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Cyclist dislocates shoulder in a massive Tour de France crash, still finishes stage
(Christophe Ena/AP Photo)
Dutch cyclist Laurens ten Dam suffered a dislocated shoulder in a massive crash during the third stage of the Tour de France on Monday. Rather than quit the race — as some riders were forced to do — Ten Dam told his team to pop his shoulder back into place and finished the stage.
"I said that they had to pop my shoulder back in," Ten Dam told Cyclingnews. "I have trained very hard, so I don't want to abandon the race even before we enter France."
The crash occurred while the peloton was traveling at about 26 mph on a slight downhill, according to the event's Twitter account. One cyclist clipped the wheel of another in front him, which caused a ripple effect:
The crash was so devastating that at least six riders were forced to pull out of the race, including race leader Fabian Cancellara and third-placed rider Tom Dumoulin. Ten Dam's team director, Nico Verhoeven, said he initially thought the Dutch cyclist was going to have to quit as well.
"His bike was already on top of the car," Verhoeven said. "We thought that he was out of the race, but he said that he didn't want to leave the Tour and that his shoulder had to be popped back in. When we knew that the race was neutralized, he was able to return quietly. He was chatting quickly afterwards. Laurens is a tough one."
Ten Dam's team uploaded a video to YouTube capturing the aftermath of the crash through the eyes of their mechanic. In the video, Ten Dam's team initially finds him curled up on the ground in serious pain:
After switching out the damaged bike for a new one, the mechanic returns to find Ten Dam sitting up talking to a medic, but still clutching his injured shoulder:
Here's what he tweeted before stage four:
I must admit I am not looking forward to the cobbles now.. But hey. We'll manage.
— laurenstendam (@laurenstendam) July 6, 2015
After stage four, Ten Dam sits in 186th place, 36 minutes off the lead. His teammate Robert Gesink is in 13th place, less than two minutes off the lead.
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