White hits truck, but on track for 2005 TdF

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"I thought, 'this can't be happening'," was how Cofidis professional, Matt White, recounted his...

"I thought, 'this can't be happening'," was how Cofidis professional, Matt White, recounted his thoughts while he was waiting to be driven to a medical centre in Spain after colliding with a semi-trailer last Sunday.

After completing the 2005 Giro d'Italia, the Australian rider was out on his first training ride last Sunday, June 5. A semi-trailer had overtaken him as he approached the town of Denia, about 80km from his home in Valencia. But the truck driver was overly ambitious and had to brake hard for a set of traffic lights, cutting sharply in front of White, who couldn't brake in time and collided with the rear of the truck.

'Whitey' had hoped to finally make it to his first Tour de France on July 3, 2004, but crashed before the prologue and broke his right collarbone. (Cofidis had to scramble to find first reserve, Peter Farazijn, who was drinking beer and watching a rally in Ypres at the time).

The memory of missing that start of last year's Tour has haunted the courageous Sydney-sider even since, and he certainly made up for lost time by being an integral part of teammate Stuart O'Grady's victory in the Hew Cyclassics World Cup race in Hamburg that followed the TdF last year.

This time around, White told Gennie Sheer, Cycling Australia's public relations manager, that despite colliding with the truck and falling to the ground, the cars behind him simply drove around him and left him bleeding on the ground.