Tom Pidcock has styled himself as the peloton’s resident “ninja crasher”, after the British star misjudged a corner and plunged down a ravine at 60kph, unbeknownst to his team, during stage five of the Volta a Catalunya, a crash that has forced him to quit the week-long stage race with an injured knee.
Pidcock, who was sitting in second place overall heading into Friday’s mountainous stage to La Molina, crashed out of sight of the television cameras on the descent of the Collada Sobirana, with around 30km remaining, one of a number of fallers on the final downhill portion of the stage.
On Friday evening, Pidcock revealed more details about his “horror crash”, which saw him fall down a ravine after overshooting a corner, a terrifying plunge that has forced the Olympic mountain bike champion to leave the race with a knee injury.
After alerting his team to the crash through his radio, the Pinarello-Q36.5 leader managed to make his way back to the road, change bikes, and continue the stage, eventually crossing the line in 116th, over 29 minutes down on winner Jonas Vingegaard.
“I was drinking on the descent and misjudged a corner. I overshot it and went down the ravine,” the 26-year-old said in a statement provided by Pinarello-Q36.5.
“It was like one of these horror crashes you see, but I am okay. I’ll go for a check, but I think I’m okay. I am lucky I could talk on the radio. I was far from the road and nobody knew I was there. I’m happy I could finish the stage.”
In an initial statement provided by Pinarello-Q36.5 on Friday evening, despite the “severity” of the crash, the team said initial medical assessments were “reassuring”, showing “no immediate signs of serious injury”.
View this post on Instagram
However, on Saturday morning, Pidcock confirmed that he will not start the Volta a Catalunya’s sixth stage, describing his knee as “pretty swollen”.
“I’ve messed up some stuff in there, it’s going to take some time for it to heal apparently,” he said in a video posted on his team’s Instagram page.
“Yesterday I didn’t actually feel my knee after the crash, it was more my wrist and upper body. I went to the finish to give the option to start today, but my knee is like a balloon at the moment.
“Of course, it’s not my plan for this weekend, I was feeling great yesterday. But it is what it is, and now I just focus on recovery and just count my lucky stars it wasn’t worse.
“And the most annoying thing is it wasn’t on video – if you’re going to crash, make sure it’s on video. But c’est la vie.”
In a post shared on Instagram on Friday evening, highlighting the corner he crashed on, Pidcock added: “Today I lost a life for sure. Was drinking on the descent and completely misjudged my braking and went straight on here.
“Luckily I had my radio so they could find me as no one knew I’d crashed. I’m going to self-proclaim as a ninja crasher, 60kph off a mountain road and I’m relatively OK.
“And these arrows were not in view coming into the corner for those mentioning it.”
The “ninja” nature of Pidcock’s crash – his team only discovering that he had fallen because the British rider was able to communicate through his radio – comes a week after the UCI confirmed that it will mandate the use of GPS safety trackers in road races.
The governing body first trialled the system at last year’s Tour de Romandie Féminin, in a bid to “strengthen the monitoring of rider safety during races” in the wake of Muriel Furrer’s tragic death at the 2024 world championships, the 18-year-old crashing on a descent during the junior women’s road race and laying unnoticed for over an hour before she was found.
However, that trial at the Tour de Romandie descended into chaos after a number of teams objected to the system’s imposition without consultation, leading to their disqualification.
Since then, the UCI’s GPS tracking system, developed with Swiss Timing, was used at last year’s world championships in Rwanda, while UCI president David Lappartient last week told teams and race organisers that safety tracking “will need to become mandatory and phased in across event classes”.
In a letter sent to rider, team, and organiser unions, reported by Escape Collective, Lappartient argued that “the risk of a rider going off course unseen … [is] a fundamental danger to the safety of our riders” and that GPS trackers are “a necessary improvement to safety in professional road cycling”.
Pidcock’s unseen crash at the Volta a Catalunya has scuppered what until now has been a brilliant spring for the 26-year-old Yorkshireman.
After a strong, stage-winning start at the Ruta del Sol, Pidcock followed up another top ten at Strade Bianche with an impressively strong victory on the Superga at Milano-Torino, where he powered away from the likes of Tobias Halland Johannessen and Primož Roglič.
And just days later, he came agonisingly close to securing the biggest road win of his career, being pipped to the line by world champion Tadej Pogačar in a thrilling battle at Milan-Sanremo.
Pidcock also looked in flying form in Catalunya, bagging two podiums in the first four stages, though his crash on the Collada Sobirana has brought a sudden halt to his promising spring campaign.
3 thoughts on ““The most annoying thing is it wasn’t on video”: Tom Pidcock admits he “lost a life” after “ninja” 60kph crash “off a mountain road” into ravine forces him to quit Volta a Catalunya”
Get well quickly Tom, a great shame as you were in such fine form.
I crashed in February descending a mountain in Chiang Mai, Thailand, when a car in front of me suddenly braked hard. Pretty banged up – torn rotator cuff and back muscles, plus road rash of course. Which I learnt is called ‘moo daeng’ in Thai, meaning red pork!
Managed to cycle the 25km back to the hotel, albeit with some difficulty. But the most annoying bit? Garmin battery died in near the end of the ride showing 99.2km so no Strava Gran Fondo for February 😂
I thought it was those big round brown things you find in fields.
You win a gong!