A dramatic finish-line crash left Lizzie Armitstead in hospital following her victory in stage one of the Women’s Tour at Aldeburgh, with the Yorkshire cyclist unlikely to return for Thursday’s second stage through Essex from Braintree to Clacton. Armitstead, the race favourite, was taken away on a stretcher from the finish about 40 minutes after the incident with her head in a neck brace.
After the stage, the race organiser, Sweetspot, said in a statement: “After crossing the line with her arms in the air, stage winner Lizzie Armitstead appeared to lose control and veer left, clipping photographers positioned beyond the finish line. Lizzie was immediately attended to by race medical staff at the finish line, who dealt with the incident before she was taken to hospital. Everyone from the Aviva Women’s Tour wishes Lizzie all the best for a speedy recovery, and we will make no further comment at this stage.”
The Yorkshirewoman had proved the fastest of four women leading the mass sprint in Aldleburgh, crossing the finish line almost half a bike length ahead of her closest rival, Germany’s Lisa Brennauer. Going through the line she shrieked with delight and raised her arms in triumph; video footage indicated that she then lost control of her bike – suddenly dropping her hands back on to the bars - before veering to the left, towards the tightly packed row of photographers who were standing in their usual positions behind a chalked line on the side of the road, 50m-75m after the finish.
The Commonwealth Games road champion and Olympic silver medallist then appeared to collide with the row of photographers, with the impact including the race director, Michael Bennett, whose role is to marshal the photographers and other media at the finish line and hence was standing at the left end of the row. Armitstead landed heavily on the left side of the road a few metres further on.
The aftershock as the rest of the 85-strong leading peloton tried to avoid her caused a further pile-up on the right hand side of the tarmac, involving four or five fellow competitors. But it was Armitstead who had been most seriously injured and required oxygen and pain relief from paramedics as she lay on the tarmac before being carried on a stretcher into an ambulance to await the arrival of an air ambulance to take her to a nearby hospital.
The main problem appeared to be a suspected broken left femur and her left cycling shoe was removed before she was put into the ambulance. The yellow jersey and stage winner’s prize that should have been awarded to her were instead received by her Boels-Dolmans teammates on the podium.
It was a bitter end for Armitstead, who fought a valiant uphill battle with the dominant world No1, Marianne Vos, through most of last year’s inaugural edition of the race before being forced out due to illness. This year, with Vos a nonstarter due to persistent injury – although the Dutchwoman is present working for television – Armitstead had begun as the overwhelming favourite due to a run of good form that culminated in victory at the recent World Cup in Philadelphia.
With the race leader unlikely to start on stage two’s 138km, the next phase of the race looked set to be a battle between the sprinters for time bonus seconds at the finish and intermediate sprints. The early advantage went to second-placed Brennauer, who was four seconds behind Armitstead, with last year’s first stage winner, Emma Johansson, a further second back and Wales’s Olympic track gold medallist Elinor Barker lying sixth overall, seven seconds behind.
Barker had scooped up some handy time bonuses after figuring in the day’s main escape of six riders, which also included her fellow Great Britain team pursuiter Katie Archibald, along with Marta Tagliaferro of Italy, Heather Fischer of the US and Katie Hall and Corinne Riviera of the United Healthcare team. The sextet received an unexpected boost when a level crossing gate came down between them and the chasing peloton, but the inevitable reaction came to set up a finishing sprint that, for a brief moment, looked to have left Armitstead in command.
