Over 10,000 cyclists took to the streets of Madrid today to call for improved road safety measures in a protestprompted by an accident which killed Spanish rider Ricardo Otxoa and left his twin brother Javier in a coma.
The brothers were involved in a collision with a car last week while training in the Malaga area.
The accident sparked calls for action to improve safety measures in a country which is notorious for its high number of road traffic fatalities.
According to statistics issued by the Spanish Cycling Federation over 100 riders were killed and 2,500 injured in accidents on Spanish roads lastyear.
Former Tour de France winner Pedro Delgado was joined at the head of the protest by Roberto Heras, last year's winner of the Tour of Spain, andthe twins' team mates from the Spanish-based Kelme outfit.
Under the banner "For safer cycling", the cyclists made their way across the city from Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium to the officialresidence of Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
A small delegation led by Delgado and Jose Rodriguez, president of the Association of Professional Cyclists, presented a letter calling for urgentaction from the government to improve safety measures for cyclists.
The latest medical report from the Malaga hospital, where Javier Otxoa remains in intensive care, said there had been no improvement in hiscondition. He suffered multiple injuries in the accident.