Accident nearly avoided as riders squeeze through level crossing
ByReuters
Published 12/04/2015 at 17:23 GMT
Cycling, and especially Paris-Roubaix, is no stranger to drama and the Queen of the Classic avoided a near tragedy on Sunday when several riders squeezed around level crossing barriers as a speeding train approached.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
The barriers went down while the pack was approaching at about 60 kph near the northern town of Wallers.
Part of peloton managed to go through, others stopped, but a few swerved around the barriers seconds before the high speed train whizzed past, a move that is strictly forbidden under race rules.
"It's the most beautiful race in the world and we get bothered by a train," said French champion Arnaud Demare, who almost crashed into the second barrier as he squeezed his way through.
"This needs to be taken care of, it was dangerous. We went through but it was close."
The race jury, however, decided not to sanction the riders.
"The peloton were 10 metres from the barriers when they started to go down," organisers said in a statement.
"The riders in front could not stop in safe conditions. The second part of the peloton stopped.
"Consequently, the commissaires and the organisers neutralised the first part of the peloton to facilitate a regroupment with the second part of the peloton."
A similar incident occurred last year but it hit only the eight men in the breakaway.
Seven of them crossed before the barriers went down and Belgian David Boucher was stopped by the commissaires, losing his spot in the leading group.
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