2023-07-15 14:37:53
09:33 AM
The start of the first alpine stage of the Tour de France was marked this Saturday by a significant collective fall following only five kilometers of the race, which led to the abandonment of the Colombian Esteban Chaves, who was ranked 74th overall, a few kilometers later.
Before Chaves, the South African Louis Meintjes and the Spanish Antonio Pedrero had abandoned, following the fall, which caused the race to be neutralized for 25 minutes.
The 33-year-old from Cundinamarqués was able to continue for another 15 kilometers, but in the end he stopped and got into his team’s car following noticing a lot of pain in one of his shoulders.
Also the French cyclist Romain Bardet (DSM) abandoned following another subsequent fall, in the descent of the Col de Saxel, the first difficulty of the fourteenth stage.
The French climber, who was twelfth overall, fell into a curve at kilometer 25 of this stage.
Earlier, in a curve shortly following the start, several dozen cyclists crashed on a wet road, including South African Louis Meintjes (Intermarché), 13th overall, being evacuated by ambulance with a suspected clavicle fracture.
The Spaniard Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) also dropped out at that moment, while Chaves did so several kilometers later.
His compatriot Daniel Felipe Martínez also fell, but managed to recover and, later, continue in the race.
The Tour management neutralized the race for almost half an hour, the time to evacuate the injured cyclists.
This fourteenth stage marks the entry of the Alps into the race and the start of a series of climbs in which the winner of the race can be decided, with two clear favourites, the Danish Jonas Vingegaard and the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar.
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