Broom wagon
A broom wagon is a vehicle that drives behind the field of road bike races and picks up participants who have retired from the race. Participants who get into the broom wagon due to exhaustion , illness or an injury must hand in their start number .
In one-day races , the broom wagon is usually the last vehicle in the accompanying caravan because the rule applies: Anyone who falls behind the broom wagon must obey the road traffic regulations.
Historically, the first evidence of a broom wagon goes back to the Tour de France in 1910 . Over the years, the Tour de France broom wagons had actually fitted a broom to the vehicle and were part of the folklore of this sporting event.
The word broom wagon is a translation of the French voiture-balai (from voiture 'wagon' and balai 'broom', in the verb form 'to sweep'). The term also describes a regional wedding custom in western France, in which a carriage with a broom drives at the end of the wedding parade.
The use of a broom wagon has carried over to other sporting events. Especially when running a marathon , a broom wagon drives behind the field of runners, because especially in city marathons there are many recreational athletes who do not make the distance in the given time and are caught by the broom wagon. At Nightskates , as in Münster, there may be a declared broom wagon that takes rucksacks and participants with them after exhaustion or material defects. At Cityskating Graz, an ambulance takes on this function in individual cases, if possible.
At some off-road motorsport events such as the Dakar Rally , a broom wagon travels the route retrospectively and takes care of broken-down drivers.
Individual evidence
- ↑ "The Besenwagen" on strassenradsport.com ( memento from January 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on August 21, 2012
- ↑ http://www.skatenight-muenster.de/faq Skatenight Münster, FAQ, accessed September 12, 2016.
- ↑ "Broom wagon, hangover!" , News from January 2, 2009 with YouTube video from the sweeper truck.
