Star Metro - Accidents spotlight fear of training in traffic for professional cyclists

In 2023 a series of high profile crashes in races were in the headlines, but training accidents can be worse.

On Monday, seven members of the German track cycling team were mowed down when an 89-year-old motorist in Mallorca lost control on a bend, hospitalising six of them.

In Italy the news was far worse when the 19-year-old Sara Piffer was killed by a motorist driving on the wrong side of the road to overtake another vehicle.

Former Giro d'Italia winner Francesco Moser lives in the same village as the Piffer family and made a call for change.

"We've got to stop this massacre, it's unacceptable. There are far too many tragedies on the roads, far too many deaths. We've got to do something."

Italian cycling has suffered the deaths of two top riders in recent years with Michele Scarponi in 2017 and Davide Rebellin in 2022, both tragically hit by vehicles.

Some 204 cyclists lost their lives in Italy in 2024 while in 2023 there were 226 fatalities in France, one of them a former winner of Paris-Roubaix juniors, and 98 in Belgium.

Belgium is still reeling from the fact its double Olympic road champion Remco Evenepoel was knocked down when a postal worker accidentally opened a door on him as he trained in Brussels, ending in an extended stay in hospital.

Professional cyclists all have this in mind when they embark on a training session, French champion Romain Bardet told AFP.

"I think about it every time I go out. In fact, today I am much more afraid in training than in competition," Bardet told AFP.

"When racing I feel in control of the risks. In training, however, I am at the mercy of motorists and I feel much more vulnerable."

German rider Lennard Kamna had a brush with death in the spring of 2024 when he was hit head-on by a car which had drifted into the left lane, during a training course in Tenerife.

He doesn't remember anything about the accident, but says he was afraid when returning to training.

"Finding myself in traffic, passing cars was very unpleasant for a few weeks. It passed but I became much more careful," he says.

Ineos's Tour de France and Giro d'Italia winning cyclist Egan Bernal hit a bus and almost died when training in Colombia and has struggled to hit top form since.

His former mentor, four time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, asked AFP at the time "Where do you know near you which is really safe to train for professional bike races?"

F.T. Michaud--SMC