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Crashes yet again took middle stage at the Tour de France as the peloton slogged via another series of disasters on Monday’s phase 3. Numerous star riders strike the deck before Belgian sprinter Tim Merlier escaped with the gain.
Geraint Thomas crashed and briefly dislocated his shoulder just 40 kilometers into the stage, on wet streets. Primož Roglič went down inside of 10km to go, and in what appeared to be a replay of the 2021 Paris-Awesome was viewed chasing in tattered black and yellow kit. Narrowly escaping hurt, but getting rid of time when he was caught powering a crash Tadej Pogačar was a person of the number of, blessed unscathed GC contenders.
Here’s what the stars of the race experienced to say about the brutal working day on the bike:
Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Crew Emirates): 6th, at 00:39
Defending champion Tadej Pogačar was held up by a crash before the complete, but averted heading down himself. He concluded 39 seconds down on Merlier.
“That was not a nice day, some rivals missing time but you don’t want to see that,” reported Pogačar.” It was not a great day. We observed way too lots of falls, and it was really chaotic. When I crossed the finish line, I did not know how prolonged I had lost, or if I experienced held the white jersey. I heard that some of my opponents had fallen and squandered time, but that is not what we want to see. These 1st methods had been seriously tense and we hope it will serene down before long.”
Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma): 159th, at 25:28
U.S. rider Sepp Kuss was billed with safeguarding Roglič all working day. Kuss’ Jumbo-Visma crew observed various calamities on Monday as teammate Robert Gesink crashed and abandoned. Then, Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk crashed as very well.
“First there was the tumble and the abandonment of Robert Gesink, it is seriously a shame, but we had to keep focused,” claimed Kuss. “Then there was this drop, in the conclude, it was genuinely a poor day.
“From the again when Roglič fell, I noticed him on the ground. It wasn’t so a great deal panic, we altered bikes and tried out to get back as immediately as doable, but we could not do it a ton so shut to the complete. The remaining was genuinely risky, there were being a large amount of riders on the ground, that’s not what we want to see,” Kuss extra.
Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), 68th, at 8:16
Even Peter Sagan was impacted by the crashes. And in the remaining 300, celebrity sprinter Caleb Ewan touched wheels with a rider in the Alpecin-Fenix dash prepare lined up for phase-winner Tim Merlier. Ewan went down hard, and in the process fractured his clavicle and also took out Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).
“We were anticipating a nervous and tense phase but this one particular became unquestionably busy after the intermediate sprint. I was emotion nicely, the fellas, and especially Niels, did a amazing task in trying to keep me protected and positioning me for the dash. I was in a pretty superior area in the ultimate stretch to the complete line, ready to contest the phase, but, regretably, I crashed with Caleb Ewan. I managed to get up, trip my bike and cross the end line but, of study course, it was not the way I wanted. I hope all riders associated in the day’s crashes are Ok,” Sagan said.
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Fast-Step), 2nd, at 00:08
The world champion narrowly missed hitting the tangled Sagan and Ewan, just a number of dozen meters from the complete line.
“That was a mentally shattering day, I’m happy it’s about,” explained Alaphilippe.
Toms Skujiņš (Trek-Segafredo): 26th, at 2:26
Toms Skujiņš, presented some relieved comments about the phase.
“That was a little bit of a busy day but it could have ended even worse for us. Our fellas stayed upright, and there is pretty much 18 days to go,” Skujiņš explained. “[Mollema]” rode more than Roglic wheel and continue to did not crash. I was by now well prepared to soar off my bike and give him my wheel but luckily the bike was good.”