The run into the sprint was ramping up to full speed on Thursday's stage 1 of the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas when, with just 150m to go, Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) came down hard into the barriers. When that happened Lucinda Brand's (Lidl-Trek) first instinct was an understandable one – to stop and see what she could do to help her clearly hurt teammate.
Balsamo was on the ground after she was knocked straight into the barrier at high speed and, while officials and medical staff were still rushing toward the injured riders, Brand was already by her Italian teammate's side. It was later revealed that Balsamo suffered a concussion, a fracture to her nasal bone and second metacarpal.
"Today I followed my human instinct and not my racing instinct," said Brand in a post on social media. "I stopped to check on my teammate after a nasty crash just meters from the finish.
"I didn't think twice about doing it and I don't regret it but, doing the right thing, lost me three minutes even with the line in view."
Lotta Henttala (EF Education-Cannondale) went on to win the sprint and 60 riders were given the same time, including Balsamo and Bertizzolo who couldn't finish after their crash 150m from the line but were given the time of the winner as a result of the three-kilometre rule.
The relevant regulation – item 2.6.027 of the UCI rules document Part II Road Races – outlines that: "In the case of a duly noted incident in the last three kilometres of a road race stage, the rider or riders affected shall be credited with the time of the rider or riders in whose company they were riding at the moment of the incident. His or their placing shall be determined by the order in which he or they actually cross the finishing line."
It also adds that an incident is "any event independent from the physical capacity of the rider (fall, mechanical problem, puncture) and his will of remaining with the riders in whose company he was riding at the moment of the incident."
The rule was not applied to Brand who was not part of the accident but stopped in response to it. She was on the results with a 3:03 deficit, enough to, unless something drastic happens, put the in-form rider completely out of contention for the top GC spots in the four-day Women's WorldTour stage race.
"If Barzi [Balsamo] had been able to finish, she would have got the same time as the group so why should caring for others in that moment be treated any different in the eyes of [the UCI]," Brand asked.
