Nicole Van der Kaay, an Olympic athlete from New Zealand participated in the Super League Triathlon in Toulouse this past weekend. During the cycling round of the race, Italian Olympian and Van der Kaay’s teammate, Alice Betto bumps her off of her bike and into the barricade. Betto stays on course and finishes the race while Van der Kaay is scraped up off the pavement.




Van der Kaay attempted to get back into the race but the crash disabled up her bike. She took to Instagram to bravely share her the aftermath of her face meeting the barricade.


“My race ended early, but no broken bones, only heart,” reads the caption. She further notes that this was an accident and that crashes happen in races all the time. However, the people in her comments didn’t view the bump as a mere accident.


“Why are we all pretending like that was a mistake.. Am I missing something? Clearly, she leaned into you & pushed you intentionally..,” says one commenter


“That was not a mistake. You be careful,” warned another.  


As for Betto, she acknowledges in her Instagram post after the race that mistakes were made. Van der Kaay clearly has no bad blood towards Betto and she’s left this ordeal largely unscathed.


But for future races, maybe we should check Betto for any loose beads in her pockets, a water bottle full of laxatives, or a stick of dynamite that conveniently looks like a baton.