'It was worrying, but he's OK' – Tadej Pogačar avoids serious injury in Tour de France crash as team praise rivals' sportsmanship

Overall Tour de France favourite Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has escaped any serious injury after crashing heavily in the final 5km of stage 11 of the Tour de France, and did not lose time after his GC rivals slowed to wait for him.

The three-time Slovenian winner crashed out of a reduced GC group with 4.1km to go on the stage to Toulouse, and despite finishing with a bloodied arm, the rider and his UAE team confirmed that he had avoided any serious harm in the crash.

"I'm quite ok. I'm a bit beaten up," were Pogačar's words, some time after climbing into the bus, whilst his team manager Mauro Gianetti said immediately after the finish that the crash was "It was worrying, but he's OK".

"A crash causes a lot of worry, but when you crash, it could be an easy crash or a big crash. Fortunately, that one, even though it was at quite high speed, was not so damaging. So if Tadej feels OK, that's good news," Gianetti said.

"[He is] angry with the way the crash [happened], with the fact he will need to live with this and the day before Hautacam, but he's OK. Physically it's not a problem."

In a moment where riders were attacking after the climb, Pogačar appeared to touch wheels with Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) as the group swung to the right on a wide road, sending him flying left and colliding with bollards and the pavement.

"Unfortunately, one rider decided to follow from the left to the right side of the road, and I don't know, he didn't see me, and he just completely cut me off, my front wheel," Pogačar recalled.

"Luckily, I just have a little bit of skin off. I was scared when I saw the sidewalk that I was going with my head directly to the sidewalk, but luckily my skin is tough and stopped me before the sidewalk."

Johannessen, teammate of stage winner Jonas Abrahamsen, interrupted Uno-X's celebrations to apologise to the race leader for his role in the crash, though he did say it was unavoidable.

"I think the whole peloton moved to the right, and I just followed the movement of Matteo Jorgenson and some other guys. I think Pogačar was on the radio, so we just bumped into each other," Johannessen explained.

"I think it's something that happens, but I really didn't want him to crash and I don't think any other guy in the peloton wants Pogačar to go down. We just stopped and waited in the group straight away, and I hope he's fine, but I think it's something that happens. But for sure, I feel sorry for him because you never want to go on the ground."

Cyclingnews saw Johannessen apologising to UAE Team Emirates-XRG sports director Joxean Fernández Matxín immediately after the finish, with the Spaniard shaking hands with the Norwegian, who had also directly apologised to Pogačar.

"I spoke with him straight after the finish, and I told him I was sorry but there was nothing we could do, it was just a racing incident. But of course I would like that it didn't happen," Johannessen said. "He was saying 'no worries' to me after the finish, but I feel sorry for him.

"Just now arriving to the car and the bus was Tobias to say sorry and that it was involuntary, and I spoke directly to Tadej, and for him it's not a problem," Matxin said.

'Thanks to the peloton'

Despite crashing outside of the 3km safety zone – stage 11 was not one of the stages chosen for an extended 5km safe zone – Pogačar avoided losing time as the group he was in appeared to slow up to allow him to return after his crash.

This largely looked to be instigated by EF Education-EasyPost and yellow jersey Ben Healy, though Visma-Lease a Bike, who had been attacking, also stopped their aggression.

As a result, the world champion finished with the group he was in, avoiding any time loss.

"Thanks to the peloton in front, they actually waited. Obviously, the race was more or less over back there, but still, they could take time – maybe not take too much time – but I would need to go really deep to come back like this. Really big respect to everybody in front. Thanks for your support, guys," Pogačar said.

The peloton would have been within their right to push on – and in fact riders had been controversially attacking earlier in the stage whilst Pogačar stopped for a nature break – but UAE praised their rivals' sportsmanship for not taking advantage of the incident.

"Of course, it would be part of the race, but I think everyone saw it was not the fault of Tadej, it was just a crash, he was there," Gianetti said. "I think cycling showed again that everybody likes to play fair and to make the game with the legs in the mountain, the time trials and the sprint, and to respect each other."

Sports director Andrej Hauptman also had particular praise for Healy, riding for the first time in the yellow jersey.

"We need to say thanks to our rivals, because it was really fair play. After the crash, they all waited for Tadej, and this is nice to see," he said.

"Thank you, Ben. It's another day that you can see that he's a really great champion. It's nice to see him in yellow."

Crashing on the eve of a stage as crucial as stage 12, featuring the first hors categorie climb of the Tour de France with a finish atop the Hautacam, is, of course, not ideal for Pogačar, but said UAE is "ready" for the challenge.

"Tomorrow is a big day coming. We'll see how I recover," he said. "Normally, the day after a crash, you're never at your best, but I will give my best tomorrow, and we'll see. I think we're ready as a team for Hautacam."

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