Tour of the Alps

Horrific crashes: Professional cyclists get off lightly

Australian Chris Harper (left) crashed heavily. Britain's Finlay Pickering was also hit - he rolled over in the vineyards.(Bild: APA/AFP/Marco BERTORELLO, youtube.com/FloBikes, twitter.com)

Britain's Finlay Pickering and Australia's Chris Harper are now celebrating a second birthday. The two professional cyclists each had a horror crash at the Tour of the Alps. Fortunately, they both got off relatively lightly.

A nasty crash caused a scary moment on the first stage of the Tour of the Alps. Finlay Pickering came off the track during a descent and rolled over several times in the vineyards.

This brought back horrific memories of the Tour de Suisse last June. Back then, Swiss rider Gino Mäder went off the road on the descent from the Albula Pass, and the 26-year-old succumbed to his serious injuries in hospital a day later. Pickering got off lightly; according to the Bahrain Victorious team, the 21-year-old Brit suffered a concussion.

Against a lamppost
There was also a bad crash on the fourth stage of the dress rehearsal for the Giro d'Italia. With 25 kilometers to go, Chris Harper lost control of his bike while chasing the eventual stage winner Simon Carr in a bend at the end of a descent, and the 29-year-old Australian crashed into a lamppost. He suffered a slight concussion and abrasions.

Compatriot Ben O'Connor crashed on the same bend, but the 28-year-old Australian was able to continue the race and even secured four bonus seconds in third place: "I'm fine, I made a mistake on the fast descent and didn't see the end of the bend."