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Traffic monitoring group apologises for telling cyclists not to ride at night; Tory politician demands "nonsense" Hyde Park cycle lane is axed; Giro queen stage; Snow joke; Bike hangars; And then there were two; Bicycle hospital + more on the live blog

It's the start of a new week and Dan Alexander will be getting you through Monday on the live blog...
Mon, May 24, 2021 09:01
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Traffic monitoring group apologises for telling cyclists not to ride at night; Tory politician demands "nonsense" Hyde Park cycle lane is axed; Giro queen stage; Snow joke; Bike hangars; And then there were two; Bicycle hospital + more on the live blogsouth_wales_avoid_riding_at_night_screenshot.PNG
24 May 2021, 16:19
Better coverage than the broadcasters
Giro Passo Giau live stream (via Igor Tavella Instagram)

Igor Tavella has single-handedly outdone all the broadcasters for race coverage today with his live stream from the top of Passo Giau...just look at that picture quality...

Over to Gennaro Gattuso to sum up the TV pictures...

24 May 2021, 16:06
24 May 2021, 15:52
How the pros dealt with the cold

We won't be updating our feature on cold weather riding with the Attila Valter method just yet. No gloves for George Bennett...hard as nails. Maybe that is what is in the musette?

These were the scenes at the top of Passo Giau...

24 May 2021, 15:51
24 May 2021, 15:25
Should Remco Evenepoel be pulled out of the Giro by Deceuninck-Quick-Step?

Remco Evenepoel's GC challenge disappeared up the road on the Giro d'Italia queen stage as Deceuninck-Quick-Step's wonderkid struggled in the dismal high mountain conditions. Two weeks of continuous racing off the back of a nine-month layoff after a shocking crash at Il Lombardia caught up with Evenepoel as the 21-year-old dropped 24 minutes to stage winner Egan Bernal and slumped to 19th on GC.

Is it fair to push Evenepoel through a third week? Should his development be prioritised over finishing the race for the sake of it? 

The Belgian rider's family said earlier in the Giro that they are just pleased to see him back racing after the horror crash last August which left him in hospital with a fractured pelvis and contusion to his lung. Was a Grand Tour first race back too big a challenge? 

24 May 2021, 15:16
Chris Hall announces second Nuts and Bolts attempt

Some nice news now...Chris Hall is having another crack at the Nuts and Bolts ride which involves cycling from England's most western point to the most eastern point as quickly as possible. Just over a month ago Chris ended his first attempt in Andover after being pushed off his bike by a gang of men.

"On the 29th May, I’ll be heading back down to Land’s End to have another crack," Chris explained. "Cycling from England’s most western point to the most eastern point, Ness Point as quick as I can to raise money for the incredible work carried out by Movember. If you are able to support in some way, it’s hugely appreciated. If I could ask you to do one thing, it’s to talk more. I hope by continuing these challenges, I can draw more attention to men’s mental health."

Good luck, Chris...

24 May 2021, 14:22
Egan Bernal wins shortened Giro d'Italia queen stage in the cold as Hugh Carthy jumps to third

Well, we didn't see much of it but we did catch the final 500m where the TV pictures were unaffected by the weather...

Egan Bernal has one hand on the maglia rosa after another incredible performance, and he wanted everyone to know it—stripping off his rain jacket for the winner's salute across the line. Romain Bardet and Damiano Caruso were 27 seconds behind. Caruso, enjoying the Grand Tour of his career, is now second on GC 2:24 behind Bernal. Hugh Carthy has jumped onto the podium at 3:40.

Simon Yates was one of the big losers on today's stage, getting dispatched on Passo Giau and limping home more than 2:30 behind the stage winner. Yates has now dropped to fifth. The stragglers are still making their way to the finish. Keep an eye on the live blog for all the reaction to a chilling day at the Giro...the riders have certainly earned their rest day tomorrow. 

24 May 2021, 12:59
Traffic Wales South apologises for telling cyclists not to ride at night

 Traffic Wales South deleted its tweet promptly after receiving a backlash for saying cyclists should avoid riding at night. The traffic monitoring group was accused of victim-blaming and missing the point over the list of 'five safe tips for being a bicyclist', which included: "avoid riding at night".

In response, the group apologised and said what they really meant was to "avoid cycling at night without lights".

"We sincerely apologise," Traffic Wales South tweeted. "We intended to say please avoid cycling at night without lights, high vis etc. We want to encourage all everyone to access our network safely by sharing safety advice that is useful for all road users."

The original tweet was ridiculed on Twitter and got plenty of attention in the comments on our original story too...

Wycombewheeler said: "I know Wales is further west than where I live, but I'm fairly sure people still finish work after sunset in the winter. Are these people suggesting cyclists should be allowed to leave work earlier, because they think it is impossible to keep the roads safe during the hours of darkness?"

hawkinspeter suggested some extra 'safe tips': "Ensure that drivers behind you are paying attention and aren't listening to music. Only cycle where there aren't any cars or lorries. If a car is behind you, carefully dismount and doff your cap as you allow them to speed past you."

24 May 2021, 13:48
Gorka Izagirre's incredible bike-handling to stay rubber side down on wet descent

No TV pictures from the Giro at the moment. We think Egan Bernal is alone at the head of the race and everyone else is scattered in ones and twos behind. The Colombian was certainly the first rider across the top of Passo Giau and should now be on the descent to the finish.

A bit earlier Gorka Izagirre showed some super bike-handling skills to stay upright on a slippy descent. Considering he probably stopped feeling his fingers hours ago, that's good going.

24 May 2021, 13:44
Stroud Canal cyclist-activated artwork
24 May 2021, 13:34
24 May 2021, 12:06
24 May 2021, 11:45
Giro d'Italia 1965
24 May 2021, 11:37
'A bicycle was airlifted to a hospital after being attacked by a car'...
Bicycle headline

Remind me to take my bike to hospital next time it needs some work...a peek at the road collision reporting guidelines wouldn't have done any harm here, and the original article that doesn't appear to have been put through some kind of thesaurus app doesn't fare much better. 

There's no update on the cyclist's condition yet from Local 10 news, but hopefully the victim, who was airlifted to hospital, recovers from the serious injuries sustained. 

24 May 2021, 10:45
Dangerous breakaway up the road on shortened queen stage
Giro weather

The weather is causing havoc with the TV pictures but we have a huge breakaway up the road...more than 20 riders have taken a gamble, including Dan Martin, Vincenzo Nibali, Davide Formolo and João Almeida. It looks like Ineos Grenadiers' domestiques will have some work to do...

Shout out to Harm Vanhoucke who is also in there. One half of the Lotto-Soudal last man standing challenge...

24 May 2021, 10:25
Lotto-Soudal down to two after Thomas De Gendt abandons

Lotto-Soudal are down to two riders after Thomas De Gendt said he would not start today's stage due to knee pain. De Gendt is the team's sixth abandon since stage eight and leaves just Harm Vanhoucke and Stefano Oldani on the team bus. On the bright side, think of how much less work the mechanics and soigneurs will have in this final week.

Caleb Ewan abandoned on stage eight, also with knee pain, prompting Eddy Merckx to accuse the sprinter of disrespecting the race and the sport. Jasper De Buyst and Tomasz Marczyński followed on stage nine. Youngster Kobe Goosens left on stage 12 after feeling the effects of a crash before Roger Kluge abandoned two days later, also suffering knee pain.

24 May 2021, 10:14
Hundreds of applications for new bike storage hangars in Glasgow

The Glasgow Times reports new bike hangars being installed in 60 locations across Glasgow have attracted huge demand, with hundreds of applications being sent so far. Each unit provides space for six bicycles and can be rented for £6 per month per bike. They are being installed as part of a pilot scheme ran by Cyclehoop and the city council.

After the first five days of the scheme more than 420 applications for the 360 spaces had been sent and 31 of the 60 hangars were filled by Thursday. The hangar on Arundel Drive in Battlefield got 22 applications, while nine others each received more than 10 applications.

"Interest in the Glasgow Bikehangar scheme has been incredibly positive," Cyclehoop's founder and design director Anthony Lau said. "I’m looking forward to seeing more people cycling, helping to decarbonise the city’s transport system. On Monday alone, we had an additional 1,700 visitors to our rentals websites, all of which we attribute to interest in the Glasgow scheme."

24 May 2021, 09:23
Giro d'Italia queen stage shortened due to bad weather

After a morning of confusion and rumours we have official confirmation that the Giro d'Italia's queen stage has been shortened due to bad weather. What was meant to be 212 kilometres and 5,700m of climbing through the Dolomites has been shortened to 153km with two less mountain passes.

Passo Fedaia and Passo Pordoi are out, meaning the riders will head straight to the Passo Giau after the opening climb of the stage. The Giau is also now the Cima Coppi, the highest point of the Giro, after the 2,239m Pordoi is being skipped.

Why the change? Well, that is all down to the weather. Both mountains were passable as of this morning, however, concerns over icy descents after more rain this afternoon forced the race's organisers to act.

Race director Mauro Vegni has explained the decision: "Our first objective is to ensure the riders reach Milan safely. The weather conditions could be good but we don't know how the forecast will go. We decided it was more important to do a shorter intense stage rather than face a complex situation, that’s why we’ve cut the two long descents.

"We can’t cancel all the stage, there’s always some risks involved in racing. The one condition we had during the talks and when accepting the changes was that the stage finished in Cortina."

Here's how the Giau looked a couple of hours ago...

24 May 2021, 07:44
Tory politician demands "nonsense" Hyde Park cycle lane is axed to "reduce congestion and improve air quality"

Readers might remember Tony Devenish as one of the Conservative politicians who stood on Kensington High Street before Christmas to record a video calling for the cycle lane to be ripped out. Now re-elected to the London Assembly, Devenish has set his sights on getting rid of the segregated cycle lane outside Hyde Park to..."reduce congestion and improve air quality".

Tagging Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Devenish posted a picture of vehicles backed up next to the bike lane and wrote: "Park Lane chaos today. Surely now the election is over Sadiq Khan must accept that a cycle lane a few yards from one in Hyde Park is a nonsense. He must remove it to reduce congestion and improve air quality."

CyclingMikey was one of the many people who hit back at the politician's tweet...

Devenish, along with Kensington MP Felicity Buchan, were two of the most outspoken politicians against the cycle lane on Kensington High Street which was ripped out in December. In a joint statement at the time, Devenish and Buchan claimed the segregated lane had failed and that Kensington High Street was "not an appropriate location for a cycle lane, either for cyclists or all other road users." 

24 May 2021, 08:32
Park Lane before any "nonsense" cycle lanes started causing congestion
Dan Alexander

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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35 comments

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alexuk replied to MattieKempy | 3 years ago
2 likes

The masses are stupuid, its really that simple. Its not political. Look at the Congestion charge, it did nothing for congestion or air quality in London. It's going to take a long, long time for opinions to change.

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Velophaart_95 replied to alexuk | 3 years ago
8 likes

Yes, they absolutely are. Moaning about cyclists causing congestion, all the while they sit in their car, in said congestion - go figure. Yet, they all carry on doing the same thing - day after day, sitting in their cars on their daily commute.....They never learn, because they're right (and stupid)  - and it's all the cyclists fault.

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Captain Badger replied to Velophaart_95 | 3 years ago
3 likes

Velophaart_95 wrote:

Yes, they absolutely are. Moaning about cyclists causing congestion, all the while they sit in their car, in said congestion - go figure. Yet, they all carry on doing the same thing - day after day, sitting in their cars on their daily commute.....They never learn, because they're right (and stupid)  - and it's all the cyclists fault.

Insanity may be defined as the repetition of an action with the expectation of a different outcome.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to alexuk | 3 years ago
5 likes
alexuk wrote:

The masses are stupuid, its really that simple. Its not political. Look at the Congestion charge, it did nothing for congestion or air quality in London. It's going to take a long, long time for opinions to change.

If the congestion charge does not dissuade people from using their cars, it's obviously not set high enough.

Avatar
TheBillder replied to alexuk | 3 years ago
2 likes
alexuk wrote:

The masses are stupuid, its really that simple. Its not political. Look at the Congestion charge, it did nothing for congestion or air quality in London. It's going to take a long, long time for opinions to change.

Didn't it? https://theconversation.com/amp/london-congestion-charge-what-worked-wha... seems to suggest that it did.

In many parts of the UK we don't have the space for all the cars people want to use or store, and we don't have the means to tidy up their outputs of gasses, rubber particles and mangled pedestrians and cyclists. Something has to be done, and for decades this country has assumed that the only way to change behaviour is to change costs as we're all too thick and selfish to do anything for any other reason.

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