Tom Pidcock has suggested TT bikes, especially given the acute riding positions they now involve, have become very dangerous for training on the open roads in the wake of Egan Bernal’s crash.
The Colombian rider hit the back of a bus that had pulled into the roadside. He crashed on Monday during a team training camp in Colombia. Bernal was on his TT bike at the time, riding ahead of the others in the group. Local media reports have estimated his speed at 60km per hour just before the crash.
Today news emerged that a second Ineos Grenadiers rider on the Colombian camp, Brando Rivera, had also crashed. He is now being treated in the same hospital where Bernal is in ICU having suffered a series of injuries, including breaking his femur and kneecap on his right leg. Today Rivera suffered a fractured and dislocated elbow and also dislocated his AC joint.
Advertisement
Speaking to the BBC ahead of the UCI World Cyclocross Championships in Arkansas this weekend, Pidcock questioned if TT bikes and training on public roads were a good mix.
Related News
“Positions are getting more and more extreme and we spend more time trying to hold these positions,” he said of road training on TT bikes. “You don't necessarily see where you're going.
“It's evident now where it's getting quite dangerous. I don't think we need to stop progressing, but think about how we can train in a safer way and try and mitigate these crashes.”
He also pointed to the frequency of crashes on TT bikes, saying he had been the victim of such a fall last year, as had Ben Turner, his Team GB team mate for the Worlds this weekend.
“I crashed on a time trial bike, Ben crashed on a time trial bike. Egan's now crashed – it’s getting quite extreme, the position. I think that’s the biggest causes of the crashes recently."
