A big crash towards the end of yesterday’s Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia in Genoa was caused by a man on a bike who rode onto the course of the race, according to Trek Factory Racing rider Eugenio Alafaci.
In a post on Facebook following the stage, Alafaci said: “If I get hold of the dickhead that had the bright idea of jumping into the peloton on a fixie with 10km to go, making us crash, I swear he’d be in for it.”
Although the incident itself wasn’t caught on TV cameras, it was filmed by spectator Francesco Cordua, who was watching the race from across the road.
At around 10 seconds in, you can see the cyclist – who does not appear to have been identified – ride off the seafront promenade and onto the road, emerging from behind a hedge.
(Warning – the video has a rather sweary voiceover).
The crash split the peloton, and among those left behind was AG2R’s Domenico Pozzovivo, who lost more than a minute to his rivals for the overall.
Among the riders brought down was IAM’s Heinrich Haussler, who had been involved in a separate crash minutes beforehand, and Alafaci’s team mate, Marco Coledan, who lost a lot of skin in the incident.
Both he and Alafaci confirmed what had happened to media after the stage.
40 thoughts on “Video: Huge crash at Giro d’Italia caused by “dickhead” fixie rider who joined peloton”
what a prat
what a prat
WTF!
somehow it really
WTF!
somehow it really doesn’t surprise me that someone would ride straight off a pavement without looking.
Crazy, I hope they find him
Crazy, I hope they find him and he can face some consequence for his actions.
Snipers. It’s the only
Snipers. It’s the only solution.
abudhabiChris wrote:Snipers.
I laughed more than I probably should have to that =))
Bloody Hipsters
Bloody Hipsters
Just occasionally, people do
Just occasionally, people do things which really, really, should legally permit the injured parties to administer a good hiding.
Is it likely that race
Is it likely that race organisers would cancel any time gaps as it happened pretty near to the end of the race? Especially as it’s so close to the start of the 3 weeks that there’s plenty of time for gaps to occur, I’d rather see people gain/lose time through racing rather than an accident.
RobD wrote:Is it likely that
I’d normally say that unfortunately racing is racing and crashes are a part of that, but in this case somebody outside of the race has caused the crash. It may have been poor judgement, perhaps he thought the race was going to come down the other carriageway on the other side of that central reservation maybe.
Or perhaps he’s been given a few quid to disrupt the race, anyone checked the sport betting in Italy for the day?
See, this is what happens
See, this is what happens when you let hipsters run free. A sensible chap on a bike with gears and it wouldn’t have happened. Ban fixed wheels, tapered skinny fit jeans, those silly ear lobe stretching ear rings, overtly groomed beards and deck shoes and we can prevent this type of stupidity occurring again.
Simmo72 wrote:See, this is
Glad you can identify him. I would not have got all that from the information in that video.
I’ve heard others talking about a black Muslim man chanting the Koran, so am glad you know who is to blame. We wouldn’t want to jump to conclusions just because of the size of a man’s beard now would we…..
Colin Peyresourde
I was reading that in humour tags myself, YMMV clearly…
Simmo72 wrote:See, this is
Actually, if you look at this video that is slowed and zoomed, you can see that he freewheels up to when he lifts the cordon
https://youtu.be/NnVuRwjfaG8
Confirmation bias much?
zanf wrote:Simmo72 wrote:See,
Actually, if you look at this video that is slowed and zoomed, you can see that he freewheels up to when he lifts the cordon
https://youtu.be/NnVuRwjfaG8
Confirmation bias much?— Simmo72
I think it’s Lance
zanf wrote:Simmo72 wrote:See,
Actually, if you look at this video that is slowed and zoomed, you can see that he freewheels up to when he lifts the cordon
https://youtu.be/NnVuRwjfaG8
Confirmation bias much?— Simmo72
that video clears things up a bit more – he obviously realised what the cordon was for at the last minute as he tries to swerve back out of the way of the impeding peleton…
I still hate hipsters and their fixies! 😀
allgearnoidea wrote:I still
I, and several people at my club ride fixed gear as commuter bikes, and all of us are the antithesis of any definition I have heard of ‘hipsters’.
The intellectual laziness surrounding the ‘hipster’ label, and hatred towards it, is perturbing. It is banded around so much now that when anyone says “I hate hipsters blah blah blah”, they just sound like a twat, lashing out at, what essentially is anyone under the age of 40.
Fixie haters need to speak to
Fixie haters need to speak to a cycle courier and ask them to explain why they are their bike of choice. There are serious advantages of simplicity, low maintenance and manoeuvrability.
another reason to hate the
another reason to hate the fixie hipsters for me
Simmo72 wrote:See, this is
It looks suspiciously like the rider freewheeled off the pavement.
So….
farrell wrote:
It looks
I was thinking the same…but we shouldn’t let reality get in the way…
Definitely not on fixed gear
Definitely not on fixed gear but freewheel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoNFSiCq9Lo
What a scrote.
What a scrote.
I do hope someone in the
I do hope someone in the peloton managed to give the bellend a proper good dig!
Riding a fixie at the Giro is
Riding a fixie at the Giro is like using a monoski at Kitzbühl’s downhill race!
They have the video in HD on
They have the video in HD on cyclingnews (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/video-crash-footage-of-the-cyclist-who-rode-into-the-giro-ditalia-peloton) & it’s much clearer. The guy lifts the tape which has been put out as the barrier along the roadside at this point and goes into the road just as the peloton arrive. He appears to pretty much go shoulder to shoulder (I guess from the comments it is with a Trek rider!) causing them to crash and leading to the ensuing aftermath… if you look carefully you can see him go back under the tape a little further along and then at about 25 seconds he appears (unscathed unlike many of the riders due to his utter stupidity!) cycling away from the scene.
d_jp wrote:They have the
I was just about to post exactly the same thing, for some reason road.cc have linked to a copied version of the video, but the original as linked to on Cycling News is at 720p resolution and shows the culprit quite clearly.
The guy is just a complete clown, swerves into the road at full pelt with complete disregard for the peloton and once he’s caused complete carnage he just hops back on the pavement and rides away. As you say, you get a pretty good mugshot as he’s riding behind the old lady at 25 secs, but not really good enough for anyone to ID him. The huge belly, bald head and ridiculous handlebars should be a clue, but I don’t think the Italians believe in such vigilante justice as we do!
This is why the giro needs to
This is why the giro needs to be held in Yorkshire next time!!
Yup too true,I,m with you on
Yup too true,I,m with you on that!
Chad Haga in his journal on
Chad Haga in his journal on the Giro seems to indicate that the bloke was on a beach cruiser which makes sense with what Team Extreme says about ridiculous handlebars. I’ve not looked at cycling news’ version but in the road.cc clip the bloke seems to do a shoulder check before joining the peleton causing mayhem and then clearing off. And deco freewheeling.
Yes yes, all well and good,
Yes yes, all well and good, but was he wearing a helmet?
The fool swerves from behind
The fool swerves from behind the hedge towards the road, ducks under the “don’t cross this tape!” tape, crosses the vehicle layby and tries to insert himself into the peleton. Freaking idiot. He had time to avoid making the accident, as he crossed the layby at an angle, so clearly intentional.
My guess is he thought he was going fast enough to get on the front and to set tempo, but drastically over-estimated his non-existent racing capabilities, so by the time he got there, surprise surprise, the pros were way ahead of where he expected them. Suitable choice of words from Alafaci!
He was quite graceful,
He was quite graceful, lifting the cordon on the move and bumping down the kerb cycling one-handed. Went a bit wrong after that.
He’s a twat regardless of
He’s a twat regardless of whether he was on a fixed wheel or not. Stop using this as an excuse to stereotype and treat him as an individual.
Where are the Shimano service
Where are the Shimano service vehicles when you need them?
I would argue that road.cc’s
I would argue that road.cc’s title for the post does stereotype things before you see any footage though!
Cadute!
Porca miseria!!!!
Cadute!
Porca miseria!!!!
I also read from a rider in
I also read from a rider in the peloton that it was a beach cruiser not a fixie. Haters.
I thought Roadies were the
I thought Roadies were the Dickheads???? am I wrong?
Yes!
Yes!
“Just stay in the pub and eat
“Just stay in the pub and eat your fucking meat pie”. So much Aussie, such good advice!