Fabio Jakobsen rode back to the Soudal-QuickStep team bus with a massive abrasion showing through his shredded jersey on his right shoulder and side.
For a second day, Jakobsen missed out on his first victory of the 2023 Tour de France, with his fellow countryman and rival Jasper Philipsen taking the win after yet another superb leadout from his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel.
At the Soudal-QuickStep team bus, Jakobsen and his teammates could only lick their wounds and hope their luck will turn after the stages in the Pyrenees.
Julian Alaphilippe will fly the flag for the Belgian team in the mountains despite struggling in the opening Basque Country stage, while Philipsen will have to suffer in the gruppetto and hope he can recover for the expected sprint on stage 7 in Bordeaux on Friday.
Philipsen did not stop to talk about his crash and was immediately treated by the Soudal-QuickStep doctor.
"Fabio has some wounds on his shoulder and back from the 'nice' asphalt. I suppose he won't sleep very tonight," team manager Patrick Lefevere explained after checking on Jakobsen's injuries.
"There were a lot of crashes today on the circuit finish. The question is if it's the fault of the circuit or of the riders. Some of the sprinters took some big risks. Unfortunately, sprinters always take risks and so it's inevitable that there are crashes."
Lefevere had spoken to his riders to understand how the crash happened.
"Julian Alaphilippe wanted to bring him forward because the team was too far back. But they couldn't get out, which makes sense because no team wants to give way in a sprint," he explained.
"Fabio looked ahead to see if he could move up on his own and just then Mathieu van der Poel came with Jasper Philipsen on the right. He [Van der Poel] touched his front wheel against Fabio's rear wheel."
Former sprinter and directeur sportif Tom Steels looked back at a replay of Jakobsen's crash on his phone with other team staff, wincing at what he saw.
He seemed surprised Jakobsen was able to finish and ride to the team bus. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana Qazaqstan) and Jacopo Guarnieri (Lotto Dstny) were not so lucky, both were left with suspected fractured collarbones.
"Fabio is OK but his bike is in three pieces, it was a hard crash," Steels said.
"He lost a lot of skin but let's hope he recovers and feels OK on the bike so he can suffer through the Pyrenees."
