Geoffroy Lequatre (Cofidis), who crashed heavily yesterday and rolled into the finish 44 minutes and four seconds behind winner Filippo Pozzato, spent the night in hospital for further treatment, according to AFP. His multiple wounds to knee, elbow and hands were initially cleaned before the rider had to be stitched up in multiple places. He was kept in hospital overnight as a precautionary measure.
Lequatre arrived outside the time limit, which is a percentage taken off the winner's time. The time cut depends on the difficulty of the stag and the average speed reached by the winner. For yesterday's moderately difficult profile and the winning average of 39.67 km/h, the time gap allowed was six percent or 16 minutes and 45 seconds. The jury decided to reinstate the rider into the race, however, due to his crash.
