Tour de France Femmes 2022: Marta Cavalli out of race after horrific Stage 2 collision involving Nicole Frain
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Updated 25/07/2022 at 18:49 GMT
"We don't want to play with the life of a rider. Cycling is just part of life, not the priority." FDJ Suez Futuroscope team manager Stephen Delcourt confirmed that Marta Cavalli is out of the Tour de France Femmes after being hit by Nicole Frain, who was travelling at high speed following a crash. Stream the Tour de France Femmes live and on-demand on discovery+.
'Not nice to see' - Cavalli taken out by Frain in horrific crash
Marta Cavalli (FDJ Suez Futuroscope) has abandoned the Tour de France Femmes following a crash on an incident-strewn Stage 2 of the race.
Victory for Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) and her seizure of the yellow jersey only told part of the story on a hard-hitting day for the peloton after a series of crashes left several riders battered and bruised.
What might have initially looked a relatively meek 136.4km flat stage from Meaux to Provins exploded into life with around 30km to go when the first set of riders went down.
Soraya Paladin (Canyon/SRAM Racing), Ursa Pintar (UAE Team ADQ), Anya Louw (AG Insurance-NXTG) and Morgane Coston (Emotional.fr–Tornatech–GSC Blagnac) were among a group of riders to hit the deck in a messy collision although all were able to remount.
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'This is the danger' - Several riders involved in TDFF Stage 2 pile-up
Not long after, there was another heavy crash, this time involving Amanda Spratt (BikeExchange–Jayco) during which a slowing Cavalli took a vicious hit from a speeding Nicole Frain (Parkhotel Valkenburg) who had been desperately chasing the pack following the initial crash, seemingly unaware of the accident ahead of her.
After being taken out, Cavalli lay on the road clutching her helmet and required attention but was thankfully able to eventually remount and finish the stage.
Speaking afterwards, team manager Stephen Delcourt confirmed that Cavalli was out of the race and had gone to hospital to have her injuries seen to.
"She hesitated and wanted to continue but the team said no," he admitted. "We don't want to play with the life of a rider. Cycling is just part of life, not the priority.
“Now the doctor and physio are with Marta and they have gone to hospital for a scan and we want the best for her."
Describing the incident, Delcourt added: "Marta was not in a good position, she didn't want to take risks at that period.
“One rider [Frain] came back after a crash, she didn't see Marta in the second crash, and she arrived at 50kph while Marta was at 5kph, and boom! I have no words. When you see images like this, it's really hard in my eyes."
Frain later took to social media to apologise to those involved but defended herself in the wake of criticism for her actions.
"No, today didn’t go how I hoped. It was hectic and I didn’t feel comfortable all day," she wrote.
"After working hard to come back to the peloton in the convoy and with my teammate, the speed we rejoined the pack would have matched their pace. Unfortunately as I came off the wheel I was unaware riders on the road from another crash.
"My teammate went to the left off the road but I didn’t have the opportunity to do the same given I didn’t see it. This meant I crashed overtop of the rider on the ground and I did my best to avoid it but I had no where I could go.
"Naturally this was never the intention and I am sorry for those involved. I am sore as well, and will monitor how I feel. I’m lucky I could get back on my bike."
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'It's really hectic' - Third crash in quick succession at TDFF
A further crash saw another FDJ rider Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig taken out as the bunch unsuccessfully attempted to navigate a narrowing road on the approach to Provins.
Although not suffering any injuries like that of her team-mate, Uttrup Ludwig lost a significant amount of time on the GC leaders and now sits 1’38” off the pace, all but ruling her out of contention in the race.
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Stream the Tour de France Femmes live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.
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