🎥 Carlos Rodríguez also blames motorbike after crashing at 80 km/h

Carlos Rodríguez is unhappy about his crash on Saturday's penultimate stage of the Tour de Romandie. The 25-year-old INEOS Grenadiers Spaniard was part of the first chasing group when he suddenly hit the ground on the inside of a bend on the final descent. Via his official channels, Rodríguez gave his account of what happened.

The crash itself was not shown on television, but it was clear that Rodríguez took a heavy impact. The speeds on the descent were reportedly reaching 80 kilometres per hour. The Spaniard was battered and scraped when he retrieved his bike and continued.

Rodríguez had entered the final weekend sixth in the Romandie classification, but the crash dropped him to twelfth. The first chasing group of GC riders finished 1 minute 47 seconds behind stage winner Tadej Pogačar — and Rodríguez came in around half a minute later still.

What exactly happened? Rodríguez explained: "Not ideal to be descending flat out and have a motorbike brake in front of you, in the racing line. It seems I haven't suffered anything serious," was his conclusion. In the comments under the post, Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious was among those to respond. "Arghhh, this motorbike," the Frenchman — third in the overall classification — wrote.

At INEOS Grenadiers, they were licking their wounds after the stage, literally and figuratively. "Unfortunately Carlos crashed. It took a while before we got to him — by then he was already in a different group. It's a shame, because he had the legs to finish in the top five here," sports director Daryl Impey told Marca. "Carlos remains under observation — a top-five finish is now very difficult."

It was not the first time motorbikes had come in for criticism during the race. Valentin Paret-Peintre hit out at the organisation, accusing them of letting motorbikes ride too close to the peloton all week. "I hope the motorbikes weren't sitting too close to the peloton, because that was the case in the last two days," the Soudal Quick-Step Frenchman said.

In the end the peloton caught the breakaway containing Paret-Peintre, and Pogačar won the stage. "If the organisation wants Pogačar to win, that's their choice. We've said it often enough, but it is what it is," came his deeply cynical conclusion.