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Team boss lauds Romain Bardet’s “admirable courage” – but should someone have stopped Frenchman riding to stage finish with concussion?

French rider collapsed when first helped to his feet after crash

AG2R La Mondiale team boss, Vincent Lavenu, has lauded Romain Bardet’s “admirable courage” after he “fought like a lion” to finish after crashing midway through Stage 13 of the Tour de France. The French rider later pulled out of the race having been diagnosed with concussion. Footage showed him trying to stand up in the aftermath of the crash before immediately collapsing again.

In a statement last night, team doctor Eric Bouvat said Bardet had shown signs of concussion at the end of the stage and so he was taken for a brain scan at the Clermont Ferrand University Hospital.

“This did not reveal any lesions,” said Bouvat. “However, Romain Bardet must stop all his sporting activities for the moment, and he will therefore not be able to take part in the start of the stage tomorrow.”

Bardet appeared groggy immediately after the crash and when first coaxed to his feet by a member of team staff, immediately collapsed again.

Shortly afterwards, he remounted his bike and continued the stage.

Bardet himself said that the medical exam had confirmed what he expected.

“This stage on my home roads was the complete opposite of what I had hoped for,” he said. “The crash was severe, downhill at high speed, and I struggled all the rest of the day.

“The medical examinations confirmed what I already suspected, and I am not able to continue in the race.”

Lavenu commented: “We are all sad to see Romain leaving us, near his home, on his roads, in a stage where he dreamed of shining.

“He once again showed admirable courage and fought like a lion to the end of the stage. We’ll fight even harder to honour him, with a polka dot jersey to defend and stage wins to earn. We send him all our support and hope he will come back even stronger very soon.”

In 2017, Cannondale-Drapac’s Tom Skujins was helped back onto his bike after a heavy crash at the Tour of California, even though it was clear to most onlookers that he was extremely dazed.

Even more alarmingly, former Cervelo-Bigla rider Doris Schweizer said she was pressured to start a stage with concussion during the 2015 Giro Rosa.

“I could barely ride straight because I had huge problems with my vision,” she recalled. “I was miserable. I was misjudging myself with distances and speeds. Total loss of control. Somehow I managed to finish the stage.”

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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Drinfinity | 3 years ago
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Not acceptable here for team staff to shove him back on his bike after he staggers about. Proper team protocol should be all staff are briefed on what concussion looks like, and watch out for it.   The mechanics sorting the bike out should have not allowed him to continue till team car checked him out.

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roadrunner23 | 3 years ago
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Perhaps a new race protocol needs to be introduced whereby a rider who has fallen has to be examined by the race doctor within 15-30 minutes of a crash or face elimination. Might require an extra race doctor to be present though. But nobody wants to see a rider collaspsing/passing out or worse whilst riding.

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TheBillder replied to roadrunner23 | 3 years ago
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Road racing does seem to be behind compared to other sports (rugby has done a fair bit on concussion and even amateur coaches of 5 year olds have to pass tests on their knowledge of it). But most sports stop - it's easy to send a player to the sidelines to be assessed for a few minutes, and subs can be used to keep the impact on the team low. I can't see how you could do that in a race.

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Jetmans Dad replied to TheBillder | 3 years ago
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It would be difficult to do in a race, but the problem with concussions is that the symptoms don't necessarily present immediately. It is not too outlandish to imagine a scenario where a rider comes off in a crash, takes a blow to the head and seems OK so carries on only to suffer the symptoms an hour and a half later while descending at 50mph. 

I don't pretend to have any answers to how to organise it, but like other sports, we need to get away from describing riders as brave heroes for immediatedly jumping back on the bike after taking a blow to the head, thereby implying that if they don't do that they are somehow lesser riders.

That was one of the problems rugby (both codes) have had to deal with. 

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