This idiot tried to mansplain bike riding to an actual Olympic cyclist
LatestIf you’re not a world-class cyclist, you probably shouldn’t be giving bike riding advice to someone who is—especially if that someone is currently holed up in a hospital suffering from three spinal fractures and a massive concussion.
But that’s what happened to Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten.
While turning a corner in the women’s road race at the Olympics in Rio this weekend, van Vleuten lost control of her bike, skidding wildly before flipping over the handlebars entirely. She knocked herself unconscious and left spectators shocked at the violence of her crash.
Tweeting Sunday evening from the hospital, van Vleuten told well-wishers that she’d “be fine” but described herself as “super disappointed,” adding that “knowing that this chance is 1 in 4 years, doesn’t make it easy.”
This is the part where most people would admire van Vleuten’s athletic accomplishments, and sympathize with her obvious frustration at the loss of what might have been a career-defining win. But not this guy! He chose van Vleuten’s injury as the perfect opportunity to explain proper bike-riding technique to the Olympian.
https://twitter.com/MartinArielB/status/762470353448804355
Golly, I wonder why someone who literally is one of the best in the world at what she does didn’t think of that? Boy, it makes you think, doesn’t it?
This particularly egregious example of mansplaining didn’t go unnoticed, and was immediately slammed with criticism from a number of Twitter users.
As it happens, two men—Geraint Thomas & Vincenzo Nibali—crashed during their Olympic run. No word on whether Mr. Betancourt gave them any advice.
Ultimately, it was Van Vleuten’s fellow Dutch cyclist Anna van der Bergen who ended up with the gold. Following the race, van der Bergen told reporters: “I was really shocked when I saw the crash and it didn’t look good but I had to focus and keep on with the race.”
Betancourt, meanwhile, has not won any Olympic medals. Although, if there were a competition for outrageously unnecessary mansplaining, he’d probably take the gold.