Dan Martin hits out at Tour de France organisers
Dan Martin has hit out at the Tour de France organisers after his bad crash on stage 9, questioning the suitability of the route.
The Irishman came down when Richie Porte (BMC Racing) went off road and fell in front of him.
They were descending the Pont du Chat final climb of the day in the select group with only Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) leading solo just ahead.
Martin is the type who can bounce back well even after such a setback. And the fact he is in such good form and only lost 1:15 bodes well.
Not only did he crash with Porte, who was forced out of the race, but when he got back up to chase he fell again.
And he believed the choice of route was a poor one, implying the organisers put spectacle over safety.
Advertisement
“It’s so slippery and I guess the organisers got what they wanted,” he said speaking to reporters while cooling down after the stage.
Dan Martin's helmet was completely smashed after he came down so hard at speed (Photo: @quickstepteam)
Dan Martin continued: “I don’t think anyone wanted to take risks there, but it was so slippery under the trees.
“Richie locked up his back wheel, went straight into the grass, just wiped out, and his bike just collected me. I had nowhere to go.
Related News
“We take the risks, but for sure today the route didn’t help with the rain.
“There was a lot of gravel on the road and a lot of fast technical down hills. If you’re not safe in the first five riders,” he added, his voice trailing off.
Martin said Porte did not look good when he saw him lying in the road.
He also revealed he had almost crashed in the spill that claimed Geraint Thomas (Team Sky).
"Geraint went down and his bike hit my handlebars. I got through but my luck run out,” he said.
Eventful and tumultuous day at #TDF2017: https://t.co/5bmGHWr86i #WayToRide Photo: @TDWsport pic.twitter.com/4mH1onzPwY
— Quick-Step Cycling (@quickstepteam) July 9, 2017
Martin explained his second, less significant, fall coming down the Mont du Chat occurred because of issues with the bike he received after his first spill.
“I got a spare wheel off Mavic but I didn’t have any brakes,” he said.
“I couldn’t stop and went straight on. The second one wasn’t really much.
"I just got a spare bike off the team car and got going again. I think it’s just superficial wounds.
“I couldn’t really follow the accelerations on the climb but after I crashed the second time, I was flying on the downhill and caught the group in front.
“We caught Nairo Quintana at the bottom and rode as hard as we could. It was a team time trial. It was a case of getting to the finish."
Topics
