Several injuries to world time trial champion but no decision yet about withdrawing from race
Although earlier reports suggested that Tony Martin’s Tour de France is at an end, his Omega Pharma Quick Step team have confirmed that no decision has been taken yet in relation to the German rider’s participation in the race.
The world time trial champion hit the deck inside the final ten kilometres of today’s stage, coming a cropper after compatriot Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and others tangled.
While Greipel stayed upright, several others hit the deck, including Martin himself. He limped in to the finish, got into the team bus and reportedly lost consciousness there. Stretchered off, he was taken to the general hospital of Bastia, where he underwent a full examination.
“The CT scan excluded fractures,” said his team in a communication. “However, he has a concussion and a contusion on his left lung. He also has soft tissue damages on his hip, chest, left knee and shoulder, and also on his back. Furthermore, he has a very deep wound 5cm wide on his left elbow that reaches his muscles, which causes a lot of pain and a problem moving his arm.”
Martin was due to rejoin the team this evening after that examination, after which the team will decide what to do next. It indicates that it wants to take time before ruling if he will continue or not.
“Any decision on his participation at the second stage of the Tour de France will be taken after considering how the clinical situation evolves during the night,” it said.
In addition to helping Mark Cavendish in the sprints and the squad in the team time trial, Martin also planned to target the two individual time trials in the race. He was forced to drop out of last year’s Tour because of injuries, and will be very disappointed if he must do the same again this year.
However he and the team will be conscious that a concussion is a serious consideration, and so too the other injuries that he has. His condition tomorrow morning will be the decisive factor as regards to whether or not he continues.