Is a disc brake actually the reason for an injury during a race of professionals? During the Abu-Dhabi-Tour Sky professional Owain Doull noticed a cut on his foot after a mass crash. In his opinion it was Marcel Kittel’s disc brake that had caused the cut (bicycle see photo). There are no TV recordings which could support this assumption, investigations are still ongoing.

The emotions, however, stirred up. In a press release the cyclists association CPA accused the UCI once again of non-observing the cyclists’ safety. For the first time, the CPA threatens legal action. What they demand particularly is to provide the brake disc with a cover preventing any body contact.

According to this press release, the CPA will undertake every necessary legal action to protect their members’ health and safety, if such steps would not be taken. Later in the explanation, the CPA refers to safety at work legislation.

The sport industry interest group WFSGI’s answer is a statement. They refer to two expert reports contradicting that the cyclist Francisco Ventoso’s injury was caused by the state-of-the-art brake technology during Paris-Roubais 2016. This case had led to a stop of the disc brake tests, because in Ventoso’s opinion his injuries had been caused by the brake disc. In a detailed medical opinion the coroner Prof. med Ulrich Zollinger stated, however, that an injury caused by a disc brake was very doubtful. In his opinion the injury was rather caused by the chainring. Read Prof. Zollinger’s expert opinion here (Warning: the pdf-file contains bloody crash photos).

The second expert report examining the possibility of injuries caused by disc brakes in road races was written by Dirk Zedler’s loss adjusting agency and can be read here.

The investigations on the crash during the Abu Dhabi Tour are still ongoing.

Read the entire article here.

Author: Kristian Bauer
Photo: Tim De Waele