After moto incident at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne takes down Stig Broeckx, Lotto Soudal files complaint with the Belgian Cycling Federation
Sunday was a great day for Trek-Segafredo. It wasn't so great for Lotto Soudal.
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurke [KBK] on Sunday, Feb. 28 was a great day for Trek-Segafredo’s Jasper Stuyven, having bounced back from a crash at the previous day’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to take a stunning solo win in the race’s last 20 kilometers. For the Belgian rider, it was his biggest career win, hands down.
The day wasn’t so great for Lotto Soudal, though.
As the events that propelled Stuyven to the finish started playing out, in the final stretch of KBK, Lotto Soudal rider Stig Broeckx had pulled off from the front of the peloton, dropping back. As he rode parallel to the bunch, gradually bleeding off speed, the race’s medical moto came speeding past and clipped him, dramatically hurling Broeckx against the pavement.
.@StigBroeckx has a displaced fracture on the right collar bone, a rib fracture and a bruised hand. We wish him a good recovery!!
— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) February 28, 2016
The crash caused the 25-year-old cyclist a fractured rib and collarbone, for which he received surgery on Monday. Nonetheless, the injuries mean that Broeckx will miss the rest of the early-season Spring Classics. Now his team wants answers.
“The team loses an important rider who was part of the Classics core and who did a great job on Saturday and Sunday,” said Lotto Soudal in a statement. “Lotto Soudal hopes that after the succession of events the past few months and because of what happened yesterday during Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne the theme ‘safety’ won’t only be further discussed between organizations, teams and their interest groups, federations and the international cycling union, but that soon also concrete measures will be taken to increase the safety of the riders.”
In what has become an alarming trend recently, as Lotto Soudal alluded in its statement, several races—a half dozen at least—have been marred by collisions between race motos and competing athletes. Last August, an auxiliary motorcycle hit Peter Sagan at the Vuelta a España, prompting the Tinkoff-Saxo rider to withdraw from competition. Earlier the same month, BMC Racing’s Greg Van Avermaet was hit by a TV moto. On track to win, soloing clear on the day’s final climb, the collision cost Van Avermaet the win.
I was going to win classics San Sebastián until the motto run into me and put me on the ground. Game over! Bravo organization, bravo motto!
— Greg Van Avermaet (@GregVanAvermaet) August 1, 2015
And on the same weekend as Broeckx’s collision in Belgium, Switzerlaland’s Danilo Wyss, also riding for BMC, was also involved in a collision with a moto at the La Drome Classic in France, although he emerged from the scrape without serious injuries.
Responding to the incident, the Belgian Cycling Federation—which plans to question the driver who hit Broeckx on Sunday—said that it “regrets the accident.”
“[The Belgian Cycling Federation] wishes once again to emphasize that the safety of the riders, followers and spectators is one of its top priorities,” officials said. “Thus, last Thursday—ahead of the Belgian opening weekend—a meeting was organized for all drivers who are involved directly or indirecty ub races, a meeting during which each driver refreshed his knowledge of the rules.”
The Belgian Federation maintained that it “already makes every effort to minimize the risk of such accidents.”
