Unbelievable scenes occurred at the end of yesterday evening’s mountain biking cross-country. Menorcan rider Diego Escriba was alleged to have attacked Isle of Man team manager Gary Hinds with his bike after the racer was accused of cheating.
It is the second controversy to hit cycling this week after Tuesday’s men’s road race farce.
It somewhat overshadowed Sarnian Meggie Bichard’s achievement as she won her second gold medal of the week.
After crossing the finish line in second place behind Manxman Elliot Baxter, Escriba was incandescent with rage and shot off towards the Manx cycling boss.
After being told by Baxter that he thought Escriba had been cutting corners by taking a straight line through an S-bend, Hinds stood in the way of the path that the rider had been taking.
A number of others had complained about Escriba’s tactics.
Then, as the Spaniard apparently went to take his short cut, he rode straight into Hinds and then crashed into a tree.
He got back up to finish the race.
It was at this point that chaos broke out and the Menorcan ran towards Hinds and allegedly threw his bike at him.
Hinds lifted an icebox that was in his hands to try and block the attack, but suffered a nasty cut to his head and thumb.
The Isle of Man official is also the chairman of the Games’ cycling technical committee.
‘He threw his bike at my manager at the end. What’s all that about?’ said Baxter, who witnessed the attack.
‘About two or three laps to go, I said to my manager to have a look at that [the short cuts] as I didn’t think it was in the rules. I don’t mind racing someone but that’s just not sport. I got the race, but I’m not happy.’
Four teams then protested - Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man and the Faroe Islands.
But things got even more surreal as the medal ceremony got under way and Baxter was repeatedly called to come to the podium and stand next to Escriba and Jersey’s Robin Ovenden, who had won bronze.
He refused as team officials argued that medals should not be handed out until the protest had been sorted out.
Eventually he did, but as all three were about to receive the medals, they were instructed to stand down.
The proceedings then got very heated as the Menorca team management were not happy with this and argued with the Manx team.
Hinds did not want to see Escriba banned from the Games.
‘You can’t do that - he should just learn his lesson by being disqualified,’ he said.
If Escriba is disqualified, highest-placed Sarnian Rob Smart, who finished fourth, will move into the bronze spot.
Article posted on 5th July, 2007 - 12.00am
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