Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas crashed out of the Tour de Suisse on Tuesday, continuing Team Ineos' woeful luck this month.
Last Wednesday four-time winner Chris Froome fell prior to the stage four time trial in the Critérium and suffered a number of fractures, ruling him out of this year's Tour. Thomas's injuries are however not particularly serious, with his team's decision to take him out of the Tour de Suisse precautionary in nature.
Initial assessments identified abrasions to one shoulder plus a cut above his right eye. He was fortunately cleared of further damage in hospital. “Geraint took a heavy fall. The main area of impact was to his head,” explained Team Ineos doctor Derick Macleod. “He passed his initial concussion roadside test but with the nature and severity of the impact, it was felt unsafe for him to continue in the race. He was taken to hospital and thankfully all the X-rays and scans have come back clear. He’s now back in the team hotel and in good spirits.”
Thomas is likely to wait several days before returning to training, with Macleod saying that they will need to be sure he has no evolving signs of concussion.
However his participation in the Tour de France is not threatened. “Clearly it’s frustrating and a small setback for my Tour de France preparations,” he said.
“But there’s still plenty of time before we start in Brussels in a few weeks’ time. We will recalibrate and I’m sure my coach Tim (Kerrison) will have a plan in place to ensure I’m ready for July 6th.”
Meanwhile Nicolas Roche improved three places in the general classification at the Swiss race on Tuesday, going from 19th to 16th overall. He rolled in 31st on a stage won in a bunch sprint by the Italian Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who beat Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) to the line.
Sagan continues to lead overall. He is ten seconds clear of Matthews, with Roche 42 seconds back.
Tour de Suisse, Switzerland (WorldTour)
Stage 4, Murten to Arlesheim: 1, Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) 163.9 kilometres in 3 hours 46 mins 2 secs; 2, M. Matthews (Team Sunweb); 3, P. Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe); 4, M. Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott); 5, J. Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo); 6, S. Vanmarcke (EF Education First) all same time
Irish: 31, N. Roche (Team Sunweb) same time
General classification after stage 4: 1, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 11 hours 37 mins 28 secs; 2, M. Matthews (Team Sunweb) at 10 secs; 3, K. Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) at 15 secs; 4, R. Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) at 16 secs; 5, L. Craddock (EF Education First) at 21 secs; 6, S. Küng (Groupama-FDJ) at 25 secs
Irish: 16, N. Roche (Team Sunweb) at 42 secs
Points classification: 1, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 29 pts; 2, E. Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) 20; 3, M. Matthews (Team Sunweb) 15
Mountain classification: 1, Claudio Imhoff (Switzerland) 21 pts; 2, G. Mannion (Rally UHC Cycling) 13; 3, F. Grellier (Direct Energie) 9
Young rider classification: 1, Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep, 11 hours 37 mins 43 secs; 2, E. Bernal (Team Ineos) at 24 secs; 3, K. Geniets (Groupama-FDJ) at 26 secs
Team classification: 1, Team Sunweb, 34 hours 53 mins 38 secs; 2, EF Education First, at 15 secs; 3, Team Ineos, at 28 secs
