Bastion Cycles have confirmed that it was one of its handlebar units that was being used by Alex Porter when he crashed during the Team Pursuit qualifying at the Tokyo Olympic Games and said it was working with the Australian Olympic team to understand the cause behind the failure.
Porter came down while at the back of the four-man squad, coming off after his handlebar broke and sliding across the boards. The team then stopped and later repeated their qualifying run, which put them in fifth place and out of contention for the gold and silver medals.
"Our team is working with the Australian Olympic Team to understand the cause behind the failure of one of our handlebar units during the four-person, Australian pursuit challenge at the Tokyo Olympics overnight," said Bastion in a statement which was released on social media.
"Our first concern was for Alex Porter and the entire team. We are in constant contact with the Australian Olympic cycling team and coaches, and give our assurances that we are using all means available to investigate why this occurred."
The Australian track teams are riding the 2020 Electron Pro from Argon 18 but the Canadian brand had released a statement earlier which said its handlebar was not in use during the incident, which was also confirmed by AusCycling.
The cycling organisation, which did not mention Bastion in its statement, also said it had launched an investigation into the incident but that it would take time to determine exactly what happened. The Australian men's team pursuit squad will be back in the Izu Velodrome in Tokyo on Tuesday, during the heats, with the medal rounds of competition for the event to be held on Wednesday.
The fifth place in qualifying for Porter, Kell O’Brien, Sam Welsford and Leigh Howard means that while they have missed out on their chance at gold and silver in the Team Pursuit at this Olympics they are still in the running for bronze.
"Our focus at this time is to continue supporting the Australian cycling team for the remainder of the competition," Bastion said.
