A Mobility Scooter Just Took Out Half a Peloton in Germany

We’ve all seen the ways a peloton can come down. A touched wheel, a stray bottle, a dog off its leash.

But an elderly fan rolling onto the course on a mobility scooter? That was a new one. And the riders had no time to brake.

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Video further below 👇

What Happened

It happened on Sunday, on the closing day of the LVM Saarland Trofeo, a junior stage race on the UCI Junior Nations’ Cup calendar for 17- and 18-year-olds in the Saarland region of Germany.

As the peloton flew through a town lined with spectators, an elderly woman on a mobility scooter edged out onto the road, apparently trying to get a better view. One rider managed to swerve around her. Seventeen-year-old Dutch talent Paul Vriesman wasn’t so lucky.

He hit the scooter at full speed and somersaulted clean over his handlebars, and the riders packed in behind him went down with him.

The Details

The remarkable part? Everyone walked away. Both the riders and the spectator escaped without serious injuries, which, watching the footage, feels like a small miracle.

For Vriesman, though, it stings. He rides for the Decathlon CMA CGM development team and was only just back racing after months recovering from injury.

He didn’t finish the stage. “The crash looked bad, but it seems I got off fairly lightly,” he wrote on Instagram. “So much work, and another step backwards.” Up the road, Norway’s Sindre Orholm-Lønseth sealed the overall win, with the Netherlands’ Splinter van ‘t Hoff second.

Why It Matters

It’s easy to laugh at the clip. It’s harder to remember these are kids, and the woman almost certainly meant no harm. But the lesson underneath is one every one of us who lines a race route should take to heart.

A peloton at speed has no time to react. Even a small step onto the road can end someone’s day, or worse. The journalist who shared the video put it plainly: use common sense and stay off the course.

It wasn’t even the first incident of its kind at this race, and it follows a string of spectator-caused crashes higher up the sport. Cheer loud. Just give them room.

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