A cyclist completing a charity ride narrowly avoided losing his life as an overtaking, oncoming lorry sped towards him on a major road in Peru.
Bruno Mendoza was riding the 115km Cletea Contra el Cancer (Bikes against Cancer) Challenge of Hope and Solidarity from Moyobamba to Tarapoto on Sunday. The charity ride is held on the edge of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, with the route a straight line largely held along the country’s major road through the jungle, Route 005. It was on this road that the incident occurred.
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As Mendoza sees the delivery lorry in his lane, attempting to overtake another lorry, he stops and moves to the side of the lane. However, the lorry does not decelerate or seek to move back to its own lane, forcing Mendoza to lean into the drain on the side of the road as the driver narrowly avoids him.
In an Instagram post written before the event, Mendoza said he was riding in support of his friend who had been diagnosed with leukaemia, and had died before the government could improve its cancer services in the rural part of the country. He was also motivated by the ill health of his mother.
“The landscape and adventure from Moyobamba to Tarapoto is unmissable, there is no need to compete, the idea is to complete the course at your own pace.
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“The organisation is giving all the care and support en route, logically it is not responsible since it is a free event, but there is coordination and care so that [everyone] moves safely.”
After Mendoza uploaded footage of the incident online, initially as part of a vlog of the event, the Moyobamba cycling association which co-organised the event released a statement.
“[We] publicly expresses our full solidarity and support for our friend and fellow rider, Bruno Mendoza. Fortunately, thank God, the incident did not escalate further. However, what happened causes us deep concern for the safety of all cyclists using our roads. As an organisation committed to cycling in our region, we reject any vehicular manoeuvre that endangers the life and safety of cyclists.”
“Cletea Contra el Cancer was developed through coordinated work with local police, government and health officials, municipal security, highway police, and the fire department, all with the aim of ensuring participant safety.
“We do not seek confrontation with companies or drivers. We seek respect, prevention, and safe coexistence among all road users. Furthermore, we believe it is important for the events shown in the video to be objectively evaluated by the competent authorities and for any liability arising from the incident to be determined as appropriate.”
Several law-enforcement agencies have been tagged in the statement uploaded on Facebook, though it’s unclear if the organisers or Mendoza have filed a formal complaint.
Shalom, the delivery company which owns the lorry, has not publicly responded to the footage. Mendoza meanwhile shared a montage to his Instagram story combining a screenshot of the close pass with his participation medal.
Social media reaction to the near miss was heated, and fuelled in part by a misconception that the road was one-way and the cyclist was deliberately riding into traffic. Some users found other reasons to blame the cyclist:
“It’s crazy to ride a bike at 2 per hour on such a busy route 🤦🏻”, Ariel Romeira commented on Instagram.
“The first rash behaviour is from the cyclist… That road doesn’t have room for training.” Everett Medina added.
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Others, however, demanded legal action.
“Well, that could be classified as attempted homicide or attempted murder, because despite seeing you, he did nothing to reduce the speed and not overtake.” Axel Belcast wrote.
“This truck driver should be suspended from his [driving] license for life and charged with attempted murder by recklessness, you have to report this to the authorities, the truck driver and the company.” Pereira Mireya said.
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1 thought on “Worst near miss ever? Shocked cyclist narrowly avoids oncoming, overtaking lorry during charity ride in Peru”
Not gonna lie, I might have been diving into that ditch. Perhaps the camera makes it look worse than it was but I would have been ready!