Jayco AlUla’s Amaury Capiot suffered a catastrophic rear wheel failure today during the elite men’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, which was won by Mathieu van der Poel.
Images surfaced of Capiot holding his Giant Propel race bike with the tyre completely off the rim, revealing the internal liner. The carbon fibre rim appeared to have failed and the spokes had all ripped out of the hub, which was still clamped into the rear of the frame.
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Capiot’s rear wheel failure left the hub still clamped in the frame (Image credit: Tim de Waele / Staff)
Cyclingnews reached out to the team for a statement on the cause of the failure. A spokesperson for the team said that Capiot’s wheel failure was the result of riding for too long on the cobbles with a flat tyre after puncturing.
They explained that due to the chaotic nature of the classics, it can take a while for a team car to reach riders that need service and that Capiot attempted to go for as long as he could, which ultimately caused the wheel to fail.
Capiot appeared to be using Cadex Ultra 50 hookless wheels and Cadex Aero Cotton tubeless tyres with a tyre liner.
Hookless tyres and wheels rely on a tight fit between the tubeless tyre bead and the rim’s sidewall. The technology has drawn criticism over the past few years due to several race incidents in which tubeless tyres have detached from wheel rims.
Fabio Jakobsen’s tyre and internal liner detached themselves from his ‘mini hook’ rear wheel at the recent UAE Tour. Jakobsen’s PicnicPost NL said an impact of a rock was the cause of the incident.
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