Rear tyre was ejected from the rim in the impact after Spaniard tried to ride on after hitting pothole
A crash in the sprint during stage 2 of Étoile de Bessèges(Image credit: Getty Images)
In the sprint finish on stage 2 of the Étoile de Bessèges, Marc Brustenga (Equipo Kern Pharma) was sitting in 10th wheel with 100m to go when he inexplicably veered left, lost control of his bike, and crashed into the barriers.
At first, it seemed as though the Spaniard had crossed wheels with Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) as he tried to pass but the overhead shots told a different story.
In the video below from Eurosport, at 43 seconds, a small white cloud emanates from Brustenga's rear wheel just as he leans left to pass Bennett.
🇳🇴👋💛 Hola, @letour_es: soy @UnoXteam y quiero venir otra vezSøren Wærenskjold estrena a los nórdicos en la 2ª etapa de @Etoile_Besseges. Caída final, con @MarcBrustenga (@EqKernPharma) implicado 🙁La prueba gala, cada día en @StreamMaxES #LaCasaDelCiclismo pic.twitter.com/uUC4oogryXFebruary 6, 2025
The reason for this is that his tubeless tyre had punctured, with the white tubeless sealant inside exploding out in an instant, failing to seal whatever damage had been done to the tyre.
Images captured of the sprint finish show Brustenga in the background, midway through his incident with the bike bouncing through the air, his rear tyre ejected from the rim and instead entangled around the frame of the bike.
Luckily, despite the swirling peloton powering toward the finish line behind him, he was the only rider to go down, and importantly, a subsequent tweet from his Equipo Kern Pharma team's X account has confirmed the Catalan rider came away with "many abrasions and injuries" but otherwise "fine and able to cross the finish line."
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A statement from the team to Cyclingnews explained that "a few hundred meters before the puncture, Brustenga entered a roundabout and hit a hole, which slightly damaged the CADEX rim due to the speed. However, he felt that he could continue riding, and he did."
It is unclear from the footage of the incident as to whether the tyre came off the rim immediately in the blowout, or whether it was shed in the aftermath as a result of hitting the barriers, as was the case in Annemiek van Vleuten's not-dissimilar crash at the 2022 World Championships.
Brustenga's rear tyre can be seen entangled around his right foot (Image credit: Getty Images)
Josh is Associate Editor of Cyclingnews – leading our content on the best bikes, kit and the latest breaking tech stories from the pro peloton. He has been with us since the summer of 2019 and throughout that time he's covered everything from buyer's guides and deals to the latest tech news and reviews.
On the bike, Josh has been riding and racing for over 15 years. He started out racing cross country in his teens back when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s, racing at a local and national level for Somerset-based Team Tor 2000. These days he rides indoors for convenience and fitness, and outdoors for fun on road, gravel, 'cross and cross-country bikes, the latter usually with his two dogs in tow.
