A pro cyclist riding in the Tour of Britain women has described how she was “nearly hit” by a driver who had entered the race route, despite the peloton still being in sight.
Maeve Plouffe, riding for British Continental team O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes, did not finish the race’s opening stage, starting and finishing in Cockermouth, and later detailed on her Instagram story how she had sustained a puncture and chased for 30 minutes to rejoin the peloton.
“On a side note,” Plouffe wrote, “While the race convoy was still in sight and I was less than two minutes down, there were cars from the general public coming at me from all directions, including one that nearly hit me on a roundabout. Later on, the moto escort was wonderful and I felt much safer.
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“But considering the recent devastating events in our cycling community, it’s scary to see situations like this, when we know that this can have horrific consequences, especially so soon after suffering such a tragedy. Stay safe over the next stages.”
road.cc has contacted both British Cycling and the Tour of Britain race organisers for comment.
The incident occurred just days after the death of Finlay Tarling at the Volta a Portugal. Tarling, 19, was killed when a van driver entered the race route and hit the Welsh rider head-on whilst he was on a descent. The Tour of Britain paid tribute to Tarling with a minute’s silence at the start of the race, whilst race chalkboards were also adorned with messages of condolence.
Unlike the Tour de France, the majority of smaller races are policed by rolling road blocks, where roads remain open until outriding police motorbikes approach and block key roads to allow the race to pass through. It is not clear if the roundabout where Plouffe narrowly avoided a collision was due to have been blocked or whether, as was the case in Portugal, a driver ignored a sign warning of the race’s passage.
Tarling’s death sparked an outpouring of tributes and a wider discussion within the sport of rider safety. Adam Hansen, president of the CPA, the union of professional riders, suggested that helmet safety standards needed to be improved as a matter of urgency, adding that “closing every single road is difficult”.
However, his statement has been criticised by a people within the sport, including general manager of EF Education-EasyPost Jonathan Vaughters, who criticised Hansen’s comments, including an implication that Tarling’s death resulted from “a hole in the system”, saying “I can’t even begin to comment on this level of insensitivity.”
The five-stage Tour of Britain women is due to finish on Sunday in Leamington Spa. The race’s opening stage was won in a reduced bunch sprint by Lorena Wiebes.
2 thoughts on “Tour of Britain Women rider almost hit by motorist on race route, claiming “there were cars coming at me from all directions””
This is a shocking near miss, especially after the recent death of Fin Tarling. However, the article describes the Portuguese driver as ignoring a race warning sign, which from previous articles did not appear to be the case.
I have an unrelated comment about yesterday’s stage. I watched around 90 mins of yesterday’s stage and found it pretty dull. One rider broke away, gained around a minute before being closed down. Nothing much happened for the next 45 min. It appeared that the peleton had settled for a bunch sprint with around 80 km to go. I switched over to test match special radio coverage.
If better TV coverage, sponsorship and pay are expected, then maybe more aggressive tactics should be encouraged?
Can’t agree with that comment. The race is the race – they’re not gladiators there for your entertainment.
I can recall plenty of very (very) long, dull Giro sprint stages in the men’s game.