'Then a cup of tea falls on your foot' – Movistar rider out for six weeks after bizarre accident

Movistar rider Davide Formolo has been sidelined for at least six weeks after a cup of tea fell on his foot.

The 33-year-old reported the incident on Instagram on Tuesday, saying he had damaged the tendon, and required next-day surgery.

“There's nothing you can do about it, life is strange sometimes,” Formolo wrote on Instagram stories.

“You ride around 30,000km a year with trucks brushing against your handlebars as if it were normal, you throw yourself down wet descents like Valentino Rossi at Mugello, then one evening a cup of tea falls on your foot, causing a small cut, and you can no longer lift your big toe.”

“Tomorrow morning I'm having surgery to repair the tendon, followed by a long rehabilitation period that will keep me out of action for at least six weeks.”

Formolo’s expected recovery period means he is likely to return towards the end of January. The UCI WorldTour season is scheduled to begin on 20 January with the Santos Tour Down Under in Australia, a race the Italian has never done.

A Giro d’Italia stage winner in 2015, and former Italian road champion, Formolo’s last professional win came at the Veneto Classic in 2023, then riding for UAE Team Emirates. He signed a three-year deal with Movistar at the start of 2024, and next season will begin the final year of his contract.

The 33-year-old’s teacup incident is the latest in a long line of freak occurrences that have led riders to be injured.

In 2008, for example, Mark Cavendish injured his calf muscle when he fell playing a snowboarding game on his Nintendo Wii console. Like Formolo, the Brit’s incident came towards the end of the year, meaning he did not miss any racing targets.

On the more serious side, recently retired Ineos Grenadiers rider Luke Rowe broke his leg while white water rafting on his brother’s stag do in 2017. "I lifted my leg, but my foot stayed still, it was kind of hanging off, limp,” Rowe told BBC Wales Sport at the time.

More serious still, Greg Lemond almost lost his life in the build-up to the 1987 season when he was accidentally shot by his brother-in-law on a turkey hunting trip. The American lost 65% of his blood volume, and was said to be around 20 minutes from dying.

Lemond returned to racing to win his second of three Tour de France titles two years later.