Katusha-Alpecin’s Marco Haller hit by driver while training

Katusha-Alpecin’s Austrian rider Marco Haller was hit by a motorist while training with friend and compatriot Bernie Eisel of Dimension Data in the Austrian province of Carinthia on Wednesday, shattering the 27-year-old’s left patella.

Haller now faces months of recuperation from a double fracture of the knee along with a break in the left femur. He had just recovered from illness following his 90th place at Paris-Roubaix. Haller was to be an integral part of Marcel Kittel’s lead out train at this July’s Tour de France, which would have been his fourth start in La Grande Boucle.

Multiple fractures of the left knee after a car hit @mhaller91 on Austrian roads. Out of racing for months: https://t.co/aP3uvuUCWw pic.twitter.com/glkL4J77WT

— KATUSHA (@katushacycling) April 19, 2018

In a statement from the Switzerland-based team Haller said, “I was riding with Bernie Eisel and was sitting in his wheel on a slight downhill, when suddenly a car, ignoring the stop sign, came at us from the right. Bernie just managed to escape him, but I could not do that and hit the driver’s door at full speed. My bike was completely destroyed and my knee as well.”

Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of Michele Scarponi’s death, which also resulted from a driver ignoring a stop sign.

In December Haller’s British teammate Alex Dowsett posted a statement on Twitter following his harrowing near miss.

My thoughts from today’s frightening near miss. If you agree, have had the same or can relate to this, I’d appreciate it shared. pic.twitter.com/wd53AdFE94

— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) December 18, 2017

Recently, Australian pro Macey Stewart of Wiggle High5 posted on Instagram soon after she suffered a near miss while training. On the eve of the Tour of the Alps, where he sits seventh with one stage to go, George Bennett (New Zealand/LottoNL-Jumbo) was hit by a car while reconning the Giro d’Italia’s 34.5-km time trial between Trento and Rovereto.

In January of 2016, a motorist struck six members of Sunweb, then called Giant-Alpecin, who were training in Spain.

Haller’s unfortunate situation is part of Katusha’s general woes this season. The outfit is at the bottom of the WorldTour standings after 17 of 37 rounds. Collectively the team has three wins in 2018 UCI-rated races, two for Kittel and one for Nathan Haas.