"When we stood him up we could feel it wasn’t right" - DSM's Matt Winston could not let Romain Bardet continue Tour de France after concussion

Stage 14 of the Tour de France was unfortunately marked by crashes. Romain Bardet evaded the mass fall in the opening kilometers, but his race ended shortly after as he slipped out on a descent and suffered a concussion as a result.

“Romain was a little dazed. He wanted to continue in the race, but the race doctor and myself assessed the situation and it wouldn’t have been smart to continue at that point," team DS Matt Winston said in a press release. "Romain is a guy who loves the Tour de France, he loves racing in France and for sure he wants to continue for as long as possible but you also have to look after the athlete and make sure that we take the smart steps in these moments. It’s easy to get back on the bike and see how it goes for 10km but he does have a concussion, the medical staff have confirmed that, and to continue wouldn’t have been the best thing overall and for the long-term.”

Alongside him James Shaw was also involved, and with similar injuries he was also pulled out of the race. The Frenchman had been racing for the overall classification and started the day in 12th place. His dream of fighting for a top results was fading as the competition was at a very high level, chasing a stage win would likely be his number one priority then, but he had to stop his race prematurely.

TV broadcast showed the Frenchman get up and seemingly lose balance, a clear indicator that he had likely suffered a concussion. Roadside checks from the medical team on site confirmed that. “We always do our own in-house concussion checks - it’s really important to our team - and we really want to put those guys first and look after them."

"You can tell quite quickly when you know someone really well and you speak to them directly, you can tell if they are not OK. In this moment he wanted to continue but he was not looking in good shape. When we stood him up we could feel it wasn’t right. It wasn’t right. He is really upset. He for sure is going to be devastated.”

Concussions are a topic in which rider safety has improved over the last few years, despite the Frenchman wanting to continue he wasn't allowed as he showed signs of injury. “The thing with concussion is that we have to make sure we protect the athlete now. We can’t say he’ll be racing in two weeks, you just cannot take that call. It can take time. Hopefully we see him back racing soon but you cannot put a time limit on it. "