A seemingly simple transition stage for the Vuelta a España on Friday was marred by a collection of crashes for a number of high contenders, with Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) faring the worst and being taken to hospital in an ambulance after falling late on the stage.
The Dutchman, who was the lone abandon on the day, was caught up in a fall round 6km from the road when the peloton was build up velocity for the bunch dash, hitting the bottom alongside Belgian racer Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
After mendacity on the bottom for a very long time and being attended by group and race workers, Arensman was taken to hospital in a neck brace. The official race medical bulletin later reported that Arensman had suffered facial accidents and a damaged collarbone.
Ineos later reported that Arensman underwent trauma protocol evaluation with CT scans that dominated out cranial, spinal or additional main accidents. After having stitches to shut his facial accidents, he’s “steady and stays underneath remark”.
Earlier within the stage, Arensman’s Ineos teammate and GC contender Geraint Thomas fell closely and harm his proper knee, the identical one which he injured in a crash on stage 2, whereas Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) narrowly stayed out of bother in spite of everything however hitting the bottom.
Thomas’ crash got here with round 130km to go when the Briton and one other teammate, Kim Heiduk, had been caught up in a fall. Thomas was in a position to regain contact with the peloton and was within the bunch for a lot of the day, though he lastly crossed the road 24 seconds down on the primary pack.
“G’s taking an ice tub, he hit his knee actually laborious, initially it appeared actually dangerous, however he was in a position to get going,” sports activities director Steve Cummings informed reporters on the group bus after the end.
“At 50km to go, he was a bit nervous, however he’s come spherical. On the end it appeared like he was actually transferring a lot better.”
Requested how Thomas’ crash occurred, Cummings stated: “It’s simply slippery down right here, it’s simply the street, it was dangerous luck. You do 1,000 corners and one’s a bit slippier than all of the others.”
Whereas Cummings was nonetheless ready for extra info on Arensman when he talked to reporters, he stated that the complete analysis of Thomas’ accidents would solely come after a full examination: “Let’s see how he’s later, it’s laborious when he hit the ground. Though it was good that he was in a position to end.”
The winner final yr of Vuelta’s hardest mountain stage in Sierra Nevada final yr, and fifth general, Arensman was thought-about an outsider for the GC battle. Previous to stage 7, Thomas and Arensman had been mendacity twenty third and twenty fourth general respectively, at 4:57 and 5:10 on race chief Lenny Martínez (Groupama-FDJ).
The primary week of the 2023 Vuelta is proving to be a troublesome one for Ineos Grenadiers, who already misplaced one in every of their key assist riders, Laurens De Plus, when he crashed and fractured his hip within the opening group time trial. Thomas has additionally fallen laborious twice, and misplaced time on the opposite GC favourites at each summit finishes.
Ineos Grenadiers weren’t the one GC group going through crash bother on Friday, as stage 6 winner Sepp Kuss got here inside a whisker of a foul fall at some 10 kilometres to go.
The Jumbo-Visma racer was again on his bike shortly, however he stated it had been a close to miss.
“I’m okay, there was a crash in entrance of me and I had nowhere to go however I didn’t actually hit the bottom and fortuitously I might get going quick sufficient,” he informed reporters afterwards.
“It wasn’t harmful in itself, however I feel when it’s straightforward all day on these huge roads, there’s too many nerves and never sufficient factors to string out the bunch.”
Kuss was a bit shaken however nonetheless upbeat sufficient to joke a bit about his tough day. “I feel I used all my luck yesterday,” he informed reporters.