Daniel Oss has been ruled out of the remainder of this year's Tour de France after breaking his neck following a collision with a spectator.
Team TotalEnergies rider Oss was cycling down a descent in Sector 3 of Wednesday's fifth stage from Lille to Arenberg. Footage shows several fans stepping too far off the grass verge and onto the cobbled track, causing Oss to speed head-first into them.
The 35-year-old was remarkably able to finish the stage but failed to make the start line for the Stage 6 route from Binche on Longwy due to the neck injury sustained. His absence is a major blow for Team TotalEnergies and leader Peter Sagan, who was relying on the Italian to help assert dominance on the climb.
A team statement posted on Thursday confirmed Oss' departure: "Additional examinations revealed a fracture of a vertebrae requiring immobilization for a few weeks. Daniel Oss is therefore forced to leave the Tour de France…"
His wasn't the only major incident on Stage 5, either, after Primoz Roglic popped his own dislocated shoulder into place. The Slovenian Jumbo-Visma rider crashed into a safety bale that had made its way onto the road, though his Tour will go on.
Roglic conceded it "was not nice" to be in that position, though he's experienced enough considering it wasn't his first time doing so. "I then put my shoulder back in the socket myself," he said after Stage 5. "I couldn’t do that on the road, so I sat in the seat of a spectator. It worked there."
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The 2021 Tour de France got off to a horror start when a spectator holding a sign caused a massive pile-up on the first day. The woman in question was charged with 'endangering lives and causing unintentional injuries' before being handed a suspended four-month prison sentence in Brest.
Tour de Flanders organisers decided to ban roadside spectators from the Belgian classic for its 2021 edition. Calls for the Tour de France to do the same have gathered pace in recent years, with fans seen getting in the way of riders all too often.
Team TotalEnergies suffered more misfortune during Stage 6 when French rider Mathieu Burgaudeau was sent flying off his bike near the start. The outfit called for "care and rest" before the first mountain stage on Friday, already on alert after Oss' serious injury.
