This is the harrowing moment a professional cyclist wins a sprint finish – only to smash into his wife seconds later as she took photos of him crossing the line during a race in Colombia.
Luis Carlos Chia didn’t even have time to celebrate his triumph in the third stage of the annual cycling race the Vuelta a Colombia before the high-speed crash.
Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >
TV commentators picked up on the collision immediately – but only found out afterwards the woman knocked out by the yellow jersey road racer was none other than Luis’s better half Claudia Roncancio, The Sun reports.
Live footage showed her lying prostrate on the hard concrete behind the finish line as her injured husband was helped off his bike and limped away.
Roncancio, a cyclist-turned photographer who now travels with her husband and records his cycling successes, was taken to hospital.
Overnight local reports said she remained under medical observation and had needed stitches to a head wound.
“I wanted to brake but the bike didn’t respond,” Chia told a Colombian newspaper after the smash.
“I hit my wife but it could have just as easily have been another person.”
Insisting Roncancio hadn’t lost consciousness despite TV images showing her appearing to have been KO’d, he added: “The doctors have checked her and more than anything it was the shock of it.
“She knew there was going to be a sprint finish and I don’t understand why she didn’t get out of the way.”
Colombian pro cyclist Egan Bernal, who cheated death earlier this year in a horrific collision with a bus during a training session, insisted safety always had to come first.
He wrote on social media: “It’s the Vuelta a Colombia and cyclists literally risk their lives to offer a show, but the safety of each and every one of them should always be guaranteed.”
Luis Carlos Chia’s third stage victory on Sunday was his second so far in this year’s race, following his opening day win.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.