Kristen Faulkner’s Tour de France Femmes in doubt after being hit by motorist during training

American stage racer Kristen Faulkner’s Tour de France Femmes hopes have been dealt a serious blow this week after she was hit by a driver while training in California yesterday.

The 30-year-old, who won two stages and finished 11th overall at the 2022 Giro Donne, before crashing twice early on at last year’s Tour, sustained a fracture to her knee in the collision, with her Jayco AlUla team this morning issuing a cautious statement concerning Faulkner’s return to racing.

“Kristen Faulkner was hit by a car whilst out training in California recently and sustained a small fracture to her knee,” the team’s statement reads.

“Unfortunately due to the incident, Faulkner will be unable to race until the knee has healed. As always, the health and wellbeing of riders is the priority and Faulkner will work closely with the medical team throughout this recovery period. We wish Kristen all the best with her recovery.”

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The untimely crash has appeared to derail Faulkner’s ambition to rectify a disappointing start to the season at the upcoming Giro Donne and Tour de France Femmes. After a strong 2022, which also saw her secure GC podium places at the Itzulia Women and Tour de Suisse, as well as seventh overall at the Tour of Britain in her first year at Jayco AlUla, Faulkner has been plagued by bad luck and inconsistency this season.

The 30-year-old put in a storming ride at Strade Bianche in March, attacking solo with 40km to go and finishing third after finally being caught by SD Worx duo Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky on Siena’s famously steep ramp to the finish.

(Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

However, over a week later, Faulkner was disqualified and stripped of her podium place by the UCI for wearing a continuous glucose monitor during the race. The American could be seen wearing a disc-shaped blood sugar tracker (used by a growing number of pros as a training tool to track their glucose levels in real time but banned in-competition by cycling’s governing body) under the sleeve of her jersey during her attack over the Tuscan gravel and on the podium after the race.

> Kristen Faulkner stripped of third place at Strade Bianche for wearing glucose monitor

According to the UCI’s regulations, “devices which capture other physiological data, including any metabolic values such as but not limited to glucose or lactate are not authorised in competition”.

She and her Jayco AlUla team accepted the disqualification and took full responsibility for the situation.

Faulkner’s crash in California is the latest in a growing list of serious training crashes for pro cyclists in recent months.

> UAE Team Emirates pro hit head-on by motorist while training

At the start of this month, Belgian pro Julian Mertens was placed in an artificial coma and underwent spinal surgery following a serious crash while training in Belgium. The 25-year-old, who rides for the second-tier Bingoal WB squad, was taken to hospital in Antwerp after suffering multiple severe injuries in what his team described as an “accident” during training.

In March, UAE Team Emirates’ Colombian sprinter Juan Sebastián Molano suffered concussion and a broken toe, but was fortunate to avoid even more serious injury, after being struck head-on by a motorist in a horrifying collision in Belgium.

Molano, who won the Grand Prix de Denain cobbled semi-classic and took a stage of the UAE Tour during a successful spring, was training alone in Waregem when he was hit by a motorist who appeared to be turning into a driveway and across the rider’s lane.

Footage of the shocking crash, captured by a nearby CCTV camera, showed the 28-year-old riding along before being suddenly struck head-on by the turning motorist, catapulting Molano out of shot and sending his bike flying into the driveway.

While, miraculously, the sprinter’s injuries weren’t too severe and did not require surgery, he was ruled out of the remainder of a cobbled classics campaign which saw teammate Tadej Pogačar solo to victory at the Tour of Flanders.

Most seriously, at the end of last year retired pro Davide Rebellin was killed in a hit-and-run collision involving a lorry driver, just over two months before up-and-coming 18-year-old Spanish pro Estela Domínguez was also killed by a hit-and-run truck driver during a training ride.