The president of Norway’s cycling federation, Harald Tidemann Hansen, was upset with the international cycling association UCI on Sunday after a service car for both Norway and Croatia drove off the road to avoid hitting a spectator, and crashed during the world championships in Spain.
Riding in the car were both the coach of the Norwegian cycling team and a technician, and both suffered injuries. Coach Stig Kristiansen was recovering in hospital Sunday night with a dislocated hip and fractures.
Hansen said the road had no guardrail and spectators were able to get onto the road. “The route should have been better secured,” Hansen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). “We will take this up with UCI.”
Norwegian cyclists Alexander Kristoff, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Lars Petter Nordhaug were relieved that the injuries weren’t more serious but shaken at the site of the crashed car.
“We’d heard there was an ugly accident but that it went relatively well with those involved,” Nordhaug told NRK. He finished in 37th place on Sunday, with Hagen 28th and Kristoff 8th.
Their performance on Sunday wasn’t nearly as good as that by the next generation of Norwegian cyclists including Sven Erik Bystrøm, who took gold in Friday’s U23 (under age 23) world championship at Ponferrada in Spain. Kristoffer Skjerping took bronze, while last year’s bronze-medal winner, Sondre Holst Enger, placed fifth.
newsinenglish.no staff
