From Newsgroup: rec.bicycles.tech
On 8/17/2026 6:29 PM, AMuzi wrote:
On 8/17/2026 4:46 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:
NFN Smith <worldoff9908@gmail.com> wrote:
AMuzi wrote:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/articles/ceqed1g3j48o
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/british-cyclist-finlay-tarling-
dies-aged-19-after-crash-at-volta-a-portugal-as-stage-8-neutralised
Not a closed course?
Only partially closed.
I saw more description at either CyclingNews or VeloNews that indicated
that Tour of Portugal doesn't have fully closed roads, and that the race >>> is essentially in a "bubble" that's supposed to end with the broom wagon >>> at the back.
Apparently, Tarling was off the back of the race (but ahead of the broom >>> wagon), and pushing hard to reconnect (presumably to avoid being
eliminated by time cut-off). In the meantime, the motorist asked
"somebody" (but not a race official), who indicated that the road was
open.
Smith
ThatrCOs essentially what the Tour of Britain does, with police closing
road
some 30mins before the race comes through and closing it 30mins or so
after. Will depend on the location, in some places you can cross on
foot or
bike, easily in others its via a race volunteer, or not at all.
ItrCOs how I watched them tear up the Blorange (large Welsh hill) and then >> loop around the Blorange to watch the finish and have Burger and
coffee at
Keepers pond last year.
The Tour will be coming through next year but that will be busier and
much
more controlled be the Welsh Valleys than the Beacons or at least the are
where I want to watch anyway!
Roger Merriman
When I was young visiting Britain, races such as Milk Race and the local time trials were all on open roads with the occasional guard/flagman/ volunteer here and there. It was explained to me at that time that
English law forbade closing the public way for a sporting event. Is that
yet true?
For the long point-to-point races the most you get is a "Rolling
Enclosure" where the road is closed for the period of time that the
offical race 'enclosure' is on the that particular section. I beleive
this is the way the Tour of Portugal was suppsed to be run. It should
have remained closed until the last official race vehicle passed. Even
for Le Tour, the road is closed from the time when the pre-race parade
comes by until the last support vehicle passes. Dem's da rules. Full
road enclosures in which the road is closed during the entire race event
are for circuit races and criteriums (the US kind). A good example is
the last stage of this years Tour, where to lead-in to the circuit had
the rolling enclosure but the circuit had the full closure.
The vast majority of amateur races in the US have the "yellow line" rule
in which the riders are not allowed to cross into the incoming lane
except in the case of criteriums (again, the US kind). It's not uncommon
in the US during a road race to be passed by non-race vehicles behind
the pack.
There is a local Training crit here in the Boston area that's been going
on since before I started racing in the 80's.
https://www.newenglanddevo.org/wells-ave
On race days they make the road 1-way and have marshals stationed at the driveways where the business are open with a cop stationed at the
entrance to the park. the marshal is supposed to wait until the pack
goes by before letting the car onto the course, following the pack.
There are no 'race vehicles'.
I've done the race probably over 100 times over the years, and there
have been a few incidents where a driver came out going the wrong way,
but I was never there when there were any incidents of a rider getting
hit. I vividly remember an impatient driver at one event decades ago
where he passed the pack pedal to the floor, only to be stopped by the
cop who had heard the engine race and saw the car pass us then head
right for him. He stopped and the cop held him there for a while.
"patience, grasshopper".
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