Sergio Higuita abandons Tour de France in tears after crash with Bob Jungels
:focal(167x134:169x132)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2021/04/12/3041129-62378324-310-310.png)
Updated 13/09/2020 at 12:54 GMT
Sergio Higuita abandoned the Tour de France on Stage 15 an extremely unlucky crash was followed by another crash in the convoy. The rider was left fighting back the tears as he withdrew with broken fingers, with the incident shining light again on the concussion protocols in cycling.
Sergio Higuita, EF Pro Cycling, Tour de France
Image credit: Getty Images
Sergio Higuita abandoned the Tour de France on Sunday after breaking his hand in a crash and then crashing again in the convoy.
The Colombian went down hard in an unfortunate crash involving Bob Jungels, where the Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider took out Higuita’s front wheel at high pace.
And a clearly shaken Higuita then reportedly crashed again, with Dan Lloyd explaining on commentary: “We understand from reports on French television that when he was trying to get back to the peloton he then crashed in the race convoy, so a double whammy.”
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/09/13/2885881-59425628-2560-1440.jpg)
'Woah, Higuita is down!' Jungels accidentally wipes out Higuita in heavy crash
Footage then saw a crying Higuita being spoken to by his team director and race medics, before being helped into the medical van as he abandoned the race.
And Higuita's team manager Jonthan Vaughters subsequently confirmed the injuries:
To update everyone: Sergio is fine. Broken hand/or finger(s). X-rays will reveal the exact nature of injury. No head injury. Second crash was due to not being able to grab brakes properly. Very sad to see him leave like this, however, the important part is he’s ok.
Although concussion was not the reason for his withdrawal, Higuita did appear to hit his head hard in the crash.
The incident came just days after Romain Bardet was involved in a heavy crash and rode the rest of the stage before subsequently being diagnosed with concussion and withdrawn from the race.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/09/13/2885892-59425848-2560-1440.jpg)
Higuita in tears as he abandons after crashing twice
Higuita was later seen being spoken to by the medics in a concussion test, and the Eurosport commentators believe that the extra caution was inevitable and correct in response to Bardet's incident.
“There’s been a bit of a wake-up call for protocols and procedures following Romain Bardet’s concussion,” said Carlton Kirby.
And Lloyd added: "That’s going to be at the forefront of the medics’ minds at the moment given what happened the other day and the scrutiny they are now under.
“Everybody is talking about what the right protocol should be and rider safety and health coming first. They would have been monitoring him even more closely than they would normally have done.”
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement