Racing
TdF Daily | Stage 16 | Late-race crash disrupts Marijn van den Berg’s sprint
Dutch Tour rookie escapes fall in the final kilometers with scrapes and bruises
July 16, 2024
Marijn van den Berg has some light scrapes and bruises but is otherwise fine after his crash in the final kilometers of the Tour’s 16th stage.
Our Dutch Tour rookie is mostly disappointed that he didn’t get the chance to go for the sprint. His teammates did a great job to set him up for the finish, finding each other in the surging pack and pulling him up to the front, as the peloton dodged around roundabouts at 60 km/hr after the 10-kilometers to go mark. Marijn was ready to launch when a rider slid out and underneath him on a corner. Neilson Powless and Sean Quinn stopped as soon as they saw Marijn go down. After checking that he was okay, the three teammates rode to the finish together, where Marijn was examined by our team doctor. Thankfully, he escaped his crash with some light bruises and scrapes and nothing worse.
Tomorrow, Marijn will focus on helping his teammates when the Tour de France returns to the Alps. Our climbers were able to save their legs during today’s 188.6-km stage across the Languedoc from Gruissan to Nîmes. With no Mistral blowing and several teams motivated to sprint it out, the race was destined to end in a bunch kick. Tomorrow is another matter. Stage 17 will take the peloton from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux in Drome up into the mountains for a summit finish at the Superdévoluy ski station. Our guys are ready to go back on the attack.
Stefan Bissegger
It was really hot out there. There was always some tension, because of the wind.
In the end, there was a lot of tension, a lot of roundabouts and narrow passages. At the roundabout where Marijn crashed, we didn’t really see that roundabout coming.
It's too bad that he went down, but thankfully we'll all be able to support our climbers tomorrow in the mountains.
Andreas Klier, sports director
On paper, it was the last sprint stage, and that was also what happened. We wanted to try to sprint with Marijn. That didn’t work out because he crashed just outside the final kilometer. He was able to jump right back on the bike. Tomorrow, we go again and try to win a stage.