VARESE — Tom Pidcock said he wanted to "stop racing" after two of his Pinarello-Q36.5 team-mates were hit by a police vehicle travelling the wrong way down the course at the Tre Valli Varesine in Italy, where the Briton finished second to Belgium's Jarno Widar in a sprint finish.
Pidcock was left "mad" after Marcel Camprubi and Thomas Gloag were knocked off their bikes with six laps of the finishing circuit to go in Varese. Spain's Camprubi was able to continue in the one-day race, but fellow Briton Gloag stopped and required stitches on his knee. BBC Sport has contacted race organisers and local police for comment.
"First of all, I wanted to stop the race, stop racing myself," Pidcock told Eurosport after the race. "I was mad. I had guys all riding in front of me, for me, and then two of them are on the floor. This shouldn't happen. But we continued and got back into the race and I'm happy that I could be on the podium."
The incident comes a month after two-time Olympic mountain bike champion Pidcock won his second cross-country world title at the Mountain Bike World Championships in August and dedicated the victory to British cyclist Finlay Tarling, 19, who died on 14 August during the Volta a Portugal following a high-speed collision with a van that had strayed onto the closed road. Camprubi posted a picture of a broken bike on Instagram Stories with the caption: "Sad that you have to risk your life to race, one month after a tragic accident." The result follows Jarno Widar's sprint victory over Pidcock at Tre Valli Varesine.