The Hungarian of Kometa Cycling Team Márton Dina is forced to leave Yorkshire after being hit by a vehicle

2019 World Cycling Championships
Leeds-Harrogate (261 km)

The only representative from the squad in the men’s road race for his country, the Hungarian Márton Dina did not enjoy the best of luck in his debut in a World Championship. The rider of the Kometa Cycling Team ended up becoming the ninth rider who was forced to retire as a result of the blow, without serious consequences, received from a vehicle.

An infernal day in England, with a constant rain whose intense action during the previous hours forced to vary the itinerary of the race, reduce it from the 285 kilometers initially planned, remove two of the climbs that had to be undertaken in the first part and add two more laps to the final circuit in Harrogate.  A day for survivors in which the passage of the kilometers made more natural selection than the breaks.

Dina was seen in the early stages of the test in search of escape, making a previous attempt in the run-up to the great escape of the day of eleven units between the shooting Primoz Roglic (Slovenia), Richard Carapaz (Ecuador), Nairo Quintana (Colombia). After caressing the option of being on the run, he ended up shooting in the pack. But Dina would be the protagonist of an incident with a vehicle. The head of the race was running at that moment 175 km from the end and the main squad was four minutes away.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it on television, but I was hit by a car. I was shocked. It took me a few minutes to get back on my feet. When I returned to the race they made it clear that they weren’t going to put us back in the pack”, explains the Magyar cyclist.  “The car of one of the eleven riders in the front wanted to pass to the pack, he did it without any care and ended up hitting me. I haven’t seen what team it was, but I think there are people who have seen that moment”.

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)