Pinarello Q36.5's Tom Pidcock crashed along with his teammate Chris Harper on a corner of a descent during stage 10 of the Tour de France. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) also crashed in a similar spot.
The British rider appeared to slide out on a corner of the descent off the Puy Mary in the final 30km of the stage. His teammate Chris Harper crashed shortly after in the same spot, and was seen cradling a bloodied hand.
Usually a fast and skilled descender, it was a surprise to see Pidcock come undone on the downhill, but the road appeared to be covered in some kind of white paint or dust in various spots, which could have made the tarmac more slippery.
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In response to the heat at this Tour, white chalk has been placed on the road in some places to try to counteract stickiness caused by tarmac melting in the sun, but Pidcock said the treatment came with its own problems.
"I was not really expecting it. I don't know what they do with the roads here, when they clean it, they put all this white shit all over it and it makes it really slippery," he told Eurosport after the stage.
He slid on the tarmac into a car parked on the side of the road that stopped him from going off the course, as he had crashed at high speed on the 10km-long descent.
Pidcock was up and racing quickly and returned to the favourites group before the final 20km., and eventually finish ninth, 1:59 down on winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
"I just fell in the middle of the corner, had to chase. I think in the end it didn't affect too much," he explained before assessing his injuries.
"I'm fine now, but we'll see later when the adrenaline wears off. But no, I think I'm alright. It's going to be a bit annoying. I don't think I've ever crashed in a Grand Tour before, so it's going to be a new experience."
Harper was slower to get going again, suffering from pain in his wrist, according to Eurosport's on-moto reporter Romain Bardet, and lacerations to his hand. He didn't appear to be wearing gloves. He finished the stage, in 83rd, more than half an hour down.
Jorgenson also came off on the descent, though the TV camera did not catch this, but he was seen dropped and trying to chase back on, but he was soon a good two minutes down. He had a bloodied elbow but gave a thumbs up to the camera, though he did not make it back to the yellow jersey group with team leader Jonas Vingegaard.
He finished 33rd at 12:46 whilst Vingegaard lost another 54 seconds to Pogačar.
Neither Visma-Lease a Bike or Pinarello-Q36.5 have updated on the conditions of Jorgenson or Harper yet.
