'In the heat of the moment, I was very angry with him'
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Vincenzo Nibali gets going after the stage 6 crash.(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Chris Froome waits for a rear wheel.(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
The aftermath of the stage 6 crash.(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Tony Martin is pushed to the finish by his Etixx-Quickstep teammates
Tony Martin in the aftermath of the crash.(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Nairo Quintana also went down int he crash.(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Shortly after the finish of stage 6 of the Tour de France, Chris Froome (Sky) wheeled to a halt outside the Astana team bus, handed his bike to a mechanic and simply climbed aboard for an impromptu parley with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), to the surprise of the journalists gathered outside.
Both men had been involved in the last kilometre crash that marred the finale in Le Havre and left maillot jaune Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) with a broken collarbone. Nibali, too, hit the ground in the incident and almost brought Froome down with him. Initially at least, each man seemed to hold the other responsible for the incident, hence the clear-the-air talks.
Froome re-emerged within two minutes and pedalled wordlessly back to his own bus, where he opted not to speak to the reporters assembled there. Shortly afterwards, a second emissary arrived from the Sky camp, as Dave Brailsford beckoned his opposite number Giuseppe Martinelli around the back of the bus for a brief discussion of their own, away from prying reporters.
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Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
