Local Conservative leader blasts “Active Travel Taliban” and brands cycle lane “a monumental waste of taxes”; Jonas Vingegaard beats Tadej Pogačar in epic Tour de France duel; Tour of Britain announced; ‘Cyclists dismount’ debate + more on the live blog

Over the years, cyclists and cycling campaigners have been described in many, often extremely unflattering ways by motorist angry at them for the simple crime of riding on the road or calling for the introduction of safe, protected cycle infrastructure.

So it’s fair to say we’re well used to it by now.

But you know things are starting to get a bit heated and tetchy in the local council chamber when politicians start slinging phrases like ‘the Active Travel Taliban’ about. Yes, really.

That particularly colourful metaphor was the brainchild of Wirral Council Conservative leader Jeff Green, who this week branded the Labour-run local authority’s plans for a continuous protected cycle lane connecting Birkenhead and Liscard as “bonkers”.

The proposed 3.5-mile new cycle lane, which forms phase one of a wider active travel project hoping to link Birkenhead to New Brighton, will, says Wirral Council, “make streets safer for local people and provide high quality facilities for pedestrians and cyclists”, tying into a broader regeneration scheme and helping “deliver a sustainable left bank of the Mersey which includes increased levels of journeys being undertaken by active modes as a key part of the vision”.

Funded by active travel grants awarded to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, a recent Wirral Council environment committee report said that the scheme needed to be delivered between 2027 and 2032, or Wirral could face “losing out on a significant funding opportunity”.

However, speaking after the council’s latest consultation on the project this week, Wirral Conservative leader Jeff Green claimed that the “majority” of residents were “against the scheme”, the Wirral Globe reports.

“In February, I was invited by Cllr. Ian Lewis to meet with him, and the Leader of the Council, and the RNIB and hear their concerns over this proposal,” Green said. “It was clear then that the proposals for so-called floating bus stops and sharing the pedestrianised Liscard Precinct with cyclists is a recipe for disaster.

“Following complaints from local councillors, the Town Hall was forced to re-run the consultation and the results are, frankly, damning.

“The views of residents are clear – this is a monumental waste of taxes. A scheme that does not command the support a majority of the people most affected is not, in my view, viable. Wirral Council does not ‘know best’ – we exist to serve our residents.

“And in spite of the ‘Active Travel Taliban’, residents remain opposed to the loss of parking, pedestrian crossings, and trees that this scheme would require.”

Alright Jeff, tell us what you really think.

> On your bike! How did the politicians who made questionable comments about cycling get on at the general election?

Meanwhile, Green’s Conservative colleague Lesley Rennie said the cycle lane “will be a disaster for residents and all road users”.

I think it’s fair to say that Green’s attempt to compare people who want to travel safely on their bikes to Afghanistan’s currently internationally unrecognised government has gone down well on social media…

As local Tories rally YET AGAIN to block/delay local active travel infrastructure, I'm reminded of this key point 💚 https://t.co/CaEXW5n7vI

— Cllr Ed Lamb (@edwardlamb) July 9, 2024

“More examples of the Tories being wildly out of touch with reality... ‘the active travel Taliban’?” wrote cycling campaigner Ben on X.

“Active Travel Taliban... haha... I mean, at this point all you can do is laugh and try to move on. There’s no rational discussion to be had,” added Mounsey, who also suggested that Green’s slogan could be used as part of a (frankly ill-advised) T-shirt campaign…

Responding to the local Tory leader’s comments, Ed Lamb, a Green Party councillor for the Wirral, wrote: “As I’ve said at a couple of recent talks, some elected folks just do not ever want this stuff to happen – even if they have voted otherwise in the past!

“They are not serious about regeneration, health, climate, and we are allowed to ignore them.

“On Wirral there is no overall control. Tories often hold a lot of sway on committee items. This one? Let’s hope not…”

It’s fitting that just down the road from the Puy de Dôme, where that iconic photo of Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor, riding shoulder to shoulder on the climb’s savage slopes, was taken 60 years ago, the era-defining riders of the 2020s produced their own iconic image, one that may well encapsulate not only this year’s Tour de France, but also – perhaps – their entire careers.

On the tough drag to the finish in Le Lioran, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar sprinted side by side, way ahead of the rest, their faces contorted in pain, throwing their bikes at the line in unison, separated by the faintest of margins.

And just like that historic day back in 1964, the momentum of the race suddenly shifted.

Because, in what could prove a key psychological blow for the rest of this most exhilarating of grand tours, yellow jersey Pogačar – an expert in two-up sprints, with a perfect record in the discipline at the Tour – was beaten.

Vingegaard, after three months of recovery and turmoil, is back to winning ways. And, despite the prognosis of almost everyone in cycling just a matter of weeks ago, he looks like he can win his third straight Tour de France.

Is there room for this in the history books? 🤩

Y'a-t-il de la place pour cela dans les livres d’histoire ? 🤩#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/ONC6pFOiHL

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024

30km back down the road, however, it all looked so different.

Pogačar, after instructing his team to ride aggressively all day on the lumpy, taxing roads of the Massif Central, had flown on the Puy Mary, a swaggering image of verve and panache. His Danish rival didn’t, and almost certainly couldn’t, respond.

But at the bottom of the following climb, the Col de Pertus, Vingegaard found his old, pre-crash self, dropping Roglič and bridging across to the yellow jersey, who suddenly looked panicked, devoid of confidence.

Pogačar won the sprint for bonus seconds on the Pertus, but even that seemed perfunctory – the momentum had clearly shifted in the Dane’s favour.

Stalemate followed, as grand tour racing’s Big Four engaged in a two-up time trial to the finish, interrupted only by Roglič’s late crash on the tricky, fast run-in, as Remco Evenepoel – as Remco Evenepoel does so well – limited his losses to just 25 seconds.

In the sprint, the script UAE had crafted for over 180km today was ripped up completely. Vingegaard launched, tentatively. Pogačar was even more stuttering in following, the Slovenian uncharacteristically rising and slumping into his saddle repeatedly, as he strained to draw level with the Visma-Lease a Bike leader, who had enough in the tank to throw his bike, victoriously, at the line.

A sporting handshake later, and an acknowledgement: the battle for yellow is on.

Sporting rivalry at its peak 🙌#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/Sd3wuxg2Lg

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024

“It’s very emotional for me, coming back from the crash,” Vingegaard said, fighting back the tears, at the finish.

“It means a lot, all the things I went through in the last three months – yeah, it makes you think of that. I would never have been able to do this without my family. I’m just happy to be here, it means so much to win a stage, especially to win it for my family, who supported me the whole time.

“I couldn’t follow his attack, it was very strong. I just had to fight, and I didn’t think I’d make it back. But I made it back, and started relaying with him – and I was surprised I could beat him in the sprint.

“It means so much to me. I’m so happy. I would never have thought this three months ago.”

Jonas Vingegaard started today’s stage 1.15 down on Tadej Pogačar. He’s now 1.14 behind his career-defining rival.

Every second counts, they say. And, as the narrative of this 2024 Tour de France shifts dramatically, that single second gained in Le Lorian could count more than any in Vingegaard’s entire Tour career.

> Furious former Ferndown fish fryer fumes at fietsers — chippy owner blames bike lane for takeaway's demise, despite roadworks ending last year and several negative reviews for "dreadful" food online

Steady, Tadej, steady!#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/B7vM4rs37G

— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 10, 2024

And… deep breath.

Back to the climbing, where the yellow jersey currently holds a 35-second advantage over his GC rivals as he hits the Col de Pertus. Don’t scaring us anymore, Tadej, my heart can’t take all this.

He never stops, does he?

Towards the top of the brutally steep Pas de Peyrol, after his UAE team had destroyed the lead group, yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar did what he does best and attacked, 31km from today’s finish in Le Lioran.

💥 BOOM! @TamauPogi attacks with 31 km to go!

💥 BOOM ! @TamauPogi attaque à 31 km de l'arrivée !#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/LVXHXjHhtH

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024

Jonas Vingegaard and an increasingly strong Primož Roglič couldn’t match the race leader’s acceleration, though so far are keeping him within touching distance on the rapid descent into the next climb (though Vingegaard briefly dropped his teammate on the climb).

Remco Evenepoel, meanwhile, appeared to struggle for the first time at this Tour, and is currently 40 seconds down on the flying Slovenian – who just had his own hairy moment on a corner, which proves that nothing is ever written in stone at the Tour.

On what was earmarked as a breakaway day, we have a GC battle on our hands!

A cycling club ride leader has stressed the importance of cyclists running cameras on the road after being told that police were unable to investigate a series of “intimidating” incidents involving the same driver across multiple days in the same small village.

Sean Price, a lifetime member of Westbury Wheelers Cycling Club, claims the club’s rides have been targeted numerous times by the driver, who has passed the group too closely and shouted abuse on more than one occasion.

Read more: > Cycling club repeatedly harassed by same driver frustrated over lack of police action, saying incidents are “intimidating and causing stress and alarm to members”

Last month, you may remember, the issue of ‘Cyclists Dismount’ signs, and what many cyclists regard as their discriminatory nature, popped up once again, after cyclists and active travel campaigners in Poole hit out at the decision to install signs advising people on bikes to “dismount and use footway” where a cycle lane was closed while works were carried out by a gas company.

Those instructions were branded “unacceptable” by locals, who claimed they have led to frequent “horrifying” close passes by motorists overtaking cyclists at the temporary traffic lights.

> “Do they ever tell drivers to get out and push?” Locals slam ‘Cyclists Dismount and Use Footway’ signs as cycle lane closed due to roadworks, leading to “horrifying” close passes – but council insists signs “comply to required legal standards”

In response to this criticism, Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP) Council claimed that – despite cyclists noting that the signs fail to adhere to the Department for Transport’s road works code of practice – the signage does in fact “comply to the required legal standards”, because the cycle lane in question is not mandatory.

Meanwhile, the gas company behind the works, SGN, added that it had been “advised” to tell cyclists to dismount “due to the location of the gas main and width of the road”.

However, BCP Council appears to have performed a U-turn on the issue over the past month, telling active travel campaigners in the area that it does not use ‘Cyclists Dismount’ signs anymore and will be advising contractors working in the area to avoid using them.

After the local BH Active Travel group wrote to the council about the “inappropriate” signs “being used at various road works around BCP”, in a bid to ascertain their position on the matter, the local authority’s active travel team said: “This is not something that our Neighbourhood Services team would use anymore but we do find that they are unfortunately sometimes put out by Utility companies completing various works around the conurbation.

“Where this happens we have been reporting this to the company in question and asking them to remove them.”

“So BCP are aware that these signs should not normally be used and will ask for them to be removed if contractors incorrectly use them,” the group’s admin Ross Hodder said.

“They are not legally enforceable as they are advisory only signs. However this is probably not widely known and they create conflict with some motorists who may think cyclists are not allowed to use the carriageway.”

Ouch. While bunny-hopper supreme Axel Zingle is busy attacking off the front, at the back of the race his Cofidis team are having a proper nightmare, as both Ion Izagirre, a double Tour de France stage winner, and Alexis Renard (who’s in my Fantasy League team, most importantly) have been forced to abandon the Tour de France early on stage 11.

❌ Both 🇪🇸 Ion Izagirre and 🇫🇷 @alexisrenard_ have abandoned the race.

❌ 🇪🇸 Ion Izagirre et 🇫🇷 @alexisrenard_ ont tous deux abandonné la course. #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/EVMUcuc3Os

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024

Languishing minutes behind the peloton from the opening kilometres of today’s tough and relentlessly chaotic stage, it was clear something was up with Izagirre and Renard, with Cofidis now confirming on social media that the pair were “diminished for several days and exhausted”, leading to their withdrawal this morning.

Meanwhile, as the pace shows no signs of relenting at the front, Bahrain-Victorious’ former British champion Fred Wright is also struggling off the back, over 5km behind the peloton and just in front of the broomwagon, and will be desperately hoping for a swift halt to hostilities.

Which, unfortunately for Fred, doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon…

Tried listening to Lance's pod to see what Wiggins has to say, he's brilliant at race analysis some times. There's 5 mins about a hat then 20 mins talking about helmet, electrolyte and ketone sponsors then 'whoever has the best legs will win the tour' 👍

— Joe Earley (@joeearley) July 10, 2024

I’ll admit that I haven’t brought myself to listen to the Big Tex, Big George, and (Big) Wiggo buddy fest since it was first unveiled at the weekend, but it’s nice to know that Lance’s patented formula of terrible ‘banter’, relentlessly flogging stuff, and banal sporting analysis remains stubbornly intact.

> “Back with the boys!” Sir Bradley Wiggins joins Lance Armstrong’s podcast during Tour de France

Oh, and it must be noted that cycling’s reliance on clichés focused on the abundance and quality of riders’ legs (looking at you, Tadej) almost drove poor Joe to madness this morning.

Hey Brad, did you pack the legs?

“When riders talk about ‘who’s got the legs’, ‘today I just didn’t have the legs’, I like to think there’s a finite amount, maybe one set per team,” he wrote, presumably laughing maniacally as he typed.

“On the team bus – Jonas: I need the legs today. Wout: But I want the legs. Jonas: You always get the legs. Kelderman: Guys, stop being such a pair of greedy leg hogs.

“Sometimes they need to find the good legs, I think they live in hotels at 3000m or something, but takes weeks to find them, they must be big hotels.”

Who says spending three weeks constantly watching a bike race can drive you mad?

You know it’s a quiet day on the Tour de France, when this child’s brilliantly confusing sign was the highlight of the day (along with Victor Campenaerts’ one-of-a-kind souvenir bidon, of course).

❌Mathieu van der Poel
✅Mathieu sells chickens 😂#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/roEnUZVgKX

— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 9, 2024

To be honest, I’m still trying to work out whether it’s a sign of affection for the world champion, an insult, or the kid really thinks that’s MVDP’s name…

In case you missed it last night, a cyclist has hit out at the “disgusting” bike thieves who targeted the recent Enve Stone Circle gravel cycling event in Salisbury, stealing at least eight bikes worth a combined value of £26,000.

The bikes, which were locked to racks located in the event village in the English Heritage site of Old Sarum, were taken between the finish of the popular gravel-focused sportive on the evening of Saturday 29 June and the following morning, when the event’s participants left the campsite.

Read more: > Cyclists left “shocked, saddened, and angry” after £26,000 worth of bikes stolen from cycling festival