A British professional cyclist set to compete at the Tour of Britain Women which begins this week will not be racing after suffering injuries when she was hit by an impatient driver who tried to overtake at "high speed" on a blind bend in a narrow country lane.
Kate Richardson, who rides for Lifeplus Wahoo and won last month's Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix, shared the news on Instagram where she recalled the incident that is now being investigated by the police. According to her Strava, she had been training near Holmfirth in Yorkshire yesterday morning when she was hit by the motorist and suffered a refractured scapula, road rash and an "incredibly bruised and swollen right hip".
[📷: Kate Richardson/Instagram]
Saying it is "incredibly hard to accept" but hopeful potential CCTV and witnesses will mean "some sort of justice will prevail", Richardson explained how the incident occurred on a "narrow single track road, no more than three metres wide and on a blind bend".
"Clearly the driver couldn't wait ten more seconds to overtake me," she said. "He decided to try and squeeze his huge 4x4 past me at a high speed, hitting me hard and knocking me off my bike.
"Initially, he just drove on but turned around and came back later to verbally abuse and threaten me before getting back in his car and driving off again. Thankfully another driver came across the scene pretty quickly and kindly helped me up and drove me home.
"This of course means no Tour of Britain this week and I'm currently uncertain about what the rest of the season holds. This is a lot more than just a physical injury, it was incredibly scary and I count myself lucky that I walked away relatively unscathed compared to what it could have been. Mentally though, it will take a while to overcome."
Richardson compared the impact of a crash like this to those experienced in races, having suffered some pretty nasty road rash at the recent RideLondon Classique, and explained how yesterday's crash "is incredibly hard to accept".
"Whilst racing incidents are never nice, we know that unfortunately they sometimes come with the territory. Even when not at fault we have no choice but to accept them and move on," she said.
"This however, is incredibly hard to accept. It just should never have happened. There are far too many stories about cyclists being hit by cars whilst out training and there is absolutely no excusing it.
"Knowing that once again I'll be missing a key racing block, whilst knowing what sort of shape I've worked so hard to be in, is hugely disappointing and hard to get my head around. I'd say that normally I'm good at dealing with these types of situations, but with this being my fourth serious crash in under a year, my body and my mind is in need of some rest and recovery before thinking about returning to competition."
The Tour of Britain Women, previously named the Women's Tour, returns to the calendar this week having been cancelled last year due to funding issues. However, British Cycling has stepped in and committed to delivering both a men's and women's edition this year.
> British Cycling hopes to deliver Tour of Britain and women's edition in 2024
The women's edition begins on Thursday in Welshpool and will feature two stages finishing in Llandudno and Wrexham before returning to England for stage three in Warrington and the final day starting and finishing in Manchester.