Cycling: Sky professional Owain Doull was one of the riders who fell in the mass crash of the opening stage in Abu Dhabi. After crossing the finish line, the Briton posted photos on Twitter showing his cut cycling shoe – the 23-year-old also suffered a few small cuts on his foot. He himself has already identified the culprit: Marcel Kittel's brake disc.
As in the previous year, it only takes a few weeks for a driver from the peloton to attribute an injury to the use of brake discs. This time it hit Sky driver Owain Doull. Although he got off much lighter than Ventoso last year, the photos of the cut open cycling shoe are quite worrying. Doull told reporters: “My shoe was cut into pieces, it was definitely a brake disc. It just cut through my shoe into my foot. I'm glad my leg didn't get it." Among the riders who fell was Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) – who, as we know, has been using disc brakes since the start of the season.
The news is currently causing renewed unrest and uncertainty among drivers. Calls for covers for the brake discs are once again loud and disc skeptics see their fears confirmed. The world association UCI has already reacted and is investigating the incident.
As already at Ventoso's injury last season However, there are still some question marks in this case and there are doubts that a brake disc was responsible for the damage and injury. A detailed analysis is particularly problematic because there are no meaningful video recordings of the accident, which also happened at a very high speed.
Could it be possible that cut on Doull's shoe was caused by rusty barrier leg? Seems to be rust-coloured mark either side of shoe cut 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Os7x54YSHy
— Nigel Wynn (@NigelWynn) 23. February 2017
What is strange, however, is that Doull's left shoe was damaged: since the brake discs are also on the left side, contact is not easily possible. Of course, it can't be ruled out - Doull or Kittel could have rolled over and it could have come into contact - but such a scenario is quite unlikely. In addition, the UCI had only ordered for this season that only brake discs with rounded edges may be used in the races. Whether these can cut through the shoe so cleanly even at high speed is extremely questionable.
Could it be possible that cut on Doull's shoe was caused by rusty barrier leg? Seems to be rust-coloured mark either side of shoe cut 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Os7x54YSHy
— Nigel Wynn (@NigelWynn) 23. February 2017
But if it wasn't a brake disc, then what? Chainring or cassette are ruled out due to the very clean cut. British cycling journalist Nigel Wynn speculated on Twitter that the metal bars of a barrier could be responsible for the uproar. Supporting this theory is that Doull definitely fell into the cordon and that there are rust-colored abrasions on his shoe right next to the cut. Just such rusty, sharp-edged metal parts can be seen in photos immediately after the crash and protrude from the barrier.
But no matter where the cause of Doull's injury really lies - his shoe has long since become a political issue and once again underlines the great uncertainty in the peloton about disc brakes.
Stephen G says
If you take a closer look at the video, you will notice that Kittel's bike had no brake discs. So nothing with brake disc bashing
Michael Faiss says
Kittel was already on the road with disc brakes. He also indirectly confirmed tags on it. That the injury came from the disc is still highly questionable.