Following his disqualification from the Tour Down Under for drafting behind team cars after he was caught in a crash 55km from the end of stage 1, James Knox has called out a conflict between UCI rules and rider safety.
The Briton had undergone a concussion check following his crash, which was among a spate of falls throughout the peloton during the stage, and then had to stop again to change bikes. However, UCI commissaires at the race then disqualified him for drafting team cars in a bid to make his way back to the peloton.
Writing on Twitter on Thursday morning, Knox laid out the chain of events that led up to his disqualification during the 150km stage in Tanunda, saying that the UCI commissaires at the race prevented him from racing back to the peloton after his two stoppages.
“As some of you may have seen, I was disqualified from the first stage of Tour Down Under. I crashed hard at 55km to go and required a medical assessment from my team doctor to make sure that no bones were broken and more importantly, that I was not concussed,” Knox wrote.
“After remounting, I realised my handlebar was broken and needed to stop again and change onto my spare bike. The race situation at this moment was settled after the intermediate sprint, but the commissaire refused to let me stay behind the car for more than a couple of kilometres.
“The exact reasons for this I’m not entirely sure. My only ambition was to rejoin the back of the convoy, or at a minimum, to the other crashed riders ahead of me.
“Hoping to continue in a race I’ve travelled around the world to partake in and still has four days remaining, I watched from behind, as other crashed riders were allowed to stay behind their cars to rejoin the race as you would expect. I have to accept my own responsibility for the mistakes I made after this.”
Knox went on to say that he was left to ride alone in the convoy without any information about the race situation and then took a draft from some cars in an attempt to get back on.
He noted that, given how his situation ended up, he was effectively made to choose between getting checked over for a potential concussion and getting back on the bike as quickly as possible to resume the race.
“On my own with no information given about time gaps or time cuts, I took some draft from a couple of soigneur cars, who were leaving the final feed, for a few kilometres,” Knox continued.
“I was seen doing so and disqualified for this. It seems clear to me if cycling is going [to]…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…