Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
The Tour de France has been labelled the Tour de Carnage after a series of brutal crashes marred the world’s most prestigious cycling race.
A crash in the first stage resulted in the end of the Tour for Bahrain-Merida team leader Ion Izagirre, who has just been discharged from hospital in Dusseldorf, Germany, after eight days of surgery.
Izagirre sustained a fractured lumbar in the accident as he took a left-hand corner midway through the wet 14km stage 1 time trial, as reported in GulfWeekly. The same bend was the scene of a serious fall for renowned riders Alejandro Valverde and Luke Durbridge, who also pulled out of the Tour.
Disappointed Izagirre told GulfWeekly: “I feel OK - as good as I can in this situation. The surgery was perfect and I’m improving day-by-day. I would like to express my gratitude to the Hospital of Düsseldorf and all its staff and doctors.
“They are great professionals and I’m very satisfied with them. I hope that I can recover step-by-step and we will see when I’ll be able to come back to the roads. I’m not stressed about that and I’ll take it day-by-day. Thanks everyone for your support, for all the messages. See you soon on the road!”
Izagirre turned professional in 2010 and won his first professional race in the spring of 2012. He won the individual time trial at the Vuelta an Asturias in April 2012, before achieving his first stage victory during his Grand Tour début at the Giro d’Italia. In 2014 he was a National Road Race Champion and also National Time Trial Champion.
He was selected as the Bahrain-Merida team leader for this year’s Tour de France after a series of strong performances, and was the main hope for the team’s ambitions to wear the famous yellow jersey.
The team physiotherapist Ibai Jimenez Clever remained with Izagirre in the hospital to keep the 28-year-old company. He added that Izagirre has responded well to the surgery and Clever will continue to assist him in his recovery.
He explained: “In the first moments after Ion’s crash, it was difficult. The initial news we received was not good. It seemed that he immediately had to go through a surgery and was alone at the hospital. I was worried.
“Finally, I received some better news and I could breathe a little easier when the doctors afterwards told us that it was successful.
“Ion responded to the surgery very well and he feels better day after day. He’s recovering slowly and now that he’s back home in Spain it will be even better.
“He’s in good mood and we hope that he will have a good recovery without forcing himself. I’m sure that slowly he can return to the level he was at before. I personally would like to thank everyone for their support.”
With its General Classification rider out of the race, Bahrain-Merida team manager Brent Copeland explained that his squad ‘must recalibrate’. He said: “The GC is out of our hands now so we’ve got to be realistic. A stage win is what we’ll work towards.
“We start all over again and go stage hunting to try to show off the jersey as much as we can and put as much spectacle into the Tour as we can without having a GC rider.
“We are deeply sad that Ion will not continue this year’s Tour de France, where he was our leader. It is a big loss for Team Bahrain-Merida. All riders and staffs will put heads together, and bite into the further challenges of Tour de France.”
The Tour has seen a number of accidents this year, with some top riders criticising organisers for deliberately endangering riders for the sake of spectacle.
After a brutal Stage 9, which saw pre-race favourites Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte taken to hospital with broken collarbones, current GC leader Chris Froome said: “There was a huge feeling of relief to have kept the yellow jersey. Crashes, dangerous descents, attacks from all my rivals, mechanical incidents - it just didn’t stop.”
Irishman Dan Martin, who was brought down in Porte’s crash before ending the day sixth overall, said: “I guess the organisers got what they wanted.”
