The cycling race set off from Salobreña for its next leg on Thursday but the event did not go off without a painful hitch.
The Mayor (still) Mª Eugenia Rufino, was standing on the passenger’s seat of the car with her upper torso out of the sun roof, waving a flag, leading the cyclists through the streets of Salobreña before they began the actual leg of the race, which would take them through Molvízar, Ítrabo Jete and Almuñécar before continuing on.
Salobreña was packed with Guardia Civil bikers as escort and the Policía Local manned every junction to keep the roads clear for the cyclists participating in the Women’s Cycling Tour of Andalusia, the Elite Woman.
However, at one point the lead car braked and cyclist ploughed into the back of it.
Now it’s not clear why it braked but some cyclists were cycling parallel with it when the car braked, where they should not have been. So, perhaps the car was driving too slowly for the cyclists, or because the cyclists were too eager and closed with the car; one of the two must have caused this mishap.
Nobody was hurt enough to abandon the race after some cyclists collided and fell on top of each other in a small bundle – most cyclists managed to avoid this.
(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia – Video: Gazette reader)