Taylor Phinney (BMC) says that the race safety is not as simple as blaming too many cars or bikes on the road. Talking to the press the Friday before his return to the Tour of Flanders after a two-year break, the American says that it is a two-way street of respect between both race vehicles and riders.
Phinney comes at this from a different perspective than most who have been asked for their opinion on the matter since the tragic death of Antoine Demoitié after being hit by a race moto at Gent-Wevelgem. He spent over a year on the sidelines following a collision with a race motorbike during the US national road race in 2014 and is still suffering from the effects almost two years later.
“The news was devastating. We were in that race and somebody died. It hits hard because it could have been any one of us. It’s a tough subject to understand, but it is something that I’ve thought about a lot with my own personal injury. I thought about what I could've done differently in that situation,” Phinney said after much consideration. “It’s easy to say there are 62 motos in Gent-Wevelgem, that's way too many, or there are too many cars, and the cars take risks. For sure, they take big risks and it's not OK. But, I think that many of the riders could do well by looking at the actions that they take in races, and this is not pointing a finger at anyone.
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“I see my co-workers trying to fit into gaps and fighting for these places for really no reason. That scares me the most about bike races. I think that says a lot with what I have gone through. For sure, in my crash, it was the motorcycle that was at fault for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I was also taking a risk by going so fast on the at first lap on the downhill. I didn't need to bomb down the decent so early in the race. I think it’s a double-edged sword.”
Hope for the future
Phinney is slowly making his recovery from his accident and still has to undergo almost daily physio, of up to 90 minutes, to enable him to ride. He made his cobbled comeback at Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday, putting in a strong turn on the front and finishing just outside the top 30. It was the first time he’d tested himself on the pavé since the 2014 Paris-Roubaix, but his result earned him a spot on the Flanders team, in addition to the Roubaix spot he had already secured.
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