The former Tour de France white jersey winner, Pierre Latour, looks set to end his career earlier than intended after being hit by a lorry driver whilst training for his final race.
Latour was training on home roads for the one-day Chrono des Nations Time Trial which takes place next weekend. His father described the incident to Le Dauphiné libéré and also revealed his son’s intentions to retire at the end of the season.
“It was probably one of the very last training sessions I did with Pierre,” Claude Latour explained. “I was following him on a scooter as usual [when] his arm was caught by the rear-view mirror of a delivery lorry that didn’t see him coming on this road with [the] small bends.”
Pierre Latour, stage 5 of the 2023 Tour de France (A.S.O./Pauline Ballet) (credit: road.cc)
“Pierre was transported to the emergency room of the hospital. We thought he had a broken arm. In the end it is not the case, but it was badly damaged. He was to end his career at the Chrono des Nations. I have the impression it’s already done,” he added, ominously. It was also reported that a breathalyser test on the driver of the lorry was negative.
Latour started his career at AG2R La Mondiale, turning professional in 2015. He won stage 20 of the Vuelta a Espana the following year, outsprinting Darwin Atapuma on a summit finish to the Alto de Aitana. In 2018, as the overall win for the general classification was contested by more seasoned riders, Latour found himself battling for the white jersey with Guillaume Martin and future Tour winner Egan Bernal. He eventually won the jersey whilst finishing 13th overall, the lowest winning position of a white jersey this century.
Pierre Latour, 2023 Criterium du Dauphiné (A.S.O./Billy Ceusters) (credit: road.cc)
Latour never became a GC rider and instead matured into a breakaway artist, taking victory at a series of second and third tier races. He also finished in the top-10 of the Giro di Lombardia monument. But he became best known to the public for his open struggles with descending, admitting that his mental block to taking risks was “scaring him to death”.
“The slightest annoyance downhill, everything explodes in my head. Like an alcoholic enjoying a drink,” he said in 2023.
Latour had not commented on his future since June, before it was announced that his TotalEnergies team had not selected him to ride the Tour de France. However, his father’s statements suggest that the end of the Frenchman’s career is not only imminent but might have already happened. In which case, Latour’s last race was the one-day Coppa Sabbatini in Italy last month where he did not finish.