Tobias Halland Johannessen has said that he's "terrified" of the threats he has received after he caused Tadej Pogačar to crash in the final kilometres of stage 11 of the Tour de France.
The Norwegian climber, currently lying 10th overall at the Tour, caused a moment of panic for the defending champion 4km from the end of a frantic stage in Toulouse after inadvertently cutting across Pogačar's front wheel.
The world champion hit the ground hard before quickly mounting a chase, only for riders in the select GC group he was with to sportingly call a truce and let him back in.
25-year-old Johannessen, racing his second Tour, took to social media on Wednesday night following the stage, won by his Uno-X Mobility teammate Jonas Abrahamsen, to apologise for the incident and reveal the extent of the abuse he received afterwards.
"I am terribly sorry for what happened to Tadej Pogačar. I was trying to follow a move, and I can see that I was too close," Johannessen wrote.
"I thought everyone would move to the right, but I made a mistake and would like to say sorry again. I hope he is as good as he can be after a crash like that.
"I would, of course, like to do it again and do it differently, but I can't. That feels shit, but I would not wish anyone the amount of threats I get in my inbox. I am terribly sorry, but also terrified of the hate from all the people. This feels very scary."
Johannessen, Pogačar, and the rest of the GC contenders eventually finished together in a group of 38 riders, 3:28 down on Abrahamsen at the end of the 156.8km stage.
Cyclingnews spotted Johannessen apologising to UAE Team Emirates-XRG directeur sportif Joxean 'Matxín' Fernández after the stage, with the Spaniard telling Cyclingnews, "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."
Pogačar, second overall and 29 seconds down on race leader Ben Healy heading into stage 12's first high-mountain test at Hautacam, later sent a message to Johannessen via teammate Tim Wellens' Twitter account.
"All good, don't stress. I hope people don't give you shit. People, stop giving him shit! It's all good, a racing incident and we fight on," he said, before UAE teammate Jhonatan Narváez jokingly interjected, "But keep the line, eh?"
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