Video: Rider almost killed in race by truck; organisers blame his team
This is just about as close as it gets. Incredibly the truck missed him and he kept going in his TT. Philip Lavery was leading the race but lost the yellow jersey today.
When South African rider Rohan du Plooy posted an online message earlier today saying he was "grateful to be alive", one look at the video accompanying the message shows he wasn't exaggerating.
He called the incident "probably my closest call ever". But if he's had closer than this in the past he’s one lucky man.
He was riding the 26.3km TT stage of the Tour of Good Hope in South Africa.
Irishman Philip Lavery was defending the race leader’s yellow jersey after winning the open stage yesterday.
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The Dubliner would lose the lead to the fastest man against the clock today; U23 African TT champion Stefan de Bod.
However, the 20-year-old Dimension Data rider’s win – by 44 seconds on the runner up and 1:28 on the man in 3rd – was not the biggest talking point of the day.
Instead it was Team Giant’s du Plooy’s near miss in the clip below.
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For their part, the race organisers said the roads were not closed to traffic - as the race is an amateur one - and that the rider's team car should have kept him safe.
The organisers issued a statement saying they wanted "to give some perspective on the incident involving Rohan du Plooy".
"In the video that is circulating on social media the rider can be seen narrowly avoiding a collision with a truck," the statement said.
"Unfortunately, some members of the public are criticising the organisers for the situation."
"The roads are open to normal traffic and the rider should never have moved into the right-hand lane with the impending left-hand turn coming up.
"It is the responsibility of the support vehicle to ensure the safety of the rider. And hence to take all necessary steps to improve situations that could impact on the rider’s safety.
"In this regrettable situation, with the truck coming from behind, the onus was on the rider’s support team/vehicle to protect him from traffic that could lead to a dangerous situation.
"The correct procedure would’ve been to stay in the left-hand lane to block the truck from catching up and crossing the path of the rider before his impending left turn.
"There was no way that the driver of the truck would’ve known that the rider was about to turn across the left lane from the right-hand lane.
"Four marshals were on duty at the turn and there was nothing that they could have done to avoid the situation.
We would like to reiterate that we have taken all the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of the riders and have ticked all the boxes that are required of an event of this nature."
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