{"id":738,"date":"2017-05-14T07:33:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-14T07:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/2017\/05\/14\/bicycling-is-the-most-dangerous-professional-sport\/"},"modified":"2023-02-17T13:44:58","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T13:44:58","slug":"bicycling-is-the-most-dangerous-professional-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/?p=738","title":{"rendered":"Bicycling is the Most Dangerous Professional Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Michele<\/div>\n
Italian cyclist Michele Scarponi was killed by a truck on April 22, 2017. \u00a0At age 37, he was at the peak of his career as a professional bicycle racer. \u00a0He won the opening stage of the Tour of the Alps in Trento, Italy, eventually finished fourth in that tour, returned home that night, and went on a training ride the very next morning.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
A 57-year-old builder driving a commercial van made a left turn into a Y-intersection, pulling directly in front of Scarponi to cause a brutal impact. \u00a0Scarponi was struck with the front right bumper and smashed into the windshield and he was killed instantly. \u00a0An emergency crew failed to revive him and he was evacuated by helicopter. \u00a0Scarponi had the right-of-way on the slightly downhill road but the driver, who knew Scarponi’s father, said that he failed to see the bicycle.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Scarponi was scheduled to lead his team, Astana, two weeks later at the \u00a02017 Giro d’Italia. He left behind a wife and twin four-year old sons, Giacomo and Tommaso. \u00a0On the day after Scarponi’s death, a tearful Alejandro Valverde dedicated his Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge victory and 20,000-euro prize money to Scarponi’s widow. \u00a0Scarponi was beloved as the team comedian who often started training rides with his parrot on his shoulder.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Cycling Is a Very Dangerous Sport<\/strong><\/div>\n
In almost 100 percent of car-bike collisions, the car driver is not hurt because the average car weighs around 4,000 pounds and the average carbon-fiber bike weighs less than 20 pounds, so the bike rider always loses. In the last 17 years, more professional cyclists were killed than athletes in any professional sport other than soccer. \u00a0 The number of sporting deaths of professional athletes from 2000 to 2017 was:<\/div>\n
\u2022 Cycling 46<\/div>\n
\u2022 Soccer 85<\/div>\n
\u2022 Boxing 34<\/div>\n
\u2022 Rugby 14<\/div>\n
\u2022 Wrestling 14<\/div>\n
\u2022 American football 14<\/div>\n
\u2022 Ice hockey 6<\/div>\n
There are far more professional soccer players than professional cyclists, so the death rate for cyclists is the highest of any professional sport.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Rules for Safe Cycling<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
1. \u00a0Follow the laws. \u00a0Bicycles are vehicles that must obey all traffic control devices and road markings.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
2. \u00a0Ride on the right. \u00a0Use the farthest right lane that is heading in your direction.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
3. \u00a0Be predictable. \u00a0Signal and check for traffic when turning or changing lanes.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
4. \u00a0Be visible. \u00a0Use front and rear blinking lights, day and night, reflectors and bright colored clothing.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
5. Always wear a properly fitted helmet, no matter how short the trip.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
6. Match the roads you use to your skill level. \u00a0Slow and inexperienced riders should avoid busy or high-speed roads.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
7. \u00a0Ride defensively. \u00a0Make sure other vehicles can see you before you enter an intersection or change lanes. \u00a0 If in doubt, stop and wait. \u00a0The bicyclist always loses in an accident, even if he or she was right.<\/div>\n
\"ChrisAlso be aware that angry drivers may intentionally try to run you off the road or even hit you. \u00a0This week Chris Froome, \u00a0one of the most famous bicycle racers in the world and three-time Tour de France winner, was hit by a car driven by a person \u201cwho did it on purpose.\u201d \u00a0Fortunately, Froome was not injured. Another Tour de France racer, Yoann Ofredo, was recently assaulted by a driver while training outside of Paris. Ofredo said the driver appeared to intentionally try to cause Ofredo and his two training partners to crash.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Michele Scarponi<\/a><\/div>\n
September 25, 1979 \u2013 April 22, 2017<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Checked 2\/17\/23<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italian cyclist Michele Scarponi was killed by a truck on April 22, 2017. At age 37, he was at the peak of his career as a professional bicycle racer. He won the opening stage of the Tour of the Alps in Trento, Italy, eventually finished fourth in that tour, returned home that night, and went on a training ride the very next morning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-histories-and-mysteries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}