Following yesterday’s massive pileup, Garmin-Sharp rider Hesjedal didn’t start today’s stage 7 at Tomblaine. He finished yesterday 13 minutes behind. He had hoped to finish well on the Champs Elysee but it would be impossible to make up that much time.
“He has a large bruise on the upper leg. Tyler Farrar pushed the last mile for him to cross the line,” Allan Peiper had confided, sports director of Garmin. “He was hit on the joint at the front of the hip and it’s so swollen he can not bend the leg.”
Tom Danielson also stopped yesterday following his injuries. Van Summeren finished in last place with ripped shorts and completely groggy after a brief loss of consciousness. He lost a lot of skin and has some upper back problems.
David Millar posted pictures of his arms scarred by multiple scars. Almost the entire team was on the ground. “This day is a disaster, said Peiper, at the finish. For us, nothing works on this Tour. We have so many injured … We lost most of our opportunities in all we wanted do.”
Millar said it was the scariest crash he’s ever been involved in. “We could not avoid it, we ran into each other at 70 km/h. I was lucky, I was in a third wave and landed on some guys. I had bikes that were beating me from behind… I did not know where I was.”
Tyler Farrar is weaker from all of this as well. Robbie Hunter was involved in 3 crashes. He wanted to leave but he’s hit the vertebrae and the medical staff told him that it was not safe. It is only six” after abandonment. Vandevelde has some bruises.
