Belgian rider Antoine Demoitié; his team and witnesses say the moto driver whose bike fell on top of him was not to blame and that the collision was a tragic accident.
Just two days after the death of Belgian rider Antoine Demoitié after he crashed and was then hit by a race motorbike at Gent Wevelgem more information about what caused his fatal injuries in emerging.
And according to the deceased rider’s team Wanty-Groupe Gobert and others who witnessed what happened, the moto driver involved was not travelling at speed or driving carelessly.
Wanty-Groupe Gobert has said clearly it does not believe the driver was at fault and did everything he could to prevent hitting Demoitié who was on the ground having just fallen in a crash other riders.
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“This is a tragic accident with a driver who’s been in Belgian cycling races for at least 20 years,” Wanty’s spokesperson José Been, told Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper.
“He is very affected by what happened, just as we all are. This is not a case of collision at high speed. This is a fatal accident; the man tried to brake and fell on Antoine.
"We do stress that this motorbike rider was a very experienced guy and that this was an accident, a very terrible accident but an accident. We do not blame him and it’s not our place to blame him."
Competing at Etoile De Besseges back in February where he was 2nd on the opening stage (Photo: Sirotti)
Sebastiaan Timmerman, a Dutch journalist who saw the incident which proved fatal, has also spoken of what occurred.
“This was just a very unfortunate accident, Antoine Demoitié crashed with several other riders,” he said.
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“An official motorcycle that rode behind them tried to avoid the group of riders, but it went wrong. He crashed and the engine landed on Antoine Demoitié.
“I know the moto rider; he is a very experienced guy. When he came into the tent where I was working, you saw right away that he was greatly upset.
“He came to me and asked if I had news about the rider. It was out of the blue.”
Must tragic circumstances be the marker for change? Please @UCI_cycling @cpacycling your riders need you now! pic.twitter.com/nY3yNaS1Cg
— Michael Rogers (@mickrogers) March 28, 2016
Those who saw the incident say the moto driver was not to blame. But a fatality on a pro race involving a motorbike - especially after a series of recent high profile crashes - has put the spotlight on race vehicles, if only in terms of their sheer numbers, as Michael Rogers highlighted with this tweet.
Another to witness the collision that took the life of the promising 25-year-old rider as Ag2r-La Mondiale directeur Julien Jurdie.
He said the riders were travelling at about 70kmph an estimated 150km into the race as it had entered French territory for a period.
“I saw the guys fall, as if they’d lost their balance, they were just in front of us and went down on the left of the road.
“But in the space of a second I saw a motorbike hit the riders. The motorbike pilot didn’t have time to brake. It was a race official motorbike. They’re there to control the race.
“Everything slowed down and I suspected that it wasn’t an ordinary accident. I immediately noticed that the Belgian rider was in a fetal position, it was terrible.”
“When you see a crash you always hope that the guys are okay but this time you could see it was serious.“
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