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“Think!” – Ineos Grenadiers rider Laurens De Plus sends safety message to drivers after he is knocked off bike

Crash comes in week in which Tiesj Benoot sustained broken vertebrae when motorist hit him

Ineos Grenadiers rider Laurens De Plus has sent a safety message to drivers, telling them to “Think twice or wait five seconds” when there are cyclists around after he was knocked off his bike by a motorist during a training ride this morning.

The 26-year-old from Flanders, who is due to ride the Vuelta a Espana which begins in Utrecht a week tomorrow, was riding near Geraaardsbergen when the incident happened.

Sharing pictures on Twitter with his arm and buttock showing road rash and the wheels of his bike crumpled, the Belgian said: “Thanks to the driver for driving [into] me from behind. Fortunately with a better outcome than my colleagues last week. Please be careful with the vulnerable road user.”

De Plus, who joined Ineos Grenadiers at the start of last season from Team Jumbo Visma, added the hashtag #safetyfirst to his post.

He added: “I'm happy to get out of the bruise and the bump," the rider added. “It was a very sad and unfortunate accident. A car tried to pass me in the Onkerzelestraat where there is no bicycle path and took me from behind.

“I have had an official report drawn up, but it remains to be seen whether anything will come of it. I urge drivers to think twice or wait five seconds.”

His comments come after Jumbo-Visma rider Tiesj Benoot sustained fractured vertebraafter a rider crashed into him when he was training in Livigno, Lombardy, on Monday.

> Tiesj Benoot hit by driver while training — suffers fractured vertebrae

“I was descending and driving on a long straight”, Benoot said after his crash, which happened as he was descending and a driver pulled out of a car park in front of him.

“I wasn't even riding that fast. I went to look back, I reached something like 67 km/h. Suddenly the car crossed a parking lot.

“Did he not look, or did he think he could pass quickly? I don't know.

“I’ve ridden it full on and I've barely even been able to brake. The door of the car was dented, the mirror was off, the windows were broken.”

He continued: “I must have been unconscious for 15 minutes because when I came to, the ambulance was already there. I immediately called my girlfriend Fien and forwarded the location. She arrived quickly on the spot.

“For a while I was very fuzzy, I didn’t immediately know where I was and how long I had been in Livigno, but luckily that came back quickly.

“I don’t remember everything, but I can still see such a flash of the car entering the road ahead of me,” added Benoot, who was airlifted to hospital and is now out for the rest of the season.

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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7 comments

Avatar
brooksby | 2 years ago
3 likes

"wait five seconds"??!!! - are you quite mad??

Avatar
janusz0 | 2 years ago
5 likes

I was out in my car today and joined a queue that followed a tractor with a trailer of "big bales" for about 5 miles today.  I was too far back, but what really amazed me was that nobody at the front attempted to overtake it.  Certainly no "punishment passes".  From my position, I saw several occasions in when several of the cars in front of me could have safely overtaken the tractor, yet none did.  I didn't take a detour as I was fascinated by this passive behaviour by a queue of slowed down motorists.

Why can't they behave like this when a cyclist is ahead of them?

Avatar
Jackslad replied to janusz0 | 2 years ago
3 likes

Simply because many drivers don't see farm vehicles as "The Enemy", as they do with cyclists.

Avatar
Car Delenda Est replied to janusz0 | 2 years ago
7 likes

Tractor big, bicycle puny

Avatar
Secret_squirrel replied to Car Delenda Est | 2 years ago
2 likes
Car Delenda Est wrote:

Tractor big, bicycle puny

Hulk Driver Smash!

Avatar
TheBillder replied to janusz0 | 2 years ago
4 likes

If the overtake of a cyclist goes wrong and there's oncoming traffic, drivers will think "hey-ho, 3 abreast is fine and I can just squeeze the cyclist into the gutter." Not so much with n tonnes of tractor which has nothing to lose.

Avatar
BalladOfStruth replied to janusz0 | 2 years ago
5 likes

Because a driver has quite a bit to lose if they f*ck up a dangerous overtake on multiple tonnes of heavy farm machinery.

On the other had, a driver has nothing to lose if they f*ck up a dangerous overtake of a cyclist and kill them. Maybe a day out to visit their local court so a judge can call them a very naughty boy and to think very hard about what they've done - but that's okay, they can do some shopping on their way back, and it's an excuse to wear that suit they bought for thier sister's wedding again...

 

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