"Shit happens" says rider who crashed on cattle grid at start of Tour de Yorkshire

Katusha’s Sven Erik Bystrom was the first casualty of the Tour de Yorkshire, forced to abandon with facial injuries after just a few hundred metres. The 2014 under-23 road race world champion apparently came a cropper on a cattle grid in an incident that saw a number of riders hit the deck.

TV coverage of the incident showed Bystrom lying face down on the ground following his fall. As the other riders picked themselves up, one even dropped his rear wheel onto Bystrom’s back, not knowing he was there.

Just 300 meters into the race and already a HUGE crash. #TourdeYorkshire pic.twitter.com/GwPXkfhAZF

— CyclingHub.tv (@CyclingHubTV) 29 April 2016

The cause of the crash, it seems, was a cattle grid.

Normally this kind of road grids is to keep cattle away, not riders… @sebystrom #TDY pic.twitter.com/HzI1qbk3Ak

— Team KATUSHA (@katushacycling) April 29, 2016

Bystrom seemed phlegmatic about his abandonment and later confirmed that he hadn’t suffered any broken bones.

Shit happens and today was not my day. Crash in #yorkshire, but I'll be ok. No worries! pic.twitter.com/ZG8f77FN0L

— Sven Erik Bystrøm (@sebystrom) April 29, 2016