Abu Dhabi Tour organisers confirmed that automatic brake sensors on the race director’s car caused the crash of Mark Cavendish in the in the neutralised zone of the first stage.
Television replays showed the incident appeared to have been caused when the race director’s auto slowed down in front of the peloton, which resulted in a groups of riders behind having to brake sharply, with several then falling down.
Cavendish sustained a concussion when he smacked his head on a wheel. His team ruled out serious neck injury, though they also announced he was diagnosed with whiplash. The British sprinter was the only rider forced out of the race and organizers apologized.
“They [the riders] were near by car, and the car has those sensors that caused it to brake. And it braked,” course director Stefano Allocchio said.
“Unfortunately, it’s one of these things. Tonight we will talk to a mechanics to make sure they are deactivated. We don’t want to risk this happening again.”
Dimension Data directeur sportif Roger Hammond said: “The most important thing was to get him picked up off the road and assess the situation,”.
“My discussion with Mark was with the doctors – where he was injured, where he was hurt and what we were going to do about it. How it happened didn’t really interest us at the time. The milk’s already spilt.”
