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The joy of winning a professional bike race is one few ever get to experience, a feeling reserved for the most talented, hard-working and genetically gifted. So when your big moment comes you’ve just got to hope something like this doesn’t happen…
Poor Luis Carlos Chía won the sprint on Vuelta a Colombia’s third stage, taking the win in torrential rain in Monteria which left much of the final kilometre and finishing area submerged. However, his win won’t be remembered for the perfect timing of his sprint, pipping Óscar Adalberto Quiroz on the line, but instead because of what happened next…
Absolute MADNESS in the finish of stage 3 in @Vueltacolombia1 ! 😱🇨🇴 Luis Carlos Chia wins after swimming through the last km and passing Quiroz on the finish line. While celebrating, he crashed hard into his wife! Incredible stuff. #VColombia2022 pic.twitter.com/Qosqxuwb0M
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) June 5, 2022
Chía took his hands off the bars to beat his chest and salute the crowd…our next TV pictures from Señal Deportes show the Supergiros – ALC Manizales rider lying on the aforementioned soaked tarmac alongside an unfortunate spectator.
The unfortunate spectator? His wife…
Thankfully, El Tiempo reports both escaped relatively unscathed, although Claudia Roncancio — herself a photographer — was taken to hospital where she needed four stitches.
Chía, who also won the first stage, appeared in decent spirits as he hobbled towards the podium to receive his stage winner’s prize and leader’s jersey.
Gracias a todos por acompañarnos en nuestra transmisión. pic.twitter.com/k5eK6VZjud
— Señal Deportes (@SenalDeportes) June 5, 2022
Speaking afterwards the stage winner said his brakes had not worked properly in the wet conditions: “Today I wanted to brake and the brakes blocked up, and I went straight into her.”
“That’s the area for photographers. It could have been her or anyone else. I was coming at high speed. The other day it was the same but that day it hadn’t rained and my brakes worked perfectly.”
Stage-winning celebration crashes are surprisingly common at pro races…
Fellow Colombian rider Edisón Muñoz crashed while celebrating a win in his home country back in 2020 after hitting a rather unfriendly bump in the road.
At least Muñoz got the win. Poor Eduard Prades thought he’d won. Celebrated. Snapped his saddle. Fell. And then got told there was an attacker up the road and he’d finished second…
And how about last year’s UAE Tour where Trek-Segafredo’s Antonio Tiberi crashed across the finish line during the time trial?
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