The images were chilling, but the medical news allows us to breathe Movistar. Einer Rubio did not suffer any fracture in the serious accident that forced him to abandon the Tour de France during the climb to Alpe d’Huez. The Colombian does, however, present several deep cuts on his face that required 27 stitches and must return home to begin his recovery.
Eusebio Unzué: “It is to be proud of the boys”N. LABARGA (BRAND)
Rubio went to a hospital Grenoble and later returned to the team hotel. As explained Xabier Muriel to BRAND before this Saturday’s stage, the cyclist has “more moral blow that physical.” The hardness is not only in the wounds, but also in having had to abandon the Tour when he was completing one of his best performances.
“Physically he is fine, but the cuts are deep. They are 27 points. We are going to see the wounds and, for now, he has to recover,” he said. Muriel. The presence of the Colombian in the next Return to Spain It was included in the team’s plans, although now any decision is pending its evolution.
This is how the accident occurred
The versions of Movistar and UAE allow the sequence to be reconstructed. The incident occurred approximately 5.3 kilometers from arrival to Alpe d’Huezjust 300 meters before the beginning of the completely fenced section. In that area, a viewer invaded or fell on the road when the racing vehicles were circulating.
The car of UAE He had to stop abruptly to avoid hitting him. Einer Rubiowho was marching immediately behind, did not have space or time to avoid him and ended up impacting against the rear of the vehicle.
“There was a person under the car, literally under the car. He couldn’t do anything other than brake because otherwise we would run over him with our wheels,” he explained. Matxin. From the vehicle UAE They heard the knock, but were not aware of the gravity of what happened until after crossing the finish line.
“At the time we heard the impactbut we didn’t see the magnitude of what had happened until we finished the race and they told us that Einer had not been able to finish,” added the head of the team Pogacar.
Matxin He immediately contacted Eusebio Unzué. The two also talked the next morning. The leader of UAE He was especially affected because he knows the Colombian since his early years as a cyclist.
“I’m screwed by what’s happened. He’s a runner I’ve known since I was young, since I saw him in Colombia. I appreciate him, I love him and I respect him like all the cyclists in the peloton,” he stated. He also regretted that the accident will deprive Blond already Movistar to obtain an important result in the stage.
Unzué points to the referee
Although since Movistar and UAE They agree that the driver of the car had no other option but to brake, Eusebio Unzué introduced one more element into the analysis. The head of the Spanish team believes that the vehicles should never have entered the small space between Pogacar and Blond.
“I blame more race referee judgewhich was who, without the proper distance between Pogacar and Einerallowed the referee’s car and the referee’s car to enter. UAE“he explained Unzué.
According to his version, the lack of margin caused any unforeseen event in front of the vehicles to leave Blond without the ability to react. When the car UAE He had to brake to avoid hitting the viewerhe Colombian He found the vehicle stopped right in front.
“Since there was no distance, any reaction that any of the vehicles could have, as happened, caused this. He had to stop to avoid hitting a person and Einerwho was coming right behind, crashed with him,” he reconstructed.
Unzué made it clear, however, that Matxin He was concerned from the first moment and that there is no conflict between the two teams. Muriel He also described what happened as a “race mishap“and as the sum of several unfortunate circumstances.
The limit of the fences
The accident reopens the debate on the security in the great ports of the Tour. The fences were beginning to five kilometers of arrival and Blond fell in kilometer 5.3. Precisely in the meters before the protected area, an enormous amount of amateurs who tried to get closer to the pace of the runners.
Muriel recognizes that studying a more extensive fencing It seems inevitable. It even suggests that certain sectors could become payment areas to control access, although he admits that there is no simple solution.
Matxin is also committed to expanding the protected areas. “There are times when runners don’t know if the curve is going to the right or left because you can’t really see it,” he said. The person responsible for UAE He also recalled that some spectators They even inadvertently hit the cyclists when trying to cheer them up or record them.
Unzué described the atmosphere of large ports as a kind of “half jungle“born of the passion and inability of some amateurs to control his emotions when the platoon appears. For the director of Movistarthe most realistic alternative would be fence the climbs practically from bottom to top.
“I know that aesthetically it is not so pretty and that it loses certain attractions, but you have to establish priorities and the security is ahead of everything,” he defended. A measure that, according to Unzuéwould benefit the runnersto the teamsto the organizers and also to the tranquility of the show itself.
Einer Rubio has avoided the fracturesbut the accident has cost him 27 stitcheshe abandonment of the Tour and the possibility of fighting for a result that Movistar He was between fifth and sixth place in the stage. A chain made up of a viewer on the road, two vehicles introduced into a small space and a inevitable braking turned into one of the best days of the Colombian in the bitterest end.
