A fall that could have been dramatic. In the French U19 Women’s Cycling Championship, riders Célia Géry (Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes) and Amandine Müller (Grand Est), both at the head of the race, were knocked down… by the car of the sports director of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes team.
About thirty kilometers from the finish, he spoke to his runner from his vehicle. But, in the driving position, he was unable to manage his trajectory and accidentally hit the rear wheel of Müller, positioned just in front of Géry, who also lost his balance.
Amandine Muller (Grand Est) and Célia Gery (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) were accidentally hit by the vehicle of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes team, at the 31st kilometer of the U19 women’s race of the 2024 Cycling of the Future championships pic.twitter.com/7LHxwEACmO
— France 3 Alsace (@F3Alsace) May 12, 2024
Impressively, the fall had no direct impact on the health of the runners, who were both able to restart. But Géry (whose accident was caused by the sports director) got up first and was able to take a big lead over her rival, before winning alone with 3′42″ ahead of Müller , second of the day. This will relaunch the debate on the presence or not of cars so close to the head of the race.
