“It is very unfortunate”, Oliver Naesen sighs about the exit of his leader Romain Bardet.
The Frenchman started the stage yesterday as 4th in the standings, but crashed and was unable to follow the other top riders on the final climb. In the evening the verdict followed: Bardet leaves the Tour with a concussion.
“I heard and saw Romain yesterday. These are not beautiful moments when you have to leave the Tour like that. He was nauseous and exhausted.”
“During the ride you don’t think about it and you stay positive. But there is only one correct answer when you have such a hard time: stop.”
“It went so fast”, says Naesen about the crash in which Bauke Mollema also had to give up. “Romain asked us what had happened. Someone dropped his glasses, looked back and fell very stupid.”
How big is the disappointment at AG2R? “The rankings were not an obsession this year, but you are handing over a nice score.”
But: one man’s dead is another’s bread? “You can’t say that. You can’t be happy if someone from your group of friends has a heavy weight loss and brain trauma. But of course I now have opportunities.”
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