Two gory accidents have in recent times reminded us about the more dangerous side of bicycle racing. ONCE rider Mikel Zarrabeitia crashed out of the Tour of Spain on Tuesday in an unusual mishap which will have turned the stomach of the most hardened spectators.

Noticing problems with his cycle computer, the Spaniard reached down to adjust the sensor clamped to the front fork and caught his hand in the front wheel of his bicycle, losing the tip of one finger and mangling another in the process. Zarrabeitia ended up having the ring finger of his right hand amputated, although doctors expect he will be able to resume his cycling career. Even more gruesome was the accident which befell Tour de France stage winner Marcel Wust in a French criterium last month. The 33-year-old German crashed during the street race, cracking his skull and suffering serious damage to his right eye. This week, Wust detailed the accident in an interview featured on the internet site cyclingnews.com, stating that "I had four fractures to the orbit of the eye and fractures of the skull. The eye was just exploded by the impact so the doctors had to totally reconstruct it, filling it with some sort of silicon gel to hold the shape. The right eye is bandaged so it can heal and recover and in two months' time we'll reevaluate and see what the prognosis will be - whether I'll see nothing or just black-and-white or colour or whatever."

Unbelieveably, Wust wants to return to racing but if the injury dictates otherwise his Festina team have assured him of a role in management.