Roman Kreuziger and Enrico Gasparotto of NTT Pro Cycling
voiced their annoyance at Rui Costa after a crash on stage 2 of the Saudi Tour
(2.1).
The former world champion, who won the opening stage of
the race on Tuesday and was leader today, appeared to take his hands off the
bars leading to the crash.
Costa (UAE Team Emirates) pushed NTT Pro Cycling's Reinardt
Janse Van Rensburg with about 10km to go today.
That sent the South African and his team mate Gasparotto
crashing to the tarmac with several others.
After the race Gasparotto and Kreuziger hit out at Costa,
saying he should never have taken his hands off the bars and calling on the UCI
to review the footage.
However, a replay shows Costa’s right hand is off the
bars as he appears to be wiping his face. Van Rensburg is then bumped towards
the race leader.
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Costa appears to instinctively move his arm to the right
to protect or balance him in a gesture that looks like he has pushed Van
Rensburg.
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After the stage was completed, and won by Niccolò
Bonifazio of Total Direct Energie
with a late attack, Costa took to social media to defend himself.
“Feeling sad about the crash during the stage of the mate
from NTT which led to the accidental crash of other riders,” he said.
“I would like to clarify that it was Van Rensberg who
accidentally came to my side and my gesture was to protect myself from crash.
“After the stage, Van Rensburg came personally to our bus
to clarify that this situation happened due to a team mate touch him and his
gesture is really appreciated.”
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