Emotional Coquard apologises for role in Philipsen’s Tour de France crash

Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) sprinted to victory in a photo finish on stage 3 of the Tour de France in Dunkirk ahead of Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), but there were many other contentious talking points after a day that was marred by crashes. 

The most notable incident occurred at the intermediate sprint, when stage 1 winner and green jersey wearer Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) crashed and abandoned the Tour. 

During the jostle for position in the sprint, an unfortunate series of events created a ricochet effect that saw Philipsen crash out of the Tour. 

Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) came into contact with Laurenz Rex (Intermarché-Wanty) and then bounced off Rex and into Philipsen, who hit the ground very heavily. 

Alpecin-Deceuninck general manager Philip Roodhooft refused to put the blame on Coquard for the incident, despite the significant blow it posed to his team and star sprinter Philipsen, who suffered a broken collarbone.

“Jasper is the victim of something where he’s totally not involved in, that’s clear,” Roodhooft said. “To be honest, the two others, they collide and they crash, but I think it’s not about blaming – it’s just a stupid crash. These things can happen, and the consequences for us as a team and, above all, for Jasper are very bad, but what can you say? I think bad things happen sometimes.”

Aike Visbeek, sports director of Intermarché-Wanty, echoed the views of Roodhoft, citing that it was an unfortunate racing incident.

"I think it was just a racing incident," Visbeek said. "You have one of the smallest sprinters, Bryan Coquard, moving toward Laurenz Rex, who’s one of the biggest lead-out guys. Coquard makes a move toward Rex, then goes the other way and ends up flipping him down. It wasn’t pretty. I just hope Jasper [Philipsen] comes out of it okay — it was a horrible sight."

Post stage, Coquard was visibly upset and apologised for his role in the incident, stating that it was certainly not intentional.

"I really don't know what happened. It wasn't my intention to cause a crash, obviously. I didn't want to take any risks, I was just in Jonathan Milan's wheelhouse. I was clearly thrown off balance and that's it," Coquard said to reporters post stage. 

"I want to apologise to Philipsen and the Alpecin team, even if it wasn't intentional. I'm not a bad guy... It's not pleasant."

It turned out to be a very difficult day for Coquard, who also came down in the crash which happened inside the final few hundred metres 

"I didn't really want to do this sprint, but I refocused... and then there was this new crash. I'm in pain all over, there are some abrasions, but we'll see," Coquard said.

Coquard and Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek) were penalised for an irregular sprint at the intermediate sprint by the race jury at the end of the stage, each receiving a yellow card, a 13-point penalty in the points classification and a fine of 500 Swiss Francs. Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) and Danny Van Poppel (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe) were given yellow cards for their part in the crash in the finishing straight.