EF Education-EasyPost save the day for Rigoberto Urán after two crashes

NYBORG, Denmark (VN) — Rigoberto Urán will have some fulsome praise for his EF Education-EasyPost teammates after they kept his GC hopes alive following two crashes and a mechanical issue during stage 2 of the Tour de France.

Urán had one of the most eventful days in the bunch, beginning with a crash as the peloton made its approach to the Great Belt crossing. The fall resulted in a mechanical issue for the Colombian, and he had to wait for his team car to bring him a new bike before he got going again.

Just a few kilometers after making it back into the bunch, Urán was on the floor again in a big pile-up on the bridge, which also took down race leader Yves Lampaert. It took far longer for him to get going again and his teammates had to go all-in to bring him back to the group with Stefan Bissegger putting in a particularly big turn.

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Urán made it back to the peloton with eight kilometers remaining and managed to avoid another big pile-up just inside the final three kilometers.

“Someone crashed in front of me and there was nothing I could do. And then I yelled, ‘wait for me!’ Later the team demonstrated how strong we are, and we arrived back to the bunch. And everyone was safe, and everyone was ‘super bien,’ and then with two kilometers to go it was — zrrr, crash, boom! — another f**king crash, and everyone to the ground. Well, with that, I send a hug to everyone,” Urán said.

It wasn’t all desperate chase for the EF Education-EasyPost team and home rider Magnus Cort ensured the squad some podium time at the finish in Nyborg. The Dane went out with a mission to be in the mountains jersey by the end of the day and succeeded after making it into the early breakaway.

While his big ambitions at the Tour de France lie in securing a stage victory later in the race, he was keen to have a moment in the sun in his home country and he mopped up all three of the available mountains points on the route in front of an adoring crowd. He would like to keep it for a few days but being able to wear the polka-dot jersey in Denmark will be a special moment for him.

“It was unbelievable, and for sure it helped me a lot out there. Before we got to the sprint, we already had huge crowds over the climbs, and I knew it was a really good opportunity for me to get on the Tour de France podium in Denmark. It’s unbelievable that I was there and now I’m wearing one of the jerseys,” he said.

“For sure I would like to hang onto it as long as possible, but I also have to be realistic that I probably won’t have it until Paris. For me, the biggest and the most important thing was to win it and get it on Danish soil and that mission is accomplished and that’s huge and I’m extremely happy about that.”