Rider crashes into wife after winning Vuelta a Colombia stage – Video

Colombia
Luis Carlos Chia and his wife on the ground beyond the finish line at the Vuelta a Colombia (Image credit: Señal Deportes)

There were chaotic and alarming scenes at the Vuelta a Colombia on Sunday, as the stage winner crashed into his wife beyond the finish line amid a deluge in Montería.

Luis Carlos Chía, wearing the yellow jersey as overall leader after winning the opening stage, triumphed again on stage 3 in a last-gasp win in the pouring rain. 

However, his celebrations were short-lived as television cameras cut to him lying on the ground having collided with someone beyond the finish line. That person turned out to be his wife, Claudia Roncancio, who is also a rider as well as a photographer. 

Chía limped to the podium ceremony, nursing his right leg. Roncancio, meanwhile, was taken to hospital and required four stitches, according to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo

Following the podium ceremony, Chía told the Caracol broadcaster that his brakes didn't work properly in the wet conditions, which were so extreme that he had been sprinting through surface water. 

"That's the area for photographers. It could have been her or anyone else. I was coming at high speed. The other day it was the same but that day it hadn't rained and my brakes worked perfectly," he said. 

"Today I wanted to brake and the brakes blocked up, and I went straight into her."

Roncancio was said to be relatively unhurt, and Chía was able to share a joke about the situation. He described his pair of stage wins as "a dream come true" and is set to start stage 4 in the leader's jersey.

The moment of impact was not fully captured by television cameras but you can watch how the bizarre events unfolded in the videos below.

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Patrick Fletcher
Deputy Editor

Deputy Editor. Patrick is an NCTJ-trained journalist who has seven years’ experience covering professional cycling. He has a modern languages degree from Durham University and has been able to put it to some use in what is a multi-lingual sport, with a particular focus on French and Spanish-speaking riders. After joining Cyclingnews as a staff writer on the back of work experience, Patrick became Features Editor in 2018 and oversaw significant growth in the site’s long-form and in-depth output. Since 2022 he has been Deputy Editor, taking more responsibility for the site’s content as a whole, while still writing and - despite a pandemic-induced hiatus - travelling to races around the world. Away from cycling, Patrick spends most of his time playing or watching other forms of sport - football, tennis, trail running, darts, to name a few, but he draws the line at rugby.