Video: Paris-Nice magic spanner(s) and tow Bardet disqualified for
Romain Bardet crashed and got some help regaining the group, including a stint of madison riding with a partner on the back seat of his team car; eat your heart out Mark Downey and Felix English!
Romain Bardet was disqualified from Paris-Nice on the opening stage yesterday after taking repeated assistance from his team car to regain contact with the chasing group when he crashed.
The Agr2-La Mondiale rider got the benefit of a couple of 'magic spanners' from one of the team's staff in the team car.
And then just to be sure to be sure he had been caught, he did a spot of madison riding; taking a handsling into the action from somebody in the back of his team car.
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To his credit, he'd ridden a good race up to that point and rode hard to try and get back on despite the infringements.
"We made a mistake,” Bardet said of panicking after the crash.
"I am deeply sorry for my actions because nothing justifies taking advantage of the extensive assistance I received from the team car for mechanical repairs."
His team manager, Vincent Lavenu, said the team acted in a panic and regretted what they had done.
He added it was the first time such an outcome had happened to him in 26 years as a manager and that the team accepted the disqualification.
Directeur sportif Julien Jurdie has also been told to leave the race and the team will only have one team car for the remainder of the event as part of the punishment.
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Chasing back after crash
Bardet was in the chase group that contained Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) and Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) when he crashed with 22km remaining.
His shorts were cut and he was clearly injured. But he got back up and ploughed on.
With a strong crosswind blowing he was facing a huge battle to get back into the group, which was about one minute down on the winning escape of 20 riders at the time.
The mechanic leaned out of the back of the vehicle and appeared to be fixing Bardet's gears as he held onto the car.
He did that move twice and also did his madison change over. He regained the group with about 10km remaining but was later ejected from the race.
The escape included Dan Martin and many of his QuickStep team. Arnaud Demare (FDJ) would win the stage as the breakaway shattered in the final.
The magic spanners
The tow
The highlights of stage 1
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