Tadej Pogačar crashed in the closing moments of stage 11 of the Tour de France on Wednesday, but is “quite ok” and did not lose time in the general classification.
The world champion fell at speed with around 4km to go to the finish in Toulouse, after touching wheels with a rider in front of him.
As the incident happened outside of the 3km-to-go safety zone, Pogačar risked losing time on the stage. The GC group ahead, however, appeared to ease up, and the Slovenian was able to rejoin, finishing together with his yellow jersey rivals.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider, who remains second in the GC, was pictured beyond the finish line with rips in his jersey and shorts.
“I’m quite ok. I’m a bit beaten up, but we’ve been through worse days,” he said afterwards.
“Unfortunately one rider decided to follow from left to right side of the road, and he didn’t see me, and he just completely cut me off, my front wheel. Luckily I just have a little bit of skin off. I was scared when I saw the sidewalk that I was going with my head directly to the sidewalk, but luckily my skin is tough and stopped me.”
The defending champion went on to commend his rivals on their sportsmanship after they waited for him to return to the group.
“Really big respect to everybody in front,” Pogačar said. “Obviously the race was more or less over back there, but still, they could take time – maybe not take too much time – but I would need to go really deep to come back like this.”
UAE Team Emirates-XRG manager Mauro Gianetti, likewise, said it was “something special” that the peloton waited.
“I think everybody could see it was not Tadej’s fault. It was just a crash and he was there. Cycling has shown again that everybody likes to play fair,” he said.
UAE sports director Matxin Fernández said Pogačar will now see the team doctor to confirm he is ok. “At the moment, the movement is good,” Matxin said.
Stage 11 was won by Uno-X’s Jonas Abrahamsen from the breakaway. The Tour de France continues on Thursday with its first hors-catégorie summit finish at Hautacam in the Pyrenees.
“Tomorrow is a big day coming. We’ll see how I recover,” Pogačar said. “Normally the day after a crash you’re never at the best, but I will give my best tomorrow and we’ll see. I think we’re ready as a team for Hautacam.”
