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Panorama viewers blast “idiot bingo” LTN episode; Tao Geoghegan Hart slams “f***ing dangerous” Tour of the Alps finish; French police v Bikes: Officer reverses into bikes – but were they “asking for it”?; Vingegaard’s creepy AI vid + more on the live blog

Live blog, what live blog? Having hastily dusted off the bloggy cobwebs, Ryan Mallon’s back for your Tuesday dose of cycling news and nonsense
Tue, Apr 18, 2023 10:03
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Panorama viewers blast “idiot bingo” LTN episode; Tao Geoghegan Hart slams “f***ing dangerous” Tour of the Alps finish; French police v Bikes: Officer reverses into bikes – but were they “asking for it”?; Vingegaard’s creepy AI vid + more on the live blogOxford LTN (Oxford City Council)
18 April 2023, 12:03
Anti-LTN vandal sets bollard alight (credit - Oxford Liveable Streets)
“You’re either on the side of Hopkins, Fox, and the Tax Payers’ Alliance OR people who would like to breathe clean air and not have their children killed by SUVs”: Viewers blast “idiot bingo” on BBC Panorama LTN episode

The reviews are in for last night’s episode of Panorama, where the BBC continued their recent theme of exploring ‘road rage’, ‘killer roads’, and ‘road wars’ by turning their attention to the ongoing debate over Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, which – as the Beeb’s climate editor Justin Rowlatt noted during the programme – have been “under near constant assault” in recent months.

> “Reasonably balanced or needlessly confrontational?” New BBC Panorama episode about low-traffic neighbourhoods raises concerns over stirring culture war

In the likely event that you didn’t have the time, or willpower, to sit down for half an hour of LTNs, with a healthy smattering of traffic filters, Rob kindly summarised it for everyone on Twitter:

Like Rob, others weren’t impressed with some of the, ahem, interesting characters featured on the anti-LTN side, with one user describing the inclusion of views expressed by Katie Hopkins, Lozza Fox, and co as “idiot bingo”:

Some also criticised a segment of the episode which claimed that, under Oxford’s proposed traffic calming filters, which would only allow exempt motorists to drive through the city centre on a specified number of days, a 12-minute journey through the city would now take 20 minutes:

However, others – such as Oxford-based courier service Pedal and Post – reckoned Panorama’s take on the LTN debate was “pretty balanced”:

Though it’s probably best to steer clear of the anti-LTN side on Twitter (let’s just say that Godwin’s Law has been thoroughly exhausted).

Did you tune in last night? If so, what did you make of the BBC’s latest attempt at analysing the case for active travel?

18 April 2023, 12:41
“You risk your Giro for what?”: Fuming Tao Geoghegan Hart wins second consecutive Tour of the Alps stage – and immediately blasts “f***ing dangerous” finish

A flying Tao Geoghegan Hart outsprinted Jack Haig to take his second stage win in a row at the Tour of the Alps this afternoon – but the Londoner wasn’t in a mood to celebrate, as he crossed the line shaking his head at what he believed was a “dangerous” finish in Ritten.

After strong work from Ineos teammate Pavel Sivakov, who kept the race under control after breakaway survivor Simon Carr was reeled in on the climb, a select group of favourites entered the grounds of the speed skating arena in Ritten, where AG2R’s Felix Gall crashed on a tricky bends, narrowly avoiding race leader Geoghegan Hart.

The 2020 Giro d’Italia winner, sensing the danger of the constantly turning finale, then took control through the remaining corners, with clearly enough left in the tank to comfortably see off Bahrain Victorious’ Haig for back-to-stage wins.

However, rather than bask in the glow of his current imperious form, the typically forthright 28-year-old crossed the line visibly angry and immediately began venting his frustrations about the finish, which he colourfully described to Hugh Carthy as “so f***ing dangerous”.

“You risk your Giro for what? Felix Gall just crashed,” Geoghegan Hart could also be heard telling Sivakov, obviously worried that his current legs – which look as sharp as they have been since his Giro win – could be cruelly taken away from him by a potentially hazardous final kilometre, just weeks before he aims to regain the maglia rosa.

Little chance then of the Londoner heeding commentator Adam Blythe’s advice to “just be happy” with the win…

18 April 2023, 16:15
18 April 2023, 15:19
Tao Geoghegan Hart, 2023 Tour of the Alps (GCN)
Tao Geoghegan Hart says twisty Tour of the Alps finish was a “bit too much” and “on the limit”

Following his expletive-laden tirade in the immediate aftermath of his second straight Tour of the Alps stage win in Ritten this afternoon, race leader Tao Geoghegan Hart offered a more measured, if still rather cutting, assessment of the twisting, complicated finale in the post-stage presser.

“I really like this race and the organisers, but I wasn’t a fan of that finish. If it’d been wet on that concrete last 300 metres, I don’t know, for me it was a bit too much,” the 2020 Giro d’Italia winner, who has taken four of his eight pro wins at the Tour of the Alps, said.

“If the winner of the race pedals for maybe 80 metres in the last 300 metres, I’m not sure if that’s typical for a bike race. To see Felix Gall crash on that corner, just to try to make a normal sprint, it was a bit on the limit. For me it wasn’t really a correct last 500 metres.

“This shouldn’t be the story of a great stage but it’s important not to pass over these things. We’ve got a new CPA president in [former pro] Adam Hansen and he’s doing some great things to create dialogue in a good way. It’s important we all go in the right way together.

“To be clear, I wasn’t angry with Jack Haig, I don’t want to see any colleague crash, because a lot of guys are preparing for the big goals.

“This is a nice race. We could have finished on the lovely main road, it’s a beautiful day. I understand the desire to do something different but it needs to be done the right way. And, for me today was a little bit too much.”

> "Another day in the death race": Soudal-Quick Step pro rages at Paris-Nice dangers

While Geoghegan Hart has certainly cemented his position as one of the current peloton’s most outspoken advocates, he isn’t the first pro to raise concerns about race safety this year.

At Paris-Nice last month, Soudal-Quick Step's Florian Sénéchal publicly criticised several safety decisions made by the race organisers, including the position of street furniture in the final kilometre of a sprint stage, as well as speed bumps on a fast, technical descent.

When a member of the pubic somehow managed to drive their car onto the race route during the final stage around Nice, Sénéchal later posted an image of the terrifying incident with the caption ‘Another day in the death race’.

And in February, British sprinter Dan McLay accused race organisers at the Clásica de Almería of “playing with our health” and said it was a “f****** disgrace” that motorists had been using a roundabout at the same time the peloton passed.

18 April 2023, 14:48
Maurice Garin, eat your heart out

I like to think that this cunning runner, who was disqualified from last week’s Manchester to Liverpool ultra-running race for covering 2.5 miles of the 50 mile route in a car (yep, that’ll definitely get you DQ’d), is actually an aficionado of Tour de France history and was simply channelling the 1904 edition of the race, and the infamous train-jumping actions of Maurice Garin and Hippolyte Aucouturier.

Then again, maybe not…

18 April 2023, 14:17
Some, ahem, interesting cycling infra choices

Looks like Leith Walk’s infamous unicycle lane now has a Manchester-based contender for most pointless piece of cycling infrastructure:

18 April 2023, 13:43
Road bike category introduced by British time trial governing body to “get more people time trialling”
National time trial road bike Tamsin Miller - CTT

> Road bike category introduced by British time trial governing body to "get more people time trialling"

What do you think? Is the new road bike category more likely to convince you to head down to the local club 10?

Or is the misery, pain, and torture of time trialling just not worth it, even if CTT decides to one day include a ‘lazy person with the hairiest legs’ category?

In any case, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with my old, trusty Spinaci bars anymore…

18 April 2023, 11:33
Ban on disposal of bike tyres in landfill moves closer

The banning of bike tyre and inner tube disposal in landfill looks to be a step closer.

Last month, the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) hosted a representation from the National Bicycle Tyre Recycling Scheme and heard that national coverage of collection points for used tyres and inner tubes is now in place, putting a potential end to the 9,300-plus tonnes which go to landfill each year.

2023 Michelin Power Cup Tubeless Ready Tyre 700 x 28C - 2

Read more here:

> Ban on disposal of bike tyres in landfill moves closer 

18 April 2023, 10:58
Move over Park Pizza Cutter, there’s a new Christmas gift king in town

Can’t wait for the Di2 version to come out, though I’m not sure Auntie Karen’s budget will stretch to anything more cutting-edge (see what I did there?) than Park’s tried and trusted model… 

18 April 2023, 10:30
Jonas Cringegaard: Is this the weirdest contract extension announcement video you’ve ever seen?

Apologies in advance for the inevitable nightmares this dystopian slice of cycling team PR will lead to, but here is how Jumbo-Visma – or should that be Jumbo-Dismal? – announced this morning that their Tour de France hero Jonas Vingegaard has signed a new contract extension, keeping him at the Dutch team until 2027…

Warning: The following clip contains super cringey AI-generated graphics. Viewer discretion is advised:

I have so many questions.

Which Jumbo-Visma staff member is obsessed with AI?

Why does it have the feel of a binned Pixar pitch?

And why, dear God why, is creepy baby Jonas speaking with an American accent?

It appears I’m not alone in being completely creeped out by perhaps the strangest cycling team video ever made:

Though I suppose it could have been worse. Creepy AI Jonas could have been playing the piano alongside Alexis Sánchez…

18 April 2023, 09:47
French police officer reverses into row of bikes in Strasbourg
French police vs Bikes: Officer reverses into row of bikes – but were the bikes “asking for it”?

Obviously, there’s a lot going on over in France at the moment, but that won’t come as any consolation for the poor cyclists who returned to their bikes in Strasbourg this morning, only to find them in a crumpled, broken mess.

And it certainly won’t make them feel any better that such blatant disregard for their mode of transport was carried out by one of the city’s police officers – hardly the most popular people in France right now – who was captured on video reversing his van, with a sickening clang of metal, into a row of parked bikes last night… only to immediately accelerate off down a side street.

The police hit-and-run on the bikes has been widely criticised over on French Twitter, with one user even claiming that the dodgy manoeuvre was an act of “revenge” following the recent weeks of protests against Emmanuel Macron’s highly inflammatory pension reforms.

“The key to getting your licence is to observe how the cops do it and do the opposite,” another tweeted.

However, one Twitter user – I really, really hope sarcastically – responded to the video by throwing in a few anti-cycling bingo greatest hits, this time focused on the prior actions of the stationary, inanimate bikes.

“Yeah, but we don't have the context,” they wrote. “The video begins just a few seconds before the incident, coincidentally. If it is, the bikes may have asked for it a bit too.”

Another joined in on the fun, posting: “No, but wait we don't have the context. We don’t know what happened before!”

I sincerely hope those are jokes. Like I’m almost 100 percent sure they are, but these days you never know…

This one, from Jean Christophe, is definitely a joke, anyway, straight from the live blog hall of fame: “The bikes didn’t have their helmets and yellow jackets, it’s their fault.”

Classic.

In any case, Strasbourg’s police have since confirmed that the bikes were “involuntarily hit” by the driver of a police van who was supervising last night’s pension protest in the northeastern city.

“We invite the owners of damaged bikes to come forward to the Strasbourg police station,” the police said.

I’m sure that’ll be a fun visit…

18 April 2023, 09:06
… And it’s not going brilliantly so far

Perhaps the motorist thought today was actually a National Day of Close Passing? Oh wait, is that not every other day?

18 April 2023, 08:09
Safe passing distance (image - Devon and Cornwall Police).jpg
National Day of Action on Close Passing declared – as police forces across England run close pass operations

Here at road.cc HQ this morning, the bunting’s out, the balloons are up, and the bouncy castle’s on its way…

That’s because – though I’m sure you’ve had the date heavily circled in your calendar for months – today has been declared by the National Roads Policing Operations and Intelligence unit as England’s National Day of Action on Close Passing.

Hip hip, hooray! Now blow out the candles on those prosecution figures…

This most special of days means police forces across England will be sending out plain clothes officers on their bikes to run close pass operations, and to remind motorists to leave plenty of space when overtaking cyclists.

Pickup driver chases cyclist after close pass (Jay McSerk, Twitter)

> 286 close pass submissions to West Midlands Police resulted in one prosecution, FOI request reveals

Obviously, as we’ve noted over the past few days on road.cc, the police’s rather mixed handling of close passes on cyclists has come under growing scrutiny.

Last week, we reported that West Midlands Police, the godfathers of close pass operations, had prosecuted just one driver from 286 close pass submissions in 2022, a startlingly low figure that attracted much ridicule on our Thursday live blog.

However, yesterday on the blog, Hampshire Police’s stats made for much more promising reading – of the 1,068 incidents reported, 40 percent (423) resulted in ‘PENTIP’, the police’s penalty notice platform used to record and process fixed penalty notices, while 38 percent (403) received a warning letter.

As those mixed results suggest, it is not yet clear how many forces are taking part in the big day today, though Surrey Police have confirmed their participation:

As well as the results of an ever-reliable Twitter poll on safe passing distances:

Today’s National Day of Action forms part of a wider two-week campaign by the police to make the roads safer for “two wheelers” (including people on motorbikes too), though I’m not sure whether they’re bothered about people on trikes…

Responding to the campaign, Keir Gallagher, campaigns manager at Cycling UK, said: “Close passes are not only really intimidating, but also dangerous for people cycling. Police attribute passing too close as a factor in a staggering 25 percent of serious collisions between cyclists and large vehicles.

“Cycling UK appeals to all drivers to follow the guidance in the Highway Code and give plenty of space when overtaking cyclists, just as you would if it were your friend or loved one out riding their bike.

“We hope to see as many forces as possible out on the roads today helping to keep cyclists safe”.

NPCC roads policing lead Jo Shiner added: “Police officers will use whatever options are appropriate – whether education or enforcement – to promote safety for riders of any two-wheeled machine. We urge every road user to be observant and courteous in sharing the road space with those who face a higher risk of injury.”  

Cycling UK has also kindly asked if any road.cc readers spot their local force out and about on their bikes today, they could let us know by getting in touch on the blog or tweeting using the snappy hashtag #operationclosepass.

Now, where did I leave that cake?

Now, where did I leave that cake?

Ryan Mallon

After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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47 comments

Avatar
brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

I'm waiting for that AI Jonas Cringegaard to explain that there has been a leak in the lab and the facility will now be sealed, sorry for any inconvenience as you are turned into a mutant zombie...

Avatar
Rome73 | 1 year ago
3 likes

I didn't watch the BBC programme. But, seriously was Hopkins asked her opinion? One would like to think people would see the lunacy of her like. But then one thinks of Rees Mogg, Farage, Ann Widdecombe, Bill Cash et al and plenty of people took them seriously. 

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to Rome73 | 1 year ago
1 like

And Truss.

Avatar
brooksby replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
1 like

eburtthebike wrote:

And Truss.

Is she allowed out in public?  She and Kwarteng seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth...

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
1 like

brooksby wrote:

eburtthebike wrote:

And Truss.

Is she allowed out in public?  She and Kwarteng seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth...

Unfortunately there's some right-wingers that seem to still think that she's relevant and/or knowledgable

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/12/liz-truss-speech-sketch-heritage-foundation

Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lecture? What will they think of next?

Kevin Roberts wrote:

Prime Minister Truss spoke for free people all over the world. For those of us who are Americans, we have a special affection for her because she delivered finally on Brexit. She confronted the big tax, big government establishment in her country and, dare I say, even her own party.

Avatar
Sriracha | 1 year ago
5 likes
Quote:

Police attribute passing too close as a factor in a staggering 25 percent of serious collisions between cyclists and large vehicles

How's that work? The large vehicle has to be pretty damn close before it collides with the cyclist, 100% of the time.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to Sriracha | 1 year ago
0 likes

Sriracha wrote:
Quote:

Police attribute passing too close as a factor in a staggering 25 percent of serious collisions between cyclists and large vehicles

How's that work? The large vehicle has to be pretty damn close before it collides with the cyclist, 100% of the time.

25% of the time it is a close overtake gone wrong, therefore 75% of the time it is not a planned overtake, it is something else, such as failing to give way at a junction (inc failing to look properly at a junction) hitting a cyclist when overtaking another road user on the wrong side of the road etc etc. Left turning vehicles crushing cyclists, this may or may not involve an overtake prior, but at the collision we are talking about a driver failing to see a cyclist, and not seeing them but giving insifficient space.

Which is interesting because we all experience uncomfortably close overtakes, and so percieve this to be the main danger. However we less often experience near misses of drivers pulling out at junctions withour giving way.

Avatar
cmedred | 1 year ago
5 likes

Why weren't the drivers polled given the appropriate 0.25 meter choice? 

Avatar
Matthew Acton-Varian | 1 year ago
0 likes

The move to introduce a Road Bike category for TTs is a brilliant move from CTT. My local club recently announced the same move for our own club league, so that riders who are normally disadvantaged by not having a dedicated TT rig can race and enter competitively. 

There are a lot of race organisers struggling to obtain enough entries for time trials, and in order for the discipline to survive, we must be flexible and adaptable to the world around us.

I do not own a TT bike but have entered races previously using and aero road bike with tri bars. I am probably a little slower than if I were to use a full TT bike, but I am reasonably competitive against riders who have the gear. My setup would of course exclude me from the road bike category, however I have a personal goal of breaking 25 minutes on my local course which may only be possible in my current TT setup. If I want to switch up and see where I stand on a fair footing competitively, I can just ride without the skis so any talk of anyone in my position being disadvantaged is moot. 

Avatar
eburtthebike | 1 year ago
2 likes

Jonas Cringegaard: Is this the weirdest contract extension announcement video you’ve ever seen?

Yes.

I thought AI was supposed to be making our lives better, not creepier.

Avatar
Benthic | 1 year ago
3 likes

A gap of 1.5 m needs to be from the end of the handlebar to the end of the wing mirror; nothing less.

Avatar
NotNigel replied to Benthic | 1 year ago
6 likes

The way car sizes are going the wing mirror length will be irrelevant as they'll be above cyclists head height.

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chrisonabike replied to NotNigel | 1 year ago
5 likes

Arms race alert!

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
4 likes

Also - Jeremy Vine!

Avatar
NotNigel replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
1 like

That opens up a whole new debate on helmet use.

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swldxer replied to Benthic | 1 year ago
5 likes

DOOR mirror!

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Patrick9-32 replied to swldxer | 1 year ago
3 likes

swldxer wrote:

DOOR mirror!

SIDE VIEW mirror!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side-view_mirror

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chrisonabike replied to swldxer | 1 year ago
6 likes

Ah... we've missed you (or at least Dave has).

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ShutTheFrontDawes replied to swldxer | 1 year ago
5 likes
swldxer wrote:

DOOR mirror!

WING mirror!
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wing-mirror

Avatar
Sriracha replied to swldxer | 1 year ago
3 likes
swldxer wrote:

DOOR mirror!

Welcome Back! I thought you'd logged off permanently.

Avatar
Awavey | 1 year ago
4 likes

Does having a week long "two wheel campaign" count as taking part ? Apparently it's the NPCCs campaign this week, maybe opclosepass day is part of that, though NPCC dont seem to be publicising it themselves

The blurb sure reads like it's more focussed on motorcyclists though and educating all road users to "best protect themselves from the threats on the roads"

Also they say "the focus of these campaigns are not prosecutions, Our priority is the safety of Suffolk/Norfolk road users. We look to achieve this through educating drivers and riders and providing them with the skills and knowledge they need to be safe"

Hmm, I'd sure like to "educate" the driver who tried to take my knee cap off at the weekend with a close pass.

Avatar
stonojnr replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
0 likes

Actually Suffolk police did run a close pass op today in Ipswich, not sure why they blanked the riders face who was involved though
https://twitter.com/NSRAPT/status/1648295896126242817

Avatar
Hirsute replied to stonojnr | 1 year ago
3 likes

Undercover officer !

Avatar
TheBillder replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
1 like
Hirsute wrote:

Undercover officer !

Perhaps because it's the Roads and Armed Policing unit - not sure if that's a really toxic combination or a good idea.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to TheBillder | 1 year ago
1 like

Awavey did explain that one - can't remember exactly but guessing combination of rural area covered and number of officers.

Avatar
Awavey replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
1 like

Cost saving/efficiency being it's prime purpose, hence the combined Norfolk/Suffolk setup anyway. But it basically means you don't have to have a set of armed police response vehicles where the weapons lockers are kept left around the two counties waiting to be called into action. They instead are in the road policing cars, who are spread round the counties doing road policing work but would automatically respond to an incident that required armed officers response.

I thought other "rural" police forces had similar setups thesedays.

Avatar
Awavey replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
1 like

Lol volunteer for close pass ops in Ipswich and get put in the witness protection programme 😅

Maybe it was, but why take the photo?, normally they rope in their colleagues from the fire service to assist them, as they literally don't have enough police officers in the unit to carry out those ops regularly, certainly why they didn't have more than one close pass op running yesterday.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
0 likes

Awavey wrote:

Lol volunteer for close pass ops in Ipswich and get put in the witness protection programme

I thought normally it was the other way round, get put in the witness protection programme and get moved to Ipswich* where no one will find you by accident.

*other backwater locations are available.

Avatar
nniff | 1 year ago
10 likes

That Surrey graphic is far better than the West Mids mat because it shows 1.5m from the cyclist, not 1.5m from the cyclist's centre-line.  That's always annoyed me, but it was better than nothing.  Despite West Mids Police's good intentions, it does reveal an element of a lack of understanding

Avatar
IanMK replied to nniff | 1 year ago
6 likes

I had to point this out to TVP a couple of years ago. Perhaps foolishly some keen recruit sent me a copy of "the letter" which had the standard 1.5m from the center of the frame. I did advise him that this wasn't what the HC said and he did promise to speak to his bosses about it. I don't suppose anything happened but as you say the Surrey graphic is encouraging.

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