The Equipo Kern Pharma group has confirmed that Marc Brustenga’s freak crash on stage 2 of Étoile de Bessèges resulted from an earlier incident through which the rim was broken.
As the Spaniard started his dash within the closing few hundred metres of the race into Marguerittes on Thursday, his rear tyre blew and a cloud of tyre sealant exploded out, failing to seal the obvious puncture.
As a outcome, Brustenga veered left and slid out, crashing into the boundaries. Fortunately, he averted critical harm, however out of precaution he opted to not begin stage 3, and regardless of the peloton charging behind him, no person else was affected by the crash.
It was unclear on the time what triggered the puncture, nor certainly whether or not the tyre got here off the rim within the preliminary blowout or within the subsequent impression with the boundaries.
But after a ‘thorough investigation’, Brustenga’s group has confirmed to Cyclingnews that the incident was attributable to a gap within the street, which Brustenga hit at excessive velocity just a few moments earlier.
“A number of hundred meters earlier than the puncture, Brustenga entered a roundabout and hit a gap, which barely broken the Cadex rim because of the velocity. However, he felt that he may proceed using, and he did.”
The wheels in query are the 50 Ultra Disc Tubeless wheels, supplied by Cadex Cycling, which is the element subsidiary of Kern Pharma’s bike sponsor Giant bikes
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A Giant spokesperson reiterated to Cyclingnews that the reason for the incident was the “results of wheel harm sustained when he struck a gap within the street at excessive velocity,” including that it was “not the results of a tyre or rim malfunction.”
The wheels are constructed utilizing a proprietary Cadex hub, deep-bladed aero spokes, and a 50mm deep carbon fibre rim with hookless bead.
Hookless know-how was on the centre of a security debate within the spring of 2024 when Thomas De Gendt’s tyre appeared to blow in a equally surprising vogue on the UAE Tour. He was utilizing a Vittoria tyre and a hookless Zipp rim on the time, and the incident prompted an investigation by the UCI, regardless of later being confirmed that the rim was broken by the Belgian hitting a rock within the street.
Brustenga’s rim suffered structural harm within the incident too, with a major crack to the rim sidewall, as proven within the picture under.
