Archibald anguish at brother’s bike crash

TEAM Scotland cycle star Katie Archibald has revealed her anguish at watching her brother’s horror crash in yesterday’s time trial. John Archibald got back on his bike to complete the road course after losing control and flying into the barriers early in his ride. But the Games rookie collapsed with suspected heat exhaustion after finishing the course on a brutally hot day at Currumbin Beach Front. Mum Louise held a Saltire over her son to protect him from the blazing sun before paramedics arrived to put him in a wheelchair and get him to treatment. Katie, speaking after finishing fourth in her own time trial just hours later, revealed: ‘We saw it on the telly. ‘It’s so close to the start I thought I’d watch a bit then go and get ready. ‘I was walking away and then I could hear everyone in the room started screaming. It wasn’t perfect. ‘People in our apartment had it on, just to see how the lads were doing. This is horrible, but I was hoping it wasn’t [him]. I walked away with him on the telly. Literally, two seconds later I came back and saw the replay. ‘I’ve not seen him. Someone gave us his skinsuit and it had all been chopped up to get off him. I’ve been told he’s okay. It’s not affected my ride. It’s just not nice.’ John Archibald still finished 11th despite his crash, teammate Mark Stewart — the points race winner who finished 17th yesterday — saying: ‘He was really up for it and I’m so disappointed for him because he would have had a really good shot at being on the podium. ‘You never like to see anyone in that position at the finish line, far less a team-mate. ‘Try jumping out your car in lycra at 40 miles an hour — that’s what we’re doing. ‘He crashed early so what will happen is he gets up, there’ll be a lot of adrenaline and he’s going to use that immediately and think: “I have to get back…” ‘He had another 40 minutes to ride and, for 20 of them, he’ll have been on Cloud Nine, as stupid as that sounds, with the adrenaline running through him — and then his body is just going to start to crash.’ A Team Scotland spokesman said: ‘John is in a fair condition after an exhausting and hot race and is now in the care of the TeamScotland cycling medical team.’