British rider Finlay Tarling, 19, dies on stage eight of the Volta a Portugal
The race organisers and the Portuguese Cycling Federation confirmed the death of the NSN Development Team rider. Portugal's GNR says he had dropped off the back of the peloton when a light goods vehicle travelling against the race hit him head-on on the EN306 at Arcozelo, Ponte de Lima.
Finlay Tarling was 19 and riding his first Volta a Portugal. He died on Friday during the eighth stage, between Melgaço and Fafe, and Portugal’s oldest bike race turned from a day of sport into a day of mourning inside a few minutes.
The Volta organisers and the Portuguese Cycling Federation put their names to a joint statement confirming the death of the British rider from NSN Development Team following a serious accident during the stage. The race was neutralised all the way to the finish in Fafe, and the podium ceremony scheduled for that evening did not take place. The peloton rolled in at walking pace, with Tarling’s team-mates at the front.
What is known about the crash
Portugal’s GNR says Tarling had dropped off the back of the peloton, at the tail of the race, when a light goods vehicle travelling in the opposite direction to the race hit him head-on. It happened on the EN306 at Arcozelo, in the municipality of Ponte de Lima. Police are investigating, and the organisers said further information would follow when circumstances allowed.
The stage was stopped with roughly twenty kilometres left to ride. No result was awarded.
Does the race go on?
As we write, the organisers have not said what happens to the two remaining stages — Saturday’s ninth, from Paredes to the Alto da Senhora da Graça at Mondim de Basto, and Sunday’s finale from Maia into Porto. Saturday was meant to be the decisive day, with Senhora da Graça climbed twice for the first time, after the yellow jersey changed shoulders on the climb to Torre.
NSN Development Team have withdrawn from the race. In a message on their channels the team called Tarling a much-loved member of the squad and sent condolences to his parents and his brother. Josh Tarling, Finlay’s older brother, races in the WorldTour peloton and rode this year’s Tour de France.
Part of this story is not about sport at all. The Volta crosses the country over ten stages on national roads that, along many stretches, stay open to traffic coming the other way — which is precisely where this happened. Four days earlier, as the race dropped into the Douro on the way to Peso da Régua, the talk was all about kilometres and seconds. It is not any more.
By Vasco Almada
Photo: _morgado / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
