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EFE · Road Competition · 08/29/2020
Colombians Miguel ngel Lpez and Nairo Quintana suffered falls in the eventful first stage of the Tour de France, in which their compatriot Egan Bernal, defender of the title and main favorite, was on the verge of losing the Russian Pavel Sivakov, one of his best lieutenants. .
In a stage that ended the “sprint”, with the victory of the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff, who also became the first leader of the general classification, it was marked by accidents caused by the rain that turned the asphalt into a skating rink.
The biggest scare among the Colombian army was taken by “Supermn” Lpez, the cyclist from Astana, who suffered two falls, a very spectacular one on the descent from Cota de Rimiez, when he tried to brake and his wheel was sliding on the damp asphalt. until the cyclist crashed into a traffic sign.
With no apparent physical consequences, López, the leader of his team, waited for his teammate Ion Izaguirre to give him the bicycle and continued the race.
“I am happy because there is nothing to regret and it could have been worse. It was a day with many falls, on a dangerous route, with descents, a lot of paint on the asphalt, zebra crossings, … all that mixed with tension, the rain. Everything has influenced us all to go to the ground, “said the leader of Astana at the finish line.
The fall occurred after his team decided to increase the pace of the race, after several kilometers in which the peloton had significantly reduced the pace due to the succession of incidents.
López himself had suffered another fall in the first kilometers of the stage, like Quintana, who went ashore although he did not seem to suffer physical consequences either.
The one from Boyac also slipped in a curve before the squad in concert decided to take their foot off the accelerator.
His fall, in which other riders were involved, was the trigger that the Jumbo, which emerged as the most powerful team of the edition with the Slovenian Primoz Roglic as the main asset for the general, agreed with the rest of the heavyweights slow down.
The German Toni Martin prevailed as the chief of the race and was talking with the heavyweights of the different teams to lower the piston.
Ineos de Bernal did not oppose this, the other great team in the peloton at this time, which by then had already suffered in their flesh the scratches of the race.
The cyclist from Zapaquir, who aspires to renew the title obtained in the last edition, becoming the first Colombian to win the Tour, was on the verge of losing one of his most precious gregarious members.
The 23-year-old Russian Sivakov, called to back Bernal when he reached the high mountain, suffered two major falls and was left off the hook.
After a long ordeal of more than 100 kilometers practically alone, the cyclist raised in France managed to reach the finish line 13 minutes from the first, with bloody elbows, morale in the ground and a program of medical tests for the next few minutes. hours to know your health status.
The young cyclist is, along with the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, Bernal’s main lieutenant when he reaches the high mountain.
Something that will not be expected in the most mountainous Tour in history, which tomorrow will have to ascend two first category ports and one second in a day with more than 4,000 meters of unevenness.
Although the top of the main cabbages of the day are located far from the goal, the day is tough and Bernal will hardly be able to count on Sivakov, who will be licking his wounds.
If all goes well, it will take the Russian a few days to regain his form before he can help the Colombian again.
The rest of the Colombian army did not suffer major problems on the day.
Luis Miguel Pascual
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