The moment Daniel Oss collided with a spectator. Photo / Sophie Smith, Twitter
The moment Daniel Oss collided with a spectator. Photo / Sophie Smith, Twitter
Italian rider Daniel Oss fractured a vertebra in his neck following a high-speed collision with a spectator which forced him to quit this year's Tour de France.
Impressively, the TotalEnergies rider got up after his crash and went on to complete the stage, which went over 11 sectors of cobblestones, many of which are used in Paris-Roubaix each spring.
However, scans later revealed a cervical fracture and the 35-year-old was a non-starter for stage six of the race on Friday.
The pavé of Paris-Roubaix is feared by riders, particularly those who tackle it during a grand tour who are not necessarily specialists.
Spectators on these stages tend to stand on the grass verges, and with riders trying to occupy the same space, to avoid the bumpiest sections of cobbles, there can be collisions.
A video recorded at the scene showed Oss riding along the grass verge and clipping a spectator who was filming the riders.
The collision triggered a chain reaction with the spectator and the rider both going down, collecting another rider in the process. Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Deceuninck) suffered a broken collarbone and pelvis.
Oss' departure deprives three-time world champion Peter Sagan of one of his key domestiques at this year's Tour.
Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) also had to abandon the race following a fall on Thursday, while Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), one of the big pre-race favourites, had to pop his own shoulder back in after it was dislocated when he fell as a result of a stray hay bale. Roglic went on to lose more than two minutes in the general classification.
Pogačar extends lead to 35s
Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar celebrates as he crosses the finish line of the seventh stage. Photo / AP
From the moment Tadej Pogačar heard the Tour de France would return to the summit of La Planche des Belles Filles this year, he wanted to win there again.
The Slovenian pulled if off on Saturday in a nail-biting finish on the steep gravel slope of the mountain where he took the yellow jersey for the first time in 2020.
Victory in the first summit finish of this year's Tour extended his lead after taking over the yellow jersey on Friday.
"It was in my mind already a really, really long time, maybe since the route was already (revealed). It was a big, big goal to win today," Pogačar said.
Pogačar caught, first, Lennard Kämna, who came agonizingly close to a breakaway win, and then Jonas Vingegaard with one last sprint at the top of La Planche des Belles Filles, a ski resort in the Vosges mountains of eastern France, near the German border. Pogačar had his family watching on and had extra motivation to win to mark the launch of his own cancer research foundation on Saturday.
"It was really, really difficult, especially in the end, the last part. When Jonas attacked, he was so strong," Pogačar said. "I had to push to the finish line."
He started the 176-kilometre stage with a four-second lead over Neilson Powless and ended it with a 35-second advantage over Vingegaard.
"A little bit is always good, but still, we know in cycling no gap is enough," was the verdict of Pogačar, who praised Danish rider Vingegaard as "probably the best climber in the world" at the moment.
