Cyclist killed during gravel race after collision with a truck driver

Rasputitsa, an inclusive and fun community gravel race with over a thousand participants in East Burke, Vermont, was overshadowed this year after the tragic death of 54-year-old cyclist when a pickup truck driver drove straight into him as the cyclist was crossing a road.

The Vermont State Police said that they were notified of a collision between a pick-up truck driver and a cyclist at 9:20 AM on Saturday, April 29th. According to the initial investigations, Richard Wantall from Massachusetts was travelling south on Brook Road when he entered the northbound side of the road. At that time, the driver Alex Goss, was travelling north on Brook Road in a Dodge pickup truck.

As he was crossing over to the other side of the street, Wantall collided with the front of the truck. Benjamin Knight, the race support vehicle driver said: “The bike was under the truck. It was bad. While we waited, the race crew administered CPR.” 

Wantall was taken  to a local hospital by an ambulance where he was later pronounced deceased. The Vermont Police have said that neither speed nor impairment are believed to contributing factors in the collision currently, however the incident is still under investigation. 

> World Masters champion killed after being hit head-on in San Fransisco cycle lane by “speeding” driver

Rasputitsa, Russian for “muddy season” when travel on unpaved roads becomes difficult, has organised by the Vermont community since 2014. More than 1,400 riders travelled from across the U.S. and Canada to attend this year's event — the largest number of participants the race has seen to date.

The organisers said that they were “deeply saddened by the news that one of our community members died today, after colliding with a vehicle while on course”.

Race director Heidi Myers said: “When we heard, we didn’t know any details other than one of our riders was struck and hurt. At that moment, the day stopped being about Rasputitsa and became focused on getting every single rider back safely. We’re focused on doing anything we can to support the family and the riders who were on the scene.”

Myers said that when emergency services arrived, the race organisers promptly rerouted the course of all the racers behind the accident site to respect the medical personnel and give them space. She offered her condolences to Wantall’s family.

Saturday’s fatality was the second at a major gravel bike race in Vermont in less than a year. Last August, Suleiman “Sule” Kangangi, a 33-year-old professional racer from Kenya, died of injuries sustained while participating in the 59-mile Vermont Overland race, which began in West Windsor.

> "Continuing as we are remains unsafe": Calls for British Cycling action as rider airlifted to hospital after collision with car during race

Rasputista gravel race (Twitter: @outofpodcast)

Calls for improving safety of riders during a race have become increasingly prominent with more and more exposure to highly unsafe and as seen, potentially fatal conditions. Just today morning, we reported that a U23 pro cyclist called for better race direction after 90 per cent of the peloton crashed out on muddy roads in the Tour de Bretagne.

In March this year, Soudal-Quick Step's Florian Sénéchal took to social media to raise concerns about the final stage of the Paris-Nice race, including speed bumps on descents and a horrifying instance of a motorist driving towards the drivers, while calling it a “death race”.

The frightening moment unfolded around 60km from the finish line in Nice as the front group began the descent of the first-category Côte de Peille, the driver coming up the climb on the course, forcing riders around the outside, fortunate the meeting passed without contact.

> Pro cyclist calls for better race direction after 90% of the peloton crashed at Tour de Bretagne

Calling the incident live on Eurosport and GCN, race commentator Rob Hatch was left asking “how on earth has that happened?”

“I’m angry seeing things like that in a pro race,” he said. “That is dangerous, that could have been an absolute nightmare.”

🗣️ “Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear. Now, how on earth does that happen?” 😱

😳 Cars on the road during the final stage of Paris-Nice.#ParisNice pic.twitter.com/reRrVXw6aO

— Eurosport (@eurosport) March 12, 2023

Just a few days later, teams and riders alike called on British Cycling for safety improvements at races after a competitor was airlifted to hospital with a neck injury sustained in a crash with a car stopped on the course of the Dulwich Paragon Wally Gimber Trophy.

The race organisers said the event had been stopped following a "traffic incident", with the Ride Revolution team confirming to road.cc their rider had crashed through the vehicle's rear windscreen, suffering a serious cut to the neck which saw him rushed by air ambulance to King's College Hospital for emergency treatment. 

Team owner and head coach Jake Hales told road.cc: "I don't want to use the term life-threatening but I did hear that thrown around. He had a really bad cut on his neck from when he went through the rear windscreen. Once they stemmed the blood flow, because that risk had gone, his injuries weren't so bad.

> "Disgrace": Pro riders rip into UCI over "unacceptable" speed bump sprint crash

In February, British sprinter Dan McLay criticised Clásica de Almería race organisers, as motorists made their way onto roundabouts used by peloton. He tweeted: “If you can’t close a road properly you can’t have a race on it. Just playing with our health.”

And in January, at the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina, the peloton was forced to split in two as it passed a central reservation. However, the left-hand side, which world champion Remco Evenepoel and a few others stuck to, was filled with spectators, leading to a frenzied finish with riders dodging people on the street while also battling for position at 60km/hr.

“It was hectic and dangerous. I almost hit a woman, I think,” said the 22-year-old two-time Liège–Bastogne–Liège winner, who won the Vuelta a San Juan back in 2020, told Sporza at the finish.

“As Michael Mørkøv said, it should not be allowed that there is still such an open stretch at 1.2 kilometres from the finish, where you do not know where to ride and where people are still crossing.

“I was not panicked, but I was shocked by the crossing people. A lead-out is without thinking, clearing your mind and accelerating. I was a bit upset and I wanted to ask if everything was okay. Lessons should be learned from this.”