Chaos at cycling stage race as riders forced to dodge oncoming drivers “flying down road” at 120kph; Locals laugh as Bristol named UK’s “safest cycling city” – despite “appalling driving”; Did cycling bring Oasis back together? + more on the live blog

While catching up on all the bike racing going on over the Bank Holiday weekend – the highlights of which included a first ever British win at the Tour de l’Avenir courtesy of Joe Blackmore and the Vuelta’s GC race being blown wide open – I came across the inaugural edition of the West Bohemia Tour, a new four-day stage race in the Czech Republic for U23 riders and development teams.

And let’s just say the race has a few teething problems to sort out.

On Saturday, concerning footage emerged from the tour’s third stage – a hilly loop starting and finishing in Klatovy, and won by Soudal Quick-Step Devo’s 19-year-old Lars Vanden Heede – which highlighted some distinct and horrifying organisational problems that need to be ironed out before next year’s race.

Incredible scenes at the West Bohemia Tour, a 2.2 stage race for U23 riders.

No marshals closing off junctions. Oncoming traffic on the parcours. Luckily nobody was injured. Where is @UCI_cycling and @cpacycling, @HansenAdam in all of this? 😡

📹 Patrick Van Staeyen pic.twitter.com/9pTq7quleK

— Domestique (@Domestique___) August 24, 2024

The footage, filmed by a sports director who was following the lead group, showed the riders turning right at a junction onto another road, where no marshals – usually stationed at junctions to prevent members of the public from straying onto the course – were in place.

“They take the bend full gas,” the DS can be heard saying in Dutch in the video. “There is nobody here to stop traffic. Nobody.”

To make matters worse, the DS then filmed several occasions on which unsuspecting motorists found themselves driving straight towards the racers during what was supposedly meant to be a closed road event, leading to some shocking near misses on bends and on the race’s narrow roads.

“Lads, don’t do that! Don’t take the inside line Don’t do this!” the directors in the car shouted during one especially hairy moment on a blind left-hand bend (where many of the riders, doing what they normally do during well-organised events, made use of the entirety of the road, only to find a driver on the other side of the corner).

“Look at this car approaching!” the director again shouts as two drivers – and a leisure cyclist – pass the bunch in the opposite direction. “Watch out! This guy comes flying down this road at 120kph! Folks, watch out!”

And on another narrow, twisty section, he exclaimed: “Here are more cars! Of course he has to brake because it’s so narrow here!

“Of course cars will come down here. This is just an open main road! They are using the full width of the road, no lads, stay on the right!”

Responding to the video on social media, one user claiming to be the race’s doctor, said that 11 police motorbikes, 20 marshals, and two police cars were present at the race, which was eventually won after all that by Lotto Dstny’s Victor Vaneeckhoutte.

“That’s small gran fondo numbers,” one cycling fan responded to the claims.

“Those numbers seem far too low for a race that can be spread out over multiple groups,” replied the Domestique cycling account.

“Clearly something went massively wrong because the original 10-minute clip we saw did not show a single organiser vehicle or a single marshal.”

> “Cycling is wonderful, but it is a very fragile sport”: Controversial organiser says the Tour des Pyrénées “is over”, after stage race marred by safety “chaos”

The worrying, chaotic scenes at the West Bohemia Tour over the weekend brought to mind the controversy which marred last year’s Tour Féminin des Pyrénées, the French stage race plagued by a range of safety issues that even prompted the peloton to refuse to start the third and final stage.

Last June, the UCI decided to call off the final stage of the CIC-Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées – only the second edition of the three-day race – following two days of protests from a peloton concerned for its safety.

On the first stage into Lourdes, won in a sprint by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, members of the public were seen driving on the course, metres away from the riders at times, and parked cars and trucks littered the final kilometres while spectators wandered onto the roads.

A day later, the second stage to the Hautacam was then neutralised to the foot of the iconic summit finish after the peloton complained of race motorbike riders creating hazardous conditions – leading the race organiser to criticise the protesting riders, who he described as “spoiled children”, comments for which he later apologised while also claiming it is “impossible” to completely close the roads in France for a bike race.

And you thought your local Saturday morning races were sketchy…

Alright everyone, get your pinch (or bucket) of salt at the ready – another insurance company has put out a press release naming the UK’s top ten “safest” cities for cycling.

And it’s as thorough as you’d expect.

The “comprehensive study of over 20 major British cities” – which is press release speak for ‘We spent 20 minutes on Google’ – was carried out by ALA Insurance, and awarded scores based on the following metrics: Number of reports about road defects via Fix My Street, number of cycle repair shops, annual traffic volumes, percentage of rain on any given day, and monthly wind speed.

> “It’s Balamory in road form”: Confused motorists brand proposed cycle lane layout a “dangerously chaotic mess”

Well, I’m not sure what rain, wind speed, or the number of bike shops have to do with safe cycling, but it’s not my study/crudely bashed out press release/terrible marketing strategy.

And the winner of this nonsensical Google randomiser? Bristol, apparently, which according to ALA Insurance scored a “perfect 100”.

“It outshines other cities with its extensive network of cycle repair shops—boasting 21 per 100,000 residents,” the insurance company says. “Whether you're a daily commuter or a weekend cyclist, Bristol's well-maintained roads and vibrant cycling community make it a top choice.”

Let’s just say that Bristol’s own cyclists aren’t very convinced by the study’s ‘findings’.

“Cycle paths with trees in the middle of them. Cycle paths rendered invisible by being the same colour as pavements. Cycle paths that spit cyclists out onto busy roads if the potholes on those same streets haven’t already thrown you over your handlebars,” began B24/7’s brilliantly ironic analysis of this latest, head-scratching internet list – which ended with a list of related articles on the Bristol-themed website, including ‘Three-quarters of people do not feel safe cycling in Bristol’ and ‘Tips to make cycling in Bristol less sh*t’.

> "More resilient" bollards planned for cycle lane made "completely pointless" by drivers parking in it

Meanwhile, confusion also reigned over on the Bristol Cyclists Facebook page.

“Surely a city that is safe for cycling would need fewer cycle repair shops, not more?” asked Matt. Fair point.

“No mention of what actually makes it safe or unsafe… namely the behaviour of Bristol’s motorists. There’s a LOT of appalling driving out there,” concluded Al.

Ah, but you see, that doesn’t fit as nicely on an insurance company’s latest listicle…

> UK trade authority to review anti-dumping measures on bikes and components from China

Saturday’s bizarre crash at the Vuelta – caused by three startled deer crossing the road right in the middle of the peloton, bringing down Lidl-Trek’s Giulio Ciccone and Euskatel-Euskadi’s Txomin Juaristi in the process – has claimed its first casualty, as Ciccone has just pulled out of the race this afternoon, suffering from the knee pain he sustained after being hit by the course-crashing animal.

> Wild scenes at Vuelta a España as herds of deer crossing the road jump over race cars and cause crash in the peloton, bringing down two riders

“Sadly Guilio Ciccone has been forced to abandon the Vuelta after suffering with knee pain since his crash at the weekend. Speedy recovery Cicco!” the Italian’s Lidl-Trek team confirmed on social media.

Visma-Lease a Bike DS during morning meeting: ‘So Wout, it’s another mountain day, so don’t worry about the breakaway today. Just take it easy and sit in the bunch, rest your legs.’

Wout van Aert: Proceeds to attack from the first kilometre and makes it into the break of the day…

😏 Has there been a stage without a Wout attack yet? The Green Jersey was on the attack in the first kilometre 💚

¿En qué etapa no ha atacado Wout van Aert? 🤪 ¡El líder 💚 lo ha intentado en los primeros km!#LaVuelta24 pic.twitter.com/EEWasPaV9r

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 27, 2024

Well, I suppose with the lack of sprint, or even punchy, stages on offer at this year’s Vuelta, and with Sepp Kuss not really mounting a serious GC challenge, Wout has to keep himself occupied, doesn’t he?

In other Visma-Lease a Bike news this lunchtime, the Dutch squad have confirmed that Jonas Vingegaard’s 2024 season is over, with the two-time Tour de France winner now expected to rest up before focusing on his winter training.

After a horrific crash at the Tour of the Basque Country almost put an end to his season in April, the Dane produced a staggering comeback to finish second behind Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France last month. He then recorded a DNF at the Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa, before beating Diego Ulissi by 13 seconds to win the Tour of Poland, in what turned out to be his last race of the year.

(A.S.O/Charly Lopez)

Despite being pencilled in for a possible tilt at next month’s very hilly worlds course in Zurich, Visma-Lease a Bike instead confirmed today to Velo that Vingegaard has took part in his last race of 2024.

“Jonas is done for the year. His wife is giving birth to their second child soon, and as an athlete, he needs to recuperate after this intense spring and summer,” the team said in a short statement.

Despite its status as the U23 version of the Tour de France, the Tour de l’Avenir isn’t always a reliable indicator of future cycling stardom.

However, with previous winners including Tadej Pogačar, Egan Bernal, Nairo Quintana, and David Gaudu, it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on what youngsters are dominating the GC battle at cycling’s most prestigious U23 stage race.

And this year, history was made as Joe Blackmore became the first British rider to win the Tour de l’Avenir in the race’s 63-year history, as the rider from Sidcup held on to beat teenage Spanish sensation Pablo Torres by just 12 seconds in a nail-biting, dramatic finale on the brutal Colle delle Finestre.

Blackmore, already a pro with Israel-Premier Tech, took the yellow jersey with a stage win at La Rosière on stage three, before ceding it almost immediately the next day to Torres. However, the 21-year-old then infiltrated the winning move to Condoue on stage five, putting almost five minutes into Torres and regaining the overall lead.

The 18-year-old UAE Gen Z rider wasn’t done, however, launching a stunning move on the race’s final climb up the super steep, gravelled Colle delle Finestre (the scene of Chris Froome’s Giro-winning attack in 2018).

Torres – cementing his status as a future star – put over four minutes into everyone on the 2,180m-high monster. Everyone except Blackmore that is, who dug deep to finish 3.53 behind the rampaging Spaniard and to hold on to the overall win by just 12 seconds.

What is it with French stage races and dramatic endings this month?

“It was super close, but I’m so happy,” Blackmore said after making British history – just – at the Tour de l’Avenir. “At the moment I’m really happy – it was a great team effort.

“I just had to give everything in the final. I tried to follow Pablo at the start but quickly realised it’s a long climb. Torres was riding really quickly and I knew it went high – 2,100 metres. I gave 100 per cent in the final two kilometres but I didn’t want to go too hard, too soon.

“It was about suffering all the way up. I was completely empty by the finish. I gave it everything.”

With yet another big win under his belt – at the Tour de France of the Future no less – during what has been a breakout 2024, Blackmore will now turn his attention to racing on home roads at the Tour of Britain next week, just in case you want to get a glimpse of Britain’s next grand tour winner.

No pressure, Joe…

> House of Lords to debate cycling “safety issues”