Tour de France: Landa back to normal after Roubaix stage crash

Mikel Landa says that there shouldn't be any lingering after-effects of his crash on stage 9 of the Tour de France. The Movistar rider says everything is normal as the race enters the mountains in the second week.

Landa managed to avoid any of the carnage on the cobbles, only to crash with just more than 30 kilometres remaining when he rode over a drain cover as he was taking a drink and crashed heavily. Battered and bruised, he, with the help of his team, mounted a furious chase and limited his losses to just seven seconds. Landa said afterwards that they were just 'surface wounds' but only time would tell how his body would respond.

After a lengthy transfer down to the Alps, Landa and his remaining teammates – who were one less after losing Jose Joaquin Rojas to the same crash that eliminated Richie Porte – headed out for a short training ride in Annecy. Despite being covered in bandages, he was in good spirits.

ADVERTISEMENT

"After yesterday's knock, I was able to relax quite well," Landa said. "I didn't have much problem sleeping. This morning, it's all as normal. I suffered a blow yesterday, but I was able to train normally. I think that there won't be any problems for tomorrow."

After making it through the cobbles stage with their general classification hopes still intact, the team now turn their focus to the mountains. Alejandro Valverde leads the charge at the moment in fifth place overall at 1:31 down, with Landa at 1:42 – the same time as defending champion Chris Froome (Team Sky) – and Nairo Quintana at 2:50 after losing time to a mechanical on the opening day of racing.

Following the rest day, the Tour de France will resume on Tuesday with a mountainous ride from Annecy to Le Grand Bornand.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com