Blitz on rogue cyclists is hailed by deputy mayor

Excellent. More fines for law-breaking cyclists

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.u...ail/story.html

A politician has welcomed a police crackdown which saw 16 cyclists fined for
riding along Leicester's New Walk.

Deputy city mayor Rory Palmer said this week's operation on the historic
walkway should remind cyclists a bylaw prohibits riding there.

He said: "Cyclists need to be aware it is an offence to cycle on New Walk
and it could land them with a fine.

"We are working to improve cycling provision in the city and offer free
cycle training for adults, to help them confidently ride on our city
streets."

Sixteen cyclists received £30 fines between 8am and 4pm on Tuesday, the
Mercury reported yesterday.

Sgt Andy Cox, of city centre police, said: "We have had a growing number of
complaints from pedestrians detailing how cyclists have been causing danger
to other users."

QUOTE:
Tom Boonen of Omega Pharma-Quick Step has become only the fifth man to
win the Tour of Flanders three times, winning by a bike length from
Pippo Pozzato of Farnese Vini with BMC Racing's Alessandro Ballan
third. Pozzato and Boonen had been the only riders able to follow
Ballan's attack on the third and final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont,
the trio building what had become an unassailable lead over the
chasing bunch as they enterd the final five kilometres. Fabian
Cancellara, alongside Boonen the big favourite for today's race,
crashed in the feed zone with 62 kilometres left to ride, reaking his
collarbone and leaving him out of next week's Paris-Roubaix.

After four decades of the race ending in Meerbeke, with the Muur van
Geraardsbergen often proving decisive in the final kilometres, this
year’s 96th edition of the race saw finish switched to Oudenaarde. The
closing third of the 255 kilometre parcours saw the double combination
of the Oude Kwaaremont and Paterberg tackled three times. It was on
the third ascent of the Oude Kwaremont that Ballan, winner of the race
in 2007, made the move that would decide the podium as Pozzato and
Boonen bridged across.

The BMC Racing rider, in the news this week due to the potential
charges he faces as a result of the Mantova doping investigation in
Italy, led his two rivals over the sixteenth and final climb of the
day, the Paterberg, where the gradient hits 20 per cent. Behind,
Liquigas-Cannondale's Peter Sagan tried desperately to bridge across,
as Katusha's Luca Paolini had earlier tried to do, but the Slovak
found himself in no-man's-land as the trio ahead streched out their
lead.

Boonen, Pozzato and Ballan had been among 11 riders who had avoided a
crash at the start of the penultimate climb of the Paterberg, with a
little under 40 kilometres left. Although the main group came back
together before the final climbs of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg,
with Team Sky leading the chase, that meant that those three riders
perhaps had less tired legs than most as one of the toughest of all
races approached its denouement.

Sagan's pursuit of the three leaders on the last climb of the
Paterberg proved in vain, and with 10 kilometres left they had a lead
of nearly half a minute, doubling that over the next five kilometres.
The make-up of the podium was settled, if not the steps those three
riders would occupy.

Ballan led the trio under the flamme rouge, but Boonen and Pozzato
were always going to e stronger in the sprint, the Belgian going early
and just holding off Pozzato to cross the line first to win the race
for the third time.

Cancellara’s exit from the race with more than 60 kilometres still to
ride had changed its complexion entirely; it was no longer a case of
shadowing the RadioShack-Nissan man and waiting for him to make his
inevitable move.

The Swiss rider had earlier suffered a puncture and had also been
forced to change bikes later on, but he was still in the main bunch as
it headed through the feed zone some 63km out. Reports suggested that
a musette had got tangled up in his wheel, sending the Swiss rider
over the handlebars.

Helicopter shots showed Cancellara lying near motionless on the
ground, surrounded by concerned team mates and soon after by a throng
of spectators on a day when safety was under the spotlight, TV
pictures showing a succession of near-misses involving team cars as
they sought to avoid street furniture and spectators, causing riders
to swerve out of their way.

It was an incident involving a fan that ended the race of one of the
men considered to be an outside tip for today’s race, Sebastian
Langeveld of GreenEdge.

With a little under 50 kilometres still to race shortly after the last
ten riders of an earlier 15-man breakaway had been caught, the Dutch
rider chose, as often happens in racing in the Low Countries, to jump
off the main carriageway onto an adjacent segregated cycle bath as the
peloton headed through one of the small towns that dot the route .

Panicking, a spectator – who aerial shots suggested would have been
safer staying put – tried to move out of Langeveld’s way, but instead
clipped him, the GreeEdge man falling heavily, his bike flying through
the air, with Pozzato using superb bike-handling skills to avoid the
prostrate Dutchman.

Following the end of the race, RadioShack-Nissan confirmed that
Cancellara had suffered a triple fracture of the right collarbone.
Treated in the aftermath of his crash at the hospital in Oudenaarde,
he is being transferred to Basel in Switzerland to undergo surgery.


http://road.cc/content/news/56103-to...-third-victory

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Simon Mason