Bristol is the best city in the UK for cycling, new research suggests.
Bristol scored 43.67 out of 100 in a German study, making it the 17th-best city in the world, with 14 points more than London (29.72).
A total of 90 cities worldwide were ranked based on data relating to infrastructure, road quality, accidents and bike-sharing schemes.
Top of the list was Dutch city Utrecht, deemed to have the world’s best cycling infrastructure expenditure while also seeing more than 50 per cent of residents regularly calling on pedal power.
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Second and third in the world, according to bicycle insurance company Coya, are Munster in Germany and Antwerp in Belgium.
Bristol ranked 16th for infrastructure investment, 20th for bike usage percentage and 39th for safety provision, but it performed less well on bike-sharing (63rd).
The best large city in the world was deemed to be Auckland, New Zealand, which beat Hangzhou in China.
Germany is considered the safest country for cycling, with seven of its cities ranking in the top 10, while the USA performs poorly on this measure as it has five of the top 10 cities for bike accidents.
Meanwhile, Johannesburg (South Africa), Casablanca (Morocco) and Medellin (Colombia) all have the highest rate of cycling-related deaths.
Los Angeles was found to have the best weather conditions for cycling due to its low rainfall, hours of sunshine and lack of extreme weather, beating fellow Californian city San Francisco.
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For cycling infrastructure, the Swiss cities of Geneva and Bern came out on top, while French city Nantes scored highest for quality of specialised roads, cycle lanes and highways.
London was ranked 62nd in the world because of its lack of infrastructure, poor road quality and low bike usage.
Coya founder Andrew Shaw said: “It’s fascinating to see the correlation between high bicycle usage and city ranking, as it’s clear that the better the city is for cycling, the more people will ride.
“The fact that the top three cities are in northern Europe reflects the notion that cycling is a way of life in those countries, which has clearly had an impact on the amount of money they’ve invested in it.
“It’s an encouraging representation of the efforts city officials make to improve cycling conditions, and proves that government investment in safety and infrastructure ultimately pays off.”
