‘Two cars in front just stopped immediately’ – Tudor explain bizarre incident after rider smashes into rear window of UAE car at Giro d’Italia but escapes unscathed

At the team bus, sports director Matteo Tosatto was able to explain the incident on what was a crazy day. Just metres behind him was Rondel warming down on the turbo trainer, having made it through the crazy day unscathed.

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“The crash happened when he touched the car of UAE because of a big chaotic moment. After the big downhill, riders were totally cold and wanted to change clothing,” Tosatto told Cyclingnews in Potenza.

“Mathys had a flat tyre just 10 kilometres before and changed his bike. He was coming back, and with the stress of the race, two cars in front [of him] just stopped immediately. It was because the riders in front stopped in the middle of the road, and there was no time for the vehicles to move to the left, and he hit the car.

“It broke the window of UAE’s car behind, but he’s already OK, everything is fine. I checked immediately after the crash his head and everything, but he was OK. It’s not a nice crash in the race, but in the end, he was OK.”

It happened in the opening 100km of the stage, when a torrential downpour welcomed the riders into the Basilicata region, and stayed with them on and off all the way to the finish. With low temperatures and slippery southern Italian roads, Tosatto said Wednesday’s dramatic day of racing was right on the edge.

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“There’s rain in many races, but today was very dangerous. There was a lot of rain on the downhills and also a lot of hills during the storm, which is very dangerous,” added the experienced Italian DS. “In front, I think three or four motorbikes also crashed; the stress was at the limit today.”

Tudor didn’t manage to get any riders into the 13-man break, which eventually fought out the stage win, but they did start the day within touching distance of the pink jersey through Florian Stork.

With Rondel crashing, Tosatto said that this had somewhat changed their potential tactics for the final, leaving much of the pacing in the group behind to pink jersey Giulio Ciccone’s Lidl-Trek team after GC survival became more important than a slim chance at snatching pink.

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Knowing full well that the first real big mountain test of the Giro is coming on Blockhaus in two days, Tosatto could be satisfied that they had escaped a potential nightmare.

“It changed the tactics, yes and no. I had one plan, but after Mathys’ crash, I didn’t want to use another rider. Also, for Storer and the GC, the best guys were behind,” he said.