Roglic held out the fourth stage of the Dauphiné with pain
Photo: Vincent Kalut / imago images / Panoramic InternationalThe Slovenian professional cyclist Primoz Roglic left the overall leader before the final stage of the 72nd Critérium du Dauphiné. On Saturday, Roglic had fallen on the fourth stage of the tour through the French Alps, but had still fought his way to the finish. Operations in upcoming races depended on the healing process of the injuries, announced his racing team Jumbo-Visma.
Roglic is one of the favorites in the Tour de France, which starts on August 29th, and he led the Dauphiné tour, which is considered a dress rehearsal, with a 14-second lead over the Frenchman Thibaut Pinot. The German tour hope Emanuel Buchmann and Roglic's team-mate and co-captain Steven Kruiswijk (Netherlands) had to give up prematurely on Saturday after falling. Buchmann suffered abrasions and a hematoma, Kruiswijk dislocated his shoulder. German cycling talent Lennard Kämna secured the day's victory with his greatest career success to date in a single race.
"Disrespectful": Massive criticism from the field of drivers
After the race, the German cycling veterans Tony Martin and André Greipel criticized the organizers harshly. "Gravel and deep holes all the way down. The people who have chosen this route do not care a second about the safety of us drivers," wrote Martin, who drives for Jumbo-Visma like Roglic and Kruiswijk, on Instagram.
"The descent was life-threatening, a goat path with gravel. A shame that something like this is possible in modern cycling," complained ex-Giro winner Tom Dumoulin about the safety deficiencies at the Dauphine organized by the tour operator ASO.
Martin also criticized the UCI: "How many bad accidents have to happen for something to change?" Sprinter Greipel described the dangerous route on Twitter as "disrespectful to the drivers. Risking your health to have the result that two candidates for the overall classification are out at the end of the descent."
Most recently, the topic of safety in cycling hit the headlines, both through the life-threatening fall of Fabio Jakobsen during the Tour of Poland and the accidents during the Tour of Lombardy, when the Belgian top talent Remco Evenepoel and the German champion Maximilian Schachmann struggled injured.
Schachmann, planned as an important helper for Buchmann, can still hope to participate in the Tour de France. "The tour has not yet been ticked off for Max. There is still hope that he can drive," said Jens Zemke, sporting director of Schachmann's team Bora-hansgrohe, after consulting the team doctors. Accordingly, Schachmann, who had broken his collarbone, does not have to be operated on.
Icon: The mirrorcev / dpa / sid