Matej Mohorič has defended Bahrain Victorious teammate Fred Wright after Primož Roglič accused him of causing his Vuelta a España crash.
Mohorič believes that Primož Roglič, rather than Wright, deviated from his line and so sparked the high-speed crash.
Roglič crashed out of the Vuelta on stage 16 while second overall and seemingly ready to challenge Remco Evenepoel for overall victory. Roglič crashed hard, suffering injuries to his right elbow, hip, knee and ribs.
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"The crash was not caused by a bad road or a lack of safety but by a rider's behaviour,” Roglič claimed on Friday, directly accusing Wright, despite video and photographic evidence suggesting it was a race incident.
“Wright came from behind and rode the handlebars out of my hands before I knew it."
Bahrain Victorious defended Wright and the British rider was convinced he did nothing wrong.
Mohorič, who knows fellow Slovenian Roglič well, stood firmly by Wright.
“I saw three or four different videos. There is nothing to say, it is very, very clear that Primož deviated from his line. He didn't check over his shoulder to see if anyone was there, and he was clearly on the white line," Mohorič told Cyclingnews and Velonews before riding the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal in Canada on Sunday.
“It's not appropriate and it's not fair to make a statement like that toward Fred, who I know personally really well.”
Mohorič believes there is still respect between riders in the peloton but suggested that Roglič, rather than Wright, is often too eager to fight for position in the peloton and so risk causing crashes.
“We have respect in the peloton but some riders are more eager to push for position than others. I think if you ask the peloton, everyone will tell you that Primož is more eager to push for position than Fred,” Mohorič said.
“We know that Primož crashes a lot and this is not the first time this happened.”
Mohorič suffered with Epstein-Barr Virus and COVID-19 after the Tour de France and so he will not ride the World Championships in Australia alongside fellow Slovenian Tadel Pogačar.
He will continue to race in Europe, slowly rebuilding his form before taking a break during the winter.
