With the first stage ending in a bunch sprint, Sacha Modolo was hoping to kick off his first ever Tour de France with a stage victory but things didn't go to plan for the Italian. A crash by his teammate Maximilano Richeze made him spend most of the stage in chase mode and he ended up losing almost 9 minutes.
Having won a stage in the recent Tour de Suisse, Sacha Modolo went into today's first stage of the Tour de Suisse as one of the outsiders. However, the Italian never got the chance to sprint in his first ever Tour de France stage.
His lead-out man Maximiliano Richeze crashed at a critical point of the race and even though he didn't hit the ground himself, Modolo was set back by the incident. Together with teammate Davide Cimolai, he did his best to regain contact but ended up losing almost 9 minutes.
"The continuous splits increased the pace and you always had to fight for position and close gaps," he said. "When Richeze crashed, we put the foot on the ground and then had to chase hard which was made difficult by the narrow roads with many fans.
"I found it hard to come back because I didn't have the best day. I thank Cimolai because he did his best to help me rejoin the group. It is a shame that I was unable to do my best in my Tour debut and honour the support from the many fans."
Team captain Rui Costa finished safely in the bunch.
"What a sight to see so many people along the way," he said. "They showed an incredible passion. Today we knew that it would be very important to avoid risks and crashes as everyone wanted to be in a good position. Together with the narrow roads and the many fans, this made it a hard day.
"My teammates helped me a lot and we were able to avoid the pitfalls and complicated situations. I am soorry for Modolo who was unable to do the sprint but I am sure that he will get a chance to make amends. I will encourage Richeze who crashed in this stage."
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