Apologies if this has been posted but i couldn’t find it anywhere. (And a further apology for the link to the Daily Express)

Farmers with sticks attack cyclists in Tour o’ the Borders.

I dunno bout you but if i was hit with a stick in a sanctioned race i think there is a fairly high chance i would retaliate by weeing in shoes or owning with bombers.

You’d be more lilkely to retaliate by posting here. Probably starting of by apologising.

😆

Bloody knew Sportives were races!

Didn’t see this on the route or hear anything about it until it was in the media. Might be wrong but not convinced anyone actually got “attacked”.

Good bike race* though.

*it definitely wasn’t a race.

*it definitely wasn’t a race.

That’s what everyone says when they get dropped on the first climb 😆

I’m struggling to get too excited by this.

This is exactly why cyclists are more bad tempered than canoeists.

I’m struggling to get too excited by this.

Well no, getting excited by being softly beaten by an old man with a stick is probably a whole other forum

Well. I’m getting excited by this…..Because I am actually in the VIDEO!* Wow. National press.
Other than that it was as undramatic as it looks on the video although it might have kicked off a bit behind me. Object lesson in how the media reports exaggerate even if they don’t actually lie.
* Clue: I am not wearing a flat cap.

Thrashed! Hit! Beaten!

Roadies really are a sensitive bunch. A couple old men standing trying to block a road in protest at the timing of the event and you’d think they were a couple ‘roid raging bouncers laying into cyclists with weapons.

Fife it was actually the second climb when I got dropped so the joke’s on you 😉

From what I read it sounds more like a protest than an attack.

Any locals know how much info was given to local businesses about the closure? Advance notice? For farmers to suddenly find you can’t move stock can be a serious issue.

Absolutely loads of consultation and comms. Otherwise Farmer Palmer & his mate wouldn’t have known to be there. They have already moved the date to accommodate local concerns. Just a case of “Get awwwf my road”

Aye, I saw this, with the usual hyperbole being presented on both sides…

That being said, I read that the farmers harvest was being disrupted, and although IANAF, I believe you time the harvest around the weather, not whatever local closed road bike race mass participation event is being held on the day?

It’s a tricky one, I kind of sympathise with the farmers if they are telling the truth, but wouldn’t want this to be the death knell of sportives in the area. Perhaps running it closed road just isn’t practical during harvest season?

What harvest – I thought it was all stick round there? If they mean silage that’s hardly time critical.

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/news/charges-dropped-against-farmers-accused-of-hitting-borders-cyclists-with-sticks-1-4804675