Kevin Geniets was ready to race through stage 7 of Paris-Nice on Saturday, until he was knocked over by some sponsor signage in the start village, that is.
A video posted by Danish broadcaster TV2 Sport ahead of Saturday’s decisive climbing stage shows a gust of wind blowing boards used as backing for pre-race interviews into Geniets as he pedaled past.
The Luxembourgish racer was knocked to the ground and thrown into barriers behind him.
Geniet’s Groupama-FDJ team later confirmed the 25-year-old abandoned early in stage 7 suffering with ankle pains.
“A panel from the mixed zone fell on Kevin Geniets before the 7th stage of Paris-Nice,” the team wrote on Twitter. “Hit in the ankle, he took the start but was forced, after a few kilometers of the neutral, to give up.”
Groupama-FDJ will be looking to team captains Michael Storer and David Gaudu to score on the Turini mountain-top Saturday.
— Geniets Kevin (@GenietsKevin) March 12, 2022