Kevin Geniets taken out by ad banner at Paris-Nice start line
Groupama-FDJ rider injured in odd pre-stage incident in media zone
Photo by:
TV 2 Sport / Twitter
Kevin Geniets was forced to abandon Paris-Nice in the weirdest way on Saturday. The Groupama-FDJ rider hadn’t even made it to the start line when he was taken out by a media banner.
It appears a gust of wind toppled the metal-framed ad banner as Geniets was riding towards the media zone before the start. Video shows the banner pushing the Luxembourg national champ into more metal barriers on the far side of the cyclists’ corridor.
Geniets injured his ankle in the very weird incident. There’s no news on the extent of the injury, yet, but the Groupama-FDJ rider did abandon a few kilometres into Saturday’s penultimate stage after attempting to start the race.
Geniets responded to the incident succinctly, tweeting “FML” in a repost of video footage on Twitter.
— Geniets Kevin (@GenietsKevin) March 12, 2022
It’s been an odd running of the race. Illness decimated the peloton early on. This left Canadian Hugo Houle as the lone rider remaining from the entire Israel-Premier Tech squad. He now sits 14th overall with one stage remaining.
Ad banners gone bad
Geniets’ Paris-Nice banner run-in is a weird fluke. But it’s not the first time banners have fought back in pro cycling.
In 2016 Adam Yates was nearly taken out of the Tour de France by the flamme rouge arch. The 1km to go banner collapsed as Yates, who was in the white jersey at the time, rolled towards the finish of Stage 7. Bloodied but undeterred, Yates continued in the race the following day.
In 2018, a truck carrying a load of hay struck first, before the rider’s had their chance, taking out the start/finish arch at the Santos Women’s Tour in Australia.
That followed a spree of bus-versus-banner battles in the early 2010s. Orica-Green Edge’s bus famously got stuck at the Tour de France in 2013. The following year, UnitedHealthCare’s bus went for round two at a Giro Rosa finish line.
