Latour hopes for Chrono des Nations farewell despite heavy training crash
Sunday's Chrono des Nations is the final race of Pierre Latour's career, but the Frenchman risked missing the big occasion after he was struck by a delivery truck while training on Tuesday.
Pierre Latour will hope to sign off his professional career at the Chrono des Nations at the weekend despite the injuries he suffered in a training crash on Tuesday.
The Frenchman was struck by a delivery vehicle while training in the Drôme on Tuesday. His father Claude Latour had accompanied him on a scooter during the training ride, and he was initially sceptical about his son’s prospects of lining up at the Chrono des Nations.
“We thought his arm was broken. In the end, it wasn’t, but he was badly hurt,” Latour Senior told the Dauphiné Libéré. “He was supposed to end his professional career after the Chrono des Nations in Les Herbiers. I have a feeling that's already happened.”
Latour’s TotalEnergies squad provided a more positive update on his condition on Wednesday afternoon, indicating that the 32-year-old was still hoping to race at the Chrono des Nations.
“Following a fall during training, Pierre Latour is suffering from a bruise on his left arm, without a fracture, as well as a concussion,” the TotalEnergies statement said. “After a few days of rest, he will be able to resume training for the Chrono des Nations.”
Latour outlined at the beginning of the year that 2025 was likely to be his final season as a professional after what he called a “shitty” 2024 campaign. Although he claimed the seventh win of his career at the Boucles de la Mayenne in May, Latour opted to hang up his wheels at the end of this season.
The Roman-sur-Isère native turned professional with AG2R in 2015, and he scored the biggest win of his career the following season when he won atop the Alto de Aitana on the penultimate day of the Vuelta a España.
The two-time French time trial champion placed 13th overall on the 2018 Tour de France, but he was badly hindered by a heavy crash in training at the following year’s Abu Dhabi Tour. The incident contributed to a fear of descending that would blight him in the years that followed.
“I've tried a bit of everything: mental preparation, psychology, EMDR,” Latour told L’Équipe earlier this year. “Each time it works, even if it doesn’t go away permanently. All it takes is for me to fall again or have a scare and I have to start all over again.”
Despite Tuesday’s training crash, Latour will hope his career can finish with a fitting farewell at the Chrono des Nations.
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