The victim, Maxime Roger of Chambrey CF Cycling Club, was travelling at around 60km/h when his TT extensions became detached from the base bars, according to an interview on French cycling website directvelo.com.
While at first it appears the fall was as a direct result of Roger’s TT bars coming away from their mounts, road.cc’s own Jo Burt pointed out that his tyre also appears to blow, which further knocked the rider’s balance and ability to possibly save himself by quickly grabbing onto the base bars. Talk about getting all your mechanicals out the way in one go.
Roger painfully skids along the floor before coming to a stop near a grass verge, ending his day and his participation in the multi-stage event.
Edit: It appears the rider wasn’t very seriously injured after the fall, explaining in the interview with DirectVelo that he has very sore knees but hopes to be racing again at the end of the month at the Trophy of Champions event.
42 thoughts on “Video: Pro rider takes a nasty fall as handlebars are snapped clean off”
Nasty. Hope he’s okay. It
Nasty. Hope he’s okay. It looks like the wet tarmac might have been a saving grace as his hands appeared to glide along.
Team Radio: Roger and out.
Team Radio: Roger and out. Looks nasty though, hope he’s OK.
Ouch, and no gloves either.
Ouch, and no gloves either.
Apologies for not clarifying
Apologies for not clarifying whether the rider was ok folks – in his interview with DirectVelo he says he cant bend one knee, is very sore but hopes to be racing again soon… so it looks like no long-term damage sustained luckily!
Jack Sexty wrote:
That’s all very well but you didn’t answer the important question: is the bike damaged?
😉
FrankH wrote:
I think it’s fair to say the bike was damaged before he fell off 😀
Why you should always wear
Why you should always wear gloves!
Oof.
Oof.
Think the tyre went after he got a foot down – you see the spray of white. Mind, his right foot unclipping could have unbalanced him first…
One hell of a slide. I wonder how much of the front of that skinsuit remained?
The tyre blew after his
The tyre blew after his weight was already off the bike, didn’t cause the crash. I wonder if someone used the wrong bolts of over-torqued them?
Main question in my mind is why on earth he wasn’t wearing gloves? I wear kevlar palmed gloves for this reason exactly.
The tyre blowing was a result
The tyre blowing was a result of the crash, not a contributing factor.
That’s what I thought, too.
Gloves. The 2 pieces of
Gloves. The 2 pieces of protective equipment I’d actually go back home for if I forgot.
I thought that the Superman
I thought that the Superman position was banned by the UCI.
In full AG2R skin suit and
In full AG2R skin suit and associated kit with one of their Factor TT bikes. Are we sure the rider is who he said he is?
atlaz wrote:
Chambery CF is the feeder team for AG2R.
atlaz wrote:
I bet it is one of those magic skinsuits that transmits all the damage to your skin but doesn’t tear.
Whoooaaa! I am going to have
Whoooaaa! I am going to have nightmares about that.
Forget helmets – always wear
Forget helmets – always wear some gloves. Maybe knee-pads should be considered if this happens to you a lot.
Regarding the lack of gloves,
Regarding the lack of gloves, I remarked during the GT TTs this year that many of the pros weren’t wearing gloves. They must not be considered ‘aero’.
dottigirl wrote:
Gloves will cost you about 12 sec in a ’25’ TT…
madcarew wrote:
Really? That much? I’m surprised there aren’t any aero gloves to minimise this. Bare hands can’t be naturally more aero, can they?
dottigirl wrote:
A lot of pros never wear gloves.
He hits a bit of a speed hump
He hits a bit of a speed hump where those road markings are. That sudden impact on carbon bars and possible over-torquing and bang.
racyrich wrote:
That should never happen with CF, unless they’ve already being damaged somehow or were faulty, You might over wrench the bolts a bit but to have that outcome from such an impact, no way., that would be ridiculous
I’ve been cycling daily on CF bars for a while now, between 95 and 107kg the (Bottechia) CF bars on my commuter/utility bike have had some serious hammering over the last 8 years including more than a few incidents with motors ending with injury. Still no sign of damage.
As others have said, gloves, gloves, gloves! The most important protective aid a person riding a bike will ever wear.
Ouch that looks so scary.
Ouch that looks so scary. Very lucky he didn’t hit anything else, it could have been worse. I would find it difficult to trust that kit again. Any ideas why did the bars break away? Was it a carbon fibre part which simply failed or where they clipped on somehow?
AndyJS wrote:
When I watched it in full screen and slow, it looked like the single vertical ‘riser’ piece between the extensions and the base bars snaps clean in half.
I’m not au fait with TT stuff, but are the extensions usually that far proud of the base bars?
dottigirl wrote:
When I watched it in full screen and slow, it looked like the single vertical ‘riser’ piece between the extensions and the base bars snaps clean in half.
I’m not au fait with TT stuff, but are the extensions usually that far proud of the base bars?— AndyJS
Interesting couple of tweets with diagrams/explanations here:
https://twitter.com/scorpionwheels/status/907982607945789440
https://twitter.com/scorpionwheels/status/907989472490541057
Chambery is the Amateur
Chambery is the Amateur feeder team for AG2R – https://www.chamberycyclismeformation.com/ Maxime Roger is listed on front page, in his kit…
He’s lucky to just miss the
He’s lucky to just miss the kerb. Would have been more serious.
Just occasionally, the
Just occasionally, the dubious brown shorts come in handy
Wow that was spectacular and
Wow that was spectacular and with very good video coverage! Luckily the guy had a lot of space to absorb his energy.
On the glove debate about protection I think it is a bit of an overkill even though if it is permanently visible that I have lost a square inch or two of skin. I only wear gloves when it is cold.
And yes such videos reassure me that carbon should belong only to the racers
cyclisto wrote:
Gloves are overkill, just lol, it would seem it’s not just the ‘pros’ that are stupid over matters of safety.
That looks like someone has
That looks like someone has killed the mounts on the flat handlebar by over torquing the elbow pad mounts. Obviously the team and manufacturers will investigate but i would not be surprised if we did not hear the reason for this.
Never under estimate how much protection a pair of gloves can offer your hands. Until you have ripped your palms to shreds you never realise just how much pain and how inconvenient injuring your hands is. Coupled with the fact that hands take ages to heal means the suffering is extended. As somebody else already noted i would return home to grab gloves if i forgot them.
cyclisto wrote:
Thing is if you lose the skin on your hands (and I think the wet road probably helped him here) – how soon is it before you can train again ? Hard to ride a bike if you cant hold the handlebars.
I remember a story of a pro crashing out like this and leaving a stage race and not even being able to carry his cases due to his injuries. If he’d had mitts he’d have still been in the race. It does make sense.
@fenix for racing/training
@fenix for racing/training maybe gloves are a good choice as protective measure. But it really seems an overkill for me that I will use bicycle for commuting or touring. I want to simplify my gear as much as possible and when during my first months with bicycle as an adult I used to wear but it seemed too much of a hassle.
I understand though that palm injury can be very very nasty. As a teen, a friend and I runned alongside downhill and I fell with my hands on the grippy tarmac. It indeed took many weeks for the wound to heal during which I couldn’t catch anything. But so far we don’t make kids wear gloves when they play, right?
I can’t figure out why he
I can’t figure out why he unclipped and threw his leg forward, looks like he was able to fall onto the base bar, may have even stayed on?!
That guy knows how to fall.
That guy knows how to fall. He kept his elbows up all through that slide……….no road rash elbows for him….that was a rapid unclip and step forward as well. Ooof….
He’s pretty lucky the side of
He’s pretty lucky the side of the road was as clear as it was. something failing like that is one thing that really scares me (pretty irrationally) so every month or two I like to undo bolts on the stem and headset, regrease and reassemble to correct torque, I’ve seen the result of what happened to a friend who’s stem slipped and sent them over the bars on a downhill. The dentist bill was quite big
Years ago, I snapped a pair
Years ago, I snapped a pair of aluminium handlebars going downhill on my mountain bike. Think I did the actual damage earlier in the ride from a hard landing after miss-judging a drop-off and the subsequent hammering finished them off. Wasn’t even a rocky downhill, just tree roots and leaf mould.
Anyway, dropped the side that snapped, grabbed the remaining bar with both hands and hoped for the best – managed to avoid a couple of tree stumps, more luck than judgement, before cartwheeling over the bars into a bush.
While I was walking home, my Dad happened to drive past the other way and did a classic double-take before stopping.
Ended up with a stiff shoulder for a week and needed a new front rim as well as the bars.
I always thought hands healed
I always thought hands healed pretty quick. They have a good blood supply etc etc.
I’ve got some meaty scars on my hands from falls, but I have to say that I still rarely wear gloves. Some people just don’t learn do they hey?
Jimmy Ray Will wrote:
Hands may or may not heal more quickly than other injuries, but who is going to be wiping your arse while they do?
Jimmy Ray Will wrote:
Replied to wrong post
The tyre going has nothing to
The tyre going has nothing to do with losing control. He’s well on his way off the bike when the tyre blows