Video showing track stars Alessa-Catriona Propster and Katy Marchant going over the railing during a Champions League round in London has gone viral on social media. However, if falls cause a sensation on velodromes, is the discipline more dangerous? “There is a spectacular side. There is a lot of closeness between the riders, which is also found in a road peloton. But on the track, we are at least 50 km/h. However, it is rare that there are serious after-effects after a fall. The wood of the track (used in the majority of velodromes) absorbs the impact, much more than the asphalt. The falls are more impressive than severe,” describes Quentin Guedon, trainer and head of the Pôle Espoir Bretagne Endurance in Loudéac. A feeling shared by Samuel Monnerais, coach of the French women's pursuit team: “When things go wrong, it makes noise, there are bikes that break… But between the Tokyo Olympics and those of Paris, there is no There was, in my group, only one fall which led to a broken collarbone (Clara Copponi in Glasgow in 2022).”
The slightest fall, regardless of the discipline and even at low speed, results in at least scratches. Launched at full speed (up to nearly 80 km/h), riders cannot afford half a second of inattention on a turn with an average slope of 46 degrees. “Most injuries are “paint” as they say in the jargon. These are burns linked to wood, a few splinters sometimes, but less than on the road,” adds Guedon, who has never seen anyone go over a guardrail to land in the public.
Samuel Monnerais once witnessed such a scene. “It was Valentin Tabellion among the juniors,” he remembers. There was another at the Commonwealth Games (Matthew Walls in July 2022). It was non-existent a few years ago, but it's moving faster and faster. The slightest collision and you are ejected with centrifugal force. It becomes a risk, even if it remains minimal.”
