Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) was among the many riders held up behind a crash throughout the bunch dash on stage 13 of the Tour de France, and unable to race for the stage win.
The crash occurred when Lotto Dstny’s and Arkéa-B&B Hotels’s respective lead-out riders collided in opposition to the boundaries on the left aspect of the highway with roughly 700 metres to go on the run-in to the end line in Pau.
Several riders, together with Amaury Capiot (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan) and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) went down within the crash simply because the peloton wound up for the ultimate dash.
Belgian Champion De Lie narrowly averted crashing however was caught simply behind, pressured to cease and seize onto the boundaries to cease from happening, too.
Video footage of the crash reveals Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) launching his last lead-out for De Lie on the left-hand aspect of the highway, carrying a excessive pace near the boundaries with 750 metres to go.
At the identical second, Capiot, having accomplished his lead-out for Arnaud Démare, regarded again over his shoulder and eased to the left towards the boundaries simply as Van Gils got here up from behind and tried to squeeze by the slender hole.
Capiot was the primary to crash, and with nowhere else to go, Bol additionally went down, whereas De Lie got here near crashing, too, however managed to cease and maintain himself up in opposition to the boundaries.
Capiot, Bol and De Lie all acquired up and crossed the end line. Their respective groups haven’t but launched medical updates.
Van Gils defined what occurred within the final kilometre in a post-race interview with Sporza.
“Arnaud was a bit far within the final kilometre. I wished to take him ahead on the left, and that went fairly properly,” Van Gils mentioned.
“Someone from Arkéa-B&B (Amaury Capiot, ed.) dropped down and regarded behind him. He hit me, or I hit him, and so they fell behind me.
Asked if he maybe went by a niche that was too slender, Van Gils mentioned, “There was undoubtedly a niche of half a meter. I’m not a sprinter, so sure.”
De Lie expressed his disappointment, saying that Capiot regarded to the suitable and collided with Van Gils on the left.
“It’s like all the time: somebody seems to be again after which it is on line casino,” De Lie mentioned. “You need to look forward of you, not behind you. Because you then’ll have a giant crash. I hope everyone seems to be okay, however I might very properly not be within the Tour anymore.”
More to observe…
