I’m so glad I missed this at the time bc my god has it turned my stomach and knowing this kind of information at the time would of led me to cause a riot.
If a rider is declared unfit, that is it, they’re out. Any injury that would hinder their riding should be game set match off to home you go, but brain trauma?!
Being declared unfit through concussion and less than 24 hours later (where they’ve only been around the team) you declare them fit despite said rider feeling unwell and allow them to race is downright negligent, disgraceful and could very easily be deadly.
New concussion protocol my arse. Riders are still very clearly changing their minds through direct, and sometimes indirect, pressure from their teams and they’re being allowed to do so.
Is it not damn obvious that had he not felt the team needed him to ride then he’d be sitting it out and not pushing to be passed fit?!
This decision could so easily of caused a serious crash through the state of his symptoms.
This decision could so easily of killed Kubo had he crashed and suffered a second impact so soon after the first.
His ability to ride could of, and probably was compromised through his concussion and thus said crash could so easily of been caused by him and also involve other riders who too could be seriously injured or died.
Who would be the one’s with blood on their hands? Oh yeah, Kubo.
How much would the team of lost in comparison to what they gained by ‘making’ him ride? Was it really worth it? A potential life, or even 2 or 3, for fulfilling sponsorship contracts and not wasting an entry fee for a silly little concussion?
These riders need saving from themselves, their teams, the stigma and the completely negligent medical teams, but the people there to save them *cough* DORNA and the FIM *cough* continue to allow this to run and just shove a shoddy excuse of new protocols and age changes as a band aid.
Take concussion seriously. Get sensors in their helmets. Look at the damn hundreds of cameras you have and study the impacts and their immediate reactions. Don’t even entertain any kind of riding following an impact to the head for at least 2 or 3 days when most symptoms would be established and only then would the state of a concussion be evident. Don’t allow them to change their stories (which lbh if their story changes then how tf are you not pulling em up for confusion or short term memory loss) especially when it’s evidently coming from a team (think back to Deniz being told to delete his social media posts saying he was knocked out for 20 minutes and couldn’t remember anything BY HIS TEAM just so he could race not 24 hours later - and yes we were told point blank he was told to delete his comments by him and the team on the very day) or from misjudged loyalty or pressure.
But hey, at least if the worst was to happen after such negligent decisions, there wouldn’t be a rushed minutes silence before the race! barely an hour and a half after they announced a death when they didn’t need to and other riders were on the grid about to do their formation lap and they clearly just wanted it swept under the carpet and not following them under a black cloud to the next race.
Every cloud and all that :)