This Olympic cyclist’s bike wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Australian Alex Porter, 25, took a nasty spill Monday when his handlebars snapped off his bicycle while he was riding at about 37 mph during a qualifying round for team pursuit at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Aussie foursome appeared to be heading for a fast time before Porter, who was at the back, crashed heavily after the mechanical failure, according to Reuters.
Porter, who suffered cuts and track burns, looked shaken after the mishap but was allowed to ride again as Australia was allowed a re-run under the “mishap” rules of the governing body Union Cycliste Internationale.
“It was a mechanical failure, we are not too sure what happened yet, it was something wrong with the bars,” performance director Simon Jones told reporters.
“But the real story is that when you land on your face at 65 kph and you’ve got half an hour to do that again it’s absolutely amazing. I mean talk about the Australian fighting spirit. I’m almost speechless to be honest,” he said.
“The doc checked him over and we don’t have any immediate concerns. He sort of slid on his face and he’s not quite as pretty as he was before. He took off skin but he’s really very lucky. He got some burns but we’ll check on him tonight,” Jones added.
The cyclist also cleared concussion protocols, he said.
The Australians later became the fifth team of the day to break the old Olympic record but it was only the fifth-fastest time, which means they cannot ride for gold Tuesday.
“We did a pretty good time considering we crashed,” Jones said. “Normally when you go again after a mishap like that the team pursuit is so explosive that it’s not going to be good.”
Eurosport cycling expert Bradley Wiggins said the handlebars’ collapse was partly due to the nature of the track and partly due to the short-term life of the equipment.
“Those handlebars are 3D laser handlebars that are made to measure for each rider. They are quite flimsy, they do tend to crack,” he said. “I can only imagine that the bars just snapped under the extreme pressure.”
