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We wait for the official medical report about Richie Porte after his crash in stage nine of the Tour de France but his directeur sportif, who was first on the scene after the accident, said that the 31-year-old was talking, coherent and although his race is over, he believes he’s okay.

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It took a while for all the riders to return to the BMC Racing team bus after such an arduous stage and, when they did, the mood was solemn. No smiles, not banter, they just arrived, stepped off the bikes and walked inside behind the curtain.

Outside a huge scrum of media had gathered to hear any news that the team had. It’s early days and the effects of the crash are still being examined.

The only statement from the team came from the Italian directeur sportif Fabio Baldato.

Here is what he had to say about the incident in stage nine:

“It took a while for me to get to Richie because I was a little bit behind with the car.

“I was looking at him and he had pain in the shoulder and we needed to wait for the doctor; what was important is that he was always conscious.

“He knew what happened and he was asking for his helmet and his glasses.”

 

Daniel Friebe (ITV): Fabio, there was a lot of talk about this descent before the race. In your opinion was it too dangerous for a Tour de France?

“No. We did it maybe four times before we did the race. In training, in a race.

“We know it was dangerous but I will not say anything else.”

 

Sophie Smith (SBS): How are his team-mates?

“We are all sad. We did a lot of work. First, Richie did a lot of work for this Tour de France – from the beginning of the year. He did a lot of training, recon, training camps… also with team-mates who are here.

“We did everything that was possible to put him on the podium.

“From the first day, all the team was around him and for sure we are sad… but we would like him to come back as soon as possible and came back stronger.

“He deserves a result and a great Tour de France. This year he was super good.”

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