Rider dangles on edge of bridge after massive fall, colleague comes to the rescue, stage Ster van Bessèges neutralized | Sport

The 169 kilometer long second stage, from Bagard to Aubais, was chaotic. Wind not only caused fans, but also nervousness and falls. A massive crash 22 kilometers from the finish eventually brought the end of the stage. A narrow bridge created a funnel. Dozens of riders hit the asphalt. Ferron, a 24-year-old Frenchman from TotalEnergies, even had to cling to the edge of the bridge to keep from falling. His team says that Ferron got off with superficial injuries: “The shock is greater than the pain.”

“I did what I could to avoid the fall,” said Ferron, according to L’Equipe. “But it was inevitable. I rode on the other riders. Then I found myself with my arms clamped to the edge of the bridge “And my feet in the air. I don’t know how that happened. Fortunately, Axel Laurance helped me up, I am grateful to him for that. Apart from scraped knees, I have nothing to do with it.”

Laurance, herself a victim of the massive crash, eventually helped Ferron back on the road. “I tried to free myself to help him as quickly as possible,” said the Frenchman from Alpecin-Deceuninck. “He was in a not so good situation. This is also cycling. At these moments there is no team anymore, we are all in the same boat. My thoughts are with all the riders who have been injured.”

Benoît Cosnefroy was also one of the victims. He suffered a bruised wrist and quite a few scrapes and bruises. “I was one of the first to fall,” said the leader of AG2R-Citroën. “My arm hurt a lot afterwards and I could barely hold my handlebars.”

The havoc was so great that the way for the race caravan was blocked and the medical services had their hands full with the various victims. In addition, according to sources within the teams, all accompanying ambulances were needed to transfer fallen riders to the hospital. Continuing the race without ambulances was not safe.

After a few minutes of neutralization, the stage was completely stopped by the competition jury and organization. So no day result and no time differences in the general classification. Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny), winner of the opening stage, will start tomorrow’s third stage in Bessèges in the overall leader’s jersey.

Portugal’s Ruben Guerreiro has won the fourth stage in the Tour of Saudi Arabia. The Movistar rider was the fastest in the final sprint of a group of escapees that escaped from the peloton in the steep final climb to Skyviews or Harrat Uwayrid.

The Italian Davide Formolo finished second in the 163 kilometer stage and the Colombian Santiago Buitrago was third.

With his stage win, Guerreiro also took over the leader’s jersey from Italian sprinter Jonathan Milan. The Portuguese has a few seconds ahead of Formolo and Buitrago in the general classification. The Tour of Saudi Arabia ends on Saturday with a flat ride from AlUla Old Town to Maraya over more than 140 kilometers.

Cees Bol managed to hold his own on the flanks of Harrat Uwayrid and arrived fourteenth at 28 seconds. In the general classification, the Dutch sprinter dropped from second to sixth place.

The second stage of the Tour of Valencia was won by Giulio Ciccone. After a tough climb at the end, the Italian cyclist from Trek-Segafredo was the fastest of what remained of the leading group. Before that, several riders had made a vain attempt to get away alone.

The ride went from Novelda to Alto de Pinos over almost 180 kilometers. Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart finished second ahead of Spaniard Pello Bilbao. Ciccone is also the new leader of the general classification. Geoghegan Hart is also second in this, ahead of Bilbao.

The Italian Alessandro De Marchi and the Spaniard Javier Romo were the strongest in a long breakaway of five riders and stayed ahead for a long time. The high pace of the peloton became too much of a good thing in the last two kilometers before the final climb.