Peter Sagan was unable to start stage 12 of the Tour de France due to a knee injury worsening overnight. The Slovak national champion is receiving treatment and will rest and focus on his recovery before preparing for the upcoming Olympics.
“It’s never a nice feeling to abandon a race. Following my crash on stage 3 it seemed that my knee was getting better but I then hit it again on the handlebar during the sprint of stage 10. It started swelling and I’m now unable to bend my leg. With the stages going at full throttle right from the start, it would be extremely difficult to race. There is nothing more I can do now than rest and get better. It’s very sad, personally, to leave the team right now, especially in these important stages where I should be working for Wilco Kelderman in order to protect him and keep him in the front in the crosswinds. As I said, unfortunately, there isn’t much more we can do. I have to rest, hope it gets better and then prepare for the Olympics” – Peter Sagan
“Peter initially suffered an injury on stage 3 where he hit his hip and knee. A chainring hit the skin of his patella and we were already worried about him being able to continue. We were able to manage that and get Peter through to the next stages. Unfortunately, on stage 10 he suffered another hit on the same knee where the skin reopened. Overnight, a bursitis started developing and came into being, which led to having Peter stop now. He’s currently getting all the appropriate treatment, including antibiotics, and over the following days we’ll see how he reacts to this treatment.” – Christopher Edler, BORA-hansgrohe Doctor
Photos © BORA – hansgrohe
