Kiwi a non-starter on stage 6 after breaking ribs on stage 4
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Paddy Bevin chases the leaders suring stage 6 at Tour de Suisse(Image credit: Getty Images)
Patrick Bevin talks to media before the start of stage 6 at the Tour Down Under(Image credit: Getty Images)
Patrick Bevin celebrates on the Tour Down under podium after wining stage 2 and taking the overall lead(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Patrick Bevin (BMC) on the podium having finished second on the stage 4 TT at the 2018 Tour of California(Image credit: Getty Images)
Patrick Bevin wins stage 2 at the Tour Down Under(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) has been forced to leave the Tour de France with broken ribs, becoming the first rider to abandon the 2019 edition of the race.
The New Zealander suffered a heavy crash on stage 4, some 100 kilometres from the finish line in Nancy. He got back on his bike and finished the stage, and indeed completed Wednesday’s stage 5 in the Vosges hills, but the pain in his chest only increased.
He went straight for an X-ray after finishing the stage in Colmar, and it emerged he had fractured two ribs.
“An initial observation following the stage indicated he had some rib pain and other contusions, but he would be able to line up on stage five. However, Patrick experienced severe pain during yesterday’s stage and was immediately taken for X-rays at the finish line. The X-rays revealed two fractures on both the seventh and eighth ribs on his left side,” said CCC Team’s chief medical officer, Max Testa.
“As is often the case with rib fractures, the pain increases in the second and third day following the crash and, although Patrick wanted to try and race on stage 6, this morning we collectively made the decision that he should stop racing in order to recover well and focus on his goals in the second part of the season.”
Bevin, the New Zealand time trial champion who won a stage at the Tour Down Under at the start of the season, felt he was in great shape and was disappointed to have to leave the race, though he agreed it was sensible to pull the plug.
“I fell on my left side and caught a wheel to the chest. I thought I had got away with it at the time and I didn’t have any trouble when I got back into the race - no skin off or anything like that. I thought it wasn’t too bad but as the stage wore on, it got worse. We did everything we could to minimize the pain but in yesterday’s stage it was getting even worse so we went straight to get X-rays after the stage, which confirmed the rib fractures,” he said.
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His abandon is the first of the 2019 Tour de France, with several small crashes but nothing until now serious enough to take a rider out. 175 riders therefore start Thursday's stage from Mulhouse to the summit finish on La Planche des Belles Filles.
