A Belgian cyclist who was spotted by a motorist drafting a truck at 90 kilometres per hour has explained that he was running late for the start of a race.

Niels Reynvoet was seen on the R4 in Evergem, East Flanders behind the truck, as he was on his way to a race in Assenede. Unfortunately for Reynvoet, not only was he seen by the motorist, a police van was also behind him.

Reynvoet was pulled over and reprimanded and also received a fine of €55, not for drafting though, but for cycling on a motorway which cyclists are banned from.

“There’s still nothing dangerous about it,” Reynvoet told HLN.be. “I was a bit late for the race.”

“I wanted to do some extra training that day but I took a wrong turn on the way to Assenede-Boekhoute,” he explained. “I was worried that I would arrive too late. When I was at red lights with that truck I thought him to use him as a lift.”


36 COMMENTS

    • Only rule is to not ride within ?2m? off the back of a vehicle for more than a few hundred metres. I guess that was what they were trying to get at. As a former policeman myself, to book a vehicle for a set speed, the police vehicle must keep a set following distance for 400m in order to write up their speedo as being the same as yours.

    • Liam Hodgkinson yep agreed. Plus it’s illegal in the UK to ride on motorways I believe. You can draft a truck easily back 2m but bloody dangerous since you can’t see any potholes or anything. Balls of steel this bloke!

    • Brendan Marshall Yes in most places it is illegal to ride on motorways, but I did once – was following the bike track up to an intersection, and the bike track ended there, so I thought f*** it, I need to go North, and continued down the on ramp, sprinting my way to the next exit. I did get a few car beeps and saw the flashing red & blues… So I pulled over, and the cop questioned me, but when I told him I was unfamiliar with the area and where is the bike track, he told me I had to cross the flyover and proceed north on the other side. I agreed, and he told me to exit at next opportunity, he followed and that was that

  1. Tricky one this

    Whilst it is obviously very skilful it also makes motorists wrongfully judge all cyclists, he’s going to close pass the next one he sees because of what this bloke is doing.
    Happens all the time with rlj and other outdoors.

      • Trucks don’t stop “suddenly”. When you drive I suggest you remember to leave space in front of trucks and think of them behind you if you stop quickly at traffic lights or you could up being shunted through an amber light.
        I often drafted trucks on Sydney NSW motorways where cyclists are allowed and it’s not that difficult. I stayed to the side behind the wheels so that if the truck braked I could simply swerve left and keep going. But you have to pay close attention & I’ve had trucks slam on their brakes deliberately when they knew I was there & they wanted to “get the cyclist”. It’s also Russian Roulette with road debris that could easily have caused me to crash & die if I had hit something like a piece of timber on the road

  2. Would the air not be very disturbed immediately at the back of the truck. I would thing perhaps staying at least 15 feet back would be better.

    • The air is smoother closer to the truck – say the first 10ft depending on speed & wind. 15ft back is where it’s turbulent.

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