No one is safe when the battle breaks out and cyclists willing to enjoy life in the pedal stroke are no exception. Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Palestine The death toll reaches 1,300 in Israel and 1,400 in Gaza, to which must be added so far more than 3,200 wounded in Israel and more than 6,200 wounded in Palestinian land.
A top-level cycling team such as Israel Premier Tech He could not stay in front of everything that was happening and took advantage of the loudspeakers offered by social networks today to denounce what happened, and explain that some of his cyclists visited the cyclists in Israel who were victims of attacks attack
Among the recovered cases is the team owned by the tycoon Sylvain Adamsthat of a triathlete who was murdered with his whole family, the mountain bikers who were surrounded and killed when they were on their way to training, the cyclists who hid for some time under the bushes to escape from the enemies who were following them , the 15-year-old runner who saved his father’s life and barely escaped, and many others are still missing and their fates are unknown.
“It is such a trauma for all of us that I don’t think we will be the same again. Not as a nation or as individuals,” he lamented. Guy Niv, first Israeli to participate in the Tour de France. Guy has spent the last 24 hours going from one funeral for one lost friend to another. He passed Wolfson Hospital, visits two injured young cyclists and assures them that he will ride with them as soon as they recover. “They are the heroes. “I told them that and I meant every word,” quotes the team’s website. Chris Froome.
Rafi Shitrit He is still struggling to cope with the loss. He is a fire chief in Western Negev and an active road and mountain cyclist, a member of a close-knit group of 15 to 20 friends in his small, anonymous cycling club. They all planned to meet on Saturday at 06:30 close to Kibbutz Be’eri for your last workout before the mountain bike race EPIC ISRAEL. “I guess you can call it ‘The Last Journey’ now,” he said dryly, counting the names of his dead friends. One of them is Tomer Shpirer (37). “Tomer was very excited about the upcoming race,” Shitrit recalled. Tomer was one of the riders who arrived early and as they prepared for the ride, the first wave of rockets began to explode. They began to break up. Some survived, but Tomer was ambushed and shot by Hamas terrorists. Another cyclist, Evgeny Galsky, shot and killed a short distance away. The fate of the others will not be known for several days. “We have just been informed that two more people have been confirmed dead,” Shitrit said. “And I’m afraid this isn’t the end of the list, with cyclists out there that I don’t know.”
Other cyclists endured nightmarish hours before reaching safety. Such was the terrible experience he suffered Hey Meydan on his road bike when he was on his way to his cycling buddy Lior Weizmann when everything was lost. Realizing that terrorists are everywhere, he hides in a shelter, but quickly decides to throw away his cycling shoes and hide under a bush, barely able to breathe for hours. Both decisions saved his life when he discovered that everyone in that shelter had been killed.
He recalled the times of pure terror in his written story Israel Bike Panel: “I told my companions that no one could escape and we had to hide in the thorny bushes. We don’t care about the thorns, we are quiet, we can hardly breathe. We heard the terrorists on the road; Motorcycle, car, quad, tractor…, all the thoughts in the world were running through my mind at that moment, but I tried to calm down and not give in to the stress. I put on my bicycle helmet to protect myself and took off my cycling clothes to prevent reflective elements from giving away my position,” he recalled.
Although he was finally rescued after many hours, there was no real happy ending: “I collapsed on the floor. I couldn’t stand and just cry. By that time I had contacted my brothers. They told me they killed my cousin and my nephew. My brother and nephew were injured and taken to the hospital. I also talked to my mom and then I had a complete breakdown. “I sat down and cried nonstop, tears of a broken heart that still didn’t understand the scale of the disaster and how lucky I was.”
He was not so lucky Lior Weizmann, to be met by Aya: later found dead. Unlike Aya, he was ambushed and shot by Palestinian attackers.
Within the tragedy, there are incredible displays of courage. Zohar Shahar and Father Cohen, 15-year-old cyclists who had just begun their training on Saturday and hurriedly boarded Zohar’s father’s support vehicle after the rockets hit, soon encountered a group of armed men. Zohar was the first to realize that they were terrorists and urged his father to turn and run. All of them were hit by a hail of bullets and underwent several surgeries. “We will do everything we can to support them and many others who will need our hand,” he said. Ron Baron, founder of IPT, in an emotional visit to Father’s hospital bed after the young man underwent a complicated eye surgery.
The Israel Cycling Federation has written an emotional letter to International Cycling Union (UCI) describing what happened and asking for unity. “We will get up,” he promised.
Shit echoed broad sentiments in the Israeli cycling community. The tragedy that struck him and his cycling buddies won’t keep them off their bikes: “We’re struggling to stay sane through it all, but we’ll get through it and get back on our bikes sooner than later. eventually.”
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
