AG2R-La Mondiale’s Jesse Sergent has been forced to retire from professional cycling at the age of 28 due to the serious injuries he sustained when the driver of a Shimano neutral service car knocked him from his bike when he was in the break at the Tour of Flanders last year.
The New Zealander, twice an Olympic bronze medallist on the track in the team pursuit, needed three operations on his collarbone after the incident in April 2015.
As the video above shows, the driver of the car tried to squeeze past the breakaway group through a gap that was simply not there, knocking Sergent, then riding for Trek Factory Racing, from his bike.
His coach Mike McRedmond, quoted on Stuff.co.nz, said: "It's been a tough 12 months for Jesse, with that crash he had last year, with the car hitting him.
"That was a big setback. They thought it would take six to eight weeks, but it took him three months because they ballsed up the operation.
"That put a dampener on his year and then he changed teams and going into a French-speaking team is a very hard transition."
McRedmond added: "The life of a pro cyclist is really tough; it's really, really hard.
"You have to train every day, you've got a big race programme and a lot of people who don't understand the sport don't understand how hard it is. It just wears you down."
Sergent’s best year on the road came in 2011, his first full season on the WorldTour wih RadioShack, when he won the overall titles at the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen and the Tour International du Poitou Charentes, as well as a stage in the Eneco Tour.
From my experience (and that's all I'll claim) this made me go rather too high. A bike fitter brought my saddle down a lot (35 mm) and it felt...
You very well could be right there, I used to live just off that route, they're some private businesses that back onto it disgruntled local maybe?...
Moment £35k car is submerged by sea after getting stuck on North West beach...
High Probability Fantasist Alert
"There are three cassette options: 11-44T, 10-44T or 10-36T, each of which will fit a traditional 11-speed HG-style driver body."...
" over 50% say more cameras would “change their behaviour” " It's a well known fact the carrot doesn't work for most motorist, but the big stick does.
That Katie Bower of the OHSP seems to have the right idea on some of the priorities of bicycle safety month.
Well done Cheshire constabulary.
'Road test' is one of the boxes to be ticked in the checklist used by my local mechanic
A round up ...