Top 10 cycling stories you might have missed this week

1. Utrecht tops global cycling cities index, Bristol leads UK

New research ranking cities around the world on cycle-friendliness puts Utrecht in the Netherlands top of the list, with neither Amsterdam nor Copenhagen making the top three – while Bristol, in 17th place, is the leading British city.
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2. ASO pulls Flèche-Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège out of Women’s World Tour, unwilling to provide live TV coverage

Tour de France organiser ASO has pulled two races from the UCI Women’s World Tour (WWT) as it is not willing to provide the 45 minutes of live TV coverage required by the UCI.
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3. Cyclist sues Edinburgh Trams and city council after tram track fall – and more cases could follow if she wins

A court case brought against Edinburgh Trams and the city council by a cyclist whose rear wheel became trapped in a tram track in the Scottish capital, causing her to fall, could pave the way for dozens more lawsuits from cyclists who sustained injuries in similar circumstances there.
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4. Specialized prototype tubeless tyres for the (pro) win!

Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s Fabio Jakobsen won stage four of the Tour of California on a brand new set of prototype Specialized Project Black tubeless tyres, apparently even suffering a puncture which the liquid latex sealed
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5. Edinburgh anti-cycling campaigner kicked out of council meeting for making bizarre claim that cycle route will “asphyxiate Ruth Davidson’s baby”

Big transport and environment meeting at City Chambers today. I’ve just had this press release from campaigners - not entirely sure the tone is appropriate pic.twitter.com/R9HNVC6Thm

— David Bol (@mrdavidbol) May 16, 2019

From our Thursday live blog, Councillors in Edinburgh are distancing themselves from a rogue former Labour Party member who sent a press release around the meeting titled: "Edinburgh Council plans to asphyxiate Ruth Davidson's baby", because he believes a planned cycle route would increase pollution.  
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6. The world’s lightest inner tubes? First look at Tubolito's lightweight inner tubes

Austrian company Tubolito’s unique orange Tubo inner tubes might be the last port of call if you’re looking to shed a few precious grams from your road bike, with a potential weight saving of 120g when you replace regular inner tubes.
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7. Avon and Somerset Police highlight horrific crash as close pass operation launched - but not everyone is impressed

Avon and Somerset Police says it will be running a comprehensive close-pass operations over the coming months, launching the initiative by highlighting a horrific incident in which a driver left a cycle commuter seriously injured when they crashed into him while attempting to overtake when it was not safe to do so.
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8. Lazer MIPS beats new Bontrager WaveCel helmet in helmet safety test by US university

The Lazer Cyclone MIPS helmet has achieved better results than Bontrager’s new WaveCel helmet technology, which arrived earlier this year with big claims of improved safety, in the latest helmet crash test by a US university.
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9. Scottish government tells campaigners it won't back default 20mph speed limit

Campaigners have criticised the Scottish Government for failing to back a national default 20mph speed limit, they say could tackle the nation’s “feral” roads. In a letter sent to Sustrans Scotland, seen by road.cc, the Scottish transport minister, Michael Matheson, said he will not back a blanket reduction of the national speed limit as part of the 20mph Restricted Roads Bill, saying that drivers may not comply with changes.
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10. Near Miss of the Day 274: Turning driver almost hits cyclist riding in bus lane

The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a common hazard cyclists encounter when riding on the inside of a stationary queue of traffic – when one motorist invites another who is waiting to turn right to carry on, both unaware that there is a cyclist approaching.
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