"I get irrationally angry about cyclists": Jeremy Kyle and GB News' primetime anti-cycling bingo ranting; "Not sure if we were cycling or swimming": Riding in the rain; Quintana denies using tramadol, pulls out of Vuelta + more on the live blog

Cyclists of twitter, I'd love to see some of your favourite examples of pointless anti-cycling infrastructure.

My example: as seen on a shared use path running alongside the A38 between Burton and Derby. pic.twitter.com/ZnqZBHGEVU

— Tom Pike (@Tom_Pike) August 18, 2022

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the chemical money behind Ineos' sporting empire and the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team, is interested in buying Manchester United, according to The Times.

Ratcliffe's spokesperson said: "If the club is for sale, Jim is definitely a potential buyer. If something like this was possible, we would be interested in talking with a view to long-term ownership."

Earlier this week, Elon Musk suggested he might be interested in bidding for the Premier League strugglers (that felt good, apologies United fans) before playing off the idea as a joke. Ratcliffe, apparently a boyhood United fan, made a £4 billion bid to buy Chelsea FC in April after the club was put up for sale by Roman Abramovich.

While the majority of our readers are based here in the UK, Harry got in touch with an angle on Grant Shapps' comments we haven't heard yet — the impact on visitors coming to the UK by bike...

Regarding registering and insurance of bicycles, I was wondering whether he considered overseas visitors with bicycles. Last week I counted a lot of bicycles on the ferry. Will they require to temporarily import their bicycles and show proof of insurance? Will extra facilities be available for this? As some suggest, he's just playing to the Tory base via the Daily Mail, there is no substance. Just damage. 

Admits he’s irrational

— Roly West (@rolywest) August 18, 2022

 BalladOfStruth is moving "on Sunday to somewhere were I'll be working fully remotely. I'm feeling very happy that I won’t be on the bike in commuter traffic for a while — the bile being spewed out in the media at the moment is genuinely really scary when you know that a non-trivial amount of drivers are using it to justify actually going out and punishing cyclists."

Cycloid added: "Hatred begets hatred — the volume has just been turned up again."

IanMK noticed something very interesting in Kyle's rant..."'How do you get to use the highways with no licence, no insurance, and without paying any tax, and with absolutely no speed limit? The answer is, of course, as easy as riding a bike...'

"Hold on a minute... Because I ride a bike I don't have to pay tax? I must be owed '000s. Just off to hand my notice in. When I return can somebody tell me where I claim my rebate?" Worth looking into...

PRSboy added: "Wait 'til folk find out about all the EV drivers, including those in £120k Porsche Taycans, who pay no 'road tax'. Not only that, but there are an increasing amount of EV-only parking spaces.

"The irony of the quoted statement is that anyone can ride a bike and enjoy the benefits! It's not like some special club. It is the most accessible and equitable form of transport there is.

"I really struggle to understand the vitriol being directed at cyclists in the media. I don't mind a bit of ribbing but this is getting ridiculous and is downright harassment, abetted by the Government.

"Look at the great young lad who cycled to Paris in memory of his daddy. Does Kyle honestly feel angry about him?"

Take a dip into the comments for ChrisB200SX's alternative debate with Kyle. Somehow I'm not sure Talk TV would want that broadcast...

And lastly...

More than twice as many people are killed by bees and wasps per year than by cyclists. Also, bees can travel at up to 32km/h.
Number plates on bees!

— Will Dunn (@willydunn) August 17, 2022

A road.cc reader got in touch with a Highway Code and cycling signs quiz if you're looking for a bit of lunch-break procrastination...

We thought we'd give it a shout out, largely because I just got 9/10 so hey, got to show off where you can...

The results breakdown of people who have taken the quiz so far is quite interesting too, with just 39.5 per cent (before you brainy lot get involved) knowing if drivers can cross double white lines to overtake a cyclist.

Head over to KOM club if you want to give it a go...

"You wanna get to him? You gotta go through me..."

We will take good care of our little climber👏 https://t.co/wjyOtjuCL7

— Alex Kirsch (@alexkirsch92) August 18, 2022

Kirsch and Hoole getting chopped off at the chest makes this unintentionally funnier...here's the original...

[Zac Williams/SWpix.com]

A quick update to the Nairo Quintana story that broke amid the Grant Shapps storm yesterday. Having been disqualified from the Tour de France after the UCI said tests from two dates during the Tour suggested he had infringed their ban on taking painkiller tramadol in competition.

> Nairo Quintana sanctioned by UCI for Tour de France tramadol infringement

You can probably guess what's coming...anyway, in a statement released to Colombian media, Quintana expressed "surprise" at the UCI's finding and said he is "totally unaware of the use of this substance, and I deny ever using it during my career".

"With my legal team we will exhaust every means to prepare my defence," he added, saying the case will be brought before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Despite initially saying he would race the Vuelta a España, starting in Utrecht tomorrow, the 33-year-old has now said he won't participate "to assert my reasons before the Court of Arbitration for Sport", but "will return to the race calendar at the end of the season".

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

"I get irrationally angry about cyclists.

"I mean it - don’t come near me, I’m a cycle-path."

Look away, @theJeremyVine!@jkyleofficial | @TalkTV | #PMU pic.twitter.com/nYeJD83syi

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) August 17, 2022

I'll save you a click with a brief recap. Jeremy Kyle is Talk TV's chosen replacement for Piers Morgan (conjuring thoughts of would you rather cut your arm or leg off), and stood in for the 'uncensored' host last night as the new station, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News UK, used its primetime show to tackle the big issue of the day — Transport Secretary Grant Shapps' later-contradicted statement about getting tough on bike riders...

> Confusion as Grant Shapps now says he is "not attracted to bureaucracy" of number plates for cyclists

Riding a stationary bicycle in-studio, Kyle — formerly of the self-named Jeremy Kyle 'chat show' once described by a judge as "human bear-baiting" and later pulled from production following the suicide of a guest — set off on a rant akin to many a Facebook comments section...

"How do you get to use the highways with no licence, no insurance, and without paying any tax, and with absolutely no speed limit? The answer is, of course, as easy as riding a bike...

> OPINION: Grant Shapps' stupid cycling comments are ill-judged, dangerous and fuelling more hatred towards cyclists

"This is the only time ever you'll see me doing this. I get irrationally angry about cyclists, I mean it. Don't come near me, I'm a cycle-path."

In the next minute-and-a-half Kyle recites the greatest "what's not to loathe?" hits: cyclists "dressing up like the Tour de France", the "chaingangs...riding side by side, whilst us tax-paying motorists queue behind getting later and later and more irate", "your Jeremy Vines, with more cameras than Kodak, picking fights and running red lights".

Strangely, as if to prove his point, Talk TV then ran a tape showing close passes, motorists hitting cyclists, road rage violence and a driver about to run a red light...

"Motorists in this country are hacked off with cyclists because they feel like second-class citizens. Why aren't you insured?"

Jeremy Kyle takes on 'Britain's most hated' camera-clad cyclist Dave Sherry.@jkyleofficial | @Sueperb2 | @TalkTV | #PMU pic.twitter.com/Yds9tGQfuZ

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) August 17, 2022

And it wasn't just Talk TV... as we got the double-header of GB News too, who an hour later on Dan Wootton's 9pm Tonight show repeated the 'discussion'.

'The biggest killers out on the road are car drivers... You whinged then and you're whinging now.'

Dave Sherry and Derrick Evans clash with Andrew Pierce over whether cyclists should obey the speed limit and wear number plates.

📺 Freeview 236, Sky 515, Virgin 626 pic.twitter.com/Dxdwd7Srz9

— GB News (@GBNEWS) August 17, 2022

You probably can't face any more, but, if you can, here's how Shapps' comments were reported in the national press and broadcast media yesterday...