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news
Live blog
Cyclists slam “misleading” BBC “e-bike hit-and-run” headline – after SUV driver deliberately rams and kills rider; Cyclocross crash chaos and seamless shoe changes; Cummings joins Jayco; Colnago horror + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Police investigation after SUV deliberately rams and kills e-bike rider (Derbyshire Police)12:40
“It’s difficult to ride with one and a half shoes!” Michael Vanthourenhout overcomes broken shoe to win enthralling Dublin cyclocross World Cup round, after lightning-fast “triathlon-style” shoe change
He may be the current leader of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup standings, but if this whole riding around a muddy field and bunny-hopping barriers thing doesn’t work out, Michael Vanthourenhout could always have a career in triathlon to fall back on, judging by his lightning-fast ability to change his shoes in stressful conditions.
During an enthralling, closely fought men’s elite race in Dublin, the 31-year-old Belgian took advantage of his Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal teammate Eli Iserbyt’s slip on a steep uphill section towards the end of the final lap to launch a blistering late, late attack to just hold off the group, led home by Toon Aerts (his first World Cup podium since his two-year ban for letrozole, which he claims came from contaminated milk) and Spaniard Felipe Orts.
But, after Thibau Nys’ rendezvous with the beams, Vanthourenhout’s second victory of the season wasn’t without its own drama, after he nicked a post during the third lap, breaking his shoe.
With the BOA dial seen flapping as he fought to remain in contention, the Belgian then executed a perfectly seamless triathlon-style shoe change in the pits to stay in the lead group, allowing him to bide his time before his last-gasp winning move.
Shoe change for Vanthourenhout 👟🔁
He is back up with the leading group now and straight to the front! The group start to stretch on the climb! #CXWorldCup #FLCS pic.twitter.com/miQ824mE1C
— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) December 1, 2024
“I rode against the pole and the shoe was open,” the new World Cup leader told your resident live blogger after the race.
“But yeah, it was good I didn’t lose the race with that shoe. The shoe was broken for one lap, I think, so it's very difficult to ride with one and a half shoes! It was tricky to jump over the barriers with one shoe.”
Reflecting on what many described as the best race of the year, Vanthourenhout added: “I saw Nys’ crash in the beginning, but yeah, I rode my own race and I knew I was very good, so I tried to wait until the end and I think it was a good decision.
“I think Eli made a little mistake at the end in the hilly part of the race. I had a bit of luck, but if you are good to have luck on your side.
“So I think I was the strongest today, but it’s always difficult to win a race.”
Especially if you only have one shoe, eh Michael?
09:08
Cyclists slam “misleading” BBC “e-bike hit-and-run” headline – after SUV driver deliberately rams and kills rider
In the same week that new research carried out by road.cc contributor Laura Laker found that 70 per cent of police forces still refer to vehicles rather than their drivers when describing road traffic collisions, the BBC came under fire for publishing the headline ‘Police hunt mum’s killer after e-bike hit-and-run’ – despite the story in question concerning a SUV driver who deliberately rammed two people off their e-bikes, killing one.
Last week, the BBC reported that 25-year-old mother Alana Armstrong was killed while riding as a ‘passenger’ on an e-bike when she was deliberately struck by the driver of a 4X4, who had pursued them through the village of Pleasley, Derbyshire, on Tuesday evening.
The rider of the e-bike was also taken to hospital following the incident, where one of his legs had to be amputated below the knee.
Since then, police officers have said that a man and a woman have been arrested in connection with the incident on suspicion of murder.
However, while the details surrounding the shocking incident remain unclear, the BBC has been criticised for what cyclists have described as its “misleading” approach to the story.
One Reddit user pointed out that the BBC’s original headline for the story was ‘Police hunt mum’s killer after e-bike hit-and-run’, which they claimed led them to believe that a “pedestrian hit by an e-bike had died”.
“Rather surprised to learn in the article that the victim was on the e-bike and had been deliberately hit by the driver of an SUV,” the user said.
The BBC has since changed the headline of the original article to ‘Hit-and-run murder probe after mum rammed off e-bike’. Nevertheless, the follow-up story, focusing on the murder investigation, still features the headline: ‘Murder probe after woman killed in e-bike “ramming”’.
“It’s an incredibly poor headline,” another Reddit user said. “The SUV chased two cyclists and hit them on purpose, according to the article. I don’t think ‘e-bike hit and run’ really captures that reality.
“It is just sort of incredibly vague, doesn’t tell you much, and what it does imply is that there was a hit and run accident, and the perpetrator was on an e-bike.”
One user also described the follow-up headline as “not quite as bad as before but again can easily be read as if she was rammed by an e-bike.”
“Anything to make cars look good. They know most people only read the headline and fill in the gaps,” another said.
“The focus of the article definitely does seem to be on the e-bike rather than the victims,” added a reader.
(Derbyshire Police)
“No no, it was the e-bike’s fault,” noted one user, sarcastically.
“Drivers don’t go round ramming their cars into people for no reason, it must be because they were on an e-bike and were speeding or something and even if they weren’t, it was the car that did the ramming, not the poor working-class driver who pays road tax.
“Anyway, they were probably all dressed in black.”
Meanwhile, another user said: “I’m guessing it’s because e-bikes are a hot topic at the moment, so they’re just determined to get ‘e-bike’ into the headline.
“But it’s weird how they keep on not mentioning the vehicle which actually did the ramming.”
This isn’t the first time, of course, that the BBC have been criticised for their use of language concerning road traffic collisions.
In November 2022, the broadcaster defended its use of the term “accident” when describing road traffic collisions, telling one Radio 4 listener that “we try to use language that ordinary people use, not the language contained in reports and documents”.
Cyclist Toby Edwards complained to the BBC after an 11am news bulletin on 28 September announced that “figures show that 39 people died after road accidents involving the police between 2021 and 2022”.
Edwards asked the BBC’s Complaints Team if the broadcaster was “sure that all of these collisions were indeed accidents”, or whether “the term ‘accident’ was used mistakenly instead of saying ‘crashes’ or ‘collisions’?”
The BBC said in response: “We’ve discussed your concerns with senior staff in BBC News and, although we take your point that ‘collision’ may have been a preferable word, our job is to write radio scripts that are relatable and understandable, and we try to use language that ordinary people use, not the language contained in reports and documents.”
And in September, the corporation apologised for its use of the word ‘accident’ in a headline and story concerning the deaths of US ice hockey star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, after they were killed while cycling by a suspected drink driver who allegedly told police at the scene that he had consumed “five to six beers” before the fatal crash.
Responding to a complaint from a reader, who described the vocabulary used in the article as “biased and incorrect”, the broadcaster said that it was “sorry if you did not appreciate how we chose to cover this issue initially”, noting that the headline had since been changed to clarify that the Gaudreau brothers had been killed in a “bike and car crash”, while removing all references to an ‘accident’.
11:56
More developments in the ongoing Strava/speeding cyclists/Royal Parks saga, as ride-sharing app claims Royal Parks “have directly acknowledged Strava is not root cause of issues”
11:45
Spot the difference
I couldn’t resist…
Spot the difference.
— Jason (@jasoneccles.com) December 1, 2024 at 10:13 PM
And it turns out quite a few people have linked under-investigation Manchester City’s recent sharp downturn in form with a certain brash Texan.
“I must say watching Man City struggle is right up there with Lance Armstrong going on the Oprah Winfrey show and admitting he cheated his way to seven Tour de France wins,” Gaz wrote on (not so) Bluesky.
Who knows, maybe City will get away with their alleged 115 financial breaches on a technicality (the money was for saddle sores, I promise!), disappear from the sport for a bit, before – angered by Brighton challenging for the Premier League in 2027 – returning for an ill-fated crack at glory, eventually forcing David Silva to come clean to the FA about his personal sponsorship deal, triggering a tsunami of confessions and the club’s eventual total disgrace, forcing Pep to appear on a weird space-themed reality show?
What, too far?
10:58
“Someone rode right over my left ankle”: Chaos at the Dublin cyclocross as footage shows spectacular plank pile-up that ruined Thibau Nys’ chances
Moderately warm temperatures (for December), not too much mud, dazzling sunshine, some spectacular racing… oh, and a delicious (and free) burger from the event’s catering team – it’s fair to say I enjoyed the UCI Cyclocross World Cup’s annual pilgrimage to Dublin yesterday.
However, while dashing across the course at the start of the elite men’s race – won in scintillating, last-ditch fashion by a shoe changing Michael Vanthourenhout (more on that in a moment) – I unfortunately missed, by mere seconds, arguably the most dramatic moment of the entire day.
At the plank section on the opening lap, a miscue by leader Michal Boros as he attempted to bunny-hop the beams saw him hit the grass face first.
Behind him, as he stumbled about looking for his bike, chaos ensued, as eventual third place finisher Felipe Orts just about managed to keep it upright after colliding with Boros’ abandoned machine, before Thibau Nys lost control and was sent sprawling
The 22-year-old Lidl-Trek star was then hit from behind at speed by David Menut, while another rider carried on over his ankle, causing the young Belgian to howl out in pain.
But, while I wasn’t able to get any close-up footage of the first lap drama, luckily former road.cc tech writer Dave Arthur was on the spot to capture all the chaos:
“My ‘cross was already over after two minutes,” Nys, widely tipped to be one of cycling’s next big stars after a stunning breakthrough season on the road, told VTM Nieuws.
“They fell right in front of me. I was able to avoid those guys and fell myself. But when I was on the ground someone rode right over my left ankle. When I jumped back on the bike, I couldn’t put any force on my ankle.”
The 22-year-old gamely carried on despite his injuries, cutting through the field seemingly effortlessly, before eventually pulling the pin on the fifth lap.
“I tried to make it a good training race, but it went wrong,” the European champion said. “The only positive thing is that the damage to the ankle will be relatively limited since I was still able to ride.”
10:52
“Has to be fake”: Cycling world reacts with horror to leaked images of new Colnago
Our tech team will have the full scoop on this later this morning, but I couldn’t carry on with the live blog until I mentioned the, ahem, intriguing new Colnago road bike design that was leaked across the internet over the weekend and is apparently set to be released next Monday:
Hmmm…
Let’s just say the cycling world is a tad divided over the… shall we say, striking new design.
“It’s an S5 with a stupid seat post. Has to be fake,” said Richard on Instagram.
“Please no,” said what I assume to be a Colnago traditionalist.
“Not a looker is it,” noted one user.
Meanwhile, our own Jo Burt asked: “Is it aiming to grab the ugliest road bike award off Pinarello? It looks like someone typed ‘make me a bike out of all the ugliest bits of our competitors’ bikes’ into AI.”
We should definitely try that before today’s live blog is finished…
09:58
“It’s an opportunity to be part of a culture that celebrates growth, resilience, and meaningful results”: Steve Cummings joins Jayco AlUla as sports director after fractious Ineos departure
Less than a month after officially leaving the Ineos Grenadiers under a cloud, following a fractious, turbulent season, Steve Cummings is back in the WorldTour, after being confirmed as Jayco AlUla’s newest sports director.
In a statement issued by the Australian team, the double Tour de France stage winner and former British champion said the move offered him the “opportunity to be part of a culture that celebrates growth, resilience, and meaningful results” – a culture, one could infer from that statement, perhaps hasn’t existed at controversy-marred Ineos for a while.
“I’m really excited to be joining Team Jayco AlUla. This team has a strong reputation for its professionalism, and commitment to success, which aligns with my own values and experiences in sport,” the 43-year-old said.
“I’m looking forward to contributing to its ongoing success, helping all my teammates reach their full potential.
“For me, this is more than just joining a team – it’s an opportunity to be part of a culture that celebrates growth, resilience, and meaningful results.
“Naturally through having a long career within cycling, on and off the bike, I already know a lot of team members and I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get started with them.”
Cummings wins the British nationals in 2017 (SWPix.com)
“We are delighted to be welcoming Steve onto the team in 2025. His personality and professionalism is something that we believe will fit very well within our culture,” Jayco’s general manager Brent Copeland added.
“Steve has such a wide skill set and is a very experienced sport director having of course experienced first-hand what it means to be a rider himself, having won at the highest level during his time as a pro rider.
“I was truly impressed by Steve’s attention to detail and visionary approach during our first conversation about the team. I immediately felt that he would bring a dynamic energy that we would all benefit from.”
At the start of November, after months of speculation about his future at Ineos, Cummings confirmed his departure as director of racing at the British team.
The 2016 Tour of Britain winner, who was promoted to a senior management role at Ineos at the end of 2023, after three years in the team car, was last seen at a race in June at the Critérium du Dauphiné (where he had an infamous and tetchy stand-off with our YouTuber-in-chief Jamie over us capturing footage of the new Pinarello Dogma).
He was then left out of the team’s Tour de France DS line-up, amid reports of internal tension, especially with star rider Tom Pidcock, and didn’t appear in the Ineos team car, or in any capacity at any race, for the remainder of this season.
However, despite his prolonged absence, there was little official confirmation about Cummings’ position within the team, and he was notably left out of October’s press release detailing the latest structural and staff changes at the squad, which announced the arrival of his former Sky teammate Kurt-Asle Arvesen as a sport director.
But in a statement on LinkedIn, Cummings finally set the record straight, stating that he was ready for a “new challenge” – which has now been confirmed as taking the wheel of Jayco AlUla’s team car.
“I’m aware there has been some speculation so I just wanted to clarify my situation,” the 43-year-old posted.
“I’ve reached the decision to step away from Ineos. This may seem like a big move, but I’m now ready to begin a new phase of my career. It’s been a privilege to work with such a talented group of riders and staff for the last four years. I’d really like to take this opportunity to thank them for their support and dedication.
“I’ve always enjoyed and thrived working in a high-performance environment and I will continue to have significant involvement in the sport. My focus is now on a new challenge within professional cycling.”
Cummings’ prolonged exit marked the culmination of a turbulent year for the Ineos Grenadiers – the least successful in the team’s 15-year history – which saw departing figures such as Dan Bigham and Ethan Hayter publicly criticise the team and the approach of its management, while Tom Pidcock also questioned Cummings’ input at the Tour, before claiming that Ineos “don’t help me to perform at my best” amid a number of internal issues.
Pidcock was then dramatically dropped at the last minute from their Il Lombardia line-up – a decision the team’s higher ups confirmed was not based on form – kicking off what has become a protracted and complicated transfer saga.
(Which, despite seemingly being settled with Pidcock set to stay at Ineos could, if murmurings at the Dublin cyclocross World Cup are to be believed, still lead to the double Olympic champion joining Q36.5 before the ‘cross season is over. Watch this space…)
10:33
How to ruin your new sports director announcement in one easy post
Cheers Jayco, that’s all the goodwill for Cummings’ new move suddenly evaporated across the country.
Sorry, Steve…
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
Latest Comments
- mitsky 13 min 14 sec ago
The job of the BBC journalists (and all those from, supposably, respectable news outlets) is to report accurately regardless of how most people...
- mitsky 13 min 6 sec ago
The job of the BBC journalists (and all those from, supposably, respectable news outlets) is to report accurately regardless of how most people...
- Velophaart_95 35 min 59 sec ago
Yes, the simplest and best solution - but almost impossible to implement. Tells you all you need to know about Royal Parks, doesn't it?
- Velophaart_95 39 min 21 sec ago
Imperial College now do a helmet safety test, and while this wasn't tested, other Kask's were - and didn't score very well....
- Rendel Harris 58 min 22 sec ago
Amazing that I've been cycling in Richmond Park for 45 years and still visit regularly and I've never once seen a cyclist scream, spit at or...
- Rendel Harris 1 hour 9 min ago
So the four or five times I've seen her on a bike around Greenwich and riding on the cycle route between Greenwich and Tower Bridge where she used...
- JMcL_Ireland 1 hour 34 min ago
Aside from the melted helmet, the more important aspect is that the supposedly closed braking circuit managed to leak. I imagine a melted helmet is...
- slc 2 hours 5 min ago
Now come on, everyone knows that children, and indeed anyone important, must be placed in an SUV to protect them from, erm, cyclists? Or perhaps...
- JMcL_Ireland 2 hours 19 min ago
Stock has/is being sold through Ashley's outlets though. As per the article "In May, a massive clearance sale on Wiggle Chain Reaction outlet...
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13 comments
The job of the BBC journalists (and all those from, supposably, respectable news outlets) is to report accurately regardless of how most people talk.
I look forward to the day that all the admins of the BBC's separate regional Facebook pages unblock me for pointing out their use of inaccurate language and pointing them in the direction of the Road Collision Reporting Guidelines.
Proof even with Hi-Viz people still don't see you.
https://youtu.be/H9DUuBqlSTg?si=m6wDiy_2WPFtAbiF
Nobody going to mention the CHPT3 receivership?
Another company chasing the 'premium' sector struggling.........Well, call me shocked.
[emphasis added]
This is somewhat disingenuous of the BBC, and an abdication of its responsibility. Rather than reflecting on its editorial style and choosing to update accordingly it is taking a beligerently resistant approach.
It is not a neutral bystander, it is selecting and expressing news in necessarily nuanced terms. It chooses that nuance. Different people use different language. I've never heard Chris Mason saying, "I 'arxed' the Prime Minister...", yet some ordinary people might.
While it may reflect what some people say, it doesn't have to do so inaccurately or in what we can see to be a misleading style.
Boo Beeb!
It's easy to carelessly remove the driver from the picture and blame the vehicle.
Even road.cc have done it in their photo caption at the top of this page.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80l8nndl51o
"give out advice" - is this like the Frankie Boyle(?) joke? "Yes, there is a vegetarian option: f*** off!"
So "for safety, don't ride at night without lights. Sorry, I mean don't ride at night. Actually, don't ride."
Sorry, I mean don't ride at night
They've already done that! It was some 'South Wales Road Safety Partnership' or some equally rubbishy body, after Northumbria (I think) police started the ball rolling with 'Don't ride at busy periods'. I think they got in before British Cycling crowned the 'restrict cycling' movement with 'don't ride during Royal funerals- but drive as much as you like and park where you like'
"SUV driver deliberately rams e-bikes and kill rider after pursuing them"
Road rage or personal motives?
I stopped giving any credit to MSM after their lies about Iraqi WMDs, never an excuse despite the death of a million Iraqis and United Nations weapons inspector David Kelly... of course the lies didn't start at this time.
Classic non-apology apology from the Beeb initially: sorry if you did not appreciate how we chose to cover this issue initially
I did put a complaint in to the BBC with an hour of the story. Surprised they have amended it.
And it must be an electric motorbike unless the claim is it was an epac tandem.
Most likely was, although many e-cargo bikes have the capacity to seat a passenger on the back.