Austrian junior rider hurt in crash involving bus at World Championships

A member of the Austrian national team has been hospitalised following a crash involving a bus while undertaking a recce of the route of Saturday’s women’s junior race at the UCI Road World Championships in Denmark.

Leila Gschwentner was confirmed by the Austrian national cycling federation as having sustained a shoulder injury in the incident, reports Sporza.

The crash happened at the junction of Brusselsestraat and the ring road in Leuven, which hosts the finishing circuit of the road races in the coming days.

The bus, a regular De Lijn service according to a report on Sporza, sustained significant damage to its windscreen according to a video tweeted by Oost-Brabant regional news broadcaster ROBtv.

Aan de oprit van de ring in de Brusselsestraat in @stadleuven zijn de renners van de Oostenrijkse wielerploeg aangereden door een bus van @delijn. Eén wielrenster is afgevoerd met meerdere breuken. #robnieuws #robtv #robwk pic.twitter.com/szr0yj1NOz

— ROBtv (@rob_televisie) September 22, 2021

Some media reports have suggested that Gschwentner and her two team-mates may have been riding in the wrong direction, but local police have so far declined to comment on the precise circumstances of the crash.

Today’s collision comes just five days after the start of the World Championships in Flanders was marred by the death of Danish former professional cyclist Chris Anker Sørensen.

The 37-year-old, who was covering the event for Danish broadcaster TV2, was killed in a collision involving a van while riding his bike in Bruges, which hosted the time trial events.

> Danish ex-pro Chris Anker Sørensen killed while riding bike in Belgium