Jasper Philipsen: I don't blame Coquard for Tour de France crash
The Belgian was forced to abandon the Tour after breaking his collarbone in a heavy crash at the intermediate sprint on stage 3.
Jasper Philipsen has said that he attaches no blame to Bryan Coquard for the crash that forced him to abandon the Tour de France on stage 3 while wearing the green jersey.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the crash, Philipsen revealed that he had spoken with Coquard shortly before the intermediate sprint and outlined his desire not to take any risks in the contest for points.
“Two kilometres before the crash, I said to Bryan Coquard: ‘We're not going to take any risks, okay?’ He replied that he was just going to follow,” Philipsen said, according to Sporza.
“Normally, I would never say something like that. It might have been a self-fulfilling prophecy. But I don’t blame Coquard. It was a racing incident.”
Alpecin-Deceuninck manager Christoph Roodhooft refused to blame Coquard in the immediate aftermath of the incident, and the thought was echoed by Philipsen. Coquard was given a yellow card by the commissaires for his part in the crash, which took place after he bumped against Laurenz Rex (Intermarché-Wanty) in the sprint.
The Cofidis rider apologised for his part in the crash in an emotional interview after the stage, and he also reached out to Philipsen privately to express his contrition.
“I know what it's like to be criticised after a sprint. In the Tour, everything is magnified. People absolutely want to find someone to blame,” Philipsen said.
“Coquard sent me a message afterwards, which I appreciated. I let him know he couldn't do anything about it. He slipped out of his clipless pedal and made a move I couldn’t avoid.”
Philipsen won the opening stage of the Tour in Lille to take the yellow jersey, before his teammate Mathieu van der Poel moved into the lead the following day after victory at Boulogne-sur-Mer.
The Belgian would have hoped to have added to his running tally of Tour stage wins later in the week, but his race was ended by the injuries sustained in the crash. He underwent surgery on his fractured collarbone the following morning in Herentals.
“I didn't immediately realise it was over. I remember asking Gianni Vermeersch if it wasn't too bad,” Philipsen said.
“Gianni was panicking, so then I realised it was bad. Then the pain hit. Physical pain combined with emotional pain, the realisation that it was over for me.
“I'd only broken something once before and always thought I had super strong bones. But that turns out not to be the case.”
Philipsen also broke ribs in the crash, but he was hopeful of returning to the turbo trainer this week. He was less sure, however, of his race programme for the remainder of the season. The Vuelta a España is a possibility but far from a certainty.
“My big goals for this year are behind me. I might make the Vuelta, but we haven't talked about that yet. I don't know if that's feasible,” he said.
“The upcoming races aren’t at the same level as previous ones. It’s difficult to prepare myself physically and mentally for that. It’s hard to start from scratch every time.”
