Michael Matthews' start to the 2016 Tour de France could have been disastrous when the Orica-BikeExchange rider found himself caught up in the final kilometre crash in the run in to Utah Beach where Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) took the win and with it, his first career yellow jersey.
While the finish of stage 2 is better suited to Matthews capabilities, the 25-year-old was riding at the front of the peloton in anticipation of the sprint finish when Michael Morkov (Katusha) got tangled up and hit the tarmac with several riders falling as a consequence. With memories still fresh from his 2015 high speed Tour crash in which he broke four ribs, Matthews explained he was glad to escape with only minor damage.
"I am actually very lucky. I crashed at 70km/h, went over someone's bike and managed to surf it for 100 metres or so until I stopped. I only got a little round mark on the back of my leg so I am lucky," Matthews said of the near miss.
ADVERTISEMENT
In Orica-BikeExchange's pre-race press conference, Matthews announced his intention to challenge for stage 2 but added the caveat the team would need to decide who they are riding for first.
"We haven't decided yet on leadership, but we all need to get through stage 1 first with the bunch time and set ourselves up. Then go on to try and win that stage 2. But we have got to see how the first stage goes and then I guess we'll talk in the morning of stage 2 and decide who's going to go for it," he said.
Sports director Matt White added he was pleased his riders made it through the chaotic stage unscathed with his team targeting stage wins in the first week with Matthews and Simon Gerrans.
Video Highlights
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/29eDRwB
No comments:
Post a Comment