Accident in belgium
Found this article on cycling news;
Five British riders hit by car in Belgium
Friday, 7 May 2010
Five British women's national team riders were injured this morning after being involved in a collision with a car on a training ride in Belgium.
As a result of the accident that happened at approximately 10:30 this morning, Hannah Mayho is being treated for a broken femur, arm and wrist.
Fellow Academy riders Lucy Martin and Katie Colclough also went down in the accident. Martin suffered a crushed vertebrae while Colclough has been treated for concussion.
Emma Trott and Sarah Reynolds were also out riding with the team. According to Great Britain team manager Simon Cope, Trott has a broken collarbone "and looks like she's gone through ten rounds with Tyson". Sarah Reynolds got off the lightest with a split chin.
"Basically the whole academy squad has been wiped out by a car," summarised Cope. "They were descending a hill between Oudenaarde and Brakel when it pulled out from the left."
Mayho, who was on the front of the group, is thought to have taken the brunt of the impact from the side. She is now scheduled to go into surgery this afternoon to have her leg pinned.
The accident echoes an incident in July 2005 when six members of the Australian women's team were hit by a car while training in Germany. This saw 19 year old Amy Gillett lose her life.
"The good thing in this instance is that they're all alive," said Cope. "If it happened in England you wouldn't be surprised. You don't expect that to happen here in Belgium, though. Everyone's so bike friendly and everywhere is geared up for bike riding and bike racing."
Cope explained that the riders had been out on a three hour steady ride prior to ramping up preparation for the Tour l'Aude which starts next Friday.
World Champion Nicole Cooke was the only regular member of the team not present on today's outing. Although based in Switzerland, she does frequently join the Academy riders at their European base in Oudenaarde.
"At a different time she might have been out," said Cope. "I often ride with them too, but today I stayed at the office to plan for the Tour l'Aude. Obviously that's in jeopardy now. We don't have the volume of riders to replace the team."
Sounds horrific
Five British riders hit by car in Belgium
Friday, 7 May 2010
Five British women's national team riders were injured this morning after being involved in a collision with a car on a training ride in Belgium.
As a result of the accident that happened at approximately 10:30 this morning, Hannah Mayho is being treated for a broken femur, arm and wrist.
Fellow Academy riders Lucy Martin and Katie Colclough also went down in the accident. Martin suffered a crushed vertebrae while Colclough has been treated for concussion.
Emma Trott and Sarah Reynolds were also out riding with the team. According to Great Britain team manager Simon Cope, Trott has a broken collarbone "and looks like she's gone through ten rounds with Tyson". Sarah Reynolds got off the lightest with a split chin.
"Basically the whole academy squad has been wiped out by a car," summarised Cope. "They were descending a hill between Oudenaarde and Brakel when it pulled out from the left."
Mayho, who was on the front of the group, is thought to have taken the brunt of the impact from the side. She is now scheduled to go into surgery this afternoon to have her leg pinned.
The accident echoes an incident in July 2005 when six members of the Australian women's team were hit by a car while training in Germany. This saw 19 year old Amy Gillett lose her life.
"The good thing in this instance is that they're all alive," said Cope. "If it happened in England you wouldn't be surprised. You don't expect that to happen here in Belgium, though. Everyone's so bike friendly and everywhere is geared up for bike riding and bike racing."
Cope explained that the riders had been out on a three hour steady ride prior to ramping up preparation for the Tour l'Aude which starts next Friday.
World Champion Nicole Cooke was the only regular member of the team not present on today's outing. Although based in Switzerland, she does frequently join the Academy riders at their European base in Oudenaarde.
"At a different time she might have been out," said Cope. "I often ride with them too, but today I stayed at the office to plan for the Tour l'Aude. Obviously that's in jeopardy now. We don't have the volume of riders to replace the team."
Sounds horrific
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Comments
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Four of the injured five were just back from taking part in the Gracia Orlova stage race in the Czech Republic where Emma Trott won the TT stage and Cooke had four podiums in the road stages and finished third overall (Vos was a monster).
As a young group of riders they seemed to be making good progress this season in the World Cup races and I was looking forward to see them compete in the longer Tour de l'Aude. Fingers crossed for a swift recovery.0 -
uhhhffffff"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0
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I heard about this earlier and, thinking back to the terrible incident with the Australian women's team in Germany a few years back, feared the worst. Thankfully it sounds like none of the injuries are life threatening.
I wish all the injured women a speedy and complete recovery.0 -
Terrible, just terrible.
Best wishes to them all for a quick recovery, physically and psychologically.0 -
How the hell does a car run into 5 cyclists ...0
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I guess it pulled out of a junction without looking, abd if you are descending, let's say 30mph minimum it would be pretty easy to brake slightly late, even worse if they were single file, still pretty shi**y it happened at all really0
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Best wishes to all involved........sounds like it could have been much worse.
......and yet I find Belgian cycle lanes pretty scary to ride on (and I think by law you must use them rather than the road where they run parallel). I don't think they are designed for the speed of racing bikes, more like shopping bikes.shakey88 wrote:You don't expect that to happen here in Belgium, though. Everyone's so bike friendly and everywhere is geared up for bike riding and bike racing."
Generally, Belgian drivers are very considerate, but having driven over there as well, you need eyes in the back of your head at times with cycle lanes crossing motorway slip roads etc.0
