Cyclists in the Etoile de Besseges narrowly avoided disaster when a Mini Cooper turned onto the course and came face-to-face with the peloton
European bike racing is back – and with it came the sport’s first nervy moment of the season.
Cyclists were inches away from disaster in Northern France on Thursday afternoon when a Mini Cooper found its way onto the course during the second stage of Etoile de Besseges.
With just 17km to the finish in Marguerittes the peloton was ripping it down country lanes, when TV cameras picked up the Mini turning onto the course. Quickly realising its mistake, the Mini went into reverse and turned back down the road.
However, the car created a bottleneck and as riders swerved and hit the brakes some racers hit the deck. Among them was Red-Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s new super-domestique Maxim Van Gils, who has since abandoned the race and been taken to hospital.
Speaking to cycling journalist Daniel Benson, Red-Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s sports director Heinrich Haussler said the car caused a “domino effect”.
“The whole peloton brakes, and the boys were just coming back from a mechanical, and they were at the back of the peloton. They just rode into the peloton, and Maxim crashed into the ditch.
“In this race, there are cars everywhere, parked on the side of the road, and traffic. It’s dangerous. I’ll ask the other directors what went on because sometimes, in the heat of the moment, guys overreact or something.”
José Been, who was on comms for Eurosport, said: “Somebody has to reverse back off the road in the Mini Cooper… Why? Why? Why? There’s always somebody, isn’t there, who thinks that the roads are owned only by them.
“Luckily that crash didn’t look too scary and too damaging. But imagine you’re travelling at 40-45km/h and all of a sudden a car comes your way.”
It was Uno-X’s Soren Waerenskjold that took the day in the sprint finish, with Paul Maginer holding onto the leaders jersey thanks to his success on the first stage.