With bandages on his left arm and leg, and with several tapes visible under his yellow jersey, a visibly battered Tour de Pologne leader Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) cut a sorry but determined figure at the start of stage 4 on Wednesday.
The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team racer was able to make his way onto the sign-on podium and then headed away to the start of stage, unsurprisingly without talking to media.
Fortunately, the stage from Ribnik to Cieszyn is a relatively flat one, predicted to end in a bunch sprint. But it remained to be seen how Lapeira felt when racing and whether the effort would finally prove too much.
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“He’ll start the stage, he’s going to give it a go,” sports director Luke Roberts told reporters at the start.
“He’s got possible bruising of the ribs or fracture, so he’s having difficulty breathing. But he’ll give it a go. We hope to have the race controlled, set things up for a bunch sprint and give him a chance to maintain the jersey and another day of recovery. But it won’t be easy for him.”
One of around half a dozen riders caught up in the late crash, which forced the race to be neutralised and GC times suspended for the last 15 kilometres, Lapeira was initially reported as an abandon. However, he managed to complete the course, albeit looking very beaten up, and although he did have an ultrasound check-up, he did not need a hospital visit, Roberts said. As Roberts observed, “It wouldn’t have affected the course of treatment, whether it’s bruised or fractured, there’s nothing you can do. It’s just a matter of dealing with the pain.”
Given this is Lapeira’s first-ever lead in a stage race, the 25-year-old’s determination to hold on to the yellow jersey as possible is even more logical. Although the race itself will play a major part in deciding what happens, fortunately for the former French National Champion, Thursday is the one remaining stage looking set for a nailed-on bunch sprint, and the weather is also warm and dry.
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“There’s quite a few teams with sprinters here so I guess there’ll be several teams looking to make it a bunch sprint,” Roberts said, “and that could make it easier for Paul to get through.”
“But there are some tough climbs as well mid-stage, and that can make for some tough racing. But we’re prepared for that, Paul’s determined to give it a go and we’ll just have to see how it is when he’s on the bike.”
After his win in Karpacz on stage 2, as Roberts says, Lapeira knows he has good legs. But when the racing gets more intense, his breathing difficulties could be more of a challenge.
“Fingers crossed, he wants to give it his all to hold onto the jersey for another day or two if possible. He’s not going to give up easily.”
While Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team sprinter Sam Bennett, himself a late crash victim on stage 1, is still feeling sore but determined to give it a go, Roberts said, the fallout from stage 3’s mass pile-up was still emerging at the start of stage 4.
UAE Team Emirates XRG’s Filippo Baroncini was one of the worst affected by the stage 3 crash, with a team press release overnight saying the Italian, forced to abandon immediately, had suffered “multiple facial injuries, including a fractured cervical vertebra and facial and clavicular fractures.”
The next morning at the stage 4 start, UAE Team Emirates XRG sports director Manuele Mori told Cyclingnews that Baroncini is to remain in hospital for now, pending a possible operation after specialists checked up on him.
“Yesterday [Wednesday] he had this really bad fall, so did several riders, but he was leading the main group and he was the first to fall and his face was badly hurt.”
“I spoke with him as did [fellow UAE ds] Marco Marzano, who was in the second car. He was always conscious but he had an injury to his face. Late yesterday evening we had the doctor’s report after the scan and we learned that he had a facial fracture and also a cervical fracture in his neck, so now we’re waiting for word from the specialists. Our team doctor is with him and today they’ll take the decision whether to operate or not.”
UAE staff also made a point of thanking Team Ineos Grenadiers doctor Robert Kempers for his considerable roadside assistance to the team in attending Baroncini, who will remain in hospital for some time while the decision is taken about how to proceed.
Baroncini was not the only UAE rider caught up in the crash, with Polish national champion Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates XRG) also falling. However, despite being hurt in the wrist and leg, the 2014 Tour de Pologne winner was able to continue racing.
“Fortunately, the stage today is relatively easy, but we’ll have to see how it goes,” Mori said. “We won’t have a full perspective of how he’s feeling until the race is actually underway.”