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tour de moselle fall.pngVideo: Pro rider takes a nasty fall as handlebars are snapped clean off
The victim, Maxime Roger of Chambrey CF Cycling Club, was travelling at around 60km/h when his TT extensions became detached from the base bars, according to an interview on French cycling website directvelo.com.
While at first it appears the fall was as a direct result of Roger's TT bars coming away from their mounts, road.cc's own Jo Burt pointed out that his tyre also appears to blow, which further knocked the rider's balance and ability to possibly save himself by quickly grabbing onto the base bars. Talk about getting all your mechanicals out the way in one go.
Roger painfully skids along the floor before coming to a stop near a grass verge, ending his day and his participation in the multi-stage event.
Edit: It appears the rider wasn't very seriously injured after the fall, explaining in the interview with DirectVelo that he has very sore knees but hopes to be racing again at the end of the month at the Trophy of Champions event.
Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story).
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42 comments
The tyre going has nothing to do with losing control. He's well on his way off the bike when the tyre blows
I always thought hands healed pretty quick. They have a good blood supply etc etc.
I've got some meaty scars on my hands from falls, but I have to say that I still rarely wear gloves. Some people just don't learn do they hey?
Hands may or may not heal more quickly than other injuries, but who is going to be wiping your arse while they do?
Replied to wrong post
Years ago, I snapped a pair of aluminium handlebars going downhill on my mountain bike. Think I did the actual damage earlier in the ride from a hard landing after miss-judging a drop-off and the subsequent hammering finished them off. Wasn't even a rocky downhill, just tree roots and leaf mould.
Anyway, dropped the side that snapped, grabbed the remaining bar with both hands and hoped for the best - managed to avoid a couple of tree stumps, more luck than judgement, before cartwheeling over the bars into a bush.
While I was walking home, my Dad happened to drive past the other way and did a classic double-take before stopping.
Ended up with a stiff shoulder for a week and needed a new front rim as well as the bars.
He's pretty lucky the side of the road was as clear as it was. something failing like that is one thing that really scares me (pretty irrationally) so every month or two I like to undo bolts on the stem and headset, regrease and reassemble to correct torque, I've seen the result of what happened to a friend who's stem slipped and sent them over the bars on a downhill. The dentist bill was quite big
That guy knows how to fall. He kept his elbows up all through that slide..........no road rash elbows for him....that was a rapid unclip and step forward as well. Ooof....
I can't figure out why he unclipped and threw his leg forward, looks like he was able to fall onto the base bar, may have even stayed on?!
Wow that was spectacular and with very good video coverage! Luckily the guy had a lot of space to absorb his energy.
On the glove debate about protection I think it is a bit of an overkill even though if it is permanently visible that I have lost a square inch or two of skin. I only wear gloves when it is cold.
And yes such videos reassure me that carbon should belong only to the racers
Gloves are overkill, just lol, it would seem it's not just the 'pros' that are stupid over matters of safety.
That looks like someone has killed the mounts on the flat handlebar by over torquing the elbow pad mounts. Obviously the team and manufacturers will investigate but i would not be surprised if we did not hear the reason for this.
Never under estimate how much protection a pair of gloves can offer your hands. Until you have ripped your palms to shreds you never realise just how much pain and how inconvenient injuring your hands is. Coupled with the fact that hands take ages to heal means the suffering is extended. As somebody else already noted i would return home to grab gloves if i forgot them.
Thing is if you lose the skin on your hands (and I think the wet road probably helped him here) - how soon is it before you can train again ? Hard to ride a bike if you cant hold the handlebars.
I remember a story of a pro crashing out like this and leaving a stage race and not even being able to carry his cases due to his injuries. If he'd had mitts he'd have still been in the race. It does make sense.
@fenix for racing/training maybe gloves are a good choice as protective measure. But it really seems an overkill for me that I will use bicycle for commuting or touring. I want to simplify my gear as much as possible and when during my first months with bicycle as an adult I used to wear but it seemed too much of a hassle.
I understand though that palm injury can be very very nasty. As a teen, a friend and I runned alongside downhill and I fell with my hands on the grippy tarmac. It indeed took many weeks for the wound to heal during which I couldn't catch anything. But so far we don't make kids wear gloves when they play, right?
Just occasionally, the dubious brown shorts come in handy
He's lucky to just miss the kerb. Would have been more serious.
Chambery is the Amateur feeder team for AG2R - https://www.chamberycyclismeformation.com/ Maxime Roger is listed on front page, in his kit...
Ouch that looks so scary. Very lucky he didn't hit anything else, it could have been worse. I would find it difficult to trust that kit again. Any ideas why did the bars break away? Was it a carbon fibre part which simply failed or where they clipped on somehow?
When I watched it in full screen and slow, it looked like the single vertical 'riser' piece between the extensions and the base bars snaps clean in half.
I'm not au fait with TT stuff, but are the extensions usually that far proud of the base bars?
Interesting couple of tweets with diagrams/explanations here:
https://twitter.com/scorpionwheels/status/907982607945789440
https://twitter.com/scorpionwheels/status/907989472490541057
He hits a bit of a speed hump where those road markings are. That sudden impact on carbon bars and possible over-torquing and bang.
That should never happen with CF, unless they've already being damaged somehow or were faulty, You might over wrench the bolts a bit but to have that outcome from such an impact, no way., that would be ridiculous
I've been cycling daily on CF bars for a while now, between 95 and 107kg the (Bottechia) CF bars on my commuter/utility bike have had some serious hammering over the last 8 years including more than a few incidents with motors ending with injury. Still no sign of damage.
As others have said, gloves, gloves, gloves! The most important protective aid a person riding a bike will ever wear.
Regarding the lack of gloves, I remarked during the GT TTs this year that many of the pros weren't wearing gloves. They must not be considered 'aero'.
Gloves will cost you about 12 sec in a '25' TT...
Really? That much? I'm surprised there aren't any aero gloves to minimise this. Bare hands can't be naturally more aero, can they?
A lot of pros never wear gloves.
Forget helmets - always wear some gloves. Maybe knee-pads should be considered if this happens to you a lot.
Whoooaaa! I am going to have nightmares about that.
In full AG2R skin suit and associated kit with one of their Factor TT bikes. Are we sure the rider is who he said he is?
Chambery CF is the feeder team for AG2R.
I bet it is one of those magic skinsuits that transmits all the damage to your skin but doesn't tear.
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