Tour de France: Uran philosophical despite losing time on the cobbles

Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac) was the biggest casualty of the cobbled chaos on stage 9 of the Tour de France, aside from Richie Porte, who crashed out of the race with a suspected broken collarbone.

Uran crashed on the Moulin de Vertain pavé sector with just over 30km to go and was forced into a long and ultimately futile chase. He had to stop again to change his damaged bike but had teammates who dropped back and helped try and limit the damage.

As he crossed the line, however, the gaps made for depressing reading: 1:28 lost to his general classification rivals. Indeed, the blow was worsened by the fact that no one else lost time, save for a modest seven seconds for Mikel Landa (Movistar) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale).

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Arriving back at the EF-Drapac team bus in Roubaix, Uran got straight on and into the shower to wash the dust away and then patch up his road rash. Despite cries of 'Rigo! Rigo!' from the gathering Colombian fans, he would not come out for a good hour and a half after he crossed the line.

When he did finally appear, he was surprisingly upbeat, laughing and joking with the fans and media. "Bastante bien," he said of the day – 'pretty good'.

"These are obstacles that are thrown at you, but you have to keep going."

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