Spanish Team Car Goes Airborne, Coach Kicked Out of Montréal Worlds

Benjamín Noval flew up the road to win the junior road worlds title Thursday and a Spanish team car briefly did the same.

A stunning spectator’s video shows the lead sport director’s car barreling downhill behind Noval at a high rate of speed late in the 134km race.

The car hit a pedestrian crossing and the rear wheels briefly lifted off the road along a section lined with spectators.

The car landed without losing control and there were no reported injuries, but the UCI race jury was less than impressed.

It fined Spanish national coach Eleuterio Anguita Hinojosas 1,000 Swiss francs and expelled him from the rest of the 2026 road world championships.

The UCI communiqué:

Driver: ANGUITA HINOJOSAS Eleuterio – ESP – UCI ID 100 008 029 59
Person in charge of the vehicle: Fine of 1,000 CHF and exclusion from the entire World Championships in Montreal, Canada.

Anguita, a former pro and Spain’s junior men’s road coach, posted photos of himself celebrating Noval’s victory on Instagram.

He did not mention the incident, and the Spanish Cycling Federation so far has not issued a public statement on the sanction.

Noval doubles up in Montréal

The viral incident came on a huge day for Spanish cycling.

Noval attacked on the penultimate lap and soloed home to victory 42 seconds ahead of France’s Simon Defrance. Sweden’s Elias Wendel took bronze more than two minutes back, with American Enzo Hincapie in eighth.

The highly touted 17-year-old won the junior time trial by six seconds over Belgium’s Vic De Smet on Tuesday.

Those wins equal Noval — who is set to join the WorldTour next season with Netcompany-Ineos — with Remco Evenepoel in a rare junior worlds double last achieved by the Belgian superstar in 2018.