Romain Bardet evoked “a nightmare” to describe the big collective fall which caused the evacuation by ambulance of the world champion, Julian Alaphilippe, on Sunday in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The Frenchman from the DSM team went to rescue Alaphilippe (Quick-Step) who was lying on the side of the road, several meters from the road according to the TV images of this massive fall which occurred 60 kilometers from the finish.
“When I looked around I saw Julian 5 or 6 meters down and it was an emotional shock. He told me “I can’t move I can’t move”. No one was coming and he really needed help. It was an emergency,” Bardet told the media after the finish of the race, which he left early. “Julian couldn’t move or breathe. He felt conscious but he couldn’t really speak. It lasted forever, it only lasted 4 or 5 minutes maybe the time for the cars to arrive but I was really scared, it was really shocking”, continued the Auvergnat about the world champion who was evacuated by the medical team.
Third fall of the season for Alaphilippe
After the race, its winner, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, spoke about the place of the fall by presenting his wishes for recovery to the injured runners: “I knew the road at this place downhill, I knew that it would go very fast. The best place to stand was in the middle of the road. »
The fall of Alaphilippe is the third in less than two months for the world champion. After a spectacular sun at the Strade Bianche in early March, it fell again, but without consequence, at the recent Flèche Brabançonne. If the Quick Step team has not yet given any news of the world champion, brought to the hospital, his companion Marion Rousse wanted to be reassuring on the air about his state of form, simply reporting severe pain in the back.