Bardet rode 90km on Tour with concussion, now out of race | Video

Romain Bardet looked very unsteady on his feet after his crash while he could also been seen holding his head. He continued on today's stage after this crash but has since been diagnosed with concussion, saying he suspected he had it

Romain Bardet is out of the Tour de France having suffered concussion in a heavy fall during today’s mountainous stage 13 of the race.

The French rider, competing for AG2R-La Mondiale, crashed with over 90km to go. He looked unsteady after the crash but after a short pause he gathered himself and got back on the bike.

The fact he continued in the race and has now been
diagnosed with concussion will create debate around the concussion protocols in
cycling.

Bardet has said himself that the medical checks after the
stage confirmed his own suspicions that he had suffered concussion in the
crash.

“This stage on my roads was the exact opposite of what I
had hoped for. The fall was violent, downhill, and I struggled all day,” he
said.

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“The medical tests confirmed what I was sensing and I'm not able to continue on the race. I know that my teammates will give their best to finish the Tour de France with good performances."

Romain Bardet tracks Primoz Roglic during today's stage 13 at the Tour de France and was just 30 seconds down on the race leader this morning

Team manager Vincent Lavenu said praised Bardet for
continuing on the stage, adding he had wanted to shine on his home roads.

“He showed, once again, an admirable courage and fought
like a lion until the end of the stage,” Lavenu said.

"We will fight even harder to honor him with a
polka-dot jersey to defend and stage victories to go after. We wish him to come
back even stronger very soon.”

Last year’s winner of the climbers’ classification,
Bardet was sitting 4th overall this morning at just 30 seconds but slipped to
11th after losing time today.

The part of the stage he rode despite his concussion was
especially brutal, with about half of that section of the race uphill,
including the very steep Le Puy Mary, which featured ramps up to 15 per cent at
the end of 191.5km.

While he lost 8:35 to stage winner Daniel Martinez (EF
Pro Cycling) today, his time loss to the general classification men was much
less.

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates) attacked their rivals on the final climb and put 38 seconds in Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), with Bardet just a further 1:52 back.

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