Yesterday’s Tirreno Adriatico team time trial was marred by a crash caused by a dramatic wheel failure. The crash left Gianni Moscon, of Team Sky, with road rash and also ended Geraint Thomas’ hopes of GC contention.

 

The broken wheels affected 3 Team Sky riders, but Gianni Moscon was the worst affected, with his front tri-spoke wheel completely disintergrating and causing him to crash quite heavily. 

According to Geraint Thomas, Diego Rosa’s wheel also broke, as did another rider’s. The failures seem to have been caused by a pothole which was hit at high speed prior to the video footage. BMC, also riding the PRO tri-spoke wheel suffered no such problems, so the failures seem to be isolated.

The video footage above shows Moscon’s crash. It’s not clear whether the tubular tyre was flat before the crash, nor if it rolled off the rim before or durning the wheel’s collapse. 

Sky mechanics can then be seen collecting pieces of rim, which they then analysed with representatives from Shimano after the race.

PRO, the Shimano’s component brand, have issued a statement confirming their ongoing investigation into yesterday’s wheel failures.

The pros and cons of carbon wheels

The statement reads:

“PRO is continuing its investigation into the issue we saw with Team Sky at the team time trial of Tirreno-Adriatico. We are continuing to look closely into all factors that could cause the incident.

During production the three-spoke wheel passed PRO’s extremely high internal quality control and ISO/UCI standards. PRO’s three-spoke wheel was introduced in 2014 and has a flawless record, achieving countless time trial victories since, including BMC’s team time trial win in the same stage.

In the meantime we wish Gianni Moscon the best of luck in the remaining stages of Tirreno-Adriatico.”

Ryan Mullen’s double disc SuperSlice TT bike turns heads

Thomas, and his Sky teammates lost 1minute 42seconds to winners BMC, so they will likely turn their attention to stage wins.