Photo: AFP/Luk Benies
I was chatting with another cyclist who made the comment that they liked time trialling because it is about the rider; that you’re on your own. There is no team, no tactics and the chances of you getting taken out by another cyclist are very minimal. If you go down it is because of either your bike or your skill (or lack there of).
Everyone crashes in cycling, it’s just part of it. You try to mitigate that by riding smart, learning about the other riders, getting familiar with the course. But sometimes there is not much you can do.
Mark Cavendish is taken out by Roberto Ferrari in what has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever seen. In a sprint, you are not allowed to come up the inside. This means you must go around the guys in front of you. Sometimes in a race you will see guys sprinting up along the fence meaning other riders can come around only one side. In the video at 40 seconds you can see Roberto Ferrari sweep to his right cutting in front of Mark Cavendish. You can see other riders go down as well, including Taylor Phinney. Make no mistake this was not an “accident” it was reckless endangerment. at 3:45 you can see Ferrari has lots of space on his left hand side but instead crosses the path of two other riders.
These guys are sprinting at 75 km/hour! What is amazing though is the rider in the yellow kit, Farnese Vini’s Elia Favilli, who hops over Cavendish as he is sliding along the road at full sprint. Turns out Ferrari was relegated from 10th place to 192nd, was fined and penalized points. A mere slap on the wrist compared to the scorn the pelaton will give him.