Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla) each crashed on the similar spot in the course of the descent from the Passo del Vetriolo on stage 4 of the Tour of the Alps, with O’Connor blaming an unmarked kerb for the wrecks.
O’Connor informed his soigneurs and race chief Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek) that he could not see the change between the street and kerb as “they had been the identical color” on a high-speed bend.
The Australian duo had been in pursuit of the eventual stage-winner Simon Carr (EF Education EasyPost) and attacking the descent of the Passo del Vetriolo climb with 24.5km to go within the queen stage when the crashes occurred.
Harper went down first very onerous after bumps within the street compelled him to run large into the kerb and crash on his proper shoulder earlier than sliding head-first right into a lamppost.
Harper was compelled to desert resulting from his accidents however fortunately was seen sitting up and speaking to each race medical doctors and crew workers who had been on website in a short time after he went down. No Further replace has been offered by the crew as of but.
O’Connor managed to remount his bike and get again into the remaining group of favourites albeit with a small lower to his face and proper hand. He was additionally seen testing out the usage of his wrist on the remaining 25km of the race after hitting the deck.
Miraculously, regardless of being dropped at instances within the ultimate run to the road, he got here again to the group of favourites and nonetheless had sufficient to assault within the ultimate kilometre. O’Connor took third on the day behind Carr and Michael Storer (Tudor) and moved as much as second on GC now 38 seconds behind Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek).
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But after passing the road he struggled to unclip as soon as he reached his helpers earlier than taking a seat on the curb and debriefing what had occurred.
He examined his hand with out his gloves however appeared to flee comparatively unscathed contemplating the pace of the crash, revealing that he tried to bunnyhop the kerb as soon as he realised he was going to hit it.
“The street appears the identical, you could not see the kerb. It is identical color and I simply took it. It wasn’t till I received to the barrier that I used to be like ‘fuck’ and jumped,” O’Connor mentioned.
“I’m positive after the crash. I simply made an error on this quick descent, I actually did not see the top of the nook,” O’Connor mentioned in a while social media.
“It’s a bit annoying however ultimately I used to be nonetheless third immediately and took some extra seconds within the basic classification. I will be happy with the way it went, the legs had been actually good all day, simply ultimately after the crash my physique was a bit shaken, however I’m OK. Tomorrow it is all in, I suppose.”
López reaffirmed what the Australian had mentioned after they spoke after the end line, with the Spanish rider saying that he simply received unfortunate after he had been using rather well.
“I truly went to search for Ben after the end as a result of I needed to congratulate him for what he had executed within the descent. He was using rather well, taking place very quick however he was unfortunate,” López mentioned in his post-race press convention.
“He crashed as a result of there was a kind of mismatch within the street which was precisely the identical color because the street so it was only a matter of unhealthy luck as a result of he was truly going very effectively within the downhill.”