Sprinter Hugo Hofstetter suffered a pair of broken handlebars in the last 50 km of the cobbled race at the Dunain GP on Thursday.
Several riders were involved in a pile-up on a narrow road near the last 48 km, and several riders, including one from Arkea Samsic, crashed in the peloton.
Among them was Hofstetter, who quickly got up on the right side of the road and rejoined his bike with his shorts covered in mud and the left side of the handlebar of his Bianchi Oltre RC broken and hanging over the shifter clamp.
The breakdown was very similar to the mechanical trouble Mathieu Van der Pol suffered at Le Cym in 2021. Like Hofstetter, this Dutch rider was also forced to ride with a broken handlebar.
After pushing valiantly with the handlebars dangling for several kilometers, Hofstetter eventually received a new Bianchi from the team car. However, Hofstetter ran into trouble again in sector 10 on the cobblestones of Monchaux-sur-Ecayon.
With 25km to go, Hofstetter was seen running behind the peloton with the right side of his handlebars broken and hanging off. The handlebars of his spare bike seemed to have broken off as well due to the violent vibrations or impact from running on the cobblestones.
Hofstetter, who won the Trobro Leon last year, was visibly angry and frustrated that his chance to lead the race had been ruined by a similar mechanic.
In the end, the Frenchman did not finish the 195-km race, and Colombian sprinter Juan Sebastián Morano (UAE Team Emirates) won from the lead group that attacked with 30 km to go.
The Bianchi Oltre RC was unveiled last October and billed as a new "hyperbike" by the legendary Italian brand. The bike features F1-inspired "air deflectors" designed to channel airflow around the bike more effectively.
Prices start at £11,200 or $13,500 for the Top Flight model, which will be raced by Arkea Samsic, who switched from a Canyon bike in 2023.
It was later discovered that air deflectors cannot be used in UCI races. This was because air deflectors were not included as part of the homologation process for the bikes and therefore could not be used in UCI sanctioned events. Bianchi did not initially intend to use deflectors in UCI sanctioned events.
Cycling News notes the response from Bianchi regarding the handlebar failure at today's race.
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