UK
Cycling race forced to change route due to Wales’s default 20mph limit
A cycling race has been forced to change its route due to the default 20mph speed limit in Wales.
The Junior Tour of Wales, which gets under way on Friday, will welcome more than a hundred cyclists.
Organisers say some riders could even feature in future Tours de France or Olympic Games.
But the planned route for this year’s race has had to be changed over fears support vehicles would not be able to keep up with the bicycles without speeding.
The default speed limit in Wales’s built-up areas was reduced to 20mph last September. The Welsh government predicts it will save up to 100 lives and 20,000 casualties in the first decade.
But it faced significant opposition, including a record-breaking petition.
The Welsh government has since announced a review, with some roads expected to change back to 30mph as soon as next month.
Ben Marsh wins stage four of the 2023 tour. Pic: Graffika Photogarphy
‘Impact on cycle racing’
Race organiser Richard Hopkins told Sky News that support vehicles being unable to keep up causes “a safety problem”.
The decision was made three weeks ago, when plans to temporarily vary the speed limit on the race route fell through.
“We’d known ever since the 20mph came in that there was going to be an impact on cycle racing,” he said.
“And to be fair, the Welsh government and Welsh Cycling knew that as well and they started responding very early on and started putting a plan together that would give us a legal speed limit change that was temporary and would literally be enforced for the duration of the bike race.”
While the speed variation was not possible for this year’s race, Mr Hopkins hopes it will be possible by next year.
“I think one of the problems with it this year is it’s a very new thing for [the Welsh government] in legal terms to draft a traffic order that varies the speed limit upwards,” he added.
“Because normally, this kind of thing, it’s what they use in road works when the speed limit drops.”
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‘Knock-on effect’
The default speed limit “potentially impacts every bike race” in the country, according to Mr Hopkins.
“The specific problem the Junior Tour has is that this is the longest and most complex race held in Wales on an annual basis and therefore by definition the longer your route is, the more you’re likely to be impacted,” he added.
“We fully accept that 20mph has some safety benefits. The issue we have here, and that they accepted, is that there’s a knock-on effect for cycle racing and cycle racing is also something the Welsh government wants to support.”
A Welsh government spokesperson said the priority for any race was to ensure its safety for “all participants and other road users”.
“We have worked with the race organisers to develop various options to ensure the race can go ahead,” they added.
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Beicio Cymru, cycling’s governing body in Wales, said the default limit had “benefitted certain aspects of cycling” but acknowledged it had “impacted road racing”.
Solutions were unable to be implemented in time for this year’s race “due to the complexity of the required adjustments”.