Owain Doull calls on UCI to address disc brakes after Abu Dhabi Tour injury - Road Cycling UK

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Owain Doull calls on UCI to address disc brakes after Abu Dhabi Tour injury

Welshman narrowly escaped serious injury after shoe was lacerated in late crash

Team Sky’s Owain Doull call on the UCI to immediately re-address the issue of disc brakes in the pro peloton after narrowly escaping serious injury on stage one of the Abu Dhabi Tour.

Doull went down in a crash with Marcel Kittel (QuickStep Floors), Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) and Alex Dowsett (Movistar) among others, underneath the flamme rouge as the peloton headed for a bunch sprint.

And alongside road rash, Doull revealed a disc brake being used by Kittel had sliced through his shoe to his foot – taking to Twitter to post a photo of the shoe post-race.

“Fortunately for me the disk brake went through my shoe and not my leg. Disk cut straight through my shoe and into my foot,” he wrote, before adding: “Sort it out @UCI_cycling.”

And Doull has received support from around the peloton, with British time trial champion Dowsett sharing the image of Doull’s lacerated shoe and writing: “Doull’s shoe, thankfully not a body part.

“Bear in mind there was just ONE bike with disc brakes in that crash. Imagine a whole peloton!”

The incident comes little more than a week after the Professional Cyclists Association (CPA) revealed they had written to the UCI Equipment Commission to inform them the majority of riders are still not in favour of disc brake testing under current provisions.

A press release issued at the time quoted CPA President Gianni Bugno as saying: “At this point, there is a reason to believe that it is not yet time to start these tests.

“As we have said several times, we are not against the technological innovation, but we are worried above all by the safety of the riders on the road.”

Doull was racing for the first time in 2017 after suffering appendicitis on the eve of the Tour Down Under (pic: Sirotti)

It is not the first time disc brakes have provoked controversy either, after Fran Ventoso suffered gruesome leg injuries at Paris-Roubaix last year, which he attributed to crashing into a disc rotor.

Following Ventoso’s injury, disc brake trials were abandoned only for the UCI to rule they could be restarted this season – with Tom Boonen and Kittel winning races on disc-equipped machines this season.

Olympic team pursuit champion Doull was racing for the first time for Team Sky this season, after his previous attempt at making his UCI WorldTour debut was postponed when he suffered appendicitis ahead of the Tour Down Under.

Stage one was won by fellow Brit Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), who outsprinted Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) to bag his first victory of the season.

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