A surprising incident at a German race this weekend may have caused even more damage than initially reported. Police have launched an investigation into Sunday’s triathlon in Hamburg, where many cyclists were forced to quit after suffering multiple flat tires.
The flats were evidently caused by shards of metal and glass found on the race course through this German city. Race officials have called the “attack” a deliberate act of sabotage, and reports now suggest that more than 100 athletes were likely affected by the incident, Tri247 reported.
The international Ironman organization, which hosted Sunday’s racing event, said that “unknown third parties deliberately attempted to sabotage a section in the eastern part of the bike course by placing metal parts on the course.” The course had been “thoroughly inspected and cleared” before the race, “suggesting that this deliberate endangerment of athlete safety occurred only after the start,” according to a statement from Ironman officials in Germany.
“Ironman is supporting the police in their ongoing investigations and will subsequently work with the city to develop measures to prevent such incidents in the future,” race officials said.
Some Locals Frustrated by Race’s Impact
Several participating athletes shared videos on social media showing the pieces of metal that caused multiple flat tires, forcing many of them to abandon the race. As one rider says in the video above (translated from German): “For us, the race is unfortunately over. Cool, huh?”
German triathlon publication Tri-Mag attended Sunday’s race and has published several reports trying to piece together exactly what happened.
“We discovered numerous cyclists with greenish, shimmering metal strips up to two centimeters long, which had likely been embedded in the tires over several kilometers and ultimately led to a loss of pressure. These metal shavings were not uniform in shape or size,” Frank Wechsel wrote for Tri-Mag on Monday. “Some of [the athletes] had no air in either their front or rear tires, or reported having already experienced a flat tire just a few kilometers earlier.”
The magazine also reported signs along the course’s roads from residents who felt their freedom was restricted as a result of the race shutting down roads. One such sign read (in German): “Your leisure activities are already severely restricting us every day!”
However, many locals also helped cyclists trying to quickly replace their tubes and get back on the course. Both race officials and residents provided “spare parts, compressors, food, warm clothing, and words of encouragement,” Tri-Mag reported.
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