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Usually when
riders crash in races they hit the deck and jump up immediately to assess the
damage to their bike, then their kit and then themselves. But not in this case.
In what was one
of the more bizarre race incidents we’ve seen, two riders from the Ag2r Citroën
U23 team were in a breakaway with a rival.
A dog ran out
towards the group, with the rider on the back crashing – sort of. Rather than
hit the ground, he somehow grabbed onto the rider in front of him and hung on
to him until he almost came to a stop.
That rugby tackle
move was completely accidental, of course. You couldn’t do it on purpose if you
tried.
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The lead rider, Ag2r’s Paul Lapeira, was the first to swerve to avoid hitting the dog. He was unaffected by the crash and he ploughed on in the breakaway alone.
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His team mate, Valentin Retailleau, managed to stay on his feet and avoided any injury by using his rival just ahead of him to hold on to tightly. However, he not only held back Lorenzo Balestra (Beltrami) and slowed him right down, but also damaged his bike.
Balestra was clearly not happy at being taken out of the breakaway and suffering a mechanical as a result of the rugby tackle-style move. The Italian can be seen gesturing angrily when he realises he has a mechanical issue due to the incident.
However, while the strange turn of events left Lapeira to press on alone in the breakaway in the Italian race, Trofeo Sportivi Sestesi, he was eventually caught by the chasing group with about 12km to go.
In the end, all three riders involved in the incident exchanged messages on social media after the race and were able to see the funny side.
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