Picture Credit: Twitter
Spain's Enric Mas became the first of the 175 riders on the Tour de France 2023 to abandon the race followed by Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz after the opening stage crash on Saturday, July 1. Enric Mas left the 2019 Tour before the stage 19 after contracting COVID-19 and came down in a crash on a descent around 22 kilometres from the finish. EF-Education team leader Carapaz and Movistar Team’s Mas were involved in the same line of accident.
Mas, who finished fifth overall on the 2020 Tour, fell alongside Carapaz who ended up injuring his knees. While the Spaniard spent a few minutes in discussion with his team sports director on the road and decided to abandon, Carapaz climbed back on his cycle after being attended by the race doctors. The 2019 Giro d'Italia winner finished more than a quarter hour later behind the British stage winner Adam Yates. The 30-year-old later got assessed by the doctors, and the tests revealed that his left knee has been fractured, which required stitches. His team took to Twitter to confirm his withdrawal from the Tour.
The tweet read, “Richard Carapaz will not start stage 2 of the Tour de France after an ultrasound scan revealed a small fracture in his left kneecap. He also needed three stitches to close the cut on the same knee. Richard suffered no other injuries in the crash and will return home to begin his recovery. Heal up campeón. We’ll bring your attacking spirit to the rest of this Tour. 💕”
On the other hand, Mas shared update with his fans, and expressed his disappointment by the way Tour went for him. He wrote, “It has not been the beginning of @LeTour that I had imagined, but things do not always go as we want. I want to wish all the luck in the world to my teammates in the 20 opportunities that lie ahead. Eskerrikasko Bilbo! You are a fan of 10 and it is a luxury to be able to enjoy your roads year after year. See you very soon.”
In 2022, 134 riders finished the Tour De France after 42 riders failed to finish, and with 20 stages remaining, there are chances of more dropouts.
