Videos: Motorbike and pedestrian cause huge crashes at Chinese race

Two big crashes – one caused by a race motorbike, the other by a pedestrian crossing the road – overshadowed yesterday’s opening stage of China’s Tour of Qinghai Lake.

In the first incident, captured by a spectator on their phone, a motorbike on the UCI 2.HC race suddenly cut across the front of the peloton sending New Zealander Morgan Smith of the Kenyan Riders Downunder team crashing to the ground.

Reflecting on the incident on Facebook, Smith, who sustained injuries to his knee and chin, said: “Bit famous but for the wrong reasons!”

The second crash came just 2 kilometres from the end of the stage when a man walked across a pedestrian crossing just as the peloton approached, with the incident bringing down around a third of the field. The man was reportedly arrested by police.

The worst hurt rider seems to have been Tiziano Dall’Antonia of Androni Spidermec, with another rider, the American Cullen Easter of Team Illuminate, administering first aid.

Easter told Eurosport: “Some guy just came out of nowhere and everybody kind of went down. [Dall’Antonia] had a huge gash on the top of his head, so I grabbed a lady’s jacket to apply pressure.

“It was chaotic, but I got him stable because I’m in nursing school. So, I started putting pressure on the wound and just kind of kept him calm and until medics came.

“I’m happy to have been of some assistance and have all my training pay off a bit,” he added.

The stage was won by the Colombian rider Miguel Rubiano of the China Continental Team of Gansu Bank team.