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news
Video: Kirsten Wild loses Prudential RideLondon Classique 'victory' after huge crash
Kirsten Wild was the first rider across the line on the Mall at the Prudential RideLondon Classique yesterday evening – only to have the victory taken away from her after she was adjudged to have caused a crash that saw a number of riders hit the deck.
The victory – and €25,000 first prize for winning what is the richest one-day race on the Women’s WorldTour calendar – instead went to Lorena Wiebes of Parkhotel Valkenburg.
Wild seemed to have taken a record third victory in the one-day race, first held in 2013, and which this year comprised 20 laps of a new 3.4-kilometre course based around St James’s Park and Constitution Hill.
The WNT-Rotor rider said it was “the best feeling to beat the best sprinters in the world” but was subsequently disqualified after being “judged to have deviated from her chosen line and endangered other riders.”
Wild’s move caused Chloe Hosking of Ale-Cipollini to clip her rear wheel, with the Australian crashing and around 20 other riders also coming down.
Following further review, Wild’s disqualification was amended to her being relegated to last place – 37th – in the front group.
Race director Mick Bennett said that while “a number of riders crashed during the final sprint, initial reports confirm that there were no serious injuries”.
The 20-year-old Wiebes, who in June became the Dutch national road race champion, said: “I didn't have a very good position over the last five kilometres so I had to go to the front and start my sprint really early.
It was a surprise win at the end. Kirsten came over in the last 50 metres but she was disqualified so it was really surprising. It's just crazy.”
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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17 comments
I think that was totally the right decision to DQ her.
For me this was a close call, but ultiamtely the right call to make.
She deviated from her line significantly, a direct result of which was a crash. This by the very letter of the law, means she was guilty.
There is an argument that Chloe Hosking was also partially responsible, as she failed to see or respond to Wild move, and hence went down, but I'm not really buying that.
Someone above mentions Sagan / Cavendish episode and there are similarities. In both situations, the movement itself was, in theory, not that significant, it was just the timing, and what it meant for surrounding riders that took it beyond the rules. Both Hoskings and cavendish were put in situations that they couldn't respond to quickly enough to avoid a crash.
Both times you could, and people have, theorised that Hoskings / Cavendish were at fault for being somewhere the relegated rider wanted to be, and as they were behind it was up to them to make room for the rider ahead. For me though the point is that in both cases the rdiers were already in the space that the offending rider moved in to, so therefore probably had more claim to be there.
In reality the movement Wild made to the right shortly before moving to the left was the damning one... when Hosking opened her sprint she was absolutely in her right mind to think that she had a run for the line, so any talk of overlapping is bollocks - wild moved to the right before switching back suddenly.
As for these being professionals so within their right / ability to change line. I am not against this in principle, but when a professional moves to such an extent that another professional can not avoid a crash, then that movement is too big / quick to be acceptable.
To say its not Wild's fault, and that fault being down to her line change is to say that its Hosking's fault, and I struggle to see how it can be on the evidence I've seen.
Can not believe anyone thinks that Wild was perfectly within her rights to deviate like that! She was all over the place and an accident waiting to happen. I was surprised that the relevant media didn’t immediately suspect a DNQ.
If you are side swiping the wheels of the riders behind you there’s a fair chance you deviated you line.
I do. I don't see anything wrong with this. If a rider isn't allowed to move off the wheel in front then what's the point have a sprint? If you're side siping the wheels of riders behind you there's a fair chance it's their own fault! The rider behind wasn't going around her and should have easily been able to avoid her wheel, don't overlap if you don't have space to move if you need to.
Then I can’t believe you’ve seen it. She keeps forcing rider wider and then moves across her. If that happened in a men’s race there’d be outcry and protest. Sagan’s DQ in the Tour (which was unfair) was for far less.
The really annoying thing for me was that she doesn't even acknowledge her part in the crash when interviewed by Jill Douglas (and Douglas is her usual neutral BBC self and doesn't mention the fact it's her that is being accused of the crash which is patently obvious).
Even Chris Boardman states that she would definitely have known about it so she's pleaded total innocence and having no knowledge of it so she's a liar too!
Can't believe people are defending this ffs!
Except it won't have been solely the Chief Comm deciding on a whim - it'll have been the Race Jury which includes the judging team, Commissaire panel and the organiser and they'll have interpreted the rules as written down by the UCI. Wild broke the rules so the penalty of relegation is applied. It's pretty simple. Whether she meant to put anyone into the barriers or not is pretty immaterial at that stage.
If it had been in a track race - something which Wild is also extremely good at - then yes, they do have lanes, it's even called "the sprinter's lane". Exactly the same principle applies on road even though there aren't painted lines there. And if she had no idea of what was going on behind her then that's just bad sprinting. She'd left a big gap to her left, she should have known someone would be in it.
Oh let's see, I've got a choice here - admit that I and my team massively screwed up the tactics, got completely out of position and just have to accpet the outcome or I could cause a massive pile up.
Hmm, tricky one...
I presume everyone commenting is happy to go into their next crit accepting that any rider anywhere in the bunch has complete freedom to swerve around wherever they want to get the win? No, thought not.
I'm not sure what that has to do with my question(s).
Of course not and nobody has suggested anything of the sort. But there's a big difference between our local club-level crits and an elite level race where all competitors are full-time professionals.
She goes one way, then goes hard the other way shortly after, thats a DQ every day of the week.
bad call.
sprints are mad places and riders need to flow.
Chief comm is too long outta of the pointy end of a bunch.
I honestly thought that was a bizarre decision. Wild "deviated from her line"; no sh*t! It's 100m to go and there's a rider immediately in front of her. What was she supposed to do? Sit behind and coast across the finish line? Hosking made an error of judgement by overlapping the wheel of the rider she'd been following for some time, and didn't appear to attempt to overtake Wild.
If Wild had deviated off her line when she was in the clear, simply to push another rider off their line, or towards a barrier to intimidate them, that's different. But that's not what happened. Wild "deviated" to go around the rider in front of her, something that Hosking could and should have easily anticipated. That's how sprints work.
She swerves right about 3 metres then comes back and swerves left, going much more left than she needed to.
Just because you get yourself in to a bad position doesn't give you the right to swerve endlessly till you think you find a gap.
Definitely deserves the DSQ.
What do you mean by bad position? She was following wheels. And "swerve endlessly" is more than a little exaggerated don't you think? She moved right, following riders in front of her, then moved left to go around them. Tell me you haven't seen that in nearly every bunch sprint you've ever watched. At the risk of repeating myself, this was an elite-level race where all competitors are full-time professionals. It's not a club run or a sportive. If Cloe Hosking had not overlapped the wheel in front - a basic mistake that we all know is risky - we would not be having this discussion, which I'm starting to regret wasting my time on.
Bullshit. No one can move? They might as well have separate lanes in the last 300 yards for the leading sprinters ! Seriously she had no idea what was going on behind her . Look at the over head view other riders were riding much more wreckless and got away with it . It’s a fucking race at high speed ,thing happens . If someone deliberately takes out another rider then that’s different but “let’s blame someone “ “ let’s see who we can have a go at fucking mentally “ can go fuck itself. It’s a race it’s a race crash by professional athletes at high speed doing a sport that they choose and also knowing that shit happens . Get the fuck over it’s,she was robbed . She won .
It's a race by professional athletes who know that shit happens but who also know the UCI rules:
"Sprints
2.3.036 Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others."
She may not deliberately have caused a crash but the rule doesn't require intent.
Elinor Barker has broken her collarbone as result of that crash
Wild's sprinting was atrocious. She was out of position, down to only one lead-out rider with 700m to go, boxed in with 300 to go and then just barged out. I could see a crash coming in that, it was chaotic and then when it happened it looked absolutely horrific.
Hope everyone is OK but absolutely the right call to DQ her - appalling bit of misjudgement and riding on her part.