Tom Pidcock furious after two teammates hit by police motorbike during race in Italy

Tom Pidcock said a police motorbike driving the wrong way during a race in Italy crashed into two of his teammates, with one of them requiring stitches as a result.

The Pinarello Q36.5 leader ultimately finished second at Tre Valli Varesine, a one-day race in Lombardy, behind Lotto-Intermarche’s Jarno Widar, but his challenge by hampered by two of his key lieutenants crashing.

Spaniard Marcel Camprubi and Briton Thomas Gloag were knocked off their bikes by the errant police vehicle with six laps of the finishing circuit remaining. Camprubi was able to continue but Gloag abandoned the race.

Pidcock told race broadcaster Eurosport: “A police motorbike was going the wrong way down the course and crashed into two of our guys. So from this point… well, first of all I wanted to stop racing myself. I was mad. The guys all riding in front of me, for me, and two of them on the floor.

“Luckily Marcel was okay, he could continue. Tom [Gloag] was also okay, in the end, but he stopped the race, and he has some stitches in the knee.

“Things like this shouldn’t happen. But we continued and got back into the race and I’m happy that I could be on the podium.”

The incident is the latest in a spate of issues concerning rider safety and course security, which has put scrutiny on race organisers’ ability to properly secure routes.

The issue has dominated headlines since Welsh rider Finlay Tarling was killed at the Volta a Portugal race in August after a vehicle outside the race convoy entered the course and collided with him at high speed.

Pidcock dedicated his victory at the mountain bike world championships later that month to the 19-year-old, while the riders’ union, the Cyclistes Professionnels Associes (CPA), has led calls for enhanced safety at races.

Six riders have been killed during road races in the last three years, while several races have seen incidents involving errant public vehicles getting onto the course, with rider Maeve Plouffe nearly hit by a motorist during the women’s Tour of Britain this summer.