Gilbert gets into a punch up...

pottssteve
pottssteve Posts: 4,069
edited April 2016 in Pro race
BMC press release:

"Philippe Gilbert has undergone surgery on a fractured finger sustained during training on Friday, BMC Racing Team announced today.

Gilbert was training with Loïc Vliegen in Belgium when the two riders were targeted by two intoxicated men in a car. One of the men stepped out of the car and acted aggressively towards Vliegen and Gilbert, fracturing Gilbert's middle finger on his left hand in the process.

BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Doctor Max Testa gave the following update.

"Philippe was taken to hospital and underwent surgery to have five pins inserted to secure three small fractures in his middle finger. He is otherwise fine but will need to take a day or two off the bike," Dr Testa said.

"After the weekend we should have a better idea of the impact this will have on his Ardennes Classics campaign, but at this stage he should be fine to race. Luckily Loïc was not injured in the altercation."

"I'm not feeling too bad at all. More than anything I am shocked that this happened as you don't expect anything like this to take place when you head out for a training ride," Gilbert explained.

It is understood that the two men were arrested by Belgian police at the time of the incident."

Not helpful for riding on cobbles....

Steve
Head Hands Heart Lungs Legs

Comments

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,582
    Sounds like commuting in London
  • BMC not having a good time of it in Belgium this April? Did they not say white rabbits at the start of the month?
  • The_Boy
    The_Boy Posts: 3,099
    pottssteve wrote:

    Gilbert was training with Loïc Vliegen in Belgium when the two riders were targeted by two intoxicated men in a car. One of the men stepped out of the car and acted aggressively towards Vliegen and Gilbert, fracturing Gilbert's middle finger on his left hand in the process.

    That sounds like one of those "he headbutted my hand, your honour" type euphemisms.
    Team My Man 2018: David gaudu, Pierre Latour, Romain Bardet, Thibaut pinot, Alexandre Geniez, Florian Senechal, Warren Barguil, Benoit Cosnefroy
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,582
    The_Boy wrote:
    pottssteve wrote:

    Gilbert was training with Loïc Vliegen in Belgium when the two riders were targeted by two intoxicated men in a car. One of the men stepped out of the car and acted aggressively towards Vliegen and Gilbert, fracturing Gilbert's middle finger on his left hand in the process.

    That sounds like one of those "he headbutted my hand, your honour" type euphemisms.

    Like the Belgians would side against their most recent world champ after he was started on by drunkards....
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,240
    I sincerely hope the counter-part needs some dental work... well done to Gilbert!
    left the forum March 2023
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    Sounds like he was attacked...

    http://d2ride.co.uk/Copied-News-and-Blog.php
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,582
    Driver gets upset when bikes hold him up, gives some lip, regrets it, cries to mummy.
  • philbar72
    philbar72 Posts: 2,229
    gets pepper sprayed. Gilbert could go to Jail! sensational stuff.
  • AK_jnr
    AK_jnr Posts: 717
    Haha jeez these rowdy cyclists! He is allowed to carry in Nice. Wonder how many others have been on the receiving end!
  • Wait, Phil Gil routinely carries pepper spray on training rides?
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

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  • Garry H
    Garry H Posts: 6,639
    Wait, Phil Gil routinely carries pepper spray on training rides?

    He needs to. From the above it sounds like he doesn't know how to punch properly.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,812
    Pinched from VR:-
    While acknowledging that he hadn't seen what happened earlier Henri Bredo, a resident of Theux who was moving house at the time, told La Meuse what he saw of the fight in the town centre:

    "I saw these cyclists in an extremely worked up state, banging on a car, then opening the door and trying to pull the driver out of it. Fists were flying in all directions."

    The passenger of the car, who was the driver's brother, got out of the car and the fight exploded. [A deliberately convoluted French sentence follows describing punches to the face without saying who was throwing them but the allusion is to Gilbert because he missed a few and hit the car, which probably explains the broken finger - L'arri]. Then Philippe Gilbert pulled out a canister to spray the two men.

    "At that point, I didn't know he was Gilbert. I just saw the BMC jerseys," says the witness. "When I found out later, I couldn't believe it. Then Gilbert's brother, who was in the newspaper, said he often carried this aerosol thing with him when out training."

    [Bredo] intervened to stop the fight. "I told them: stop all this now, it's over the top. Then they pushed me. At that moment, a bar owner came out to calm things down." This person also got pepper sprayed but he does not intend to lodge a complaint with the authorities.

    "To me the reaction of the cyclists was a bit exaggerated, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm a fan of Gilbert," claims Bredo, "When I saw these two riders going for the driver, I don't know what happened before that. I reckon there was certainly something, some spark, for Philippe Gilbert to go off like that."
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  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,812
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.