Pro-cycling thread

Antoine Demoitié in intensive care after being hit by a motorbike (ffs!) at Gent Wevelgem

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/belgian-rider-antoine-demoitie-in-intensive-care-after-ghent-wevelgem-crash-218488?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social#JwMGdH0hLXw5UFTD.99

Doesn't sound good at all....

I thought it was rather boring, as the Kemmelberg is so far from the finish and the selection is made not so much on the climb as on the narrow, twisty descent. I would have preferred closer action on the run-in, but Boonen and co. seemed to have done too much work early on. It was odd that Cancellara misjudged the finale like this, but he may not have had enough left. I suppose if you were rooting for Sagan you would have found this exciting, but I don't. My favourite out of that group would have been Vanmarcke, but I don't think he really had a chance to get away from Cancellara earlier and obviously no chance of winning the sprint.

I didn't hear that about the motorbike crash. Best wishes to the rider. They seem to happen in every other race now.

Sounds like he was in a crash and then hit by a following motorbike whilst on the ground :(

Today was good but not a patch on last year. Last year's GW was excellent - maybe the best race i've watched of any format.

I think the strong winds really took their toll. The racing was so tough for so long. The peloton was tiny by the end of the race.

Gaviria is building to something special

Tense finish.

Delighted to see Sagan showing some tactical nous and great to see Vanmarcke up there as well.

RIP Antoine Demoitié. So sad.

Oh no. What a tragedy. :(

Lots of things recently have put cycling and its results into perspective. None more than this. What a heartbreaking end to a great spectacle.

that is so sad. RIP

Heartbreaking news.

RIP Antoine Demoitié.

This will change how races are filmed - and I hope for the better. Team cars, motorbikes, crowds... they all infringe on the riders in an unacceptable way (in my opinion), and Antoine Demoitie death is the result.

just read the awful news. merde. RIP

This is such awful news! RIP Antoine.

This has made me really angry. It's been clear since last year that the situation with too many motorbikes, many with riders who seem to have only a passing understanding of the unpredictable nature of bike races, in amongst the riders had to be addressed.

So far, more through luck than judgement, any injuries were minor, but does it really have to take someone losing their life for it to be sorted? I'm usually fairly tolerant when it comes to the UCI, mainly because I know they have a difficult job keeping everyone happy, but this has been a failure on their part.

Couldn't agree more andyp. To me, the number of motos and support vehicles in a race is absurd. Things have to change after this. If it means different TV (edit: and photo) coverage then so be it, it's not worth this price..

A lot of motos are press (photographers).
Someone will have the numbers. But they're the ones often zipping about the race.

Really sad this happened. I hope someone is held accountable for negligence under Belgian law.

I hope the riders take a real stand via their union.

https://t.co/OsSg3Fat1B

Neal Rogers on all this.

Kuznetsov is in there somewhere

Fuuuck...
That gif. So basically a sideways fall is enough to kill?

That was during E3 if I'm correct. Broken collarbone.

Rip Antoine