Category Archives: Cycling

Dublin disappoints: what happened to city cycling’s great hope?

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In 2013 the Irish capital was ranked among the world’s top 20 bike-friendly cities, but only a small part of the promised cycle network was ever built

One sunny May afternoon in Dublin, as the Spice Girls prepared to kick off their Spice World 2019 tour at Croke Park stadium, the coaches bringing their fans unwittingly sparked another reunion – the city’s cycle activists.

It had been two years since the direct action group I Bike Dublin had mobilised to protect cycle tracks from car parking – uniting around twice a week under the hashtag #freethecyclelane – but as police officers directed coach drivers to park in the bike lane by Dublin Bay, blocking the track, the protesters were back.

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Woman ‘poses as dead cyclist’s aunt’ to oppose new London bike lane

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Heather Cairns says woman ‘masqueraded’ as her daughter Eilidh’s aunt at council meeting

A woman posed as the aunt of a cyclist who was killed in London in order to oppose plans for a new segregated bike lane, according to the victim’s mother.

Eilidh Cairns, a television producer from Alnwick in Northumberland, died aged 30 in 2009 after being hit by a tipper truck while riding in Notting Hill in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

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Chris Froome says he is lucky to be alive after serious accident

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  • Rider recovering in St Etienne hospital after crash
  • ‘I am fully focused on returning back to my best’

Chris Froome has admitted he is lucky to be alive after speaking for the first time since his horror cycling accident.

The four-time Tour de France winner came off his bike and hit a wall at 37mph on Wednesday while examining a time-trial stage route in the Critérium de Dauphiné. He sustained multiple fractures, including a broken leg, elbow and several ribs, requiring extensive surgery. It has been also been reported that Froome suffered a fractured neck, faces six weeks in hospital and is not expected to compete again this year.

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Unwelcome guests: moped riders protest as Amsterdam drives them from bike lanes

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Dutch capital steps its pro-cycling reputation up a gear with new regulations – and not everyone is happy

Convoys of mopeds speed down Amsterdam’s bike lanes, beeping their horns and flouting their bare heads. This isn’t some strange Dutch festival, though. These were protests from some of the thousands of furious moped riders ahead of a new city regulation which came into force this week to force them out of bike lanes, on to main roads and into helmets.

The cycling city of Amsterdam is stepping up a gear – with plans to ban petrol and diesel vehicles from the centre by 2030, the removal of 10,000 car-parking spaces, a hike in parking charges and a wide range of measures to take from the car and give to pedestrians, cyclists, green space and children.

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Lance Armstrong: ‘It wasn’t legal but I wouldn’t change a thing’

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  • ‘We did what we had to do to win,’ says 47-year-old
  • Interview with former cyclist to be aired next week

Former cycling champion Lance Armstrong has said he “wouldn’t change a thing” about the doping that led to him being stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles, according to details of an interview that will air next week.

NBCSN, owned by NBC Sports Group, said on Thursday it would broadcast a 30-minute interview next Wednesday called Lance Armstrong: Next Stage in which the 47-year-old American discusses his career and the decisions he made.

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Women’s cycling race forced to pause after lead rider catches men’s race

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  • Nicole Hanselmann made up gap on male racers
  • Men’s race had set off 10 minutes before women

A cycling race in Belgium was thrown into disarray when the leader of the women’s race, which set off 10 minutes after the men’s, almost caught up with her male counterparts and found herself in danger of being impeded by their support vehicles.

Related: Elinor Barker wins fourth world track cycling title in Poland

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‘Bike country No 1’: Dutch go electric in record numbers

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E-bikes now outsell standard bicycles in Netherlands, with quality prized more than price

In what was already a long-running purple patch for the Dutch cycle industry, domestic sales records have been broken in the last 12 months despite spiralling prices, as technological developments push the standard push-bike into the annals of history.

Related: The Guardian view on e-bikes: British cycling needs this boost | Editorial

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Endurance cyclist Mike Hall’s death avoidable, says Australian coroner

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Hope expressed that fatal collision near Canberra will be ‘catalyst for change’

The death of a renowned British endurance cyclist who was hit by a car while competing in a 3,500-mile race across Australia was avoidable, a coroner has concluded.

Mike Hall, 35, died almost instantly when he was struck from behind by a vehicle on a stretch of the Monaro Highway about 25 miles south of Canberra on 31 March 2017.

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‘We need more people to go by bike’: meet Amsterdam’s nine-year-old junior cycle mayor

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As the world’s first junior cycle mayor, Lotta Crok wants to draw attention to the obstacles kids on bikes face – and inspire other children to cycle

During Amsterdam’s chaotic rush hour, nine-year-old Lotta Crok cycles to a very busy junction. “Look,” she says. “There’s traffic coming from everywhere. Four trams from four different directions. For a child on a bike that’s really confusing!”

Lotta is the first junior cycle mayor in the world and her working area is the Dutch capital. It is her mission to inspire children to cycle every day and draw attention to the obstacles that kids on bikes are facing.

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Cyclist, 90, stripped of world record after failing drugs test

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  • Carl Grove accepts public warning from Usada
  • Violation likely caused by contaminated meat

A veteran American cyclist has accepted a public warning issued by the US Anti-Doping Agency after failing a drugs test and being stripped of a world record he set earlier this year.

Carl Grove set a new record when winning the 90-94 age group sprint title at the US Masters Track National Championships in July, only to test positive for epitrenbolone, a metabolite of trenbolon, which is a substance prohibited by Usada.

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James Mattis heads to China for talks with military leaders

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Defense Secretary James N. Mattis will make his first visit to China this week for talks with the People's Republic's military leaders amid growing tensions over Beijing's militarization of islands in the South China Sea. Mr. Mattis told reporters en route to Alaska aboard an Air Force E-4B jet, a militarized Boeing 747, that he plans to gauge China 's strategic approach to the United States during talks in Beijing.

Trump aide to leave White House after abuse allegations

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FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2017 file photo, from left, White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner walk to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White Ho... WASHINGTON - One of President Donald Trump's top White House aides resigned Wednesday following allegations of domestic abuse leveled against him by his two ex-wives. Staff secretary Rob Porter said in a written statement that allegations that became public this week are "outrageous" and "simply false."