What caused Antonio Tiberi's crash at the UAE Tour?

[BobbyJones]

Looked closer...

Any of you ever try and put the power down on aero bars? Or even an all out sprint on regular bars?

It's a delicate balance of body weight and power to keep both wheels weighted, avoiding wobbles, etc. (But I'm sure you guys knew that.)

Could've been something as simple as a momentary self-inflicted weight shift causing loss of traction and physics took care of the rest.

Or maybe not.

[tuscanyswe]

If the sand could do that on a straight they should not let anyone ride that course at all. He was going equally fast through the tight bends and if sand could make that happen on a straight those turns would have the potential for dissaster.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by tuscanyswe

If the sand could do that on a straight they should not let anyone ride that course at all. He was going equally fast through the tight bends and if sand could make that happen on a straight those turns would have the potential for dissaster.

I don't think it's as simple as just sand, but certainly sand could be a factor. Weight forward, pushing hard because it's just before the finish, a little bit of wind and or some sand could easily cause the tire to momentarily lose traction. Combined with The riders body position, balance and pedaling motion could cause a fall like that.

In other parts of the world, a little bit of rain can do the same thing. Dan Martin had a crash in the giro ttt a few years back that was similar to this. He's just riding his time trial bike in a straight line, hits a slick patch, and goes down.

I obviously can't rule out that some sort of mechanical failure could have contributed, but I don't think it would have been necessary to cause this crash.

[Peter P.]

The rear wheel breaks apart when it hits the barrier.

But the impact is pretty much a right angle between the rim and the barrier; no different to me than hitting a bump. The impact didn't look so violent as to damage a rim.

I'm guessing the rim failed but was still able to rotate, albeit not smoothly. The oscillating rear wheel, combined with the compromised control of using the aerobars, caused him to lose control.

[gibbo]

I am wondering about a possible tyre blowout?


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[barnabyjones]

I had a similar crash caused by an almost imperceptible dip in the road. My weight shifted because I took my right hand off the bars to ring my lovely Spurcycle Bell. Once that front wheel turns..

[Spoker]

Caused by TT bikes that are borderline dangerous. Would never have happened on a road bike.

[sailorboy]

How about its because it's a terrible place to ride a bike that is good for not much other than draining oil out of?

[kppolich]

I wondered why he wasn't on the base bar for the finish. Looks like he was givin'r hell there at the end might as well sprint it in with a solid base.

[trener1]

Originally Posted by sailorboy

How about its because it's a terrible place to ride a bike that is good for not much other than draining oil out of?

Haha I think this is the best post so far..

[carpediemracing]

Looks like the wind caught his front wheel. It turns (not leans) to the right. This is a classic way of inducing a turn ("counter steer") and it does exactly that. Problem is rider doesn't want to turn.

So the wheel turns right, bike leans left. The left lean initiates a left turn.

The rider is fighting the turn, the bike is turning left, the front tire (pointing left now, after the initial counter steer to the right) digs in, and the rider's body is still going straight. He highsides off the bike.

If he said he slipped on sand, that might have been what broke the tire loose. But it looks to me that the wheel/fork was turned to the rider's right, initiating the entire sequence.

[Mattbotak]

Nasty crash. It was pretty windy that day. I'm going with wind and over correction.

[johnnylarue]

His mom would probably say that happened because he was riding his bike too fast, that she told him this would happen if kept riding his bike so fast, and then beg him to please, PLEASE stop riding his bike so fast.

I’m with the mom. Slow down, dude. It’s not a race*.

(*It’s a time trial.)

[bicycletricycle]

Originally Posted by sailorboy

How about its because it's a terrible place to ride a bike that is good for not much other than draining oil out of?

I went there for work and brought a folding bike, it was pretty fun to ride around.

[zmalwo]

With weight being mostly distributed on the front + a gust of wind blowing on the disc rear wheel + a fine sand patch + down stroke further weakening the rear tire grip, all together is probably what caused the crash. Every unfortunate. His bike seems to be completely intact except the cockpit after crash so I highly doubt his bike failed.