Cycling tragedy in Wales

Four riders killed

A group of 12 cyclists, all members of the Welsh Rhyl Cycling Club, were riding on the A547 Ludland Road when a car spun sideways into their path near Abergele, killing four of them, including a boy. Thomas Harland, 14, Maurice Broadbent, 61, Dave Horrocks, 55, and Wayne Wilkes, 42, died on the scene of the accident shortly after 10am on Sunday morning.

The driver of the car apparently lost control of his vehicle because of icy road surface in a left hand bend, striking a wall and rebounding into the road. He is not reported to have exceeded speed limits. "Our best estimate at the moment is that the car was driving at something like 50 miles per hour," Chief Inspector Lyn Adams from North Wales Police told British media. "And on a road like this, that isn't excessive speed. Every road traffic collision is treated as a crime scene and tests have already been carried out. However, there is nothing to suggest the driver did anything but lose control and on the face of it this seems to be a terrible accident."

Thomas Harland's father suffered a broken leg, and the four other adult riders and three children in the group were uninjured. it appears that there was a another accident on the same road an hour previously after a car lost control on the ice.

Cyclingnews extends its condolences to the family and friends of the riders.