road? There are loads of 3/4 standard riders who don't do stupid stuff - why deny them that enjoyment? They clearly felt that the police actually compromised the safety of the riders. From members of our club that participated in the race I hear this was also the view of other cyclists and the ambulance driver that accompanied the Marshalls at this event. Whilst I was not there, our club did help Marshall an event on the same circuit in May and we encountered unnecessary hostility from drivers and locals, eg. not stopping when being asked to wait 30 seconds at a junction for the peloton to pass. I am not condoning cyclists that break traffic laws (such as crossing an unbroken white line) or put themselves or others in unnecessary danger during a race. They should be disqualified from the race immediately. However I have the impression there was some strong lobbying of the police from local NIMBYs. Some of the comments accompanying this article are pretty thoughtless: 1. If you restrict road races to U23 or Cat 1s you will immediately cut off all grass roots support. These races are supported by volunteers why should they give up time to assist in events with such restricted access? 2. If all races under Cat 1 or Elite level had to be on closed circuits that would be the quickest way to kill any interest - imagine 80 laps of HogHill! 3. Why is it people seem to assume all