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news
broken bike.jpgFrench professional cyclist killed in crash with ambulance during race
A young French professional cyclist has been killed in a crash involving an ambulance during a race on the Pacific island of New Caledonia.
Mathieu Riebel, aged 20, died instantly in the collision which happened on the descent of the Col de La Pirogue during Stage 9 of the Tour Air France de Nouvelle-Caledonie, reports France Info.
His Shell Pacific team mate, 31-year-old Erwan Brenterch, broke his leg in the same crash. It was reported that his life is not in danger.
Tomorrow’s final stage of the race in the French overseas territory, now in its 47th edition, has been cancelled, although other riders in the race have decided to ride part of the route to pay tribute to Riebel.
Organisers said in a statement that they wished to “convey their deepest condolences to Mathieu’s family as well as sparing a specific thought for his team mates and staff at the Shell Pacific team.”
A former junior national champion in the Madison, Riebel had been due to join the French national division 1 team Guidon Chalettois next season.
Riebel’s death comes in a week when Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, speaking in Paris at Tuesday’s launch of the 2018 route, called for more to be done to improve the safety of riders during races.
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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3 comments
Isn't limited to French territories, or even solely bike racing. Tim Don was taken out during Kona week (fractured neck) and Matt Russell was taken out during the frigging race.
Without knowing all the facts, it's just a sad accident and my heart goes out to his family and all the others involved.
Having taken a team to the Caribbean this season, I do worry for the safety of riders in French territory races like this one. As it isn't down to local co-ordinators to set these races up, it all comes from the French cycling association and is controlled centrally in France. This left for many shortcomings in the Caribbean, lack of officials cars meant that when a break went up the road and a chase group went, there was no coverage in between, police and local marshals letting traffic go. I had to put my team car in as a lead car a number of times.
There isn't stopping an Ambulance, but if like in Martinique, there weren't enough vehicles to cover the riders, something needs changing.
RIP brother.