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UPDATED: Geraint Thomas WILL race Tour de France after emerging "relatively unscathed" from Tour de Suisse crash

Thomas looked dazed on the side of the road after a heavy crash, but remained fully conscious and was taken to hospital for checks. He's now been given the all-clear to race the Tour de France...

The June of misfortune for Team Ineos continues, as Geraint Thomas is out of the Tour de Suisse following a heavy crash on stage four... however Ineos have now released a statement that says Thomas escaped "relatively unscathed" and has been given the all-clear to line up at the Tour de France on 6th July.     

Ineos initially provided updates via their Twitter feed. At 3:51pm they said Thomas was "alert and speaking to the team" after his crash and was on his way to hospital for checks.

Thomas collided with Andrey Zeits of Astana around 30km from the finish. Zeits also required medical attention following the collision. 

Footage and photos posted on social media shown Thomas looking dazed in the immediate aftermath as he looked to be explaining what happened to team staff who rushed to his aid, with a prominent cut above his right eye and various holes in the back of his jersey.  

Latest update: Thomas emerges "relatively unscathed"

It could have been another serious blow for Ineos, after Chris Froome's horrendous crash during a time trial recce at the Criterium du Dauphiné  last week left him with multiple fractures - however it looks like Thomas has been dealt a better hand, suffering just some abrasions on his shoulder and a cut above his right eye. Here's the statement from Team Ineos: 

Thomas was taken straight to hospital having suffered abrasions on his shoulder and a cut above his right eye in the wake of the crash, but thankfully the 33 year old has not sustained any further injuries.

Speaking to TeamINEOS.com, the reigning Tour de France champion explained how the incident occurred, commenting: “There was a lip in the road that came out of nowhere. An Astana rider hit the lip and crashed and I had nowhere to go. I landed on my shoulder and my face and there was quite a bit of blood. You’ve always got to be cautious with a head injury, and whilst I was keen to carry on, the doctors made the right decision to pull me out of the race.”

Thomas’ involvement in the Tour de France isn’t likely to be affected by today’s crash and he is already looking forward to being on the start line in Brussels on July 6th, adding: “Clearly it’s frustrating and a small setback for my Tour de France preparations, 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.”

Team INEOS doctor Derick Macleod told TeamINEOS.com: “Geraint took a heavy fall. The main area of impact was to his head. 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.”

He added: “He’s been given the all clear which is great but we will continue to monitor him over the next few days. Knowing Geraint, it won’t take him long to get back on his bike but we’ll need to ensure he’s symptom free in the next few days before he does so. We’re optimistic he’ll make a full recovery over the coming days though and all being well he’ll be back on his bike very soon.”

Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

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5 comments

Avatar
RobD | 4 years ago
3 likes

Well hopefully this means he's gotten his crash out of the way before the tour, rather than in the race itself. Fingers crossed.

Avatar
ktache | 4 years ago
0 likes

He wasn't holding his arm in a broken collar bone sort of way.

That is something I suppose, hope he is not too badly injured, can recover, get back on his bike soon and can give a good show of defending his title.

BBC sport report of some abrasions on a shoulder and a cut above an eye.  Pictures of loss of lycra on back.  Wanted to get back on his bike but the team doctor decided on hospital.

Avatar
alansmurphy | 4 years ago
0 likes

You'd just hope the conspiracy theorists realise that crashes have actually happened before, I definitely remember seeing one...

Avatar
ChrisB200SX | 4 years ago
1 like

Insert conspiracy theory here...

Avatar
Organon replied to ChrisB200SX | 4 years ago
1 like
ChrisB200SX wrote:

Insert conspiracy theory here...

The curse of Ineos, the sky's the limit on this one.

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