There were some scary moments during the French junior women’s road race championship when the team car clipped one of the breakaway riders, causing them both to hit the deck.
A conversation with the breakaway goes south
Amandine Muller from Grand Est and Célia Gery from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes were leading the race together when her team car approached Gery. The directeur sportif wanted to have a conversation with her with 30 km remaining in the 81.9-km race.
While the driver spoke with the rider, the front left of the car accidentally grazed Muller’s rear wheel, causing her to crash onto the road instantly. Gery subsequently collided into her.
It could have been much worse. Thankfully the car stopped and didn’t run over the two cyclists. Also thankfully, they didn’t seem to be too badly injured. Both riders remounted and went on to take gold and silver. Gery beat Muller by 3:42; Amalia Debarges (Lyon Sprint Evolution) took the bronze.
Directeurs in cars hitting cyclists
It doesn’t happen often, but this is not the first time a team car has clipped a rider. That’s what happened to UAE’s Mavi Garcia during Stage 4 of the 2022 Tour de France Femmes.
The Spanish national champion was hit by her car toward the end of the race, which included several gravel sections and plenty of crashes. Garcia had already had a rough day, having had to chase back on after two flats. After the fall, she couldn’t catch back onto the lead group, finishing 33rd, losing 3:11.
Pieter Serry hit by BikeExchange team car on final climb of the Giro d’Italia’s sixth stage
During the closing kilometres of the sixth stage of the 2021 Giro d’Italia, Pieter Serry from Deceuninck-QuickStep was hit by the BikeExchange team car driver. The alarming and unforeseen incident startled spectators. Fortunately, Serry escaped without any significant injuries.
CPA weighs in
After the crash, the cyclist union head Adam Hansen weighed in. “We will watch this final outcome of the DS very closely,” he posted on X. “I hope whatever the outcome is, he realizes a car can be a weapon in the wrong hands.”
You can check out the sketchy incident below:
Amandine Muller (Grand Est) et Célia Gery (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) ont été accidentellement heurtées par le véhicule de l’équipe Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, au 31ᵉ kilomètre de la course féminine U19 des championnats de cyclisme de l’avenir 2024https://t.co/tQH29yyWZk pic.twitter.com/7LHxwEACmO
— France 3 Alsace…
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