Sep Vanmarcke lucky to continue Vuelta a Espana 2011 after crash at stage 14 – Cycling News
Sep Vanmarcke of team Garmin Cervelo and Karsten Kroon of team BMC went over the guard line during stage 14 of Vuelta a Espana as both the cyclist experienced a major crash and went down while they were amongst the 18 man break working their way towards
the finish line.
Vanmarcke pictured the crash scene as he mentioned that he hit the ground twice after floating in the air and bumped into many trees before he finally stopped in front of the river as he stood up and got back on his bike without listening or saying anything
to anyone.
The Belgian told a popular newspaper that both cyclists were riding amongst the Lampre’s cyclist Daniele Righi as they missed a sharp turn to their left as he said, “The Lampre rider pulled in front of me and I could not avoid him. We almost flew along at
high speed over the guardrail into the abyss,” he further added that after the collision he was floating in the air and thought as if it is the end of his career as he said, “I kept floating through the air. That’s it, I thought. The buck stops here. It’s
over for me.”
Vanmarcke heroically got back on his bike and continued the race which was a brave decision and the rider had enough strengths left even after the crash to continue the race. Andreas Klier and other team-mates helped him all the way through the finish line
as he mentioned that without the help of his team it was not possible.
He unbelievably managed to finish the stage and was taken to the hospital in Oviedo and was glad to learn that he will still be able to continue the Vuelta a Espana 2011 and was lucky to bail out the hospital with bruises to his back and neck and no major
injuries or broken bones.
The 23-year-old was relieved to hear the news and is looking forward to continuing his grand tour as he said, “I will ride through Madrid. Nothing can stop me”, his team management however was not in the favour of the cyclist continuing the tour and believed
that he needed to take some rest. Vanmarcke managed to start stage 15 of Vuelta a Espana as he finished the stage at 160th position with 22 minutes and 46 seconds behind the race leader and he was at 165th position after the stage 15
general classifications.
Kroon on the other hand was not as lucky as he broke his arm and had to withdraw from the race after the stage 14 crash during the Vuelta a Espana 2011.
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