Taylor Phinney face-planted a tree and got to the finish with a bloodied - and broke - nose bandaged up.
Video Sagan and Phinney struggle on at Tour de France
The Tour de France produces brilliant victories but also battles of adversity. And today on the final mountain stage it was Taylor Phinney and Peter Sagan doing the struggling.
Phinney came up the finishing straight in Laruns with plaster-bandage on his nose after a close encounter with a tree.
He finished last man on the day; the EF-Education First Drapac man on his own 40:33 down.
Sagan’s struggle was harder; the impact on a crash two days ago apparently bringing him close to the exit door today.
But the riders now over all the mountains and with just two stages remaining, Paris is calling.
Sagan, who finished third last on the stage and in a group 38:23 down, has a green jersey to collect on the podium. And Phinney is on the cusp of just his third Grand Tour finish.
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“The whole stage was very difficult for me. It’s the worse day I’ve had on a bike for 10 years,” Sagan said.
“I guess you could see on TV how much I was suffering. Had this been a classic, I would have pulled out.
“Had I not had the green jersey, I may have acted differently. But I was wearing it.
“And I was going to make it to the finish line, within or outside the time limit. Finishing this stage has been more than a victory for me.
“It has been really tough and I only made it thanks to my teammates Daniel (Oss), Boddy (Maciej Bodnar) and Lukas (Pöstlberger). They stayed by my side throughout the whole stage to support me.”
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Phinney confirmed at the finish he had broken his nose.
“I just hit a bump and kind of got off balance at the wrong juncture,” he explained of his painful-looking spill.
“And I ended up in the trees. Took a tree to the face, broke my nose.”
“I tried to get the race doctor to straighten it out as fast as possible so I could keep riding. So I just pushed on.”
Ai....Sagan...aan het lijden op de Aspin. Gaat de groene trui het redden vandaag? #TDF2018
Kijk deze laatste bergetappe LIVE op Eurosport 1 en https://t.co/zGtiPSmBmn pic.twitter.com/QpTiq3EJjH
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) July 27, 2018
Phinney came across the line with blood down his face. Went off the road, hit a tree, broke his nose. All cut up. pic.twitter.com/Wjn6mkNqBS
— Caley Fretz (@CaleyFretz) July 27, 2018
He suffered but he made it to the finish line: ? @petosagan !
Il a beaucoup souffert mais il l’a fait : ? @petosagan#TDF2018 pic.twitter.com/YTp3GzzYtI— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 27, 2018
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