Nicolas Roche said Richie Porte was following him in the team car and saw him crash during the Tour de France stage 1 TT.
Nicolas Roche and Richie Porte Tour de France TT
Richie Porte decided on a “no risk” Tour de France TT after witnessing Nicolas Roche crashing.
Porte was following Roche in the BMC Racing team car when Roche hit the deck.
Roche says in the first instalment of his Tour de France Diary in the Irish Independent that his sliding across the tarmac was the last thing he wanted Porte to see in case it may spook him.
However, he added the Australian team leader simply decided to take no risks at all during his ride later in the day.
And with a large number of riders having crashed, some of them out of the race, Roche said while Porte lost time, at least he came through the 14km TT unscathed.
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Rather than trying to impress Richie with a fast time, I didn't want to scare him or put him off his ride by coming down in the last shower,” writes Roche.
However, he would crash on a right hand bend with tram tracks across it at about the halfway point of the stage.
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“I aquaplaned through the corner on my ribs before spinning on the tarmac and ending up sitting facing the team car behind me,” Roche says in his Irish Independent Diary.
“I was really pissed off with myself because I hadn't been taking any risks and I knew that me crashing in front of Richie wasn't the ideal picture for him to have in his head before he started his ride.
”After seeing me fall, Richie was a bit concerned about following suit and took no risks on his own ride to finish 47 seconds down in 49th place.
“He lost 35 seconds to defending champion Chris Froome but after watching numerous others hit the tarmac and overall contenders Alejandro Valverde and Jon Izaguirre leave the race with a broken kneecap and broken back respectively, I think his approach was the right one.”
? "It was a nasty crash. A pretty big one. So I guess the Tour has started". Go behind the scenes on #TDF2017 stage 2 with @Richie_porte. pic.twitter.com/4mKobV2ly1
— BMC Racing Team (@BMCProTeam) July 2, 2017
Roche also said when the stage 2 crash occurred yesterday with about 30km remaining he was at the back of the peloton.
He had dropped back to put his arm warmers back on as he prepared to shepherd Porte through the last portion of the stage.
However, the crash occurred at the front of the bunch, with Porte one of the fallers. But the time Roche got to that point on the road his team leader was getting going again.
And with the help of Alesandro De Marchi he towed Porte back on, regaining the peloton after about 2km of chasing.
Roche also said while he expected Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) to be in contention in the opening TT, he did not expect him to win.
“I think (his TT win) showed he's on top form after crashing out of the Giro in May so we'll have to add him to our list of rivals now,” Roche said of yellow jersey Thomas.
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