"Please train your drivers better" cyclist tells DPD after tailgating courier traps bike under van (+ DPD promises "further action"); Ineos plot audacious Remco transfer; RideLondon entries open; Marginal games; Ned's PM patter + more on the live blog

I think @jcastroviejo needs to ride the front more #toomuchenergy 🤣 pic.twitter.com/rcPXnUVhlU

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) September 28, 2022

Visually impaired people in the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield have told the BBC that shared-use paths have "created problems" for them, as they often rely on "kerbs and tactile surfaces to show they are approaching a road", making navigating the city "hard work".

One such shared-use path, on Pinstone Street, in particular has caused issues: "If you're going to the bus stop on Charter Row, you have to cross a cycle lane and if you're getting off the bus, you're not stepping onto a safe pavement you're stepping directly into a cycle lane," Robert McCann, who is partially sighted, said.

"It should never be that hard to walk around your own city. It should be normal, natural and relaxed."

Martin Wing, who is aided by a guide dog, added: "Penistone Road allows cycling on the pavement [has a shared-use path]. There's no tactile [aid] to show you've moved across from the pavement to the cycle lane, or if there is tactile it's not one that a guide dog would recognise."

BIG transfer rumours circulating today suggest Ineos Grenadiers and Jim Ratcliffe are exploring the possibility of an audacious bid to sign newly-crowned world champion Remco Evenepoel.

 VeloNews is reporting Ratcliffe is "desperate" to bring a potential Tour de France winner to the team, with Remco the number one candidate. Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team boss Patrick Lefevere reportedly told the cycling news website that Dave Brailsford sent him a text after the Vuelta win saying to "give me a call" if "you want to sell him".

"Brailsford texted me, and he doesn't text that much," Lefevere said. "He said, 'Congratulations, what a champ, and if one day you want to sell him give me a call.' That was it. No more, no less.

"You can’t tell if someone is joking on WhatsApp. There was no smiley, no emoji. Just a few words. Other colleagues just congratulated me, but if Dave wants Remco then he probably needs a lot of money."

I think Ratcliffe's $10.1billion net worth (yep, there's an obvious joke about what that is in GBP) can handle it...

Any transfer would require a fee as Remco is under contract with the Belgian team until 2026, and Ineos would have to go through the world champ's dad, Patrick, who represents him.

"We've had contact for years with them [Ineos] but there's not been a meeting," Patrick Evenepoel said. "There was no meeting but we had a phone call with them. We've had contacts with them and I know Mr. Brailsford and Mr. Ellingworth. We have known each other for years. It's normal that they call me to say congratulations with the Vuelta and after Liège.

To the question of whether there had been talks about a potential Ineos switch Patrick laughed..."That discussion was already there three years ago."

"I don't know. Remco has a contract for five years with Quick-Step. I don't know. It's not for me to talk. We want to celebrate the Vuelta and the world championships, and what's happening in the future, we will see what's coming."

pic.twitter.com/oL9reYYH9c

— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) September 28, 2022

road.cc regular Rendel's got déjà vu...

Great minds think alike Ned, I made the same joke in 2020 using the same sign in the same spot – Deptford, right? pic.twitter.com/7kz4dz1eT1

— Rendel Harris (@Rendel_Harris) September 28, 2022

Kidical Mass, an organised ride highlighting the need for proper active travel infrastructure to enable children to cycle safely, returned to Portsmouth on Sunday...

Went to see the start of #KidicalMass in Portsmouth this morning. Amazing to see the varied types of cycles and people wanting safer infrastructure for #ActiveTravel around our city @PompeyBUG #ACityToShare pic.twitter.com/R9nxFXYORI

— Nai Srednuas (@luvvielighter) September 25, 2022

 A group of 40 set off from Victoria Park at 11am with many kids on the road too, in trailers or on their own bikes, as part of the wider Kidical Mass weekend which saw more than 200 cities in 15 countries host similar rides. 

One Portsmouth participant, Agata Blazevic told The News: "Our city desperately needs better cycling infrastructure, a network of safe, segregated, connected and direct cycle paths that a five-year-old and a 99-year-old could cycle on."

Sadly, as if to prove the point, just hours later between 6.15pm and 6.30pm, a 13-year-old boy was injured when he was hit by a driver who also failed to stop at the scene. The boy suffered "minor injuries" to his head and face.

Guess who… pic.twitter.com/16uuJof60u

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) September 28, 2022

'Your parcel is out for delivery, if you are not in call to rearrange delivery or update your settings to leave it with a neighbour... PS, your parcel may arrive with an unwanted bicycle as our driver tailgates cyclists.' 

@DPDgroup_news Yesterday, one of your vans in Oxford tailgated me. I stopped, hoping to talk to the driver and explain how frightening that is. Your driver then (I presume accidentally) trapped my bike under your van. I'm fine. Please train your drivers better. pic.twitter.com/UsIkmM0m45

— Fred Thomas (@fred80649578) September 27, 2022

Another rider promptly chipped in...

I dont want to turn into one of those car hating cyclists but I can see it happening. pic.twitter.com/Y8P06r8N2O

— Kate Lee ♀️ 🦖 (@kleephotography) September 27, 2022

Don't fear though, DPD is on the case...with the universal social media PR message of nothingness...

Translation : ‘get it off a public forum as this is a PR nightmare for us’

— David (@TwoWheelsGoodOK) September 27, 2022

Some replies quickly suggested the police might want to hear about the incident, while others wondered if DPD, Dynamic Parcel Distribution, if you care, really stands for something more apt...

DPD = Damn Poor Drivers Group right?
Give the drivers more time and fewer drop may help them to drive better mind?

— ffalabalambadoo 💙 (@ffalabalambadoo) September 28, 2022

They have form for bad driving pic.twitter.com/csdq6MFe1m

— Amanda Phillipson (@amandajp17) September 28, 2022

“trapped your bike” is a very charitable way of saying “deliberately drove over your bike”

This driver is an absolute danger

— brixton hatter (@BrixtonHatter) September 28, 2022

We've contacted DPD who have asked for a report from the local depot so we'll update our coverage with any updates later in the day...