Rouleur photographer Taz Darling seriously injured in Scheldeprijs crash

Rouleur photographer Taz Darling seriously injured in Scheldeprijs crash Rouleur magazine has confirmed on Twitter that its photographer Taz Darling, who suffered serious injuries yesterday when she was hit at speed by several riders who had just contested the sprint finish of the 100th edition of the Scheldeprijs on rain-soaked roads, is recovering from surgery she underwent last night. Darling had been among the photographers positioned shortly after the finish line to capture images of the sprint that brought the stage to a close, which was won by Argos Oli-Shimano's Marcel Kittel. We know that Rouleur is very popular among road. While we all enjoy looking at pictures of race action, the incident does show the danger to which cycling photographers regularly expose themselves to get those images, and that irrespective of the experience of the photographer or the focus on safety increasingly adopted by organisers, cycling can be an unpredictable sport, especially once elements such as wet roads are introduced. Yesterday evening, Rouleur managing editor Ian Cleverly, who travelled to Belgium today - editor Guy Andrews was already there - had told road. Press reports, and perhaps footage of the incident from Belgian TV channel Sporza - which we would stress does not show the collision itself - suggested that several involved had lost control of their bikes on the large sponsors' logos painted across the road close to the finish line, rendered particularly dangerous by the rain. One rider not directly caught up in the crash, Katusha's Maxime Vantomme, can be seen in the Sporza video seeking to give assistance to the stricken photographer. "But as he started complaining about increasing chest pain we called for an ambulance that brought him to the hospital where they reported that his lung had collapsed. "Luckily, there are no fractures and under the circumstances he feels ok but he has to take a break from training and racing for an unknown period of time. She is still in intensive care but 'comfortable', as the doctors say. The worst injured of the riders was the Australian rider Jonathan Cantwell of Saxo Bank. . Rouleur photographer Taz Darling seriously injured in Scheldeprijs crash Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 06/04/2012