An angry Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) hit out the Tour de France organisers after he and Richie Porte (BMC Racing) were involved in a dramatic and serious crash on stage 9 of the race.
The pair were in a select group of GC riders that crested the top of the final climb of the Mont du Chat before their races were irreversibly altered. The highly technical descent – as used in the Critérium du Dauphiné – was wet from rain, and when Porte locked up his back wheel in one of the corners he was forced onto the grass.
The move took the Australian down and back across the road, where he and his bike made contact with Martin. Both riders slammed into the right-hand side of the banking in one of the worst falls this Tour has seen. Martin was able to remount and although he crashed once more he finished the stage in ninth place, 1:15 down on stage winner Rigoberto Urán (Cannondale-Drapac). Porte was not so lucky and left the race in a neck brace, his ambition of winning the Tour over for another year.
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“It’s so slippery and I guess the organisers got what they wanted. I don’t think anyone wanted to take risks there, but it was so slippery under the trees. 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,” Martin said after crossing the line in Chambery.
“We take the risks, but for sure today the route didn’t help with the rain,” he added.
“There was a lot of gravel on the road and a lot of fast technical downhills. If you’re not safe in the first five riders…”
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