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"I think more people came to my birthday party": Cyclists react to 'road tax' and licence petition getting... 262 signatures; Lotto-Soudal take on DiCaprio; Cav on puncture duty; Liz Truss talks speed limits; Vuelta summit finish + more on the live blog

It's Thursday 1st September?! Where did that go? Dan Alexander will be taking a long hard look at the calendar trying to work that one out... oh, and doing your live blog updates...
Thu, Sep 01, 2022 09:11
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"I think more people came to my birthday party": Cyclists react to 'road tax' and licence petition getting... 262 signatures; Lotto-Soudal take on DiCaprio; Cav on puncture duty; Liz Truss talks speed limits; Vuelta summit finish + more on the live blogPetition (Government petitions)
01 September 2022, 16:21
Floyd?
01 September 2022, 16:11
Richard Carapaz wins at La Vuelta

A parting gift from Richard Carapaz to Ineos Grenadiers? The Ecuadorian is off to EF Education-EasyPost next season and has been largely anonymous at the the Vuelta, dropping out of the GC picture early on, but won stage 12, showing his class on the summit finish to PeƱas Blancas.

Dropping all 31 of his breakaway companions on the climb, Carapaz won comfortably ahead of Wilco Kelderman, who rises 15 places to sixth on GC, and Marc Soler. Britain's James Shaw, a teammate of Carapaz next year, finished ninth.

In the GC group, Remco Evenepoel, Primož Roglič, Enric Mas and Juan Ayuso finished on the same time. 

Performance of the day? 

01 September 2022, 16:08
How to wind yarn on a Brompton (because obviously it's a vital skill to learn)
01 September 2022, 15:52
01 September 2022, 15:34
"I think more people came to my birthday party": Cyclists react to 'road tax' and licence petition getting... 262 signatures

In terms of reaction to our main live blog story of the day it's all fairly similar...

Oh, and a few more...

That was fun. 

01 September 2022, 10:58
Petition calling for cyclists to be tested, pay 'road tax' and register bikes closes on... 262 signatures

By our maths this petition, which closed onĀ 1 August after six months being live, achieved an extraordinary 1.4 signatures per day it was on the government's petitions site...just 9,738 short of getting a government response, and a measly 99,738 short of the threshold for a debate in Parliament...

Petition (Government petitions)

That went well...

Petition (Government petitions)

But maybe it didn't get the media spotlightĀ it needed to reach more unknowing supporters? Well, this isn't the first petition like this to pop up in recent times. In December, the government confirmedĀ it has "no plans"Ā to make cyclists wear identification numbers as it rejectedĀ 'Mr Loophole'Ā petition. Amazing how plans change when you're facing the axe, eh Grant?

That petition got the full then-Talk Radio promo, and even warranted a story by the BBC who said it was "gathering momentum", even when it had closed a week earlier...at least no presenters said anything impartial about it...

>Ā Mr Loophole's cyclist ID petition "gathers momentum"Ā says BBC ā€“ except it closed last week

Oh, and did I mention that despite the full media tour the Loophole petition only just scraped across the 10,000-signature threshold for the government to reject it?

It's almost like most people outside the culture warring bubble don't actually care?

01 September 2022, 14:03
šŸ˜²
01 September 2022, 13:53
Vuelta stage 12: Lutsenko, Kelderman, Carapaz, Soler, Vine part of 32-strong breakaway competing for summit finish win

The stage victory will come from the breakaway today, an escape with 32 riders, more than 20 per cent of the Covid-battered peloton...

Richard Carapaz, double stage winner Jay Vine and Marc Soler are some of the headline names, along with James Shaw doing it for Britain and EF Education-EasyPost. The group has more than 11-and-a-half minutes advantage meaning Wilco Kelderman could be on the podium by tonight...

The final climb is 18.9km at 6.5 per cent average...will Vine get his hat-trick? Can Carapaz claim one final victory at Ineos? Can anyone crack Remco? Plenty of questions we should have answers to very soon... 

01 September 2022, 13:29
"It's very disappointing": Sean Kelly on Ireland's decision to skip World Championships
Vitus Sean Kelly special edition - Sean with his bike

Sean Kelly has spoken of his disappointment at the Irish national team's decision to skip the World Championships in Australia later this month due to financial pressures. Kelly added the balance of funding for road and track needs to be addressed, with the latter, in his opinion, receiving too much of Cycling Ireland's budget.

"Itā€™s very disappointing. All those years that I went,Ā and then you had (Stephen) Roche coming up, then (Martin) Earley and the othersā€¦ Cycling Ireland didn't support us, ever. Our teams supported us or we had to pay to go, that was the case at the beginning for me. Or at times we might have had a sponsor to support us," Kelly told Sticky Bottle.

"But the situation now for Cycling Ireland; there should be funding there.Ā Going down through the list of riders, was there really nobody who wanted to go and ride?

"With the U23s; we have a good crop of guys there who are capable of doing something. And for them, for the experience to do a Worlds, it's disappointing they are not going. Why not give them a crack at it?"

01 September 2022, 12:33
01 September 2022, 12:04
Tom Pidcock headlines strong Ineos Grenadiers Tour of Britain team

Where will you be watching the race next week? Ineos Grenadiers are bringing a team packed full of big names for the premier UK race of the year, including Tom Pidcock, Michal Kwiatkowski and Richie Porte...

01 September 2022, 10:50
ANOTHER ONE

This is really getting out of hand, no helmet on this one either...and it's trotting down the middle of the lane... 

01 September 2022, 10:34
Even the pros have to fix punctures...

Some bike though...

01 September 2022, 10:32
01 September 2022, 09:45
"Blah blah blah blah yet again saying whatever they want to try and get elected": Liz Truss reaction

Mixed bag in response to Liz Truss' comments about motorway speed limits...understandably a some of you would like us to stick to cycling... point taken.

We asked if the future PM's comments have wider implications for road safety under her leadership? Heavily presumptuous on believing a candidate's 'pick me' answers at a campaign event are a reflection of what they'll actually do in office, of course...

> Liz Truss "looking forward to working with cycling community" and will build new infrastructure, supporters claim

Here are some of your replies...

"Blah blah blah blah yet again saying whatever they want to try and get elected, it won't happen"

"Completely. Just pandering to the audience immediately in front of her at the time."

"You're just trying to wind people up with this rubbish to generate clicks." 

"This is just campaign bluster aimed at the demographic that is London Conservative party members. However, Truss will be far more anti-active travel, anti-public transport and pro car than Johnson who gave Andrew Gilligan a significant role in the Department for Transport. Things are about to get worse in the active travel area in  the UK (and they are crap already......)."

01 September 2022, 09:30
01 September 2022, 09:09
Dutch news from a (delightful) cycle path
01 September 2022, 08:52
Sheepish road users don't pay 'road tax'

Disgraceful... 

Live from TalkTV studios... "Get the petition"... we need these unlicensed menaces registered, insured and wearing hi-vis tabards so we know whose farmer to blame...

Get The Guitar David Brent GIFfrom Get The Guitar GIFs
01 September 2022, 08:02
Liz Truss "prepared to look at" abolishing speed limit (+ promises to "make London Conservative again" from "anti-car" mayor)

It was the Tory leadership race's Wembley hustings last night and heavy favourite to succeed Boris Johnson as PM, Liz Truss, responded to a question from an audience member about axing speed limits with the line she'd be "prepared to look at that"...

The question was specifically about smart motorways which is the sort of speed limit, it seems, Truss says she would consider abolishing...in full, she said:

"I agree with you. I absolutely think that we need to review them and stop them if theyā€™re not working as soon as possible. All the evidence I have agrees with the point you're making on smart motorways.

"On speed limits, I'd be prepared to look at that. I can't give you a precise answer on that point. But I do believe that the smart motorways experiment hasn't worked."

Elsewhere at the event she went in on "anti-car" mayor of London Sadiq Khan and said she would "make London Conservative again". 

What do you reckon? More campaign talk or are there genuine concerns about the potential implications for road safety under a Truss government? 

Dan Alexander

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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