‘It was crazy’: Escaped horse disrupts women’s road race in Italy

The women’s Strade Bianche cycling road race in Italy had an unexpected entrant on Saturday (Sunday NZT) in the shape of a runaway horse.

During the gravel section of the prestigious race through the Tuscan countryside, the animal emerged from a nearby field and galloped away from second-placed Dutch rider Demi Vollering, who let out an audible shriek as it came into view.

The startled horse found itself caught between Vollering and the TV motorbike, which captured the extraordinary footage during the live coverage of the race, about 16 kilometres from the city of Siena.

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Somehow an accident was avoided, though the horse’s presence clearly caused some alarm among the chasing riders.

After galloping along the Colle Pinzuto sector of the race for about a kilometre, the distressed mammal eventually fell on its side near a fence as is went round a corner. Thankfully, it managed to get straight back up and was removed from harm’s way.

The race continued without any further interruptions, with SD Worx rider Vollering managing to chase down leader Kristen Faulkner (Jayco AlUla) for the victory.

Her SD Worx team-mate and reigning Strade Bianche champion Lotte Kopecky settled for second after being pipped on the line by Vollering in a sprint finish after they had worked together to reel in the tiring Faulkner.

“I am very happy of course to win,” Vollering said afterwards. “It was a crazy final. We rode well as a team, and the other girls rode super strong today.”

Movistar’s world champion Annemiek van Vleuten was one of the riders to encounter the horse on her way to finishing fourth.

“I saw a horse, it was crazy, an escaped horse,” she said with a laugh when asked about the incident. “But it was not bothering us.”

In the men’s race, England’s Tom Pidcock soloed to a dominant victory to become the first British rider to win the Strade Bianche.

Pidcock’s lead was whittled away on the last of the 11 sections of white gravel roads but the Olympic mountain bike champion used his astonishing descending skills to extend it again in the finale of the 184-kilometre route.

And, after the short but steep finishing climb to Siena’s Piazza del Campo, Pidcock had plenty of time to raise his arms above his head. He crossed the line 20 seconds ahead of Valentin Madouas and 22 ahead of Tiesj Benoot.

“It will take some time for this victory to sink in,” Pidcock said. “When I went, it was not the plan. But it was at a normally decisive moment. I got a gap and I carried on.

“Honestly, this week I had the feeling that something big was going to happen today and it did.”

The day’s breakaway of Sven Erik Bystrøm, Alessandro De Marchi and Iván Romeo stood little chance when Pidcock attacked with around 45km remaining. The Ineos Grenadiers rider swiftly caught the trio before taking on the final 20km solo.

Pidcock built an advantage of 20 seconds but that was slashed to just six inside the final 10 kilometers. He managed to stretch it again and the win seemed all but certain on the final section of cobblestones where the gradient reached a leg-breaking 16%.

There was a brutal crash for Alberto Bettiol, who attacked shortly before Pidcock. After lying on the ground for a brief period, he managed to get back on his bike but had to abandon the race shortly afterwards.

– With AP