KEY POINTS:
One of the country's most gruelling cycling races is under the spotlight after a rider suffered serious injuries in a pile-up on a winding Coromandel Peninsula road at the weekend.
Witnesses at the 192km K2 race have accused a utility truck driver of cutting off a bunch of more than 100 riders on Saturday morning, to avoid collision with an oncoming milk tanker after overtaking them ahead of a blind bend on the Kuaotunu hill heading north from Whitianga.
They said that caused a chain reaction in which bicycles spun into one other, throwing Auckland rider Brett Burton into the path of the tanker.
Mr Burton, 43, was flown by Westpac rescue helicopter with suspected head and spinal injuries to Auckland City Hospital, where he was yesterday reported to be in a stable condition.
But Inspector Earle McIntosh, of the police northern communications centre, said serious-crash investigators had attended the scene.
Mr McIntosh said comments he could not recall making to the Herald on Sunday, which have caused a storm among cycling advocates, were not intended to judge the circumstances of the crash.
The Sunday paper quoted him as saying: "The cyclists were using the road as if they owned it and came round a blind corner and met a milk tanker."
But he told the New Zealand Herald yesterday that police along the course had been very concerned about the behaviour of some cyclists in using the full width of the road at various stages of both the K2 race and a shorter version between Coromandel township and Tairua.
"It was a huge concern for the police involved in that operation.
"One officer followed a bunch for 10 to 15 minutes out of Whitianga and they were on both sides of the road."
He did not know whether that was the case at the crash scene, but acknowledged that even if it were, it would have been no excuse for dangerous driving by any motorists.
Although he understood the race was a "fairly well-run event", there had been similar problems in previous years with cyclists not following pre-start safety briefings.
The event's Coromandel-based organisers did not return calls yesterday, but two witnesses among about 500 participants in the main race sent email accounts to the Herald blaming the ute driver's actions.
Duncan Milne said he was cycling ahead of the crash but heard it and "turned around to see the guy who hit the [milk] truck spinning out from the side of it.
"It was a horrible sight," he said.
"The ute had come from quite a way back, as we could hear a car horn blasting for some time before it passed us on a blind corner at the front of the bunch.
"As the truck approached, the driver of the ute pulled into the front of the bunch, causing us to brake to avoid him - this directly caused the concertina effect that resulted in the touching of wheels further back in the bunch and guys going down.
"The ute driver was an absolute idiot."
Fellow front-riding competitor Antony Gardiner said the ute just missed his bike while swerving left to avoid the tanker.
"The way I see it, the ute was the sole cause of this accident."
Mr McIntosh said crash investigators had spoken to the ute driver and were assessing reports from a multitude of other witnesses.
"His actions may or may not have contributed to the crash, but as far as initial investigations would indicate, he was quite a distance away from the crash scene when it occurred - ahead of the crash.
Thames Coromandel District Mayor Phillippa Barriball, who last year rode a 50km section of the race, said it was a boon to the area and she would hate to see its future put in doubt.
"Events like this are very important to us in terms of the economy and also just getting people to come and look at the Coromandel Peninsula."
She believed most residents finding themselves stuck behind cyclists were prepared to put up with the minor inconvenience for the sake of an event for which part of the entry fee went to charities.
A less forgiving driver was motoring commentator Peter Gill, who reported being stuck for eight to 10 minutes just south of Thames behind a bunch of cyclists who were behaving "with complete arrogance and inconsideration of other road users".
"As a cyclist myself, I am ashamed of these people," he said. Cycling New Zealand needs to take a serious look at how to change this psychology unless they want competitive cyclists to become public enemy No 1 on our roads, and for more cyclists to end up in hospital."
