Spectator accused of “deliberately confusing drivers to encourage hate towards cyclists” with yet another bizarre ‘I’m a cyclist, but…’ Highway Code column; “Remco hates Jumbo”: Geraint Thomas questions ‘Soudal-Visma’ merger rumour + more on the live blog

I regret to inform you all, but Jake Wallis Simons has been at it again.

The Spectator columnist, and author of such classic anti-cycling hits as “I’m a cyclist, but…”, “Cyclists already own the roads”, “Cargo bikes are dangerous”, and “Jeremy Vine is the real problem on the roads, not drivers”, has returned to the keyboard for another crack at generating anger on the internet.

Long-time fans of his work will be pleased to learn that Wallis Simons has returned to his roots, penning yet another column on how he belongs to the more considerate, driver-friendly breed of cyclist (and that he’s super quick too, just in case you weren’t aware), and that last year’s changes to the Highway Code (the details of which he appears to have just plucked from his imagination) have created a situation in which people on bikes “hog the road and treat motorists with disdain”.

It’s going to fly up the charts, Jake.

In this latest column, titled ‘Why do cyclists insist on making drivers angry?’, Jake kicks off by taking us to a sportive in the New Forest – a place where the local motorists have been famously welcoming to sportive riders in the past – where his attempt to finish ‘first’ in the ‘race’ was thwarted by a bunch of “plodders” riding two abreast (heaven forbid), and slowing up the traffic, and super-fast Jake, behind them.

> Sabotage hits New Forest sportive with drawing pins spread on road, signs ripped down and go-slow driving

“In spite of the traffic delays – which in my mind cost me my victory – I’d averaged 19.6mph over the 45 miles, which was a personal best. Go me,” he writes.

“But it was the behaviour of the bunch of plodders that rankled. They had been having a whale of a time, showing zero awareness of the inconvenience they were causing to the other road users. To be fair to the motorists, they were all extremely patient.

“Nobody honked, revved, or attempted a dangerous overtake. But a fair few of them must have cursed into their windscreens. And why shouldn’t they? Would it have been so bad for the racers to have dropped into single file to let them pass?”

Eh, I think Jake needs to take a look at the Highway Code. Oh, he has, apparently.

“Most cyclists are wonderful people, but some of them can be deeply inconsiderate,” he continues. “I fear the latest revamp of the Highway Code may have encouraged this by allowing riders to occupy the middle of the road, permitting them to position themselves two abreast, and giving them licence to ignore cycle lanes if they so wish.”

Yes, Jake absolutely – except your close reading of the Highway Code seems to have missed that cyclists are permitted to ride in the middle of the lane (“to make yourself as visible as possible”), not the road, that riding two abreast “can be safer”, and that cyclists “may exercise their judgement” when it comes to using bike lanes.

> The Highway Code for cyclists — all the rules you need to know for riding on the road explained

Not that any of that matters to keen cyclist Jake: “It’s obviously a good idea to keep cyclists safe. But when they abuse those rules to hog the road and treat motorists with disdain, the result is a pressure cooker on four wheels. There’s no more dangerous driver than a furious driver. That’s what worries me.”

Yes, there’s “no more dangerous driver than a furious driver” – so blame the vulnerable road user, of course.

Wallis Simons then goes on to ponder why cyclists who also drive seem to “exist in some state of double consciousness”, ignoring the possibility that people who have experienced life on two wheels may be more considerate and less “furious” when they’re behind the wheel of vehicles with four.

“Cyclists rightly demand that motorists drive with care and consideration,” he concludes. “But if the favour isn’t returned, the enmity only grows. If we want to reach a state of harmony between two wheels and four, this must be a two-way street.”

Dunno. Why does the Spectator insist on pissing me off?

— Peter Warne (@pzwarne) September 25, 2023

I think it’s safe to say that Jake’s latest attempt at anti-cycling bingo hasn’t gone down too well.

“Wrong question,” noted one Twitter user, referencing the article’s headline. “The question should be: what kind of motorist gets angry around other road users and are they fit to hold a driving licence?”

“Thanks for this, punishment pass expected on the way home now for merely existing…” added Cycling in London.

“Blaming other people for your anger is called projection,” noted Dave.

Others, meanwhile, were quick to jump on Jake’s somewhat flawed interpretation of the Highway Code.

“The Highway Code, police, and cycle training all recommend cycling abreast, which makes me wonder why you employed a journalist to write a road safety story when they don’t know basic road rules,” wrote Adespoto.

“Maybe it was to make drivers confused and angry so people get hurt.”

The same Twitter user later added: “’The Highway Code may have encouraged this by allowing riders to occupy the middle of the road’ – Nowhere does the Highway Code say this. What’s more, Simpson already knows this cos he was told last time he made that mistake.

“You're deliberately confusing drivers to encourage hate.”

The comments by @JakeWSimons feed into bigotry and exacerbate already excessive danger from drivers.

Driving has an inherent element of danger to others (it's why drivers have seat belts, air bags etc. in cars and highway environments engineered to accommodate their danger).
1. https://t.co/b3eo7T9DXd

— CHAIRRDRF (@CHAIRRDRF) September 25, 2023

The column was also heavily criticised by Dr Robert Davis, the Chair of the Road Danger Reduction Forum.

“These comments feed into bigotry and exacerbate already excessive danger from drivers,” Davis said.

“Driving has an inherent element of danger to others (it’s why drivers have seat belts, air bags etc. in cars and highway environments are engineered to accommodate their danger).

“This is the third anti-cyclist piece he has come out with [fourth, actually]. I wonder if he has bothered to actually talk to any cycling organisations, or roads police [like] Andy Cox, like a journalist should?

“Unlike other prejudice/bigotry – we’re not so inherently likely to endanger other groups of vulnerable people in everyday life – this anti-cyclist bigotry has a specific danger involved. That’s why it's especially wrong.”

Not that the Spectator will listen, of course. Same time next month, Jake?

It looks like today’s two big blog stories – which, to be honest, are from the opposite ends of the cycling discourse genre – have sparked quite a bit of reaction.

Unsurprisingly, friend of the blog Jake Wallis Simons’ latest contentious and somewhat fact-free take on cycling and the Highway Code has gone down as well as Simons himself finishing second at a 45-mile sportive…

“Time this sort of rhetoric was stamped out,” wrote Martian. “It is not allowed against any other section of society. Let’s call it for what it is – inciting violence, bullying etc, not acceptable anywhere else, not acceptable on the roads.”

Meanwhile, one reader described Simons’ article as “incitement”, while another branded it “disgraceful” and “designed to spread division”.

The Twitter account BikepackingAdventure also had a few suggestions for the Spectator’s headline writers when the time comes (in a few weeks probably) for Simons’ next anti-cycling column:

“Why do victims insist on making bullies angry?”

“Why do victims of crime insist on making criminals angry?”

All cracking suggestions…

(Rafa Gomez/SprintCyclingAgency)

On a more light-hearted note, Controversial Team Mergers According to G has proved a big hit, with the first battles of the new Roglič v Remco war taking place on our Facebook pages (“Remco is a winner, Roglič is just a whiner,” says Tobias – though Roy countered with: “Who likes Remco? Nobody”. Steady on, lads…).

On the possible merger, Analisa said: “It’s not gonna happen, it’s all talk to stay relevant for the end of the season. Plus, there is no way Roglič and Remco are staying on their teams. I see them going off to Ineos or similar.”

But what about Ineos’ “stringent budget”, Analisa?

“I'm pretty sure that both Remco and Roglič will be off somewhere else next year anyway,” agreed Rog. “But I would hate to see the merger of two of the most successful and charismatic teams on the circuit, and if they did would they be Dutch or Belgian?”

Hmmm, good point.

“Why don't we amalgamate all the World Pro Teams, and then we can have lots of fun watching them all attacking their teammates?” asked John.

Another cracking suggestion…

With Soudal Quick-Step set for an overhaul this winter, regardless of whether it’s the subject of a hostile takeover from over the border in the Netherlands, one rider integral to the Belgian squad’s success over the last few years has confirmed this afternoon that he will be racing elsewhere in 2024.

Michael Mørkøv, Danish lead out supremo, has told Ekstra Bladet that his six years at Quick-Step – during which he’s piloted Elia Viviani, Sam Bennett, Mark Cavendish, and Fabio Jakobsen to Tour de France stage wins – are over, with rumours intensifying that the 38-year-old is set for a move to Astana, where he may well be reunited with his old mate, the potentially soon to be unretiring Cavendish (more on that later).

“I know who I’m going to ride for. It won’t be Soudal Quick-Step,” he told the Danish paper.

When asked if there was any truth in the Astana rumours, Mørkøv replied: “It’s a possibility. A good possibility. It hasn’t been decided yet, so I can’t answer that.”

Hmmm… Are the stars aligning for one last crack at that Tour record for You Know Who?

road.cc: Come for the latest cycling news, stay for the awesomely (awful?) alliterative headlines:

> Council calms critics’ concerns contraflow cycling could cause confusion and chaos

Though I think our resident headline expert Dan might have got slightly carried away with this one…

A retired school teacher who was cycling around the world to raise money for charity was killed during the devastating earthquake that hit Morocco earlier this month.

71-year-old David Barden, from Oxton, Wirral, died when his hotel in the Atlas Mountains – where he had been staying while riding his bike in the region to raise money for the Red Cross – collapsed on 8 September during the 6.8-magnitute earthquake, which killed more than 2,900 people, the BBC reports.

Since retiring from his job as a teacher at West Kirby Residential School for Special Educational Needs, Mr Barden spent his time cycling around the world raising money for a range of charities.

“My dad was a very restless man and was always busy”, his daughter Sarah said.

“Going back to when he was a teacher, he would take the kids on school trips and cycle with them across Ireland and England. He ran the London Marathon several times and raised money for a number of charities.”

Mr Barden frequently blogged about his cycling trips and in his last post from 7 September, the night before the earthquake, he wrote: “So far on this ride through over 20 countries I’ve enjoyed both setting myself some demanding challenges and getting away from normal routines, where the sequence of the day can be anticipated with few surprises."

“Lengthy, chance conversations hearing people’s life experiences completely outside of my own are always an enriching element of travel.”

> Near Miss of the Day 875: Red-light jumping driver almost hits cyclist, responds with denial and abuse

Cyclist Alex told us: “Police responded that the light was not red so no further action. Very depressing response from Greater Manchester Police. Their exact words were: ‘No further action was taken in relation to this matter. Unfortunately we could not see what the traffic light colour was for the Audi’. I replied to them that the light was red and showed a screen shot. Not heard anything back.”

Speaking of potential mergers, I pity the poor souls tasked with rebranding all of this when the time comes…

Organização da @JumboVismaRoad é qualquer coisa pic.twitter.com/t5XJMnlaZx

— O País Do Ciclismo (@opaisdociclismo) September 25, 2023

A Somerset cycle lane which caused 59 injuries in its first year of use, and was branded a “failed experiment” by Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg earlier this year, is to stay in place as it is after a cross-party group of councillors withdrew its plan to commit the council to investigate works on it.

Read more: > “Optical illusion” cycle lane to stay despite causing 59 injuries in a year