article as Crap Bike MK 1, was stolen a couple of weeks ago outside Plymouth Live’s offices.

He then bought another bike, Crap Bike MK 2, “on a certain social media market place for £30* and tried not to think too much about the fate of poor Crap Bike MK I.”

A tyre on the replacement bike punctured, and he took it to Halfords to be fixed and said that on his way there to pick it up at lunchtime “the planets aligned and fate threw a bike-shaped spanner in the works.”

He wrote: “There, chained up somewhere I most definitely had not left it - with a lock that wasn't mine - was Crap Bike MK I.”

He decided to wait it out and see what happened, and while he was waiting for 101 to be answered so he could finally report the theft, “a gentleman I have never seen before produced a key and began unlocking Crap Bike MK I.”

“I stuffed my phone into my pocket and barked: ‘That's my bike!’,” he said.

“Said gentleman looked a little surprised (but not that surprised) that an angry middle-aged man who knows lots of swear words was claiming ownership of the bike he was about to unlock.

“The gentleman claimed he'd bought Crap Bike MK I for £10 at ‘the Sunday market by the train station’ – but handed over Crap Bike MK I, and disappeared pretty sharpish.”

He added: “Thus concludes the remarkable tale of how I got my stolen bike back by accident (or fate) - and ended up with two crap bikes.

“Does anyone want to buy a crap bike?”

*The fact that there’s a pretty strong chance that a bike being sold online for £30 had also been nicked from its rightful owner wasn’t mentioned.

The Telegraph article, titled 'Cycling trend backed by Stormzy and featured on The One Show sparks safety fears', says that the One Show's coverage of the Bikestormz youth movement resulted in a backlash, mostly because the youngsters featured were not wearing helmets. 

Bikestormz rideouts often involve youths riding en masse in urban areas: “We’re trying to get the youth, like me, into riding bikes and not joining gangs, doing drugs", says a young boy in The One Show segment. 

The Telegraph article says that footage shows 'helmet-free youngsters riding alongside police officers', but fails to mention that they were not actually breaking the law by forgoing protective headgear. They quote Catherine Maddy of brain injury association Headway, who says: “We know how easy it can be to sustain a life-changing brain injury as a result of a cycling accident. 

“Our position is based on key peer-reviewed research and expert opinion from leading neurosurgeons, coupled with the commonsense approach that wearing a cycle helmet will offer greater protection to one's fragile skull than not wearing one.

“Our message to all cyclists is please use your head, use a helmet.”

Alternatively, Cycling UK say they are opposed to mandatory helmets and helmet promotion campaigns in their headline message on their website: "Neither enforced helmet laws nor promotion campaigns have been shown to reduce serious head injuries, except by reducing cycling. The remaining cyclists do not gain any detectable reduction in risk, and they may lose some of the benefits from 'safety in numbers'.

"So instead of focusing on helmets, health and road safety professionals and others should promote cycling as a safe, normal, aspirational and enjoyable activity, using helmet-free role-models and imagery. Individual cyclists may sometimes choose to use helmets, either for confidence or because of the type of cycling they are doing. However, they should not feel under any pressure to wear them.  For the sake of our health, it is more important to encourage people of all ages to cycle, than to make an issue of whether they use a helmet when doing so."

😡 Vigilante 🚳sign appears on the Bristol-Bath #railwaypath (NCN4) near Whitehall Primary School. @BristolCouncil - can you remove it? pic.twitter.com/0E2uMOWNwU

— A Bristol Cyclist 🚲 (@CyclistBristol) January 28, 2020

Looks like this sign that appeared outside a primary school was put up by a local . One commenter gave the decidedly shoddy effort a "3/10, must try harder".

Maybe is was an art project designed by one of the kids on Paint?

The car driver who fatally injured Andreas Byskov Sarbo in the 2019 Tour de Himmelfart was sentenced to ... a fine of 1500 DKK (~200 €).https://t.co/csSr3kjKln

— Lukas Knöfler (@lukascph) January 28, 2020

A motorist in Denmark who killed an 18-year-old cyclist taking part in a time trial at the Tour de Himmelfart last May when she drove on the course of the race has been fined just €200 for ignoring traffic instructions, but was acquitted of manslaughter.

Witnesses said that the driver, a 28-year-old woman, ignored the instructions of marshals and multiple warning signs as she drove along the course for 1 kilometre against the direction of the race, before hitting Andreas Byskov Sarbo head-on.

Speaking to Feltet.dk, former police assistant, Jørgen Faber Sørensen suggested that this sets a dangerous precedent that would allow motorists to get away with killing a rider, if they can prove that the race signage was adequate.

The decision may be subject to an appeal in a higher court.

Yesterday we brought you footage of a intellectually challenged man causing a mass pile-up by allegedly touching a rider's handlebars on stage 1 of Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina... and on stage 2 yesterday, it seems a rogue dog was to blame for this latest collision. It happened earlier in the race this time so as far as we know, the race continued as normal when all riders were back on their bikes. 

The stage was won by Fernando Gaviria of team UAE Emirates in a sprint finish, not before another nasty crash shortly before the end in which Gaviria's teammates were involved... this race is cursed! 

Etapa / Stage 2

🇦🇷 El infortunio de una caída alteró al pelotón entrando al último giro del circuito pocitano. Los lanzadores de Fernando Gaviria se ven involucrados.

🇬🇧 A fall affected the peloton in the last turn in Pocito. Gaviria's sprinters are involved. pic.twitter.com/cXpo7B7MxZ

— Vuelta a San Juan OK (@vueltasanjuanok) January 27, 2020

The retailer's new RCC membership is now live, which gives customers access to a number of benefits including early access to new Rapha gear and end-of-season sales, signature club kit, basic injury insurance, half price coffee at Rapha Clubhouses and hire of Canyon bikes from Clubhouse locations. 

The prices have fluctuated over the years and were as high as £135 a year, but the new 2020 price is now £70 annually... if you live near one of the 23 Rapha Clubhouses worldwide and really really like their coffee, you might even make that back without even tapping into the other benefits. If you want to find out more and/or join, the link is here. 

The brand new Sagan edition S-Works Venge is here, called 'Deconstructivism' as Specialized have 'broken down' the rainbow stripes won by their main man and made the frame in a stealthy colourway that shimmers bright green in the sunlight: "A reminder of Peter's unprecedented success at Le Tour", say Specialized. 

It's disc brake only and comes with a CeramicSpeed bottom bracket, priced at £3,900 for the frameset. For now only the Venge frameset will be available in the UK from the Sagan collection, with more coming later in the year - head over to the Specialized website for more info.