“No one has right of way on a roundabout”: Response to Jeremy Vine near miss baffles cyclists; BTS star’s new Colnago; Covid-free Tour de France rest day; Bike shed victim blaming; Pep's pursuit; Dealing with cycle lane-parkers + more on the live blog

Jeremy Vine’s almost-encounter with a bus driver during his London commute – and one Twitter user’s controversial take on roundabouts – prompted quite a bit of discussion in the comments today.

Owd Bid ‘Ead described the roundabout featured in Vine’s clip as “Another example of piss poor cycling infrastructure. Stay left and get hooked by left turning motorists, or go into the "car" lane and get rear ended while being shouted at for not being in the cycle lane!

“Whoever signed that off as roadworthy at the council should hang their head in shame. At some stage that will become a cyclist killer, it's that poor.”

Patrick9-32 agreed, writing: “The Vine clip highlights once again how bad our cycling infrastructure is. If you stay in the 2-foot-wide painted death stripe you get T boned by a bus, if you ride in the main carriageway you get rear ended by an impatient driver behind. There is no way to win on that stretch of road.”

“To me it highlights how many drivers simply don't look out for cyclists (or motorcyclists),” said OldRidgeback.

Some of you – unsurprisingly – got sucked into a rabbit hole of technicalities.

AlsoSomniloquism wrote: “Although TruthA is kind of correct. If you look at the HC for approaching a roundabout compared to exiting a side road, it is only a should give priority to vehicles approaching from the right, not a MUST. I'm not stating the police wouldn't charge someone for driving offences in an accident.”

HoarseMann replied: “The absence of 'right of way' stretches further than roundabouts. This sentence in the general rules section often gets overlooked: ‘The rules in The Highway Code do not give you the right of way in any circumstance, but they advise you when you should give way to others. Always give way if it can help to avoid an incident.’”

According to Quiff, the Twitter user was “also kind of correct in the sense that ‘right of way’ is the wrong term. Right of way is about the legal right to use certain land (including public roads). What everyone is talking about here is who has "priority" at a roundabout. I appreciate this is a bit of a ‘wing mirrors’ argument.”

Rendel Harris wrote: “It's arguable but I'd say the applicable rule would be 172:

‘You MUST give way to traffic on the main road when emerging from a junction with broken white lines across the road.’

“I would've thought the roundabout counts as the main road in this case, and in any case the bus driver did unquestionably ignore the broken white line give way markings.”

“I live in an area with a lot of directional lane two lane roundabouts,” says Moist von Lipwig. “If you pull out solely because someone is in the left turn lane (irrespective of their mode of transport), you're just asking for trouble.  If they're not indicating and/or have a speed to match the turn they're making, it’s not an assumption to make.”

HoarseMann wrote: “It's not Milton Keynes is it?! Got to have your wits about you. It's rare someone uses the correct lane for their exit.”

Steve K then told us that he “recently had a car driver toot their horn at me on a roundabout and then close pass me shouting ‘give way to the right on roundabouts’ after he had failed to do exactly that.”

eburtthebike, however, offered up a perfectly reasonable excuse for the driver’s behaviour:  

You obviously confused your right, as in right-hand side, with his right, as in his right to run you over for being on a bicycle.

Or maybe he said, "give way to the might" and you misheard. The might is always right.

And finally, before I head for my rest day massage and evening meal with the team, road.cc reader KDee helpfully found the other bikes that were stored in that pesky “camouflaged” bike shed:  

“Bloody bicycles throwing themselves under cars and causing accidents,” wrote chrisonatrike.

Indeed…

It’s been a rough nine days at the Tour de France for AG2R Citroën’s Australian GC hope Ben O’Connor.

O’Connor, who finished fourth at last year’s Tour after a stunning solo victory at Tignes, will not start tomorrow after failing to fully recover from injuries sustained in a crash during stage two in Denmark.

According to his team, the 26-year-old suffered a muscular lesion of the right gluteus medius, which was exacerbated during stage five’s cobble-laden trip to Arenberg and further crash on Saturday.

“Since his crash, Ben has suffered,” says the team’s doctor Serge Niamke. “The vibrations during the cobblestone stage did not facilitate his recovery and his second crash on Saturday during the eighth stage further aggravated the pain.”

Vincent Lavenu, AG2R Citroën’s general manager, added: “Given Ben's physical condition, it was obvious that he should not start the next stage in order to preserve his physical integrity. We felt that he has been chasing the last few days for the team, driven by the desire not to disappoint us.

“The fact that we felt that he should stop and rebuild himself physically and mentally, relieved him. He will be able to approach the second part of the season calmly with the Vuelta a España as his objective.”

O’Connor, who had been hoping to build upon his breakthrough performance at the 2021 Tour, said in a statement: “I have been fighting this glute injury for a couple of days, but it got even worse yesterday. So… I think it was the stage to Lausanne. I pulled my glute muscle, so I am more or less riding with one leg. These very chronic sharp pains that I get make it pretty impossible for me to continue the race.

“I’m obviously upset. It’s the Tour de France, it’s the biggest race of the year. It’s the race that we all aim for, it’s the one that we prepare all year, and we clearly came here with big objectives.

“Our heads turn pretty quickly to La Vuelta. I mean it was always on my calendar and I hope there I can fulfil the role that I dreamt of here at the Tour de France, but actually this time in La Vuelta.”

While the French squad had been originally aiming for GC success, their switch to stage hunting paid immediate dividends on Sunday, as Bob Jungels took an impressive solo win in the Swiss Alps.

“On Sunday, I was so happy for Bob,” says O’Connor. “It was complicated for me. But to see him win after so many problems going on for him, it was absolutely beautiful. It really put a massive smile on my face. When I was back in the grupetto with Oli [Naesen], we were just shocked and happy.

“I hope I have taken all the bad luck with me, and they can fight and bring some more success because we have such a good crew here.”

Along with winning two stages of the Tour de France, stamping his authority on the race as he aims for a third consecutive title, and announcing the creation of a cancer research foundation in honour of his late mother-in-law, Tadej Pogačar has found room in his busy schedule to join America’s most famous family in time for the Tour’s first (proper) rest day:

Heading into the rest day in yellow 😜💛🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/nytJYNHcmo

— Tadej Pogačar (@TamauPogi) July 10, 2022

Good to see that the tuft’s well represented…

Fun fact to make you all feel old: The Simpsons’ so-called “golden age”, as defined by many a TV critic, lasted up to its tenth series (though some argue it ended even earlier, but that’s a debate for another time).

The show’s tenth series first broadcast in August 1998 – one month before two-time Tour winner Pogačar was born…

Main image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com

No bike racing today? What’s going on?

While we all experience withdrawal symptoms from the sudden dearth of live cycling on the TV, the riders of the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia Donne are enjoying a well-earned rest after a week and a half of gruelling racing (and travelling).

Over the weekend, the 2022 Tour continued its penchant for inspiring back stories and tales of redemption, all set to the most stunning backdrop of the race so far in the Swiss Alps.

Zac Williams/SWpix.com

After Wout van Aert Wouted everyone in Lausanne on Saturday (the ruthless, calculating flip side to his romantic, panache-filled but ultimately doomed breakaway to Longwy 48 hours before), adding un uphill puncheurs’ finish to his varied list of Tour stage wins, yesterday Bob Jungels and Thibaut Pinot went head-to-head during a thrilling mountain pursuit match.

Both Jungels and Pinot have suffered setback after setback in recent years. AG2R Citroën rider Jungels, a monument winner at Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2018, has failed to kick on at the French team after a series of injuries in 2020 were followed by surgery for iliac artery endofibrosis.

Pinot, meanwhile, has also endured a torrid few years after tearfully abandoning the 2019 Tour de France with a torn quadricep while seemingly on the cusp of a first French Tour win since 1985.

A recurring back injury has prevented the Groupama-FDJ rider from regaining the form that saw him win atop the Tourmalet three years ago, though stage wins at the Tour of the Alps and Tour de Suisse this year have given the home fans some hope of at least a stage win. Even at this Tour, however, he’s suffered yet more hardship – minutes after crashing on Saturday’s stage to Lausanne, he collided headfirst with the outstretched arm of a Trek-Segafredo soigneur, attempting to hand out food to one of the team’s riders.

Pinot’s reaction to the bizarre incident, collapsing melancholically into the shoulders of an EF-EasyPost press officer standing on the roadside, seemed to sum up his last few years, and indeed his relationship with his country’s biggest sporting event. Surely something would go right, at least once for the luckless darling of French cycling?

A.S.O.,Charly Lopez

So, as Pinot gained time quickly on sole leader Jungels following a blistering attack on the Pas de Morgins, all of France – and most of the cycling world, let’s face it – held its breath.

However, like many of the chapters already written in Thibaut Pinot’s mercurial career since he burst onto the Tour scene ten years ago, this one would end in tears. Jungels, in full time trial mode, was too strong, his own emotional redemptive arc complete, after a stunning 65km solo ride in the mountains.

A.S.O., Charly Lopez

Pinot, meanwhile, faded, and was even caught by Spanish duo Jonathan Castroviejo and Carlos Verona before the line (off-screen, Tadej Pogačar was being Tadej Pogačar, burning all of his rivals off his wheel – with the exception of Jonas Vingegaard – with a ferocious sprint towards the line. Is this the shape of the next two weeks to come?).

But all eyes were on Jungels and Pinot – two clear personifications of what the Tour can give, and what it can take away.

Winning and celebrating together is the best. The most beautiful part of targeting a stagerace for me is that you need a perfect team around you to achieve your goals, staff & riders gracias!!💓 https://t.co/iH3ipErO0u

— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) July 10, 2022

Annemiek van Vleuten, meanwhile, didn’t need any romantic storylines on the way to her third overall Giro d’Italia Donne victory.

The dominant Dutchwoman remained calm as closest rival Marta Cavalli distanced her not once, but twice on Saturday’s queen stage to San Lorenzo Dorsino, and in the end only lost 16 seconds to the FDJ rider. Up ahead, Kristen Faulkner held on for her second win of the race – and with it, the mountains jersey – after a long-distance breakaway over three major climbs.

On Sunday’s final flat stage into Padova, Chiara Consonni sprinted to her first ever victory at her home grand tour, as Van Vleuten cruised home in pink to add to her previous Giro wins in 2018 and 2019, underlining her status as the red-hot favourite for the Tour de France Femmes later this month.

Annemiek van Vleuten vuole immortalare ogni momento del suo 3° trionfo al Giro Donne! 😁💗🏆💐#EurosportCICLISMO | #GiroDonne22 | #GiroDonne | #vanVleuten | @giro_donne pic.twitter.com/gdsxkiNADn

— Eurosport IT (@Eurosport_IT) July 10, 2022

“It’s nice being back,” Van Vleuten said at the finish.

“After 2020 when I was in the maglia rosa I left the Giro with a broken wrist, so it’s nice to finish it off again in the pink.

“Pink is not my favourite colour, but in the Giro it is. If I’m riding here in it, so many Italian people are saying ‘maglia rosa, maglia rosa’, so it’s really special to wear pink in Italy. It’s a big honour for me to take it home again.”

A collective sigh of relief could be heard across the Alps this morning, as the UCI confirmed that no Tour de France riders had tested positive for Covid-19 in overnight controls carried out on the entire peloton.

The UCI said in a statement: “In accordance with the ‘Rules for the organisation of road cycling competitions in the context of the coronavirus pandemic’, established by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and recently updated for the Grand Tours, all riders participating in the Tour de France were tested on the evening of 10 July.

“All tests were negative.

“However, the UCI reminds all participants that the rules introduced over the last two years in the interests of everyone’s health and safety continue to apply. These include the obligation to wear a mask, to maintain sufficient physical distance and to disinfect hands frequently.”

Tour de France rest day Covid tests be like pic.twitter.com/FZ1hjnyNYK

— Andy McGrath (@Andymcgra) July 11, 2022

Covid has loomed large over this year’s Tour de France, with three riders – Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën), and Vegard Stake Laengen (a teammate of Tadej Pogačar at UAE Team Emirates) – already being forced to leave the race after testing positive over the weekend.

A number of riders, such as Tim Declercq and Matteo Trentin, also had to withdraw from the Tour in the days leading up to the Grand Départ in Copenhagen.

So this morning’s news of no rest day positives – always a welcome sign at the Tour de France – will ease a few nerves among the riders, team staff and race organisation. For the time being anyway…

By now, pedalling broadcaster Jeremy Vine is well used to receiving… let’s call it constructive feedback from motorists on Twitter, angry at the Radio 2 presenter’s latest video from his daily commute through London, which invariably highlights – in Vine’s eyes – some form of poor or dangerous driving.

Was he actually going to — ? pic.twitter.com/67tumOTnnQ

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) July 8, 2022

For example, Friday’s clip – which featured a bus driver almost pulling out in front of Vine as he made his way across a roundabout – led to more than a few complaints from drivers critical of the broadcaster’s position in the left lane (after riding in the cycle lane) as he entered the roundabout:

He isn't allowed to kill me because he doesn't approve of my choice of lane, mate.

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) July 9, 2022

I'm not in a car. I should have pointed that out.
I also note that you think that if someone's road positioning is poor you can simply run them over.

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) July 8, 2022

I was in the cycle lane.

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) July 8, 2022

According to the Rule 186 of the Highway Code, however, “cyclists, horse riders and horse drawn vehicles may stay in the left-hand lane when they intend to continue across or around the roundabout and should signal right to show you they are not leaving the roundabout.

“Drivers should take extra care when entering a roundabout to ensure that they do not cut across cyclists, horse riders or horse drawn vehicles in the left-hand lane, who are continuing around the roundabout.”

While most of the Twitter road safety commentators in Vine’s mentions tripped up on that specific aspect of the Highway Code, one bot – I mean person – managed to drop this absolute clanger, demonstrating a poor understanding of how roundabouts work and the new hierarchy of vulnerable road users in the Highway Code:

Sorry you were I the wrong.
So your one of those cyclists that think you have rights over cars...
Well no one has right of way on a roundabout.
So be careful.

— Jeremy's Nemesis (@truthagohurtdem) July 8, 2022

Needless to say, this morning’s replies were fun (including a bonus mention of Friday's article about the serial driving test passer):

pic.twitter.com/DXWaXPOa1x

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) July 11, 2022

"no one has right of way on a roundabout" 🤦🏻‍♀️
You need extra training. In fact, you shouldn't have a licence. How did you get it? Were you one of those who paid that woman to sit your test?

— lindsey fs (@feckitdotcom) July 11, 2022

Really? No one? Thanks, that’s invaluable info, I must adjust my roundabout teaching accordingly, seems I’ve been doing it wrong for the past 33 years.

— Barrington (@Barrington65) July 11, 2022

You do know this is nonsense right? Please hand your licence in at the nearest Police station.

— Ian Jones (@Maverick_Jones) July 11, 2022

That’s why so many people die on the roads because people like you don’t know the Highway Code.

— Cyclegranny 🚴‍♀️ (@anneramsey740) July 11, 2022

Never been in an accident though.

— Jeremy's Nemesis (@truthagohurtdem) July 11, 2022