“Will the gaslighting of law-abiding cyclists never end?”: Jeremy Vine shares footage of “arrogant” van driver who objects to him “riding in the middle of the lane” (and debuts his first ‘AI-generated song’) + more on the live blog

> Tragedy at Tour of Flanders sportive as two cyclists confirmed dead, former Cofidis pro died after “collapsing” on Oude Kwaremont

There’s something about Jeremy Vine’s videos that make them go viral on social media— the editing, the tacky symbols and markings, the kitschy gifs floating around in the middle of the frame… Now you can add some questionable AI-generated songs to that list too.

In his latest video, the BBC Radio 2 and Channel 5 presenter is riding innocuously on Shaftesbury Avenue in Soho, London when a van driver comes speeding up behind him. Vine says: “Watch the speed this van arrives at. He is not waiting.”

After exclaiming out of shock and alarm — “understably so”, he adds — the driver can be seen “gesticulating,” before calling at Vine from his window.

“You’re coming over to the middle of the road,” the driver says, to which Vine points out: “The middle of the road is there, I was in the middle of the lane.”

The driver continues objecting, saying that he hadn’t signalled that he would be “coming over”. Vine asks: “Why would you come that close to a bicycle anyway?”, but the driver simply repeats: “You’re drifting to the middle.”

> “I’m impartial on everything – except my own safety”: Jeremy Vine on his cycling “radicalisation”, Twitter trolls, the “gaslighting of cyclists”, and why bad streets and bad drivers cause road danger

Cue the montage of the AI-generated song, complemented with some AI-generated images too. It would be unfair to deprive you of the experience of listening to it for the first time, so I’d let you all get on with that…

This van driver justifies aggressively tearing up behind me by accusing me of “drifting” in my lane. So now he has his own song.

Will the gaslighting of law-abiding cyclists never end? pic.twitter.com/pCtKZRxf2v

— Jeremy Vine | Here, on Insta & Facebook (@theJeremyVine) April 5, 2025

The driver does awkwardly laugh his way out of the conversation and continues to drive off, with Vine claiming he drove “as fast as he possibly could to make his point”.

But as is the case in terms of efficiency of riding a bike or being in a car on London roads, a mile later, Vine simply catches up to him at a traffic light.

“Now we see he buys no advantage whatsoever because there he is… He’s got nowhere, and imperilled me on the way,” Vine concludes, before cuing his AI-generated song once again.

One person replied: “As usual in these cases, the really worrying thing is that he still doesn’t realise that HE is the problem,” while another commented: “Arrogant, dangerous driver.”

An emphatic second Flanders title for world champion Tadej Pogačar was perhaps underscored even more by the clear upper hand the Slovenian displayed over his rival Mathieu van der Poel — most fans’ pre-race favourite after the Dutchman’s victory at Milan-Sanremo two weeks ago, but was ultimately denied a record-breaking fourth win over the Flemish cobbles.

Van der Poel never looked as strong as he did on the Cipressa and Poggio — his involvement in a crash early on in the race probably already placing him at a disadvantage.

Mathieu van der Poel at the 2025 Tour of Flanders, by Zac Williams/SWpix.com

“I was already pretty much at my limit from quite early on,” the defending champion said in his post-race interview. “Of course, a crash is not ideal and doesn’t feel good. But the damage wasn’t too bad. I was lucky. After that, we fought well as a team, and I did everything I could. That’s why I'm happy with my 3rd place and the podium.”

“I got pushed to the side just before the Kwaremont, and I had to come from far behind. Other than that, it wasn’t too bad. The strongest rider was at the front, right? That’s almost always the rider who reaches the top of the Kwaremont first.

“It’s pretty clear who was the strongest today. I wasn’t good enough. Again, I never really felt great, and I was at my limit from far out. With experience and determination, I fought my way onto the podium.”

When asked if he was still optimistic of a fourth De Ronde victory, Van der Poel said with an honest smile: “Everyone says the fourth win will come easily. But that’s what they thought about the previous guys with three victories too. Who knows, maybe it will stay at three, but I’m very proud of that.”

You guessed it, this is a tipoff from Dan — the only road.cc news staffer who’s enjoying a decent footballing season. With the title race seemingly wrapped up neatly in a bow for Liverpool, Arne Slot’s men suffered a rare hiccup at Craven Cottage yesterday, falling to three quickfire first half goals from Fulham.

And while the Cottagers put in a commendable performance, weathering wave after wave of Liverpool’s attacks in the second half, full-back Timothy Castagne delivered not only a standout performance on the pitch, but off it too — the Belgian was seen riding a Lime bike up Putney Hill after the match, waving at a fan screaming “three two”.

Just Timothy Castagne cycling home up Putney Hill yesterday after beating Liverpool 3-2 at the Cottage. Filmed by my son @FulhamFC @WhiteNoise1879 pic.twitter.com/9sqYLj5gF3

— Darren Crouch (@darrenjcrouch) April 7, 2025

A testament to how strong of a community cycling can build, and as Chris from Rapha put it on LinkedIn, how approachable the sport is, was on display before the Tour of Flanders as a Wout van Aert paid visit to a cafe which had a put up a sign outside: “Wout van Aert, stop here for free cakes”.

While the Visma-Lease a Bike rider could only bag a fourth place finish despite a strong showing in yesterday’s Tour of Flanders, he got himself 36 free eclairs and perhaps made the day of a lucky cafe owner in Belgium during his Flanders recon ride.

“Go for a recon ride and come home with 36 free eclairs. Only in Belgium. Love it.” Van Aert wrote on Strava.

Chris, meanwhile, shared his thoughts on LinkedIn: “Love this! Such passion in Belgium for the sport. The picture, captured on a recon ride last week before Ronde van Vlaanderen, shows Wout Van Aert stopping at a local bakery (presumably for the promised tart).

“This captures not only how big cycling is in Belgium, but also how accessible the sport's biggest stars are, with none coming bigger than Wout. Few elite sports can match this closeness fans are able to get to the athletes — something I hope never changes.

“Awesome to see Wout fighting toe-to-toe with Tadej, Mathieu and Mads yesterday after a tough week for him and the team.”