Injuries sustained by riders involved in the Itzulia Basque Country Stage 4 crash 😞 Primož Roglič was also involved but did not sustain any fractures, BORA - hansgrohe said. 📸 Getty Images
Itzulia Basque Country director reacts to mass crash: "The accident occurred was an easy downhill, right curve, which was signposted"
CyclingFriday, 05 April 2024 at 13:19
Julián Eraso, director of Itzulia Basque Country, spoke to the press this morning after the hard crash that left 11 riders out of the race, including Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic, with what that has meant in terms of media coverage.
Eraso explained that the Tour of the Basque Country 2024 is running on wider and safer roads than in other editions: "What happened yesterday can be called a racing incident because in the end it is part of cycling, whatever happened was an unfortunate incident."
"We were very pleased with the story. We were going perfectly, the road is wide, this year we have much safer roads than other years, but good sometimes safety plays against, because the safer it is the more cyclists ride, everything comes together, but good."
The director of the Itzulia makes it clear that the corner where the unfortunate incident occurred was properly marked and that the fall was due to a "mistake":
"The kilometer point where the accident occurred was an easy downhill, right curve, which was signposted, with the bad luck that except for the 11 riders who fell all the others passed the curve perfectly," he argued. "Those who were on the left side in the right-hand curve, it was probably a mistake, a wrong braking and those who were behind went off the road, just like that".
The catastrophic fall has decimated the GC contenders in the race and marks other races to come in the future as well, due to extensive injuries from several high-level riders. Finally, he justified resuming the race out of respect for the spectators who were at the last mountain pass and at the finish and for the sponsors who invest their money in the race:
"For us the most important thing is the health of the riders, that's why we stopped the race when the accident occurred and we gathered the 3 ambulances that were behind us and we made the transfer of the injured, which was the most important thing. From there it was the next step to give the second start to finish the stage out of respect for the public that was in the last mountain pass and the fans who were in Legutio and saw their idols, although not all of them, reach the finish line. This was appreciated by the sponsors, the public and the finish point".
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