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news
Live blog
Work on next stage of controversial cycle lane which some traders claimed would "kill" village set to continue, months on from Dame Sarah Storey defending project and stating "a bike lane doesn't close a village"; Viral MTB crash + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Castleton cycle lane12:03
Work on next stage of controversial cycle lane project which some traders claimed would "kill" village set to continue, months on from Dame Sarah Storey defending project and stating "a bike lane doesn't close a village"
The extension of a cycle lane between Castleton and Rochdale town centre is set to begin next month, junction upgrades and new crossings also part of the project that is the second stage of a scheme heavily criticised by some locals and business owners last year.
"This project will transform a major, well used route in Rochdale town centre, with improved journey times for motorists and significant safety improvements to support walkers, cyclists and people using wheelchairs and prams," Councillor Shah Wazir, cabinet member for highways, said.
Last year, traders in Castleton claimed the cycle lane had "killed" the village and was "ruining business". Their main complaint was that on-street parking was replaced by the cycling infrastructure, shop owners claiming if customers "can't park outside, they can't stop here"... that despite the project seeing the addition of 80 new off-street spaces.
Dame Sarah Storey, Greater Manchester's Active Travel Commissioner, responded to the complaints, argued "a bike lane doesn't close a village" and pointed to other economic factors that have hit people across the country in recent times.
She said: "It's a coincidence, not an unexpected consequence. The timing in Castleton was really challenging, with the cost of living crisis and coming out of the pandemic. When you've two things like that colliding, they've had to take it to experts to discuss how they can sort the economic side out.
"A bike lane doesn't close a village. It opens it up and enables more people to choose to move. Not everybody can drive, not everybody owns a car and they're now connected to a train station and soon to the town centre through the extension."
14:17
UCI Cycling Esports World Championships to be held in Abu Dhabi again this year
The UCI and MyWhoosh has announced this year's Esports World Championships will once again be held in Abu Dhabi, as it was last year. It will be held on 15 November and will see the top 20 male and female athletes from the semi-finals compete for the discipline's rainbow jerseys.
Our press release from the UCI states Abu Dhabi "continues to foster the growth of cycling". Translation: Abu Dhabi continues to chuck loads of money at cycling. In addition to hosting this year and last year's UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, the city will also host the 2028 UCI Road World Championships, the 2028 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships and the 2029 Tissot UCI Track World Championships. Abu Dhabi also hosted the 2024 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships last December.
14:01
☀️☀️☀️
Right, I'm back from a lunch spin for some more live blogging. It's glorious out there (at least where I am)... even had to find the shorts from the back of the draw. No gloves, shorts, nearly 15 degrees... lovely.
13:58
Concerns raised about possible attacks on cyclists after popular family cycle path sabotaged with piles of logs “deliberately” left by "idiots" and hooded men spotted shouting threats at passing riders
11:29
Decathlon's cycling brand Van Rysel launches first carbon wheelsets, starting from €799.99 and suitable for road or gravel riding
10:15
Patrick Lefevere spends night in hospital after feeling unwell yesterday evening
Soudal Quick-Step have put out the following statement regarding their former CEO Patrick Lefevere, who spent the night in an intensive care unit after falling ill yesterday.
After feeling unwell yesterday evening, Patrick Lefevere was taken to hospital in Gent, where he spent the night under medical examination. This morning, Patrick is feeling well and the team wishes him a speedy recovery and hopes to welcome him soon at one of the races. We kindly ask that you respect Patrick’s privacy at this time.
09:01
Cyclists slam council's decision to spend millions on "pointless" figure-of-eight loop "bridge to nowhere", instead of fixing muddy quagmire around it
09:01
08:54
Praise the cycling gods! Tadej Pogačar "very close" to making Roubaix debut, report suggests
Info @Gazzetta_it - As we early reported in our paper editon last sunday (2 march) sources confirmed us that @TamauPogi @TeamEmiratesUAE can be considered "very close" to be at @parisroubaix this year. Obviously things can change but this is the situation at this stage
— Ciro Scognamiglio (@cirogazzetta) March 5, 2025
08:36
Mountain biker miraculously walks away uninjured from horror crash into gate, as shocking video of 30mph smash goes viral online
Pain.
We shared the short vid of this on Tuesday's live blog, but more details have now emerged — including the miraculous news the teenager involved walked away unharmed — so here's another look, if you can face it.
Incredibly, the 14-year-old mountain biker seen hitting the gate, Lloyd Bennett, walked away with just a cut to his finger, his father Terry (the rider behind Lloyd in the clip) reporting to the Mail he's mainly "devastated to see his £4,000 x works GT professional bike snapped in half".
The incident happened back in January, on the One Giant Leap track near Llangollen, North Wales.
"The gate at the bike park is always open, but we were the first down the track that morning and the wind must have blown it closed," Terry explained, saying he has renamed his son 'Lucky' after the 30mph crash.
Both were running cameras, Lloyd's Instagram post sharing the footage going viral with 1.8m likes and more than 29 million views since he shared it earlier this week.
In the longer video Lloyd is apparently up on his feet almost instantly, his father's comment "that's the end of your bike" an immediate disappointment, even if he'd somehow managed to avoid any injury beyond a cut to his finger.
With Lloyd's health confirmed, the Instagram comments naturally did what they do best... make jokes...
"Cheers for opening the gate mate."
"I'm sure there's a good joke about a gate here… but ya might take a fence."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- OnYerBike 22 min 6 sec ago
It seems to me that the most likely explanation is that whoever provided that quote fails to grasp the difference between a "public right of way"...
- andystow 28 min 10 sec ago
That article is far too kind to Moses. I highly recommend reading The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Despite the title, it applies to...
- RobD 51 min 13 sec ago
Curious as to why not? I can understand people's concerns about hookless, I was just wondering why you wouldn't buy hooked?
- David9694 1 hour 25 min ago
Unpopular opinion - I think the information available when this story was first written up was pretty sketchy....
- chrisonabike 2 hours 25 min ago
Hub brakes have their own trade-offs. I actually liked the one I had for its particular application - in a "utility" bike where I didn't care...
- qwerty360 2 hours 36 min ago
Given that every other lime bike I see on my 1/week commute into london appears to have its rear light hanging off by the cable rather than mounted...
- Miller 3 hours 57 min ago
Go for it Pogi! I will be in the velodrome on 13th April and it would be fantastic to see him arrive.
- jaymack 4 hours 20 min ago
Indeed but he's a can't. Can't be arsed to tell the truth, can't be arsed to build new Hospitals and can't be arsed to do anything for anyone save...
- chrisonabike 7 hours 25 min ago
What wokery is this? I thought those tech-bros were there to save us from the "mind virus"?
- hawkinspeter 20 hours 12 min ago
Opposition to controversial East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood ‘will filter away’ say council bosses...