Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Back to news
news
Racing
Transcontinental top 10 contender forced to scratch after e-scooter collision cracks his frameTranscontinental rider's frame cracked after e-scooter collision (credit - Will Vousden, Instagram)

Transcontinental top 10 contender forced to scratch after e-scooter collision cracks his frame

Ultra-cyclist Will Vousden said his bike “started wobbling in a very unsettling way” as he descended the 2,145m high Transalpina Pass – five days after the crash
by Ryan Mallon
Wed, Aug 03, 2022 13:08
2

Ultra-cyclist Will Vousden has been forced to quit the Transcontinental Race across Europe while in contention for a top ten finish, after discovering a massive crack in his bike frame – five days after colliding with an e-scooter rider in Bavaria.

British rider Vousden, who was the fastest finisher at the 2021 Around Norway bike packing event, was in similarly good form at this week’s Transcontinental, the mammoth self-supported, non-stop bicycle race from one side of Europe to the other, usually covering 4,000km depending on the routes chosen by the riders.

After over six days of gruelling racing, Vousden had reached the third of four checkpoints on the route, at the Durmitor National Park in Montenegro, in eighth place and within touching distance of two other riders.

> Transcontinental Race: Defending champion Fiona Kolbinger has purse and tracker stolen while sleeping

However, as the 33-year-old took on the 2,145m high Transalpina Pass in Romania, the site of the fourth and final checkpoint before the finish on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, he noticed a serious issue with his bike.

On the third day of the event, as he rode through Germany, Vousden collided with the rider of an e-scooter. While he was able to carry on near the front of the race, it was only on yesterday’s descent of the Transalpina, five days on from the collision, that he realised the full extent of the damage caused by the crash.

After experiencing a wobble while riding down the mountain at speed, he stopped immediately and discovered that, underneath one of his bag straps, the titanium frame of his Kinesis Tripster ATR was irrevocably cracked, forcing him to withdraw from the event within sight of the finish.

“So that crash I had on day 3 where a motorbike hit me – turns out the bike was *not* okay, my trusty Kinesis Tripster ATR frame is toast, and my TCR is over,” Vousden posted on Instagram.

“The frame had been creaking a bit from day 4 onwards, but I thought it was just the headset bearings not quite seated properly,” he said.

“It had been getting worse today, and as I stated the descent from the first summit of the Transalpina, the bike started wobbling in a very unsettling way.

“I stopped the bike and discovered an open crack running almost the full circumference of the downtube.

“I was extremely lucky to notice it when I did, as one more switchback would have caused the frame to fold in half beneath me.”

He continued: “I’m sad not to have finished the race, but at the same time am happy with my performance and feel I've gained a lifetime of experience in unsupported racing. I have many strategy and equipment tweaks I'm now dying to try out… Until next time!”

> What’s the best bike for tackling the Transcontinental Race across Europe? Take a look at the leaders’ continent crushing machines

While Vousden waited to be evacuated from a scenic mountain top in Romania, Christoph Strasser was making his way across the Danube river at the head of the race.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Apidura (@apidura)

This morning the Austrian ultra-racer – the current 24-hour time trial world champion and a six-time winner of the Race Across America – crossed the finish line in Burgas, nine days and 14 hours after setting off from Geraardsbergen, one of Flemish cycling’s holy places.

39-year-old Strasser, taking part in his first ever non-supported endurance event, averaged almost 470km a day during his epic ride across Europe.

Transcontinental
TCRNo8
Will Vousden
Ryan Mallon

After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

Add new comment

2 comments

Avatar
Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
0 likes

Nice to see Fiona K come in 8th place after all the trauma and hassle of her thefts.  Only the 2nd time a Woman has broken into the TCR top ten afaik, obvs the first time being when she won in 2019.  She made a couple of interesting routing choices, but regardless its clear she's fast as f*ck at this stuff.   By her own admission she felt less prepared this year due to the demands of her Doctors job.

If you follow her on Strava its slightly terrifying to see how many QOM's she bags just on a day ride.

Avatar
Global Nomad | 2 years ago
2 likes

have been dot watching but continue to struggle with comprehending how to ride an average of 470km a day for 9 days....

Latest Comments