CYCLING

Surgery for Sergent After Crash

By Cycling New Zealand

New Zealand professional Jesse Sergent will undergo surgery on a broken collarbone suffered when he was hit by a neutral service vehicle while leading the Tour of Flanders in Belgium today.

Sergent, from the Trek Factory Team, was leading a seven-strong break 100kms from the finish of the 265km classic when he was sideswiped by a Shimano neutral service car.

“It was evident that the trajectory of the turn was on the left side, so it’s normal that the riders are moving on the left side,” said Luca Guercilena, Trek Factory Racing’s general manager. “It’s difficult to understand why a driver was just accelerating instead of [braking].

“It’s true that something like this can happen in a race but still, it’s a surprise, because these things, they should not happen.”

Sergent was a key rider for the spring classics, and it was followed with a second rider also knocked off his bike by the service vehicle, with organisers to conduct a full inquiry.

There were five New Zealand riders in the famed monument race – Sergent, Hayden Roulston, Jack Bauer, Sam Bewley and Shane Archbold, with Bauer the best finishing six minutes from the winner Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) who edged Niki Terpstra (Quick Step).

Caption: Jesse Sergent in action at last year's Road World Championships.

Video footage of the incident -