Team BikeExchange sports director Gene Bates has been thrown out of the Giro d’Italia after he rear-ended Deceuninck-Quick Step rider Pieter Serry on the final climb of today’s sixth stage of the race.
Team manager Matt White was also fined 2,000 Swiss Francs (£1,570) as a result of the incident, which happened as he retrieved jackets from a race commissaires’ vehicle, that had earlier been handed to them ahead of the final climb.
Les images surréalistes de la chute de Pieter Serry, fauché en pleine montée par la voiture de la Bike Exchange. #Giro pic.twitter.com/2B8Ff6IQfI
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) May 13, 2021
Following the incident, staff from the Team BikeExchange car rushed to help Serry, who was able to remount his bike and complete the remaining 12 kilometres of the stage to Ascoli Piceno, won by Bahrain Victorious rider Gino Mader.
Happy to report that @Pieter_Serry is ok and has completed today’s #Giro stage ?
Thanks to everyone for the well wishes ? pic.twitter.com/qE5YZxqCmK— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) May 13, 2021
Groupama-FDJ’s Attila Valter took over the race leader’s maglia rosa – the first Hungarian to wear it, a year after the 2020 edition had been scheduled to start in Budapest before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

























18 thoughts on “Sports director thrown off Giro d’Italia after rear-ending rider in team car”
I haven’t seen this one
I haven’t seen this one posted on here, but team cars don’t only hit riders….they also hit each other. This was yesterday. Video in the tweet https://twitter.com/GrootLem/status/1392757705299877888
Much like my car when the
Much like my car when the bikes are on the back, pretty sure the bikes are worth more than the car. Love the custom Euro/Italian champion bike, hopefully not too damaged.
I spoke to one of their team
I spoke to one of their team mechanics after seeing it, he isn’t at Giro, but was in touch with those in the car, all bodies fine and no issues with the bikes, although I’d be asking the UCI to x-ray them, not for motors, but for cracks
Quote:
FTFY
mdavidford wrote:
FTFY
To be fair the mechanic was trying to unclip the rider since he was still attached to the bike…
Having got them unclipped
Having got them unclipped from each other, though, it seemed to be the bike that was getting most of the attention. I suppose they were a mechanic and not a medic, but still…
When under stress stick to
When under stress stick to what you know !
Red is sus.
Red is sus.
This is why we need
This is why we need segregated infrastructure.
this is what happens with
this is what happens with distracted drivers….
Global Nomad wrote:
There’s a certain Andy James who will wisely point out that the rider didn’t make himself visible enough…..
The sanction is appropriate,
The sanction is appropriate, but maybe race organisers need to take a look at themselves too – because distracted driving is inherent in the way the team cars operate.
Fundamentally unsafe and
Fundamentally unsafe and completely unnecessary – just collect the jackets at the end of the stage. All the team buses and organiser vehicles are in the same compound.
apparently throwing bidons is
apparently throwing bidons is dangerous but passing jackets from a car to a car is OK
HarrogateSpa wrote:
Not just that. Everyone seems to be ignoring that the other car that was trying to hand stuff to them WAS the race organisers! That driver was also the one setting the speed when they were trying to do a rolling pass.
Not sure having professional drivers would have made much difference in this case. The driver would still have been watching the other car and trying not to break his passengers arm.
Shouldn’t happen, and
Shouldn’t happen, and surprised it doesn’t happen more often; how many video clips ‘in car’ show the DS looking at a screen, the road book, handing food/drink out….all while driving?
Simple solution; the driver is purely a driver. The DS sits in the passenger seat…..sorted; there is no reason not to implement it. Driving requires full concentration.
I fully agree with your view
I fully agree with your view that the DS should be in the passenger seat, not driving. However, in this case I’m guessing the BikeExchange car was probably LHD so it would have been the front seat passenger, not the driver, receiving the jackets from the commissaire’s car.
Serry should’ve been wearing
Serry should’ve been wearing hi-viz.