Einer Rubio hobbles down the metal stairs from the medical truck in Alpe d’Huez and clambers into an ambulance that will take him to a helicopter that will take him to a hospital in Grenoble in the valley below. In between, he attempts to take a drink from a bottle of water. It’s not easy. His face is covered in bandages, and where you can see bare skin, it’s puffy and swollen. The water is tilted in the general direction of his numb lips and a little of it manages to pass down his throat, the rest spilling onto his t-shirt and onto the tarmac.
A couple of hours previously, the Colombian had crashed into the back of a UAE Team Emirates-XRG car towards the top of professional cycling’s most packed-out climb. A spectator had seemingly stumbled into the road, the UAE car slammed on the brakes, and Rubio slammed into the rear windscreen. His Tour de France is over; he’ll need minor surgery, and it’ll be a little while before he can eat solid food again.
