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Sports director thrown off Giro d’Italia after rear-ending rider in team car

Driver of Team BikeExchange car hit Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Pieter Serry on today’s final climb

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.

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.

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.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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18 comments

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Rapha Nadal | 3 years ago
0 likes

Serry should've been wearing hi-viz.

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Velophaart_95 | 3 years ago
5 likes

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.

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W12 Hatter replied to Velophaart_95 | 3 years ago
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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.

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HarrogateSpa | 3 years ago
3 likes

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.

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kil0ran replied to HarrogateSpa | 3 years ago
5 likes

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.

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leipreachan replied to HarrogateSpa | 3 years ago
2 likes

apparently throwing bidons is dangerous but passing jackets from a car to a car is OK

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kevinmorice replied to HarrogateSpa | 3 years ago
1 like
HarrogateSpa wrote:

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.

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.

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Global Nomad | 3 years ago
1 like

this is what happens with distracted drivers....

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Captain Badger replied to Global Nomad | 3 years ago
3 likes
Global Nomad wrote:

this is what happens with distracted drivers....

There's a certain Andy James who will wisely point out that the rider didn't make himself visible enough.....

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Steve K | 3 years ago
0 likes

This is why we need segregated infrastructure.

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Organon | 3 years ago
0 likes

Red is sus.

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mdavidford | 3 years ago
0 likes
Quote:

Following the incident, staff from the Team BikeExchange car rushed to help Serry's bike

FTFY

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luke.lon replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
0 likes
mdavidford wrote:
Quote:

Following the incident, staff from the Team BikeExchange car rushed to help Serry's bike

FTFY

To be fair the mechanic was trying to unclip the rider since he was still attached to the bike...

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mdavidford replied to luke.lon | 3 years ago
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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...

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Hirsute replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
0 likes

When under stress stick to what you know !

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Gkam84 | 3 years ago
3 likes

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

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kil0ran replied to Gkam84 | 3 years ago
0 likes

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.

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Gkam84 replied to kil0ran | 3 years ago
0 likes

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 

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