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news
Luca Wackermann (via Vini Zabu-KTM on Twitter)Rider breaks back in freak Giro d'Italia crash as helicopter blows barriers across road
Italian UCI Professional Continental team Vini Zabu-KTM has confirmed that its rider Luca Wackermann sustained injuries including a broken back when he crashed at the end of yesterday’s Stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia after barriers were blown across the road, apparently due to the downdraft from a helicopter taking aerial shots of the sprint.
His Dutch team mate, Etienne van Empel, was also brought down in the incident which happened around 800 metres from the finish line in Villafranca Tirrena, but was eventually able to remount his bike and complete the stage.
In a statement, the team said Wackermann, aged 28 and from Milan, had sustained a broken nose , multiple contusions to his face, chin and right knee, bruising to his arms and legs, and was also left with concussion.
It added that Wackermann had lost “that chance to live a dream vanished because of an episode that could have brought some heavier consequences.”
Van Empel, who is riding today’s Stage 5 of the race in Calabria, said on Twitter: “I am okay. Only some small cuts on my fingers.
“Not really sure what happened but out of nowhere the barriers flew into our group.
“For now my thought are with my teammate Luca and hope some good news will arrive soon.”
Wackermann’s team subsequently posted a picture of him from his hospital bed.
#Giro Ferito, ammaccato, incerottato, ma è un sorriso bellissimo
Hurted, bruised, taped, but this is a beautiful smile#ForZabù #ForzaLuca pic.twitter.com/LP2SxVd3nR
— Vini Zabú - Brado - KTM (@ZabuBradoKTM) October 6, 2020
The incident once again puts the spotlight on rider safety following a number of high-profile crashes since racing resumed over the summer, such as Deceuninck-Quick Step rider Fabio Jakobsen’s horrific crash at the Tour de Pologne.
When he crashed, unsecured barriers in the home straight were dislodged, bringing down a number of other riders, and some were questioning on social media last night why the barriers at the Giro d’Italia did not appear to have been tied together.
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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19 comments
These 'events' are becoming more and more common, I suspect that it is only going to be a rider getting killed that will lead to meaningful changes. They honestly don't care about the riders at all.
September Tour magazine shows what is used in the air to do the pictures for the Tour de France. Motorbikes and low flying helis transmit to a heli at 3000m that relays pictures to a plane at 4000m and another one at 8000m. The two planes bounce the signals to a low flying truck at 0m which beams them to a geo stationary satellite (36000 km) which sends the signals back down to the Director in a truck behind the finish line. I think that little lot may be beyond the capabilities of drones!
I don't understand why they don't use drones for the overhead shots in these races. It must be greener and no chance of these sorts of incidents.
Like they use in Sking?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJwot3T9EOA
Edit BTW, I don't disagree with you that something greener is needed, it is the safety aspect that could be the problem, especially as mentioned further down, you would need 100's all along the route to give the same type of coverage as the helicoptors give.
Lucky he was wearing helmet.
Probably wouldn't have happened at all if he had hi-viz on though....
... or if he'd been insured and using the cycle lane.
How would his head have been if he wasn't wearing a helmet?
I'm sure you will enlighten us with your in-depth clinician's knowledge of the injuries sustained. Clearly wasn't wearing spinal armour though.....
Well being as he seems to have landed on his face, maybe the same. Shame there isn't video of the incident.
Drones don't have the endurance (and maybe not the performance or, indeed, the safety) to cover a multi-hour 100km-200km road race. I have often mused on the idea of using a flatbed truck as a kind of 'aircraft carrier' driving behind the race where multiple drones could dock, recharge and be controlled, but nobody wants to throw cash at me to make it happen...
Helicopters can't fly 4-5 hours constantly hovering, too.
You can change drones every 30 minutes (you need two drones and about 6 batteries for each). The only problem may be a live footage. But even that.. compare crashing a drone into something and a heli. Drones will replace operators in helicopters, for sure.
It's very unlikely you can put to something big like Matrix (one of the largest DJI drones) with camera and transmitter able to provide TV quality & live footage
I suppose the helicopter pilot should be banned for a few years?
Or will it be the same as with reckless drivers "oh, I'm sorry, I won't do this again" kind of bs?
Sun got in their eyes....
Considering the helicopter had already been called off earlier in the stage as it was getting too close to the road on a section that the downwash with effecting riders, it was just as Simon Pellaud was making his moving from the break. So doubtful it would have been the same heli, but twice in one stage is ridiculous.
Some of the things are avoidable, while some are year on year problems. The riders are growing increasingly frustrated with the CPA and their stance on things "we'll investigate"...Same with the UCI, "We'll look into it", but nothing changes, the riders want rid of the CPA, but because it is so integrated with UCI, they won't let it happen. It's a con, CPA work for UCI and not the riders they are supposed to represent and take a cut for themselves.
I see the Giro is now disputing it, despite multiple riders stating that it was the helicopter. They are saying it couldn't have been and must have been an "external factor"...
Ultimately it doesnt matter what it was - its still their responsibility.
I'm fairly new to watching the racing scene in any amount of detail, but is this seasons welter of stupidity of on course setup the norm? Just off the top of my head we've had:
Honestly its like F1 from the 80's/90's or even earlier.
Seems like the riders need to get militant about their own safety and both refuse to race unsafe courses and hit the UCI and organisers financially when they screw up.
Im not usually one to recommend reaching for the lawyers but it seems like thats the only way the UCI and race organisers are going to take rider safety seriously.
There is no reason for riders to be hurt for anything other than normal racing risks, and even then they should be mitigated if at all possible.
Yup. Not sure I agree this is a "freak" accident. I'd take that to mean something beyond what one could imagine to be possible. The downwash from a helicopter is entirely predictable. Well before barriers start getting tossed around like confetti ... what's the effect of such buffeting on the cyclists?
Incidents of vehicles on the course, barriers falling and similar are not unknown (look up Adam Yates crashing into an inflatable - deflating - flamme rouge arch a few years back), and there are famous instances of dogs running into the road, etc. But this year it's definitely more common, perhaps because some races are being put on a little bit last-minute and the organisation isn't so good, sometimes because the riders are all so keen to get something from the season.