‘Disc rotor cut to the bone’: World Champs silver medallist blames deep cut to her knee on disc brakes

Warning: article contains graphic injuries that some readers may find disturbing
Henry Robertshaw

Cyclocross World Championships silver medallist Katie Compton suffered a disappointing end to here season on Saturday after suffering a deep cut to her knee in the final race of the DVV Trofee, an injury which she blamed on a disc brake rotor.

Compton was competing in the final race of the DVV Trofee series, the Krawatencross race in Lille, when she was involved in a crash in the opening lap, suffering the nasty injury to her knee in the process.

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Writing on Twitter, Compton’s husband Mark Legg said: “What happens when two riders make poor decisions and can’t be patient on the first lap and squeeze Katie into a crash? Disc rotor cut to the bone. Not a happy way to end a great season.”

Thankfully Compton was able to remount her bike and finish the race in seventh place despite also needing to change her shoes and having blood running down her leg She was also able to celebrate having wrapped up victory in the eight-race DVV Trofee series.

The American, who finished second behind Sanne Cant at the Cyclocross World Championships in Valkneburg at the end of January, looked on the bright side of the injury, writing: “The good thing about disc rotor slices is that they don’t hurt till much later and the bleeding that doesn’t want to stop cleans the wound nicely.”

Disc brakes have been used largely without controversy in cyclocross since 2010, but have been the subject of considerable debate in the road peloton.

An initial trial of disc brakes in road races was suspended in 2016 after Movistar rider Fran Ventoso said that an injury he sustained in Paris-Roubaix was caused by a disc brake.

The trial was restarted in 2017, but was still questioned by a number of professional riders, with Team Sky rider Owain Doull alleging that he had been injured by a disc brake rotor in a crash at the Dubai Tour.

However this season seems to have seen the technology embraced a little more by the pros, with a sizeable minority of pro riders and teams choosing to use disc brake bikes in early-season races.