🎥 Crazy crash before the Tour Down Under starts: Riders end up in barriers, spectator seriously injured

While the men's cycling season won't officially begin until Tuesday with the Tour Down Under, there was a little warm-up in Adelaide on Saturday. The Villawood Men's Classic is a criterium in preparation for the WorldTour opener. This was won by Sam Welsford (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), but most of the attention was focused on an unpleasant crash: several riders went hard against the asphalt in a corner and ended up in the barriers. As a result, a spectator was seriously injured.

Riders were going extremely hard in the Australian criterium. The men flew through the corners at high speed, and then a crash was nothing unusual. It all started with a man from Soudal Quick-Step slipping away, as seen in the footage. He took about two or three men with him, leaving the riders behind them with no chance to avoid it, and they slid along. Among them were riders from Movistar, Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale, Jayco-AlUla, Arkéa-B&B Hotels, and Alpecin-Deceuninck.

Especially from the latter team, an athlete flew into the barriers spectacularly. With a half somersault, he flew into the barriers. Due to the force of the impact, the barriers were pushed backward, and the spectators standing behind them were knocked to the ground with tremendous effect. One of them was seriously injured, organizers reported. "Unfortunately, a female spectator was taken to the hospital with injuries due to the collision," it stated. "We are in contact with the family and have offered our support." Whether any riders were injured is unclear: most will start Tuesday's Tour Down Under.

Read more below the video!

Australian politicians react to crash

South Australia's Prime Minister Peter Malinauskas also reacted to the incident. "Unfortunately, we saw a huge accident at the Tour Down Under, where cyclists collided with a spectator. Sadly, we have to report that a woman suffered multiple serious injuries."

That begins with a relatively flat ride from Prospect to Gumeracha. After two stages that will likely end in a sprint, the adventurous riders will get their chance in stage three. In the stage from Norwood to Uraidla, the climb to Pound Reserve (2.7 kilometers at 7.7 percent) awaits six kilometers before the line. The second-to-last stage, stage five, is the most important: the classic arrival at Willunga Hill is scheduled there, after which a sprinters' ball in Adelaide awaits for the finale.

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