La Vuelta cycling - 'What were they playing at?!' - Smith slams team for not helping leader Rein Taaramae
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Updated 18/08/2021 at 17:42 GMT
"Do you know what I couldn't understand? He's the red jersey in a Grand Tour - and then all of a sudden he is on his own!" Smith began on The Breakaway. "Two riders come back after 5kms or something like that? What on earth were they playing at?! Why didn't they stop straight away and help him? Why send only two riders back? Surely that [the red jersey] takes precedence. You have to look for him."
'What were they playing at?!' - Smith slams team for not helping Vuelta leader
Eurosport expert Brian Smith was left baffled by Team Intermarché seemingly not doing everything possible to help Vuelta leader Rein Taaramae after a huge crash on Stage 5.
A huge crash wiped out a large number of riders in a hugely dramatic incident on what had been a pancake-flat and very uneventful stage.
The largely subdued 184.4km route between Tarancón and Albacete on Wednesday suddenly witnessed wild scenes with just 11.7km remaining as an enormous bunch of riders fell to the ground in a seemingly innocuous stretch of flat road.
Among the victims of the massive pile up was race leader Taaramae, who had been wearing the red jersey. While he got to his feet, the gap to the racing group proved too much to reel in as the Estonian relinquished the red jersey in very unfortunate fashion.
Eurosport analyst and expert Smith could not understand why Team Intermarché did not do everything possible to assist the stricken Taaramae, particularly given he was wearing the coveted red jersey.
"Do you know what I couldn't understand? He's the red jersey in a Grand Tour - and then all of a sudden he is on his own!" Smith began on The Breakaway.
Two riders come back after 5kms or something like that? What on earth were they playing at?!
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'Absolutely enormous!' - Huge crash wipes out 'most of the field' at Vuelta
"I just don't understand some of these teams. That's a big thing to have the red jersey - you could see what it meant to him. You could see the enthusiasm of riding on the front, and all of a sudden their man crashes.
"Why didn't they stop straight away and help him? Why send only two riders back? Surely that [the red jersey] takes precedence. You have to look for him.
"I think it just took a while for the penny to drop. But to send two riders back? The whole team has to go back in my opinion. The whole team, bar none."
Sports Director for Israel Start-Up Nation, Cherie Pridham, was also on the Breakaway couch and was left stunned by Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen, who roared back into the green jersey by beating Fabio Jakobsen in a chaotic bunch sprint finale.
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'Wow, what a sprint!' - Pridham reacts to Philipsen winning Stage 5 in tense sprint
"Phew, what a sprint!" Pridham said when asked to give her reaction to Philipsen's stunning win under pressure after all the drama of the huge crash.
"I mean, the way Philipsen came through there was so quick, you know. Jakobsen did not deliver as anticipated today, but wow!"
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Watch thrilling sprint as Philipsen edges 'brutal' sprint after huge crash on Stage 5
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