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Three Bora-Hansgrohe riders in hospital after driver crashes into training ride

Wilco Kelderman, 3rd at 2020 Giro d’Italia, sustained broken vertebra in incident yesterday near Italy’s Lake Garda

Three Bora-Hansgrohe riders were taken to hospital in Italy yesterday after a driver crashed into them while they were taking part in a ride during a training camp.

The injured riders were Wilco Kelderman, third at last year’s Giro d’Italia with his previous team, Sunweb, plus Rudiger Selig and Andreas Schillinger.

The team confirmed today that Kelderman had sustained concussion and fractured vertebrae, and that Schillinger had also broken some vertebrae, saying that it aimed “for conservative treatment with both.”

It added that Selig was left concussed, but did not sustain any fractures.

The trio were among a group of seven riders who had decided to extend their ride on the final day of the training camp near Lake Garda, with team mates including Peter Sagan having already called it a day ahead of the team’s planned departure for Gran Canaria today.

According to Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, the crash happened at  Ronchi di Castelnuovo del Garda, which lies at the south east corner of the lake, around 10 kilometres west of Verona.

The driver of the Mercedes SUV involved in the incident, which happened as the riders were within sight of the hotel where they were staying, is said to have ignored a stop sign and pulled out into the cyclists’ path.

The other four riders involved, each of whom sustained minor injuries not requiring hospital treatment, were Marcus Burghardt, Anton Palzer, Maximilian Schachmann and Michael Schwarzmann.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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11 comments

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NZ Vegan Rider | 3 years ago
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Poor guys ;-(

I hope they heal well and fast and the driver has his foreskin pulled over his

head in a public place ;-(

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Christopher TR1 | 3 years ago
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There's been a few collisions involving pro riders in Italy which I can remember recently. Are Italian drivers particularly shite? A great shame if so because the place is full of bucket list climbs.

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PRSboy replied to Christopher TR1 | 3 years ago
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I spent a week one summer in the Dolomites. I felt a sight safer there than I do cycling in Britain!

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Gkam84 replied to Christopher TR1 | 3 years ago
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I don't think it's that any country has worse drivers (in Europe) but that places where riders are seen in higher numbers, there is a higher chance something like this happens. Remember Giant Alpecin had a big one in Calpe a few years ago, that is a hotbed for cyclists, there are multiple accidents every year on Mallorca. So when you have good weather, good roads and training camps, you'll always see a higher number of incidents. 

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aitorbk replied to Gkam84 | 3 years ago
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You need to have balls of steel to cycle in Calpe.. I have had close calls there in the 90s and it took me many years to get back to road cycling.
Also, people tend not to respect anyone in the many roundabouts!

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Gkam84 replied to aitorbk | 3 years ago
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aitorbk wrote:

You need to have balls of steel to cycle in Calpe.. I have had close calls there in the 90s and it took me many years to get back to road cycling.
Also, people tend not to respect anyone in the many roundabouts!

Roundabouts are very optional in Spain  There seems to be little sense around them, like using the wrong lanes which leads to lots of people getting cut up.

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iandusud replied to Christopher TR1 | 3 years ago
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When I was motorcyling in Europe 40 years ago the driving standards were by far worse in Italy than in France or Spain, and that's saying something. I don't know if it's the same today but culturally the men are a pretty macho lot and they do like their sports cars. 

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PRSboy | 3 years ago
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Wishing a speedy recovery to those riders involved. 
I'm surprised that these pro squads out on training rides don't have car escorts front and back of the group. 

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Gkam84 replied to PRSboy | 3 years ago
3 likes

Most if not all with have at least one follow car and for specific training, like drafting and some sprints will put the car in front of the riders, but there is also the local laws to abide by, I've been pulled over by the police in Spain, France and Belgium, for following riders and "going too slow" when out on training and recce rides.

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PRSboy replied to Gkam84 | 3 years ago
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Ah, interesting- thanks. 

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jmcc500 replied to PRSboy | 3 years ago
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May have had an escort behind, but sounds like car pulled into their path so not much escort could have done.

Hope injuries are recoverable - never like to hear about broken vertebrae...

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