World champion mountain biker Keegan Swenson has been denied the opportunity to show off his rainbow jersey at next month’s Cape Epic, where he was tipped as one of the big pre-race favourites, after becoming the latest pro cyclist to fall victim to a ‘dooring’ incident during a training ride.
The 32-year-old American off-road specialist, who won the elite men’s cross-country marathon title at last year’s mountain bike world championships, was training earlier this month when he collided with a motorist’s car door, which was allegedly swung open into his path.
Despite sustaining a number of injuries in the crash – though the severity of those injuries was unknown at the time – Swenson raced later that week at Santa Vall, a two-stage gravel race in Spain held on 14 and 15 February.
However, the Specialized rider, a former Unbound and Leadville 100 winner and three-time Life Time Grand Prix overall champion, struggled during the two days, finishing outside the top 60 on both stages and managing just 52nd overall.
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In an Instagram post following stage one of Santa Vall, Swenson admitted that he was struggling with the injuries he sustained when he was “smoked” by the seemingly oblivious driver’s door in training.
“I was optimistic the body would play ball today but it just was not happening,” the 32-year-old posted.
“I’ve been nursing a few different injuries after getting smoked by a car door earlier this week, so frankly I’m stoked I was able to toe the line and give it a crack.
“Hopefully today’s stage helped blow some inflammation out of the system and get the body back online.”
Following Santa Vall, Swenson headed to South Africa last week to prepare for March’s Absa Cape Epic, the prestigious eight-day mountain bike stage race held in the country’s Western Cape and contested by pairs.
There, he joined up with Specialized Off-Road teammate and Cape Epic partner Matt Beers, with whom he finished 12th at last year’s race, the duo tipped as serious contenders for the 2026 event.
However, during a training ride with Beers, scans taken before his arrival in South Africa revealed that Swenson had, in fact, fractured his iliac crest, the largest of the three bones that make up the hip bone, ruling him out of Cape Epic.
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The 32-year-old said he’s now on his way back home for more tests, as he faces a race against time to recover in time for the Sea Otter Classic, which marks the start of the Life Time Grand Prix, in the middle of April.
“Well, this isn’t the Cape Epic announcement post I hoped to make today,” Swenson said on Instagram.
“Partway through a training ride the other day with Matt Beers in Cape Town I received some MRI results back and it turns out my Iliac Crest is indeed fractured (along with some other complications).
“I was optimistic things were okay after that collision with the car door but after racing Santa Vall with quite a bit of pain (and still struggling to walk), I had a feeling something might actually be wrong so we decided to get it checked out.
“Gutted to miss the opportunity to race Cape Epic in the rainbow jersey with Matt but s*** happens. For now I am headed back to Tucson for some more scans and to figure out what’s next.
“Watch out for those doors, they are quite sturdy.”
Swenson is the second high-profile cyclist in just over a year to be injured in a collision with a vehicle door.
In December 2024, double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel’s winter was derailed when he suffered multiple fractures to his rib, right shoulder blade, and right hand, as well as contusions on both lungs and a dislocated collarbone, after colliding with the “swinging door” of a postal truck during a training ride in Belgium.
A week after the crash, postal service company bpost teamed up with Evenepoel to launch a safety campaign, with Evenepoel’s R.EV Brussels Cycling Academy designing stickers for vehicle users to put on their windows to remind them of the ‘Remco Reflex’.
More commonly known as the ‘Dutch Reach’, this technique sees driver motorists and passengers open car doors with their opposite arm, to ensure they look behind them in order to avoid colliding with cyclists or pedestrians approaching from the rear.
“Every year, more than 300 cyclists in Belgium are injured due to car doors being opened carelessly. With R.EV Brussels Cycling Academy, we want to act. That’s why we’re launching the ‘Remco Reflex’: a Remco Evenepoel sticker that reminds drivers to check before opening their door,” bpost said at the time.
“Although all bpost drivers are extensively trained to use the Dutch Reach, a permanent visual reminder is useful. We will therefore install the ‘Remco Reflex’ in all of its vehicles.
“At bpost, we believe that a simple gesture can save lives,” bpost CEO Chris Peeters added. “With the ‘Remco Reflex’, we want to remind everyone that it is important to stay alert when you are on the road. We regret what happened to Remco and wish him a speedy recovery. We hope that this initiative will help prevent further accidents.”
Evenepoel also said: “When the people at bpost made me this proposal, I immediately jumped at the chance. All road users must take each other into account. The bpost initiative will undoubtedly help raise awareness of the dangers on the road.
“I would therefore like to thank bpost for introducing the Remco Reflex. This will undoubtedly prevent many accidents.”
9 thoughts on ““Watch out for those doors, they’re quite sturdy”: World champion breaks hip after “getting smoked by car door” in training, ruling him out of Cape Epic mountain bike race”
I got car doored a couple of years ago. The left hand handkebar hit the edge of the opening door. The impact went down into the frame and snapped the top and down tubes. I went down, knocked out, but escaped with bad bruising.
The impact went down into the frame and snapped the top and down tubes
I’m assuming that’s a carbon frame?
As opposed to my Steel reynolds frame, where the top, down tubes were bent, and the lugs pushed into the top tube.
I had a dream – the UCI asked Evenepoel, Swenson, Vinegegaard and other pros who got injured while out training to take part in a global campaign to promote safe cycling and raise all road users’ (including pedestrians) awareness about the vulnerability of people who travel and commute on two wheels.
It’s about time to make cycling really SafeR, isn’t it?
The people who would listen to them aren’t much of the problem. What’re needed are for [insert high profile sportsball people of your choice] to do this.
A minor dooring went just behind my saddle and hit the pannier rack. Bending it and the back wheel, also knocking me off causing grazes and ripped clothes. It was a young woman who was parking up outside work – a car sales garage. Her manager came out and was very good at calming the situation and offered to cover my losses.
I was quite annoyed that the trousers I had bought only about a month before were then not in stock.
Swenson was hit by “a motorist’s car door, which was ‘allegedly’ swung open into his path.” Allegedly swung open? Is there some reason to believe Swenson is making up this story?
Standard journalist protection against any possible action for libel or defamation when mentioning any accusation that hasn’t been proven in court. Obviously it’s pretty unlikely that an unidentified person (it doesn’t even say in which country the incident occurred) would be taking legal action over this but it’s good practice always to include it. While there is no reason to believe Swenson has made up the story there are always different perspectives: the driver or passenger might well claim that the door was already open before he arrived and he wasn’t paying attention. Unless/until a case is proved in court or by admission it remains an allegation and so it’s safest to add the “allegedly” proviso.
That’s one of my nightmares! (Both getting hit and accidentally opening my door without looking). For the record, the iliac crest is part of the pelvis, so he suffered a pelvic fracture, not a hip fracture. Had it been a hip fracture, he would not have been able to continue riding (speaking both as an orthopaedic surgeon and from personal experience with a hip fracture while riding!) Either way, no fun, but he’ll be back to riding sooner with that fracture. I wish him a speedy recovery!