RACE FAVOURITES PRIMOZ Roglic and Geraint Thomas, as well as ace sprinters Peter Sagan and Caleb Ewan, were all involved in nasty crashes before Tim Merlier won today’s drama-filled stage three of the Tour de France.
Merlier’s team-mate Mathieu van der Poel kept hold of the overall lead on a brutal day of racing peppered with falls on the rain-slick, narrow winding roads in Brittany, with Thomas dislocating a shoulder and 2020 runner-up Roglic losing valuable time.
With two mass pile-ups marring stage one and an ensuing hunt for the mystery culprit French police have vowed to catch up with, followed by the thrill and raw emotion of Van der Poel winning one for his illustrious cycling family on stage two, drama was always likely to be coming round the next corner.
And so it proved on the seafront at the Plage de Testel, 2018 champion Thomas losing his concentration and hitting the ground so hard he dislocated a shoulder before making it back to the peloton with the help of three team-mates. Scenes of Thomas shaking his legs when having his shoulder put back in by medics will live long in the memory.
Slovenia’s Roglic hit the tarmac hip-first with 10km to go and while shaken he also limited his losses with the help of team-mates. Although his Tour is not finished, he now has time to make up on Tadej Pogacar and Thomas.
The worst fall came in the home straight, with Caleb Ewan hitting Merlier’s back wheel at over 80kph and taking Slovak sprint specialist Sagan down with him, the pair sliding for tens of metres on the tarmac.
Ewan’s main rival from FDJ, Arnaud Demarre, had also fallen on a bend just outside Pontivy and his manager Marc Madiot was furious.
“Kids, families, mothers are watching this, will mothers want their kids to cycle? We have been speaking about this for years, this isn’t cycling, what condition is Ewan in,” said an impassioned Madiot.
Would have been the most watched program only a lot people watched it in the pubs ! Great day it was ! One sore head following morning!!
@Nightowl: very good point
What was so special about that 1 episode of room to improve that landed it in 5th place?
@Gary Lyons: Don’t think that’s just for one episode, I think it’s the average no. of people that watch it weekly? I could be completely wrong there though lol
@Gary Lyons: Wasn’t that the one when yer wan did the lovely job on her living room and yer man fell out with the other lad over the price of everything?
@Armchair Follower: nah it was the one where dermot went way over budget and the blonde surveyor lady gave out to him. And he threw a fit about people not understanding his artistic genius. The couple ended up taking out a second loan for a tiny conversion, but everyone got locked at the party at the end and said they loved dermot really.
Oh the memories, think iv watched 20 times
Thought nobody watches the Eurovision anymore?
Move on lads ,move on
Nothing beats a big football game in terms of viewing figures
@tubbsyf: except the Toy Show and two rugby games you mean?!!
@Joe Kennedy: no, the irish team had no big games last year
@tubbsyf: How dare you take such a blasé attitude to the UEFA Nations League
Nearly 1 million watched Croatia v England. #rivals
More people watching England play soccer than the All Ireland’s, GAA is not as popular as some people think it is