Crash rider critical of dangerous road
THE rider caught up in Richie Porte’s horrifying highspeed crash has criticised Tour de France organisers for the technical Mont du Chat descent.
Australian title hope Porte has a fractured pelvis, a broken collarbone, extensive abrasions and shattered dreams following the sickening crash at about 70km/h which ended his tour.
Dan Martin went down in the same crash – the last descent of a brutal day in the Alps – and the Irish rider had a dig about the inclusion of the treacherous section after recovering to finish in ninth.
“It’s so slippery and I guess the organisers got what they wanted ... it was so slippery under the trees,” Martin said.
“Richie locked up his back wheel, went straight into the grass, just wiped out, and his bike just collected me. I had nowhere to go.
“We take the risks but for sure today the route didn’t help with the rain.”
One of the worst crashes in the race’s history shattered Porte’s Tour de France dreams.
Porte veered on to the roadside dirt where he came off his bike, skidded back across the tarmac and into a rock wall where he was hit by Martin.
He lay bloodied and motionless for several minutes before being fitted with a neck brace and loaded into an ambulance.
Cycling commentator Matt Keenan said: “It was horrible. He was doing 72.5km/h when he hit the deck and my instant reaction was I just hope he’s alive.
“That’s how frightening it was to watch. He went straight into a cliff face and that’s when he stopped and was motionless on the ground.”
Yellow jersey holder Chris Froome tweeted soon after the stage ended: “Relieved to finish safely but thoughts are with everyone that crashed today, especially @Geraint-Thomas86 & @richie–porte.”
Scans at the Centre Hopitalier Metropole Savoie in Chambery revealed a fractured pelvis and fractured collarbone.
“His condition was stable from the beginning, he was responsive and he remembered everything that happened,” BMC medical officer Max Testa said.