The Russian WorldTour team came into the event as outsiders for a medal and lay seventh at the first time check but the crash took down two of their riders and with another of the ranks already dropped, all chances of a respectable finish were dashed. They limped home together, and in last place, over eight minutes down on winners BMC Racing.
"I think it was a simple touch of wheels. I don't know what happened, there was nothing I could do, I just went straight over the top," Rogers told Cyclingnews at the finish.
At the finishline the Australian had to be cut from his tattered and torn skinsuit and was already dressed in bandages on his right side. His right hand appeared to be worst effected with skin missing and his fingers carefully strapped. Luckily, Rogers and Valgren escaped without any broken bones, while road race favourite Peter Sagan managed to avoid the fall altogether.
"It's just superficial injuries at the moment, nothing broken, just a little skin off the top. I'll be feeling pretty sorry for myself for the next couple of days, but there's nothing you can do about it now," Rogers added.
"I felt we were moving well. The team was quite fluid even though it was quite gusty out there. We had settled into our rhythm, and I think we could have done a good ride. It's hard to say where we would have finished but I'm confident we would have done a good ride together."
Rogers is not down to ride either the individual time trial or the road race next weekend and his season could possibly be over, although it's too early to tell just yet. The rider and the team's medical staff will know more in the coming days.
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"With the amount of skin I have off me now I think it's going to be hard for me to ride for the next couple of weeks."
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
