Primoz Roglic abandons Criterium du Dauphiné
Race leader Primoz Roglic won’t take the start in the fifth and final stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné. The Slovenian Jumbo-Visma captain wore the yellow since stage two but suffers too much from a crash on Saturday. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) is now the new race leader.
Team Jumbo-Visma team communicated on Twitter: “As a result of his crash yesterday, Primoz Roglic won’t start in the ultimate stage today. The evolution of his injuries will determine the plans for the upcoming races.”
Roglic crashed in the valley between two of the six climbs of the fourth stage, the Côte d’Héry-sur-Ugine and the Montée de Bisanne. The race leader got back up again and was piloted back to the peloton by Wout van Aert. Television images showed that he had hit the deck on his left side. Sports director Grischa Niermann already expressed doubts on Saturday as to whether Roglic could start. On Sunday his fears became reality.
The fourth stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné was a bad one for the contenders for the overall classification and subsequently the Tour de France which starts in less than two weeks. Egan Bernal abandoned due to back pain. The number three of last year’s Tour de France, Steven Kruijswijk, crashed on the descent of the Col de Plain Bois and dislocated his shoulder. Emmanuel Buchmann, number 3 in the overall of the Criterium du Dauphiné, and fourth last year in the Tour de France also crashed but his Bora-hansgrohe team reported the German had no fractures.
Tom Dumoulin expressed criticism on the state of the road of the descent of the Col de Plain Bois, where Kruijswijk and Buchmann crashed. “That descent was very dangerous with a lot of gravel and potholes. Such a descent does not belong in cycling. Let’s hope that Stevie will be fine and that he can start the Tour, but this is not ideal.”
Thibaut Pinot is now the new race leader in the Criterium du Dauphiné. He has a lead of ten seconds on fellow Frenchman Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and twelve seconds on Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren) and Dani Martínez (EF-Education First). Miguel Ángel López (Astana), Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) and Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) are also within a 21 seconds margin of Pinot. The final stage with another uphill finish including ten bonus seconds on the top, will be an exciting battle to decide who will be the winner of this year’s Criterium du Dauphiné.
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