“Think!” – Ineos Grenadiers rider Laurens De Plus sends safety message to drivers after he is knocked off bike

Ineos Grenadiers rider Laurens De Plus has sent a safety message to drivers, telling them to “Think twice or wait five seconds” when there are cyclists around after he was knocked off his bike by a motorist during a training ride this morning.

The 26-year-old from Flanders, who is due to ride the Vuelta a Espana which begins in Utrecht a week tomorrow, was riding near Geraaardsbergen when the incident happened.

Sharing pictures on Twitter with his arm and buttock showing road rash and the wheels of his bike crumpled, the Belgian said: “Thanks to the driver for driving [into] me from behind. Fortunately with a better outcome than my colleagues last week. Please be careful with the vulnerable road user.”

De Plus, who joined Ineos Grenadiers at the start of last season from Team Jumbo Visma, added the hashtag #safetyfirst to his post.

Bedankt aan de bestuurder om mij langs achter aan te rijden. Gelukkig met betere afloop dan mijn collega’s de afgelopen week. Wees aub voorzichtig met de zwakke weggebruiker #safetyfirst pic.twitter.com/a5d6hSB36R

— Laurens De Plus (@LaurensDePlus) August 11, 2022

He added: “I'm happy to get out of the bruise and the bump," the rider added. “It was a very sad and unfortunate accident. A car tried to pass me in the Onkerzelestraat where there is no bicycle path and took me from behind.

“I have had an official report drawn up, but it remains to be seen whether anything will come of it. I urge drivers to think twice or wait five seconds.”

His comments come after Jumbo-Visma rider Tiesj Benoot sustained fractured vertebraafter a rider crashed into him when he was training in Livigno, Lombardy, on Monday.

> Tiesj Benoot hit by driver while training — suffers fractured vertebrae

“I was descending and driving on a long straight”, Benoot said after his crash, which happened as he was descending and a driver pulled out of a car park in front of him.

“I wasn't even riding that fast. I went to look back, I reached something like 67 km/h. Suddenly the car crossed a parking lot.

“Did he not look, or did he think he could pass quickly? I don't know.

“I’ve ridden it full on and I've barely even been able to brake. The door of the car was dented, the mirror was off, the windows were broken.”

He continued: “I must have been unconscious for 15 minutes because when I came to, the ambulance was already there. I immediately called my girlfriend Fien and forwarded the location. She arrived quickly on the spot.

“For a while I was very fuzzy, I didn’t immediately know where I was and how long I had been in Livigno, but luckily that came back quickly.

“I don’t remember everything, but I can still see such a flash of the car entering the road ahead of me,” added Benoot, who was airlifted to hospital and is now out for the rest of the season.