DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON
The final sprint at the 2020 Scheldeprijs was not untypical: a hectic build-up, an illustrious winner in Caleb Ewan, and, as has been the case in this event before, a crash. What was atypical was the reaction of German rider Rüdiger Selig to that crash.
Selig, appalled to see August Jensen from rival team Riwal Securitas hitting the tarmac in the sprint, braked sharply, dropped his bike on the road and ran back through the approaching peloton to tend to him. It was one of the most striking images of the shortened 2020 season, in a year blighted by anxiety and worsening news.
Stopping to help, mid-race, is rare among bike riders, with most conditioned by years of racing into carrying on regardless, even when their peers are lying bloodied on the road. You can’t really blame them: it’s part of the culture - the race stops for no-one and you race on, whatever. But then Selig has form for doing this kind of thing - for showing his humanity - while all around him maintain tunnel vision and are a blur of legs and spokes.
Strikingly, he did much the same in 2015, during Dwars door
