Chris Froome said he couldn’t move one of his legs after his crash on stage 1 at the Tour de France and feared the worst but was determined not to abandon.
He also revealed he has been left with lingering injuries from the crash and was now focused on trying to survive until the stage 5 TT in the hope he could recover a little.
He added he was “pretty sore this morning” but had focused on getting through today’s stage 2, which he did. However, he was tailed off before the first ascent of Mûr-de-Bretagne and eventually finished in 139th, in a group 11:21 down.
Froome estimated the peloton was doing between 60-70km
per hour when he came down in the crash with 7km to go on Saturday’s opening
stage.
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As a result, and because he is still coming back from his
crash injuries sustained in 2019, he was taken to hospital for checks. He was
not discharged until the early hours of the morning, which had not aided his
recovery.
"I hit my left side pretty hard, my left leg and also my chest. But I went for scans last night, spent the whole evening in the hospital and got back at 1am," he said, adding he had been left with "a lot of swelling and bruising".
"That was definitely one crazy stage. One moment everything was fine heading towards the finish in the last 10km, at 60-70kmh. Then a touch of wheels in the peloton and it was carnage with 50 or 60 riders on the floor.
"Unfortunately there was nowhere for me to go, I
braked as hard as I could but I just went into the back of the guys who crashed
in front of me.
"I couldn't move the left peg initially but I think it was just the big impact. I was in a lot of pain and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pedal. I have worked so hard to get back to this race. I don't want to just give that up.”
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