LottoNL-Jumbo rider gets hit by a passing car during training right before the Tour of Alps but manages to still claim top-10 finish at yesterday’s first stage of the event.
He admitted to feeling ‘lucky to be alive’ after the accident which might have cost him more than a race.
Lucky Bennett
The New Zealand cyclist, at the moment of the accident, was training for the upcoming grand Tour (Giro d’Italia) and Tour of the Alps with his teammate Koen Bouwman when a passing vehicle turned into their path.
??#TotA @georgenbennett better than expected in Tour of the Alps
?: https://t.co/QI973nN93x pic.twitter.com/dChCag69vU
— LottoNLJumbo Cycling (@LottoJumbo_road) April 16, 2018
“I was going pretty fast on the time trial doing a recon for the Giro. I was riding fast and a car was coming the other way. It didn’t see us, and it turned left across the road and I went straight into the side of him and I went over. Luckily I went over the car but I ripped the roof rack off with my knees,” Bennett told Cyclingnews yesterday, before starting the opening stage.
“I was really lucky with how it happened. I’m lucky to be alive I think. It could have been me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I did a lot of thinking last night. It is pretty close to the anniversary of Scarponi and that’s pretty much what happened to him, and my friend Jason Lowndes died. It was a bit of a shock and this morning when I woke up I definitely knew that I’d been hit by a car.”
? Pello BILBAO LOPEZ from @AstanaTeam win the first Stage of @Tourof_TheAlps !
Congratulations !#TotA pic.twitter.com/gBC1wuebqJ
— Tour of The Alps (@Tourof_TheAlps) April 16, 2018
